The Murder

To get a feel for why my killer (the character for a story I'm making) would murder and how he would do it, I wrote the scene.

He hid in the shadows of an alley across the street, casually leaning against a brick building. His eyes were following a blond woman as she made her way down Essex Street in New York City. She smiled at a passing couple before stopping in front of an apartment building.

The man in the shadows glanced down at his wristwatch and smirked.

7 o’clock. Right on time, he thought to himself.

The woman disappeared into the building and the man straightened himself up. He kept his head low so no one saw his face under his black cap. He could feel his heart beat start to rise as he thought back to the night before when he watched a television program where a lion was stalking his prey, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to pounce on his unsuspecting prey.

He reached down and grabbed his black duffel bag beside his right foot. Before moving, he put on his two black, leather gloves that was just inside one of the pockets on the side of the duffel bag. Slinging the bag over his right shoulder, he made his way to the street corner and kept going across the street without looking for oncoming traffic.  A taxi screeched to a halt and the driver started honking and yelling out the window in some foreign language that the man could not understand.

But he didn’t flinch or stop moving when this happened, he simply walked past with his eyes low and locked onto the glass door that the woman disappeared into. He stopped short of the door and, for a second, simply looked down at the door handle.

He could barely contain his excitement. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, taking in the cool, crisp air of the sleepless city. Before opening his eyes again, he listened. The argument between a couple at the cafe to his right, a business on a cell phone to his left. All the voices and noises that this city offered seemed to echo into his head. His right eye twitched and he opened his eyes.

Enjoy the peace while you can. After tonight, you all will live in fear. He hated how people could just live their life so happily and carefree. 

He reached down and yanked the door open. He felt his fingers start to tingle as the adrenaline started pumping into his veins. He was the lion and she was the poor creature that had no idea what was about to happen. He made his way up the five story building slowly, enjoying every step that was closer to the kill. His black loafers echoed through the dimly lit, narrow stairwell where there were two apartments on each floor.

The walls were light brown and torn in some places from decay and probably drunken people attempting to cling to something as they fell down a flight of stairs. Every door was black with a golden number on them, most of which had chipped off pieces of wood or rust on the golden numbers. 

The man calmly made his way up to the fourth floor; passing by every apartment door slowly to lean in and listen to what people were doing. Arguments could be overheard, babies crying, TV blaring, and some were in complete silence. He almost wanted to giggle like a little child because it felt like a game of Hide n’ Seek and the tingling in his fingers only got stronger with each floor he ascended. 

Finally, he arrived at apartment 7 and sat the duffel bag down by his feet. Silently, he crouched down and opened the bag. While keeping an ear open to the activity inside the apartment, he took a vial of chloroform and a plain white face cloth from the bag. He carefully soaked the cloth in the poison. Placing the vial back in the bag, he stood up and put the bag over his shoulders.

Leaning against the wall beside apartment 7’s door, he listened for movement. He could hear a female voice talking on a cell phone inside. His smile grew ever wider. It was better than he could have thought. He wanted her to be found quickly, but it would mean he would have to act fast.

With his heart pounding against his ribcage and his tingling fingers causing his hand to shake slightly, he knocked on the door making sure he was off to the side.

“Hold on.” He heard the female say.

Yes, he thought, hold on long enough to hear her struggle.

He heard a bolt click and when the door was slightly ajar, he slammed his body into the door causing it to swing back and hit the female in the face. Before she could let out a scream, the man thrust the hand that held the chloroform towel over her nose and mouth and pinned her head against the wall of her hallway. For a few seconds she struggled and tried to scream but it only swam around in her mouth, unable to escape.

“Shhh. Be still, my dear.” He whispered into her ear. His fascination grew when he saw the fear in her wide, blue eyes.

Finally, she went limp in his arms and he gently placed her on the ground. Quickly he closed the door and dragged her body into the living room where a rug was the only thing between the medium sized, green couch and her small television. 

He laid her on her back with her arms at her sides. As gently as he could, he removed all her clothes and neatly folded them on top of one another. Placing the bag next to him, he retrieved a perfectly folded piece of paper from the side pocket of the bag and hid it somewhere in the pile of clothing. It took only a few seconds for him to go back to the kitchen that he passed coming in, and place the clothes on the kitchen counter where he placed her black high heels on top like a decoration on a birthday cake and go back to the unconscious woman. 

He removed duct tape, a permanent marker, and a knife from the bag. Kneeling down beside the woman, he gently stroked her cheek.

“Don’t worry. Your death is to correct all that is wrong.” He said.

He placed duct tape over the woman’s mouth and wrote ‘Find me’ in permanent marker. Taking the knife and caressing her face, he placed it against her neck. In one swift move, he slide the knife across her neck, slicing it wide open. He raised his eyebrows in curiosity as blood squirted into the air and came down like crimson rain. Most of it just came out and ran down the side of her neck like a calm river creating a puddle of blood on the woman’s carpet. He half expected it to just soak up but the amount of blood that was settling only made the puddle of blood even bigger, almost becoming as long as the woman’s body. 

“You will help bring peace.” He whispered.

He raised his knife and plunged it into the flesh just under her ribcage on the left. Using both hands, he carved the flesh into a curve that went down until it reached the belly button, then he went back up and made the same movement but on the opposite side of the woman. 

“The symbol for Aries.” He muttered, tearing up from the joy he felt. He was the lion feasting on its prey. 

He leaned forward and kissed the now dead woman’s forehead.” Goodbye, my love. Forgive me.” 

He put everything he had back into the duffel and zipped it closed then slung it around his shoulders once again. He retraced back to the kitchen and found the blond’s cell phone on floor. He picked it up and heard a female voice panicking.

“Melaney! What was that noise!? Are you OK?” She was yelling and asking these questions knowing no one would answer. It was a way for her to try and comfort herself, the man guessed. 

“Melaney is unavailable to come to the phone right now but she hopes you’ll send her flowers to her grave.” He sounded more hoarse than he expected to. The female voice on the other end of the phone fell silent.

“What did you do to her?” She finally asked, voice cracking with fear and sorrow.

“The same that will befall three more people. The next one will be a work of art.” His voice filled with joy at the challenge and the clues that the police would never crack. He turned off the phone and looked back at the pale corpse of his first victim. The adrenaline was gone and his heart rate was back to normal.

“Why? Why did you make me do this?” He muttered to himself. In the distance sirens could be heard and he knew that they were heading to where he was. But he needed to remember this. He didn’t know why but he had to. He crossed back over to the body and saw that she had on a silver ring that appeared plain except for the black line running across the middle with dotted diamonds going around on her right hand.

He reached down and snatched it from her index finger, accidentally cutting her skin. Turning towards the door, he placed it in his pocket and left the room. Almost like a shadow, he swept down the stairs and out the back exit on the first floor, disappeared into the dawn of night.