Kidnapped

Chapter 2

Sherry slept for one hour and a half, and when she woke up, it was half past two. She stood up from her bed and walked to her desk. While there still was some time, she decided to search for some more information that could be useful for her thesis. Opening the browser, she began to search for murder cases that were inspired by horror films or games, maybe also literature. Finally she found one interesting case, directly connected with famous horror film franchises – A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. All happened in United Kingdom during two days across London and Sussex, in 2004. The killer's name was Daniel Gonzalez, known as "Freddy Krueger Killer" or "Mummy's Boy Killer". It said that he killed four people and injured two more. And when the murderer was asked about the reason, he replied that he wanted to become a famous serial killer. His letters said how much he enjoyed the murders "...one of the best things I've done in my life", and how similar he was to Freddy Krueger.

"Well, this is one of the best cases to discuss in my work," Sherry whispered to herself. "But this guy is also dead, and he tried to commit suicide by biting through an artery in his arm. Oh dear... That must be horribly painful..."

Sherry continued reading further about his death, and that's what she found out:

"'I have never seen anyone bite himself with that ferocity,' said the inspecting doctor. The killer survived but committed suicide in his cell in Broadmoor Hospital, Berkshire, on 9 August 2007 by slicing his wrists with the edges of a broken CD case."

"He finally succeeded..." Sherry said quietly. "I guess many serial killers prefer to be dead than spend the rest of their lives in prison. And this one, realizing that his dream will never come true, decided to end his life. Pity it's not possible find out more personal and psychological information, and all because he's dead. And it's so far to go, have to cross the ocean to get to records..."

Although Sherry wasn't a crazy horror genre fan, she enjoyed watching classical films, like the ones mentioned in the article about Gonzalez. The main villains have become icons of modern pop culture due to their charisma and creepy appearance, and, of course, killing methods. Her personal favourite was Friday the 13th and its antagonist – Jason Voorhees, which somehow scared her. She remembered those times when she watched several famous slasher films, and it was always fun, but Jason... There was something about him that made the young woman shiver. Was it his creepy hockey mask? Or inability to talk? It's much scarier when you can't hear and understand what's going on in killer's mind.

"Creepy dude, yeah," Sherry laughed silently, continuing her search. Finally she stumbled on even more interesting information concerning Jason. "Oh my god! There were so many Jason copycats? Really? I didn't even know that! Let's see then..." She went on reading articles. "Wow, Portland, Philadelphia, Houston, London, Manchester... Each attacker had a Jason-like mask on his face. Interesting..."

Time passed while Sherry searched for information that could be useful for her thesis. Glancing at the clock, the young woman noticed it was nearly four already so she switched her computer off and went downstairs, waving goodbye to her mother, and left the house.

The school wasn't very far away from her house and if you walk quickly, it could be reached in twenty minutes. When Sherry arrived there, it was exactly half past four. The school bell went off and children ran down the stairs. One of them ran to Sherry with a happy squeal.

"Sherry!" Lindsay practically jumped in her arms.

"Hi, my little sweety," Sherry embraced her. "How are you today? How are you getting on in school?"

"Fine," she replied. "Today I got B in Maths for doing a task in class and A in English for retelling the text that we had to learn at home."

"Well done, dear," Sherry smiled to her. "And for that you deserve an ice cream."