Murdering Midnight (Previously: Meet Me At Midnight) (Fairy Twisted Tale I)

chapter eight - The Search

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"The way to find a needle in a haystack is to sit down."

- Beryl Markham

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My uncle told me his whole team was going to look into it. In the mean time I was getting scared.

No, scratch that.

Scared was too lightly taken; I was mortified.

Scared to death I was going to be his next victim.

It had been a week since that 'incident' and nothing had happened. But today it was Saturday, the day I always went running.

When I told Nate what I was going to do, he told me he was going to call some of his policemen to keep an eye on me while he went to the station to find out who was threatening his little niece.

I ran for an hour and when I got home, I stopped in front of the front door.

There was a note pinned onto the frame.

I just looked at the piece of paper dangling in front of me. Staring at it.

"What's wrong, Scarlet?" Miller -one of the guys who had to watch me- asked as he laid his hand onto my elbow.

I didn't answer.

Instead I pointed ahead.

When he saw it too, he told me he was going to the chief, my uncle, to tell him that he left another note.

I could see flashes of words like 'outside' and 'come'.

I ripped the note off of the knife -which he used to pin the paper onto the door- and opened it.

'My dear Cinderella,

I know you are under supervision now. That's why I ask you to make sure you don't go outside. I will contact you again and inside the freezer I placed your favourite ice cream and on the counter your favourite hot drink.

I will come for you and then we'll meet properly.

Until then, my Cinderella.

Yours always

P.C.'

He was sick in his mind. And I was scared out of mine.

Then it hit me; he was coming.

Coming for me.

We need to capture him before he captures me.

* * * * *

My uncle was mad at the policemen for letting him get that close to me.

Now that he knew I was being targeted, he never let me out of his sight.

He asked me if I wanted to watch a Disney-movie, since he didn't have other ones, and that's how we watched Ariel, Beauty and The Beast and unfortunately Cinderella.

When I had asked not to watch it, he said it might help us get insight in the case. To understand his twisted mind.

It wasn't until we saw the prince and Cinderella ride away in a carriage, that Nate got a call.

His face went pale.

When he got off the phone, I asked what had happened.

"He killed Miller. There was a note saying that he was the only one that could touch you. That soon everyone would know they shouldn't mess with him or you or that he would kill them for you. There was another handkerchief. A scarlet one."

"We need to catch him, Nate," I said, my voice trembling in fear, "I don't want to survive instead of live."