The Identity

Proluge (Part 1)

It was certainly a beautiful night despite the lack of light.

The light emitted from the silver moon lit up the city with the weak light from the flickering street lights. The lack of light was only emphasised by the dark night sky overhead, framing the bright beacon of silver light up in the sky. Stars dotted across the cape of darkness, but did nothing to illuminate the city.

Thinking twice, it was dangerously beautiful. Beautifully dangerous. The night was dangerously beautiful. So dangerous that she leaned out even more to admire the beautiful view, face propped in her hands, elbows placed on the windowsill and supporting almost all of her weight. She gazed out, so mesmerised by the beauty of the night that she forgot all her doubts of the disappearance of the children in the orphanage every night.

Should she continue her plan to escape here? The night here was so breathtakingly beautiful-

She didn't hear the door slam open.

She didn't hear the footsteps approach her.

But she did hear the woman said the fateful word that had haunted her nightmares every night.

****

She had just finished the patrol for the boys' room and was satisfied to see the boys fast asleep under their covers. The pills in their water had done its job. She had took her time inspecting each and every boy to check if they were truly asleep or not. It was time-consuming, but it was worth it. The danger of letting them know of why someone disappeared every night was- she couldn't even describe the extreme circumstances.

She had been thinking of taking who tonight when she opened the door leading to the girls' room. Yesterday had been a girl. She was smart enough to know the children thought the pattern of disappearances were fixed. If today a boy was taken, a girl would disappear the next day, then a boy the day after, and the pattern would go on and on. She had let the children think so, the naive children not knowing they had been playing in her hands all along.

She would twist the pattern tonight. The light from the hallway spilt into the room like golden paint, just that the light narrowed to a triangle in the room.

Her hawk-like eyes brushed through the room, the familiar well-arranged beds greeting her. Fast asleep girls snored quietly under the covers, all except for one.

The girl caught her attention almost immediately. The tip of the triangle of light had shone precisely at the girl, so it was easy to spot her. The girl had her head cupped in her hands, gazing out at the night sky.

What was her name again? The woman's perfect brows drew together in a line, deep in thought. Whenever a child disappeared, another would appear at the doorstep, as if it was all planned. This had continued for years. So many children had gone in and out of the orphanage these year, so it was quite natural for her to not know the names of the children she currently had under her care. Some wouldn't even stay for long. Reach twelve years old and the children would face the truth of being dragged away no later than after a week of his or her twelfth birthday. This girl had been here for as long as the woman could remember, but she wasn't forgetful enough to not know the girl had turned twelve the previous day.

How sad. To be dragged away from the comfort of the orphanage the girl had called home for the last eleven years.

But the woman was not one with pity.

The woman had made her decision.

She now knew who would she take tonight.

Taking a step forward, she stalked towards the girl, her heels clattering noisily but she wouldn't care. The pills in the water was enough to allow the children to fall in a deep sleep.

"You."

She shot out a hand and grabbed the girl by the neck, dragging her forcefully across the room.

"Let me go! Where are you bringing me?"demanded the girl almost instantly, crying out in pain as the woman tightened her grip at her neck.

A smirk curled her lips. Oh, if the girl knew what was she going to face.

***

"Help! No, bring me back! Help!"screamed the girl, desperately trying to free herself from the plump woman's tight grip with all her might, who was dragging her out of the orphanage and now across the sidewalk.

She had known the existence of pills in her food, so she had simply refrained from consuming it. She had known the pills would bring them into a deep sleep. She had known the woman would drag out a child every night and the child would never return. Though she was one of the oldest children in the orphanage, she didn't have the guts to tell the younger ones she knew the truth. The woman would definitely kill her if she realised she told the others.

She never thought the woman would actually kill her.

Not directly, of course. The woman flung the girl into a dark alley and didn't even flinch when the girl crashed to the ground.

The girl looked up, gasping with pain and went pale at the sneer that curled the woman's blood red lips.

"Don't even think of coming back to the orphanage."

Those were the last words to the girl as the woman turned sharply on her heel and stalked away, the clicking of heels well-heard even from a distance before it gradually faded away.

As if aware of the girl's fear of coldness, a chilling wind blew past the girl, sweeping her long tangled curls off her shoulders. It wasn't long before her pale cheeks became stained with tears.

For the first time in her short twelve years of life, she felt lonely.

That loneliness was a vice on her heart, squeezing with just enough pressure to be a constant pain. It killed her every day just a little bit more, taking what was once her inner light and replacing it with a loneliness that overshadowed her with every moment.

***

12 years after...

I took off the black mask that always covered my face. There was no one here to see my face anyways, and it was big coming from a murderer like me. I wiped the sweat on my forehead and the red liquid at the bottom of my lips.

Murderer. I quite liked that word. I curled a strand of my hair behind my ear .

One more person is crossed out from my list. I brushed the dust and dirt off my shirt and inspected the blood stain on my fingers, a frown turning my lips slightly downwards. I sighed. Now I had to do something to clean the evidence away. I held the knife up, twisting it in the moonlight skillfully as if it could slice it up. The knife was dual blade with a hardwood handle. Everything about it was precise. The coldness of the blade steadied my nerves, the knife sat glimmering ominously in the pale moonlight.Feeling exhausted, I hid the knife in a hidden apartment in my blouse, made sure it was properly covered by my cape and laid down on the ground.

Looking up at the sparkling stars against the midnight black sky, my memories came flooding back to me.

Many teenagers had happy memories when they were a child. Mine were nightmares. My memories were like a teddy bear fashioned from glass shards- the tighter you cling to it the deeper it would cut. I always tried to take my painful memories and place them in a box and lock it tightly. However, they always find their way out.

Suddenly, I heard shuffling near me. I jumped up, sensing danger around me. My dark eyes scanned my surroundings .Swiftly I drew my knife out and held it tightly. I silently crept towards the noise.

"Meow."

I sighed. And I thought that I could do some more killing again. But my instincts told me that it wasn't going to be that simple.

***
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