Serial Killer - Part 2

What drives a man into murder?

 

”Ok, if it’s a girl we’ll name her Maria, deal?” he said and glanced at her as he was driving.

“And if it’s a boy we’ll call him Evan”, she said.

“Ah… not that name again. Why are you so hooked with Evan?”

“Why not? It’s nice, modern and it doesn’t rime with any foul words…”

“As David does? Come on, Evan sounds as a pot smoking surfer’s name, do you want our son to be a surfer?”

She laughed and hit him lightly on the shoulder. “Evan’s a nice name. You get to name her if it’s a girl and I get to name him if it’s a boy. That’s the deal.”

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

“Maybe we should just call him Walter Junior, would that please you?”

He laughed. “God, no! You don’t know what I had to go through in school, don’t want to subject my kid to the same cruel punishment my father did me.”

“Our kid…”

“Sorry, our kid”, he said as he leaned in and kissed her on her forehead.

They had set of early to avoid heavy traffic, and so far they had managed. Walter looked at Suzanne and smiled, she was still sitting with the same crossword puzzle that she had started with on their way to her parents four days ago, and now they were headed back home. The letters were smudged and scribbled from her worn-down eraser and he doubted she would ever finish it. When she saw him smiling she gave him a smirk and folded the paper. “You don’t think I can finish this, do you?”

“What do you think your parents thought of me?" He asked instead of answering.

“I think they loved you”, she said and squeezed his hand.

He drove up the off ramp and passed a couple of streets before he turned in on Ebon Street.

“Mind if I drop you off here? He said as they reached his house. “I’ll bring your stuff over later.”

She sighed “Fine! But you shouldn’t stress yourself out like that. You ain’t gonna lose you job just because you don’t show up an hour early for once.”

He leaned in and kissed her. “Thanks, just want to make an impression on the boss now that the lil’ one’s coming. Besides, you could use the exercise”, he said and smiled as she hit him on the shoulder again – pretending to be offended. When she got out of the car and was about to slam the door shut, he leaned in on the passenger seat, “I love you Suz.”

Her hurt façade ruptured and she leaned in and kissed him. “I love you too hun’”, she said before closing the door.

When he was about to drive off she was still standing beside the car. That wasn’t what was suppose to happen, she was supposed to walk up the street towards her house in the other end. How did he know that? He leaned back down on the passenger seat and as he was about to speak she turned towards him. Her face was pale and had a bluish colour, blood began to soak through her white blouse and as she opened her mouth he heard a hissing sound as if she was trying to tell him something.

 

He woke with a fright, his bed sheets were soaked in sweat. As he got up and was walking to the bathroom he looked at the alarm clock, 7:34 – an hour more sleep than usual. Maybe he was adapting to the dream? He dismissed the thought. Even though the dream woke him every night he wasn’t sure that he wanted to be rid of it. It was the only way for him to meet Suzanne. As he washed his face he looked at his reflection in the mirror and thought of the hissing sound. He didn’t remember that from any of the previous dreams, it sounded almost as… “Why?” he said out loud to the reflection. He had stopped crying at nights and thousands of dollars had been spent on psychologists who tried to convince him that it wasn’t his fault. The multiple sessions had eventually paid of and some of the wounds he felt had been patched. Now every stitch that had been so carefully made was torn and old wounds were bleeding again, was he ever going to be fully healed? He went back to the bed and started to cry.

 

A thump from the front door broke the silence. He staggered towards the door and picked up the newspaper. After the incident he had quit his job and pushed away his friends, the only thing that still kept coming was the daily newspaper – and that because he didn’t have the energy to terminate the subscription. As he browsed through the pages he found the article he was been looking for, a case he had been following for the last couple of months.

 

Early yesterday morning the court once again assembled to give a final verdict to Viktor Downsey, who was charged with first degree murder on his ex-wife Suzanne Downsey. Witnesses’ claim to have seen him leave his ex-wife’s apartment with a bloody white shirt, but due to the lack of evidence the case was dismissed until further evidence can be presented. Judge Hollander found the prosecuted free from all charges. Lillian Burrows, a friend of the victim, later commented by saying; I don’t understand how the judge can free such a beast, I mean, several witnesses saw him leave the apartment. I don’t see how the evidence could be any clearer. Suzanne was such a loving friend, she really cared for everyone. I don’t know why he did it, but if the so called justice system can’t convict him, who can?

 

“Why…” he said softy to himself, with a voice he barely remembered.

Reviews

[Sara Muschweck]

Oh, I loved this one, seeing that moment in his dreams when life was normal again, when he was worried with the new life being brought into the world and not with the extermination of the law breaking trash around him. I enjoyed how you were unaware it was a dream until he pulls away to leave. This is a wonderful addition to the "Serial Killer" story. His loss of not only his wife but his unborn child as well pushing him over the edge of reason. I can see how he would want to rid the world of the senseless destruction from others and become a vigilante.

What a wonderful way of giving a glimpse where the story is going to go next by adding the newspaper article. Introducing a new character. (next victim?) As always such a wonderful write, you have a very special way of keeping the reader interested, and inviting them in to the world you have created. I can't wait to see what is going to happen next. Wonderful write, Well done.

[Jamie Fantasy]

Hmmm....I'm having a hard time understanding how this is connected to the other one. Did this happen before he became a serial killer?

There were a few spelling and punctuation mistakes so I would suggest running through that again.

I like the way this was written. It definitely caught me off guard at the point where she started bleeding. I hope in the next part we figure out more about what happened with Suzanne but maybe that's not the focus. Just a reader's thought. I liked the insert of the news article. That was a very effective way of giving news to the reader.

As usual, love it! :)