The Blood Whore

Bloody Murder

Chapter Two;;

Bloody Murder;;

The adventurous part of Cooper's story really begins with one of her new found habits: sneaking out of the residence building to wander through the cemetery.

Aside from her parents and sister the only family Cooper had was two pairs of deceased grandparents, an aunt, an uncle and their two daughters. The police tried vigorously to contact Cooper's aunt, but she'd known they wouldn't get a hold of them.

Her aunt had been close with her dad, but for some reason after their vacation to Rome they never spoke again. Cooper had tried to call, to write, to e-mail them, she'd liked her cousins but they'd never been there. Cooper had wondered if they'd moved, but didn't tell the police that. Why bother? They obviously didn't want Cooper, and she didn't want to know them anymore.

Being seventeen she didn't have access to her parents' money either, she would have to wait until her eighteenth birthday to claim it. So with no family, no money, and no god-parents Cooper was sent to a European boarding school. This was the only plan her father had outlined in his will for the care of his children.

Cooper hated it. She liked that the Madame Martin Educational Facility for the Less Fortunate was in Ireland and that she had her own room and there was variety to her classes, but she hated everything else. The school had a strict curfew; you had to be back in your room for 9:30. And they had a strict dress code; you could not wear 'civilian's wear' on a week day, even if you didn't have classes. You had to wear your school uniform, and any civilian's wear had to fit into the appropriate clothing chart. And on top of all that, none of the students accepted her. The only friend Cooper had made was the groundskeeper and head of the janitorial staff, Frankie. She supposed the cooks didn't mind her either, but she never really talked to them that often.

It was an autumn night, when Cooper left the school. The air was crisp as Cooper hopped out of the window of the old brick building. Luckily, Cooper lived on the first floor of her residence building. This made it particularly easy for her to sneak out after curfew. She would probably run into more problems if she were on the third or fourth floor, not to mention how many stairs she would have to climb on a daily basis.

With a furtive glance around the grounds she decided there was no one around to see her escape. She snuck down a hill towards the trees lining the edge of the property. On tip toes she dashed behind one of these trees. Using the tree to shield her, she looked out for any signs of light by Frankie's cabin. Everything was dark, not that Frankie would've really stopped her. She could make the poor man eat right out of her hand.

Still she moved slowly through the trees until she was on the sidewalk. Even then she waited until she was a block away before slipping in the ear bud of her iPod. She smiled a bit. This was her favourite kind of weather, cool and crisp, and with her favourite music blaring she felt like there could be something to be happy about.

Sneaking out of the school made her feel alive. Madame Martin's was so monotonous. Everything was always, do this, do that. Or it was: oh no, you're not allowed to do that. She was a growing girl, she needed to explore! Her life couldn't revolve around books!

Two blocks after she'd put in her head phones she'd become entirely absorbed in her music and she'd reached the gates of the cemetery. The large iron gates were closed, but Cooper had come to find they never really locked them. Gingerly she pushed open the creaky gates and calmly she headed to a tombstone by big tree.

She sat down amongst the damp discarded leaves. She rested her back against the tombstone. She knew the cemetery like the back of her hand by now; without looking at it she knew the engraving on the tombstone said 'Eric Parker, aged 58. Beloved father and husband.'  With a contented sigh she stared up into the sky.