A Dangerous Life (EDITING)

Chapter One

"How long do you think she's been deceased?" Hicks inquires, as he looks down at the punctured corpse.

I look down on the victim. Her body is very petite and scrawny; an immensely easy target for a killer. Maybe a little too easy. Her lifeless ocean-blue eyes stare into me; inviting me. I shift my eyes to the victim's stomach, where most of the stab wounds collect.

One...

Two...

Three...

There are eleven stab wounds in her torso. This reminds me of something I saw in my childhood. Something that scared me, but she thought it was normal.

The unsub must have been reasonably built to repeatedly stab someone twenty-one times. The way the victim's body is positioned, it looks like she fell backward the first time she was stabbed. The unsub didn't take time to position her body, but just let her drop to the ground and to die. The pool of sticky blood that is engulfing her corpse is mesmerizing. The unsub also didn't bother to clean up the mess they made. I don't blame the person who did this; I certainly wouldn't want to waste time cleaning up in an open area. The risk of being caught is too high. But then again, I would never choose to kill someone in the open, like this. It would have to be more secluded. More privacy.

No, no. You can't think like this, Alaska. You're not like her. I push the dark thoughts from my mind and refocus on the body. The unsub is probably a first timer, based on how messy this scene truly is. Completely oblivious, he's staring right into my eyes. His sapphire-blue eyes, reading my mind for dark thoughts. That's something the victim and Collin Hicks have in common. Their blue eyes.

"Alaska, how long do you think the victim has been deceased?" Special agent Collin Hicks asks once more, prodding me for an answer.

The fatality lays on the right side, of an asphalt road. Dozens upon dozens of pine trees flood the road, with their scented needles grasping it. Her skin hasn't drained of color just yet; meaning that she hasn't been lifeless for no more than a few hours. The victim has acorn-colored hair that falls just beneath her breasts. She looks like she is roughly 5'5, and weighing about one-hundred and thirty-two pounds.

The death was violent and full of rage. I kneel down to stick my index finger in the blood. It's not warm, but it's also not cold. It's still fairly wet, not incredibly sticky. By examining the amount of trees' that are surrounding this road and how not a car has driven by since we arrived at the scene, there is probably little to no traffic out here. Maybe this isn't entirely an open space...

Still too open for my personal taste...

"Based on how wet and fresh the blood is, I would say a couple hours, maximum. The body has minimum rigor mortis. The color of her body isn't that discolored yet; another piece of evidence that she hasn't been deceased for more than a couple hours. " I respond, with as much confidence as I can possibly say it with. Being the new member of the team isn't easy, but I have to prove myself worthy of them. Like what she wanted me to do.

I can't help but notice a kitchen knife lying beside her body. How unprofessional of the unsub to just leave the murder weapon laying right. Definitely a first-timer. With latex gloves suffocating my hands, I pick up the knife. The blood on the knife dances in the sunlight. Taunting me. Daring me to play a game of "Catch Me if You Can." A few seconds pass. I stare at it, seeing my reflection in the knife. Closing my eyes, and searching for an evidence bag in my pocket, I found one. I placed the knife in there and start walking to the crime scene investigator.

"This was found by the body. Probably the murder weapon." I barked at him. He nodded his head and proceeded to put it in the spot it needed to go.

I walk back over to the body, where Hicks is examining the skull, moving it from left to right. The latex gloves strain against his hands; oh the way every muscle roll over his bones.