Darkness

Darkness Chapter One

Kate’s eyes opened as she heard the scream. She sat up and listened, but all she could hear was the wind blowing. She got up and dusted off the sand from her pyjamas. Wait...sand? Her mind whirled as she looked around. It was dark. There was sand everywhere. Her eyes froze on something bright in the darkness. She approached it slowly, trying to work out what it was. Under the full moon light, she recognized it an orange Barrel Cactus.

Kate realized she was in the Mojave Desert, a few miles from her house. Her heart started drumming. She didn’t know how she had got here. Had she been sleepwalking? She’d never done it before though, not even as a child. The hot June wind blew again, dirtying her blonde hair.

Then, Kate heard another scream. It sounded like someone was being tortured. She had to do something. She ran towards it. There was a girl in the distance, lying on the ground. A hooded figure was stood over her. Kate watched as he grabbed her by her t-shirt and lifted her in the air. The girl tried to move but the figure seemed to be too strong for her. The girl’s eyes caught Kate’s.

‘Kate, please help me!’the girl shouted.

The hooded figure dropped her to the ground and turned around in an instant. Kate jumped behind a bush but it was too late. He had seen her. He marched over to her and dragged her towards the girl.

‘No, no please, let me go. I promise I won’t tell anyone.’ He grabbed her hair and threw her onto the ground. The girl tried to reach Kate’s hand.

 ‘Kate, please, help me,’ she cried.

Kate closed her eyes and began to cry. She heard the girl cry out, and then everything went silent. She opened her eyes and looked at the girl. She was staring at Kate. Kate saw the knife protruding from the girl’s belly and screamed.

‘Shut up,’ the hooded figure said. Kate looked up. She knew this man; his voice sounded familiar. She didn’t recognize him. It was like her mind had stopped working. He picked her up by her t-shirt and threw her back down onto the ground. Kate fell on her back. She screamed and tried to get up but his leg was on top of her.

‘I’m not letting you go this time.’

He leaned over to the girl and removed the knife from her belly. He raised his hand in the air and stabbed Kate in the stomach.

‘No!’ Kate shouted. She sat up. Her hand immediately reached for her belly but there was no knife or blood. She looked around her, but there was no sign of any bloody struggle.

 ‘What’s wrong?’ a voice asked. It was Kate’s Mother.

 ‘What happened?’

‘Bad dream,’ Kate said.

TWO DAYS LATER

 

‘What have we got?’ Detective Edwards asked as he approached the crime scene.

‘Shenil Mukherjee, age 16, does not look like a local girl. Suspected cause of death is a single stab wound in the stomach. A tourist guide was out on a trek with a family. They saw the body and called it in,’ Detective Roy replied.

‘What about the murder weapon?’

 ‘We found a bloody knife lying a few feet away from the body. Rina has sent it to Forensics  to check for fingerprints.’

‘The killer is a local,’ Edwards said.

‘How do you know that?’

‘It’s almost impossible to find your way to town from here without proper guides. The killer knew what he was doing and where he was going.’

Detective Edwards turned around to head back to the precinct. His eye caught something glistening on top of a dark green cactus. ‘Roy!’ He immediately called out to his colleague. Edwards wore his gloves and picked up the shiny blonde strand of hair.

‘Do you think we can get a DNA sample out of it?’ Roy asked.

‘Definitely,’ Edwards smiled.