50 Words For Murder

chapter 2 : annihilate

annihilate

əˈnʌɪɪleɪt /

verb

destroy utterly; obliterate.

Halloween Night (Two months and twenty eight days ago)

Oakwood University boasted of a pristine environment, student-friendly infrastructure, top qualified professors and the best frat parties. A campus consisting of five universities under the label "Oakwood", it was the best in the States.
A young student hurried past the large groups of enthusiastic people and made his way to one of the clubs. A phone in hand, he searched the crowds for his friends.
"Hey," he said. "Harry? Can you hear me?"

"Liam," said Harry, his low voice yelling over loud music. "Mate, where are you?!"
"I'm trying to find my way," explained Liam. "Your campus is freaking huge."
"Hold up," said Harry. Liam heard him speak to someone in the background, probably Louis or Zayn - his other friends. "Don't worry. Louis is on his way. Where exactly are you?"

"Umm," said Liam, looking for some sort of landmark."Oakwood Library. Hurry up, there are loads of drunk people here."
"Chill out, already," said Harry. Liam could feel his smirk through the phone. "I'm sure Karen wouldn't be too worried about her precious boy surrounded by drunk people. She knows what college's like."

Minutes later, a young lad dressed in a weird sort of cape caught Liam's eye and grinned. He walked towards him and pounded Liam on the back.

"Ow, Louis!"
"Halloween night, mate," said Louis, grinning. "And you still chose to dress up as Batman?"
"What's the problem with that?" asked Liam, slightly frowning. The built-up twenty year old was a fit, brown-haired sound engineer bearing a slight resemblence to a puppy when he frowned. Tonight, however, his short hair was covered with a head gear and a Batman mask - his Halloween costume every year.

"Well," explained Louis, walking beside him. He was slightly shorter than Liam and his hair - usually swept in a fringe - was now curled up Vampire-style. Liam couldn't help but notice his little fangs as he spoke. "The problem with being Batman on Halloween is, there are at least fifty people dressed like that! I could've sworn some guy was you and ended up making a complete fool of myself because it wasn't."
"You were a vampire last year," Liam pointed out as they got closer to the club where he was supposed to meet their friends.

"Was not, Wolfie," said Louis. "Sound engineering clearly ruined your memory. What a disappointment."
The Oakwood Bar looked all pimped up with Halloween decorations. Pumpkins and spiders hung down the swinging lights and the excited chatter of students rang around the spacious area. Tonight was the biggest and busiest night on campus.
The boys continued arguing until they reached their friends. As they reached the crowd, Liam was amused. His friends Harry and Niall had dressed up as Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. Another friend of his, Zayn, was dressed like the Joker.

"Why so serious, Batman?" asked Zayn, purposely changing his voice to resemble the well-known comic character. Liam laughed at the sight of his best friend dressed as his arch enemy. He turned to Harry and Niall.

"Did you guys decide your costumes together or something?" he asked. Harry raised his glass in response and nodded.
"Well, since I'm almost a doctor, I wanted to be a doctor for Halloween." explained Harry, grinning.
Harry was doing his final year at Oakwood Med School and did not fail to bring it up every time someone mentioned something vaguely related to the field.
"Alright, Harold, listen," said Niall, looking at the crowd. A tall, brunnete girl smiled at him."My date's here. I'll see ya later, okay?"
"Wait," said Harry, surprised. "We came as a pair! You can't ditch me now! What's Dr. Jekyll without his Mr. Hyde?"
"A total loser," said Louis, sipping his beer. "Which is what you already were, so nothing really new, mate."