Claw and Heart

3.

It happened two days after the blackmailing call. Mr. Wu stood at the exact same balcony as before and scanned the scenery below. It was what people would call a typical nice sunny day, warmth like jacket and breeze like mint. But despite the scenery and the perfect climate, Mr. Wu's expression was the mask of a grimace. One million dollars was a small price to pay for him, but once his scandals was out, his career and everything would come to an end he thought. And then all of a sudden his phone rang, almost giving him a heart attack. Cautiously, he took a peek and the caller, it was unknown. Mr. Wu gulped, but he dared not to hang up his phone, as a million worries and doubts swarmed into his head. He picked up the phone,

"What do you want now? I already gave you the money!" Mr. Wu's voice trembled. The other end was deathly silent, which made Mr. Wu panic even more. The tension went on forever, finally after a shaky breath coming out from the other end, the other person on the end spoke:

"I think we have a little misunderstanding here, but that's alright. As long you do what I tell you to." The voice sounded like a dark charming male, completely different in every aspect from the previous blackmailer.

"You're all the same! You're all working against me!" Mr. Wu cried, then hurled a series of Chinese insults at him, prompting no reaction.

"I don't know what you are talking about, nor do I care. So just follow my instructions, or else..."

The anonymous caller sent a photo to Mr. Wu phone. Mr. Wu opened the photo, and at the sight of the photo, Mr. Wu dropped his phone to the ground in panic and scrambled a few feet away from it.

"Did you have a better look of your death? If that's not enough to convince you, I have more."

"Alright...just what do you want!? And leave me alone!"

"Fear, I like that." A bone chilling chuckle came from the other end. "The steps are already written out and sent to your e-mail. And I can absolutely guarantee after this is over, you will be left alone...forever and ever. Varrwel. The call terminated and it left Mr. Wu shattered and more scared than he had ever been in his entire life. He reached over to grab his phone and threw it off his balcony, trying to forget anything to do with the image, but it was no use. The damage was already done, and there was nothing he could do about it. Panicked, Mr. Wu rushed inside his room and scrambled to his computer and opened his account. Then with trembling fingers and quivering eyes, he clicked on his mail. A moment later he saw the e-mail that was being sent by the anonymous user, it took all of her will power to open the e-mail, and when he did, he felt as guilty as if he was opening the Pandora box himself. Then he saw it, at first he was puzzled, and after long periods of time trying to make sense of the meaning behind it, his expression grew more perplexed. The instructions made absolutely no sense to him.

***

"Another body has been found this morning at 7:00am in Langara College, Vancouver. Experts say there is a high chance of this murder being another work of the infamous 'Reaper'. RCMP officer Joe Hussin wants a word with the public."

"In all my 30 years of my career as an officer of the law, I have never met such a vile criminal. The last serial killer who appeared in Vancouver was a decade ago. I strongly caution the public to take extra care and take this case seriously. And please understand that, as officers we are doing our best to protect the public from any means of harm, my best wish is that you could all understand and cooperate with us at this situation in hand."

"Thank you officer Joe Hussin. More information is posted on the Government website, this is Bella Parks reporting."

Angeline's eyes were glued to the screen; and she was utterly shocked and speechless. None of the killings made sense to him. Ever since the killings started she had begun to do a little in depth research on the notorious serial killer, Reaper. His nationality was unknown, same as his real name. Surprisingly very little was known about him, and every single website had different views about him. Some say he killed his first person at age 8. Other websites exaggerated the number of his kills to over a hundred. More still even said he was the devil reborn. Not knowing what to believe, he had even went to Dawg to get some insider information, but his lot had nothing but rumours about him. So in the end Angeline knew nothing about this man, except for the photo of him in the news. He looked like what people would call 'A handsome devil'. Then at that peculiar moment and out of random curiosity he called out to the Barista: