8:35 pm

One look into his eyes was all it took for me to realize that he was serious. Dead serious. And it was everything in that one look that filled me with dread in a way nothing else ever had before. Thoughts ran through my head in quick succession: was there enough time to plead? Would he even listen if I tried to say something? How could I get through this alive?

I glanced over my shoulder in hopes of something that would allow me to escape, but to my dismay, the night was silent and clear, eerily so. I turned back to face my assailant, but I caught only the briefest look into his hell-ridden eyes. I opened my mouth to speak, but before the words could work their way from my mouth, my throat was grabbed from behind. I began to panic, struggling to breathe but no air found its way into my lungs. I felt my knees buckle beneath me, and blackness clouded over my vision. And I fell…

Five hours earlier


“Hey mom, can I go out later? Pretty, pretty please?” I sent a groveling look towards my mother, who laughed and threw an amused expression right back at me.

“Depends…”

“On what?”

“On how late you’ll get back and where you’re going.”

“Moooom! I’m 16 for God’s sake! It wont kill you to let me go out without you knowing my whereabouts every second.”

“I know it won’t kill me. But I worry…”

“Worry? There’s no reason to worry. I can take care of myself, you know. I’m not a child.” I rolled my eyes impatiently. I swear, my mother is soooo overprotective!

“I suppose. Yes, you can go out later. But call me if you plan on staying out past midnight.”

“Kay…” I ran up the stairs to my room to call my boyfriend, Ryan. He picked up on the third ring, and we arranged to meet downtown, near the pier for a romantic stroll by the sea. It was too perfect. I spent the next few hours rummaging through my closet, trying to find the perfect outfit until I finally struck gold. I felt awesome as I pulled on my new forest green mini skirt and ivory camisole. I added my gold-plated locket as a finishing touch. I smiled to myself and whispered, “Ryan’s a lucky guy, at least for tonight.”

I ran through last minute to-dos in my head while I sprawled out on my bed, anxious for the time for me to leave to come. When the clock struck 7, I leaped out of bed and quickly glanced at my television, which strangely, was on the news channel. “Breaking news: a body of a teenage girl has just been found along Saint Arnold’s Pier. She appears to have been brutally murdered, but no suspects have been arrested.”
I hesitated briefly before shrugging, turning the television off, and putting the report out of mind. I didn’t want to be all anxious and stressed when I saw Ryan. I tripped down the stairs, and ran out the door.
7:30pm
I arrived at the pier a few minutes late, expecting Ryan to be there, but the pier was as empty as a ghost town. My skin began to crawl, and I vowed to myself that I would wait no longer than an hour before giving up and going home.



8 O’clock


I thought I heard something rustling in the bushes behind me, but when I glanced over my shoulder, I saw nothing there. I convinced myself I was hearing things, and settled back into waiting mode. Only 30 more minutes I would wait, and if Ryan didn’t show, well, it was his mistake.

8:30

I was about to turn around and go home when I heard something behind me. Even when I looked, though, I could see nothing. I began to walk home, my heart pounding all the while. Suddenly, I began to tense up. I felt something…watching me. I spun around to run, but a heavy hand clamped over my mouth. Alarms rang inside my head. In mere moments, I felt the cold hardness of steel pressed to the back of my head. I felt myself being pushed as I heard the voice, frigid as ice, cut through my disbelief. “Try to scream, and I shoot. Got that?”
One look into his eyes was all it took for me to realize that he was serious. Dead serious. And it was everything in that one look that filled me with dread in a way nothing else ever had before. Thoughts ran through my head in quick succession: was there enough time to plead? Would he even listen if I tried to say something? How could I get through this alive?

I glanced over my shoulder in hopes of something that would allow me to escape, but to my dismay, the night was silent and clear, eerily so. I turned back to face my assailant, but I caught only the briefest look into his hell-ridden eyes. I opened my mouth to speak, but before the words could work their way from my mouth, my throat was grabbed from behind. I began to panic, struggling to breathe but no air found its way into my lungs. I felt my knees buckle beneath me, and blackness clouded over my vision. And I fell…

9 O’clock

I was roused from my weak state when I felt the biting pain of the frigid water seep into my skin. Adrenaline began to course through my body, and I pried my eyes open. The man glowering down at me was vaguely familiar…but I didn’t have time to dwell on that. His eyes were burning with passion, but there was an essence of uncertainty that I couldn’t comprehend. But in a second, it disappeared and all I saw in his eyes was hatred. That pure loathing chilled me more than the water that was quickly causing me to save all my energy to attempt to shiver the cold away.
Without warning, I was hoisted from the water. I thought that maybe my attacker was hesitant in killing me, but those hopeful thoughts were dispelled when the grip around my arm tightened. My assailant pulled me towards him until I could feel his heavy breath on my face. In a gravelly voice he whispered something in my ear. “Don’t think I won’t kill you. I’ve killed before…just because you’re you doesn’t mean anything to me.”
Because I’m me? I had no idea what he meant. I stared at him blankly, but nothing came to my frigid mind. Then, in a split second, there was a metal tube thrusted into my chest. There was a miniscule explosion, but before I could process the sound, I felt something tear through my flesh. Within a few seconds time my hands were sticky and dripping red. All of a sudden, in one humbling surge, the pain came. The fiery agony radiated through my body in time to the beat of my heart, and with each flow and ebb, I could feel my life force slipping out of my grasp. I collapsed, and I was gasping on the ground when it hit me like a missile. I knew my assailant. I knew him and I had once called him brother. It was his pain-ridden eyes that came to mind as my entire world faded to red…




Ten years earlier

The young man sat at the table with a bored expression smeared across his pale face. He had understood his mother’s point at the beginning of his lecture, a good 20 minutes ago: He was a disgrace to the family. Flunking out of high school and lazily staying home instead of working had not gone over well with his parents.
All of a sudden, his mother’s droning voice paused. He rapidly tried to look at his mother, to pretend he had been listening, but to no avail.
“You weren’t even listening,” she said, her voice heavy with disbelief. “You are not an only child! We cannot spend all of our attention on you! In this house, attention is earned. Do you understand?”
The young man stared into his mother’s rigid eyes. He had understood every word in the last few sentences of his mother’s ultimatum. His blood began to boil, and he rose from his chair. He walked straight out of the house without so much as a glance behind him. He was 18; he could do as he pleased.

Present day, 11 O’clock

A lone officer, clad in his blue uniform, patrolled the walkway down the pier. All of a sudden, he stopped short, and instinct caused him to look down. Halfway submerged, there lay the battered body of a teenage girl. The officer pulled his transmitter radio to his mouth and called for backup. He knelt down to the girl and murmured a brief prayer. He stood suddenly. This was the second death of the day, and the urge to catch the murderer hit him harder than any bullet ever could.
A hunch that the killer had stayed to watch the body being found came over the officer. His hunches were yet to fail him, so the second that he heard the bushes rustle he spun around. He found himself face-to-face with a man who couldn’t be older than 30 brandishing a rifle. Something seemed to shift in the man with the gun. His smirk grew more pronounced, and he made a great show of dropping his weapon. He didn’t seem to worry about the consequences of murder, in fact, his expression proclaimed just the opposite. There was no doubt in the officer’s mind that this was the killer, and that the killer had no intentions of denying the murders he had committed. The officer didn’t give the murderer a chance to retrieve his weapon; he straightaway cuffed the man and dragged him to the police station.

Midnight

The knock on the door startled the woman out of her worried stupor. Her daughter was meant to have called her by now. The woman strode to the door and flung it open, but the person standing before her was not her daughter, rather a cop. A sickening fear rose up in her. The officer’s expression confirmed her deepest fears. Her daughter was dead. She called her husband, and allowed herself to be led to the police car. The ride was silent, disturbed only by the woman’s hiccupping sobs.
When the woman arrived at the station, she rushed into her husband’s arms. He stroked her hair and whispered words of comfort. “Do you know who it was? Is there a suspect yet?” the man’s pleading eyes were a woeful sight to behold.
In his brusque voice, the officer replied, “Yes, as a matter of fact we do. And he has already confessed. Its only protocol, but would you mind coming with me to see if you recognize him?
The helpless man nodded, and led his wife along, following the officer down a long corridor before pausing in front of a cell.
A cold voice emanated from behind the bars. “Hello mom, dad. Fancy seeing you here.” His voice held the hints of a smirk.
The stricken woman had recognized the voice the moment it had begun speaking. Floods of tears welled up in her eyes and she felt faint. The woman’s husband had known the voice as well, and he stepped forward. And, he said, directly to his son, only one word, “Why?”
“Why?” came the reply. “I think you know why. Why I took those girls’ lives, including that of my darling sister? For their brothers, the brothers who finally have their wish to be only children. For the brothers who wanted to be noticed for once. For the brothers like me.”
And the room was silent.