The Carter Hollow Murders

"Trace" - Seventeenth/Eighteenth/Nineteenth Official Murders

It's a beautiful night, really, with the stars out and darkness covering everything and semi-darkness at the dance and I walk across the dance floor in the warm summer night, savoring my solitude in the crowd.

The music is loud and people ebb and flow around me as I walk across the dance floor. No one stops me as I smile and bob my head to the music feeling calm and in control. I always feel aware and alert and relaxed at events like this lost in the anonymity of the crowd.

A little to my right, hanging out near the drinks, a group of students laughs and talks excitedly. I see two girls standing a little apart from them. The taller one looks worried, while the shorter girl with piercings is laughing like a maniac. The tall one's short hair and vaguely Asian features let me know she's Lily Le, and the short one's piercings and kinda Victorian dress identify her as Clove Dahlia.

Some kid by the table says something and looks in their direction, all but pointing at them as his friends burst into laughter. Clove grabs Lily by the arm and yanks her friend away, heading away from the party, but not before I see the hurt expression flowering on Lily's face.

They're an odd pair, the two of 'em. The bipolar and goth girls. Gossip and whispers always follow 'em, buzzing through the crowd as they walk through, a pair of weirdoes on display for the school to mock and scorn.

Doesn't mean they'll cry any less when they find the girls' corpses.

So I follow the pair for a little while and stick to the shadows. They drift farther and farther away from the party talking softly until I slip my garrote out of my pocket.

I creep up behind them—gravel sounds underfoot—Clove turns and I barely get the cord around her throat. She struggles wildly but I cling on like a monkey and Lily tries to pull me off and she's screaming and my ears hurt but no one hears her as they're all at the party.

With a final twist Clove stops struggling and I turn to Lily who attacks me like a madwoman, raking her nails through my hair, pounding me with her merciless fists and dodging away when I try to hit her but I'm faster and despite her anger I jab at her throat and torso and punch her a few times about the head just like she did to me and finally, finally she backs away.

We're both battered and bloody and my old bruises hurt like the devil but Lily is worse off with a cut over one eye and she's holding her side panting and wincing and I dart in and stick out my leg and sweep her off her feet.

She falls with a thump and doesn't get up.

The only sound is my ragged breathing and the distant muffled noise of the party. Slowly and painfully I grab my garrote from where it fell and wrap it around Clove's throat and give it a final jerk as she sputters, grabs at my hands feebly, and dies.

I crawl over to where Lily is sprawled on the ground, ready to do the same to her but someone grabs me and helps me up.

"Are you alright?" The voice is warm and concerned. Its owner spins me to face them and I see it's Michael Aiden, the band director. He's looking at my face and my injuries and his eyes flick to the horror on the ground and back to my face as he asks, "What happened here?"

"A killer..." I mumble, looking at my feet. "Trace jumped out of the shadows and..." I gesture at the Lily and Clove. 'Blast! He must have heard Lily screaming and come running. Just my luck this guy shows up to save them,' I think while looking warily at Michael Aiden.

He bends over to examine their bodies. "Strangled," he whispers, horrified. Michael Aiden looks up at me with his cloudy blue eyes full of compassion and pity but his gaze lingers on the cord in my hand.

I barely see his eyes flash revulsion and anger with a spark of fear before I grab him by the ears. Michael Aiden struggles and grabs my forearms, twisting and turning like a bull trying to free his horns. I ram my knee into his groin which makes him yell in pain and go limp, slithering out of my grasp. I kick him while he's on the ground and he writhes in agony but another kick makes him go limp.

Tightly, firmly, I hold onto his head and snap it back, hearing a 'crack' as I break his neck. I wait a few minutes to be sure no one else is coming, then move over to Lily and kill her too.

I'm sitting there in the warm night, sweating and bruised, and I the enormity of what I've done hits me.

'I'm a murderer.'

'I didn't kill one person. I killed ten.'

And I stop to ask myself why I'm even doing this.

'It's not like I'll get anything out of it. No fame, no fortune, no beauty. Maybe I'm doing it for fun. It's not like I'm a social outcast, right? Someone who's stereotyped as a sociopathic killer?'

My soft, sad laugh echoes in the lonely night.

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You may guess who the murderer is! Only send me a guess if you have a different guess than the ones you've made before! :D