What We Once Were

Chapter 7.

Bridget and Greyson decided to investigate the crime scene in The Black Woods first before going to the autopsy room. When they arrived, the authorities had it blocked off in yellow tape, wrapped around the trunks of pine trees so tall they seemed to touch the grey sky above.

Bridget crouched down to get a closer look at where the bodies were found. With the picture in hand, she compared the scene both in real life and in the photograph, hoping to see something or get a clue as to who or what might've done this.

"Hey Bridge, look at this." Greyson ushered as he gestured towards the tree trunk close to where the girls had been found.

On the left, was a circle with a triangle in the center. The middle symbol was a triangle that looked exactly like the Deathly Hallows symbol from the Harry Potter series. The last symbol was a square with an X drawn inside it, each lines connecting to each corner of the square.

"I only know the second one, I would've had to have lived under a rock to not know that's the Deathly Hallows." Greyson said with a tinge of humor in his voice.

Bridget half smiled at his comment, they'd had their Harry Potter obsession for about a year when they were ten years old. Memories of them running around in the woods pretending to cast spells with sticks they'd found and cloaks they'd scraped together from the dollar store was something she'd never forget.

"Yeah, but the other two. They don't make any sense. And why would the killer have a symbol from a young adult book and two others that are irrelevant?"

"Maybe he was a Harry Potter fan, the other two could be his own he created." Greyson suggested.

"I guess, but the square with the X, I used to draw that in my notebook. Everyone did at some point. It's just something I did when I was bored. It's a simple and generic design everyone knows, therefore—"

"It's not easy to trace at all." Greyson finished her thought.

"Exactly. The circle with the triangle though, makes no sense at all. That has to have some kind of meaning behind it. Either way, they are somehow connected to each other with the identity of the killer. It could be a code or something. Like what The Masked Murderer did to me all those years ago." Bridget's voice trailed off.

Greyson touched her shoulder, "Just to clarify, none of those symbols are from your Nancy Drew code breaker book right?" Greyson tried to lighten her mood. He knew her father was a very touchy and emotional part of her past and he tried to keep her from slipping away from him and into that darkness that he knew was still lurking inside her.

"Ha, no, not that I can recall." Bridget chuckled, feeling the muggy forest air dampen her clothes, causing them to stick to her body.

"I've got pictures of the symbols," Greyson said, knowing that she'd ask him about them later.

"Ok, thanks. Grey, what were the girls' names again?" Bridget asked, too focused on trying to decipher whether or not there might be a pattern to catch herself from slipping up with his nickname.

"Uh," Greyson opened the file. "Both were sixteen, their names were, Alison Perkins and Becky Bickenstein." He answered, snorting as he said Becky's last name.

Bridget ignored his laugh and paced back and forth then rocked on her heels. "What did they do in high school?"

"Alison was a cheerleader and Becky was too, but also part of the science club."

"Do you think this person could be targeting high school cheerleaders?" Bridget thought aloud.

"That seems kinda strange, even for a murderer, but it could be a possibility. We could look into it, but we don't even know how old this person is or if it's a he or a she." Greyson added.