Hangman (ON HOLD)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

Hangman's POV.

I now knew the name and age of my first victim, thanks to the trusty old police department releasing the details to the press yesterday. Benjamin Griffin, 22, his death was ruled as an unfortunate suicide, which was exactly what I had hoped for.

It was time to strike again, I wanted to see if the pompous fools in the local police department were smart enough to link my two victims. I doubted it, I knew I was far too intelligent to be caught by the likes of them. I would continue showing them up until they found me, which they never would.

I had been hiding behind a large dumpster in a dark alleyway whilst I had watched the dance studio across the road. The night around me was dark and there were few stars shining through the masses of inky, black clouds floating in the sky. It was the perfect night to take a life.

Finally, the last class of the day had finished and students of the ballet class came filing out the door. I watched and waited until their teacher emerged, locked the doors and set of at a slow jog towards her home. I had surveillance her last night and knew this was her routine.

She would jog home, feed her cat, and have a shower before settling in for the night with a movie or a book. The life of a middle aged spinster. I pushed my way from the ground and grabbed my handy-dandy backpack. It was again full of all the items I would need to pull this off easily. I walked out onto the street, staying in the shadows as much as possible without drawing attention to myself, and headed toward the direction I knew my victim was going.

I had reached the house some time ago and had just found the perfect moment to enter the building. Ms. Dance-Teacher, (I didn't make a habit of learning the name of a victim until afterwards.) had just finished feeding her cat and was heading to her shower. Once I started to hear the water run I made my move, and entered through the unlocked, back door. Some people these days were too trusting, but it helped me so who was I to complain.

I made my way silently down the hall of her one story weatherboard home, towards the bathroom she was now occupying. I pulled off my bag quickly, slid on my gloves, snatched my rope and my new weapon for this evening before I settled in to wait for the water to be turned off. I didn't have to wait long, I got myself ready and waited for her to walk into the hallway. I didn't want to attack her in the bathroom as it would be pretty obvious of a struggle in such a small room and I didn't plan on hanging around to clean up.

I heard the door creak open and made my move as soon as she was visible. I threw the noose of my rope over her head, as though I was roping cattle and pulled, instantly making her fall over. The towel she had wrapped around her came lose and tumbled to the floor around her legs. I had to move fast, so while she was struggling to remove the noose and attempting to stand, I was dragging her back into the bathroom. She was an extremely light woman and I had no trouble tying my end of the rope over the top of the shower screen and lifting her up from the ground.

As if she only just realised what I was doing, I heard her attempt to let out a scream, which really just sounded like a strained gurgle due to the tightness of the rope around her neck. I looked at her in pity, not for what I was about to do, no, I pitied her for being so stupid as to think she would be able to scream and probably get away.

I finished tightening the rope to the shower screen support beam before giving it a final tug, lifting the woman from the ground and starting the hanging process. Now for my new weapon to appear.

I pulled out the shiny, silver knife and watched as the glint from the blade reflected in my victims terrified, brown eyes. I grabbed hold of her left hand first, turning it over in my gloved hand before I made some strategical slices on the wrist. I dropped her hand and grabbed the right one and did the same thing, she wasn't putting up a fight as the lack of oxygen was starting to slow her down. I knew that I would have had to make the slits on her wrist while she was still alive to the blood splattering and clotting match up with the time of death.

I knelt down carefully, and placed the knife in position at her feet to make it look as though she had dropped it after committing the act herself. I stood and watched as her blood poured out of her slit wrists and dripped onto the tiled floor, collecting in a pool of bright red mixed with the few water droplets coming from her still slightly wet body.

The life in her eyes slowly dulled out before her head flopped forward, her chin resting on her chest while she swung slightly in the delicate breeze coming from the tiny window above the toilet.

Satisfied with my efforts for the night, I strolled out the bathroom door and closed it behind me.

I laughed to myself as I again left the premises of a crime. I wonder if they will make the link yet? I pondered as I slipped away into the shadowy night.