In Love With a Psycho | Stu Macher

1. From the Beginning

So. The beginning, huh? Well, I can tell you that the day of the first murders started like any other.

My morning routine wasn't really much of a routine at all. My parents go to work super early in the morning, so they're never home when I am. I never needed to make breakfast, since Stu was my taxi to school and he'd never let me go hungry. So I usually just rolled out of bed and out the door.

That morning, I opened the door and jumped backward with a yelp upon seeing the boy on my doorstep instead of waiting for me in his car like usual.

"Stu! The hell are you doing?"

"Mornin' baby," he ran forward, wrapping me up in his long arms and spinning me around. I shrieked, playfully beating on his shoulders.

"Help! I'm being kidnapped!" I yelled.

"Yeah we've got a whole beauty and the beast situation here." he quipped back at me.

"Don't say that! You're not a beast." I said.

"Hah! You thought I was calling you the beauty? I'm clearly the beauty here."

I gasped, returning to beating on him. "How dare you!"

He laughed, spinning me around and planting a light smack on my ass as he carried me to his car. My shrieks and his laughter echoed around the empty street in the early morning. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, but Stu's energy could wake even the dead.

I slid into my seat in the car, shotgun, as usual.

"What've you got for me today?" I asked, grabbing my seat belt.

"Breakfast sandwich. And not drive through this time, sorry- my mom insisted on making them." He said, embarrassed.

I opened the paper bag Stu tossed me. Inside were three sandwiches, sticky notes stuck to the wrapping on each of them. There was writing on them: "Billy" "Stu" "Chris" each with a little heart doodled next to it. I melted a little bit- my mom wasn't really present in my life, neither of my parents actually, so this little gesture meant a lot.

"Aww, she even used my nickname!"

"Haha, funny story actually, when I would talk about you at home it was always 'Chris.' Real awkward conversation in the car when she asked if I was seeing a boy," Stu said.

"Yeah, well I wouldn't exactly be surprised if you and Billy had ever gotten down." I laughed teasingly.

"Hey! That's rich coming from somebody who steals my playboy magazines when I'm not looking. I notice those go missing!"

I turned to him, red-faced. "Well, that's on you for needing 2D models when you've got a perfectly good girlfriend right here," I huffed, crossing my arms across my chest.

We pulled up to Billy's driveway before we could discuss it any further. He slid in back, muttering a quiet greeting.

"Morning, sunshine," I said, passing him his sandwich.

He snatched it from my hand, returning to sulking in his corner of the car. Billy was definitely not a morning person. I feel bad for the guy, really, considering he has to put up with Stu's music in the morning. When I say it's loud, I mean LOUD. So loud I'm sure even the bugs run from the thump of Dead Kennedys blasting from Stu's beat-up old car.

We finally arrived at school, the crowd of students moving in organized chaos. There was a familiarity in the way they swarmed around, shouting at one another. I'm not sure why I say it like that, describing them as something outside of myself. I was a student too, a teenager like the rest of them. But I guess I felt a little alien in comparison to the rest of them. A shrill voice interrupted me from my thoughts.