The One Who Loved

Chapter 2

It had been two weeks since the murder of Christina Bashley was announced to the scholars of Westmond high school. Although Samantha had been tirelessly examining all the murder accounts of the past month and a half, she was getting nowhere. All the stories, including the ones about the three murders that occurred after Christina's, revealed minimal information. In truth, all they stated was that the girls were found with scars and wounds on their backs, usually spotted floating along a river or some other body of water. All that Samantha had managed to gather from this was that the killer liked to either torture his victims, or kill them by way of knifing them, and once they were dead, he would get rid of their body by dumping it into water. In short, she knew no more than anyone else.

In other news, she also knew no more about Ivar than when he had first arrived. Well, unless it counts that she learned that he excelled in every subject. It was quite infuriating, really, to have someone so perfect, with the looks and the brains to melt a girls heart, but have that person be so hostile. He had not talked to anyone, save the few times when he had to for the sake of schoolwork or on the teacher's instruction. He made no move to engage in a friendship with others, and, occasionally, would give Samantha a special show of despise. That harsh look of his at her would almost often end with him, like he did on the bus, shaking his head or muttering to himself under his breath. The very instant the last bell rung signaling the end of the day, Ivar would make his exit. Nobody ever saw him around town after that, so the only chance they had to sneak a glance at the mysterious newcomer was at school. Samantha found it all a bit disconcerting, if she was to be honest. No one, however, put much thought into it. It was Ivar's life, after all. Let him do as he will with it. 

Currently, Samantha was reading an article online about yet another one of the murders. This time, the girl who had been killed was only 15, but her birthday was about 3 months away. Once again, knife wounds had been discovered on her back, and her body had been found in a pond floating among the fish. Sam sighed, and shut her laptop off. Another day, another meaningless article. She walked over to her bed, and collapsed in it, a feeling of dread settling in the pit of her stomach. She was beginning to lose hope that she would ever know more about the murderer than any average person towns-person. Stop, she told herself. Something will come along, it just has to. I'll just wait, and then something will happen that will give me a clue as to who this psychopathic killer is. Unable to convince even herself with this, Sam decided that what she needed at that current moment in time was a break. She stuffed her laptop into her bookbag, slung it over one shoulder, and left the house. She was off on her way to the town cafe, which somehow always managed to lift her mood. 

As Sam wanted to get to the cafe as son as possible, she decided to take her little shortcut. Instead of going around the main roads, it cut across them by means of a small alleyway. This alleyway could potentially shorten Sam's walking time by around 10 minutes, so she decided to go for it. It was true, it was not particularly wise for her to go off on a mostly empty alleyway with all these murders going on, but Sam had brought protection. In the smallest pocket of her bag, Sam had stored a pepper spray bottle. If anyone tried to abduct or attack her, Sam could spray their eyes and get away before they regained their vision. As she walked along the narrow road, the girl spotted somebody walking towards her. Sam did not view him as a prominent threat, but she fingered her spray bottle just in case.

The boy walked towards her, hands shoved in his pockets. His face was covered with a hood, so Samantha couldn't tell who he was. As he approached Samantha, she felt her breathing getting rapid, an she clutched the pepper spray so hard that her knuckles turned white. As he passed her, Sam breathed a sigh of relief, and reached up to wipe a bead of sweat from her brow. However, the boy took that moment to grab the strap of her bookbag. Before Sam could react, he violently yanked it off of her shoulder, and ran in the opposite direction. By the time that Sam regained her senses, the boy was already gone. She slumped against the wall, and slid down until she was sitting on the ground. Damn, she thought. Much use my pepper spray was, huh? Sam resignedly got up, and started on her way to the police station, to report the robber. 

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Sam sat in the Chief of Police's office. "So, let me get this straight. You knowingly left the main road in favor of an alleyway, even with all the murders that have been occurring. Is this correct?" Sam nodded, annoyed at getting a lecture but knowing that she deserved it. The chief grunted, and told her to wait a minute so he could get a paper to write down the minute details. As he walked out of the office, Sam looked around, and her eye landed on the pile of papers on the chief's desk. Or, rather, what caught Sam's eye was the corner of a paper shoved under the stack. From it's position, the girl was able to guess that it was not something the chief wanted anyone to see. Time to look at it, then. 

Looking around to make sure that no one was watching, Sam pulled the paper out from under the pile. She read the top, and gasped. Hastily, she folded the paper, and tucked into her paper. She hid just in time, too, as the chief walked back into the room. He stopped, looking at her suspiciously. "You look a bit flushed," he prodded. "Did something happen?" After Sam assured him that nothing, in fact, had changed from when he had last seen her, he finally let her give yet another detailed account of the story, and then she was free to go. Sam hurried home, where she grabbed a bar, and went into her bedroom. She lay the paper she had taken from the police station onto her desk, and leaned over it. This was it. Her break, her clue. She read it over, the feeling of excitement growing as she went along.

The paper, of course, concerned the matter of the murders. However, it varied from the normal stories. In this one, it was not of how somebody spotted the body in the water. It was much more valuable. This one was the eyewitness account of somebody who had seen the body being dumped. It had happened at the cabin belonging to the caretaker of the Westmond National Park. The person who gave the police the account had said that they were at the cabin to talk to the caretaker, when they saw a hooded figure dragging a limp girl across the path. They had followed the hooded figure, and had seen him throw the girl into the pond. The report also included that the figure was a man, which the eyewitness knew because of the shape of his body. 

Although this may not seem like a lot of information, it was extremely valuable to Samantha. For one thing, it made it certain that the murderer was a man. Sam had gathered as much because of the targets all being girls, but this made it more than just speculation. In addition, this article provided Sam with an actual, concrete plan. Instead of just scouring the internet for any clues, Sam could now actually head somewhere and look there. Well, she thought, I will leave that investigation for tomorrow. I have done a good deal enough today. With that agenda set for tomorrow, Sam got herself some dinner, and finally allowed herself to relax.