Goodbye Winter

Two days prior...

Snow sprinkled down from the hazy purple yellow sky in little spirals.
Reuben walked with Alice along the pasted pavement, hand in hand.
"Hey ihr zwei, niemand braucht so früh am Morgen Romantik zu sehen!" yelled someone from across the street.

"Entschuldigung Frau. Rose" Reuben yelped back as he untwined his hand from Alice's. Alice looked up at him, a confused look on her face. "Miss Rose only speaks German. She chose not to take English with everyone else when they first started the program in her high school years." Reuben explained.

Much of English culture had made its way into Cryptic Hill in 1980 when the English tourists came to see the murders of the Hilsock family and talk with the sole survivor. There were so many tourists that most of Cryptic Hills residents decided to learn English from the English teachers who would stick around.
"So what did she say?" Alice asked.

"Ah, nothing important. Just being sour about remaining single." He assured her and took her cold hand in his again, landing a kiss on her forehead.

Crows High came to view as the couple walked forward still. Alice pointed a narrow finger towards the flagpole. Standing below it was a group of men in uniforms. Hmm the deputy and his officers? Reuben thought.
"There's a body!" Alice exclaimed, still holding her finger out.

"What?" Reuben asked and stopped walking. Alice turned and stopped. He walked forward to Alice and wrapped his arms around her shoulders tightly. Alice hugged him back and whispered at him.

"A.) you're choking me. And B.) can I get a lift over to the dead body?" she smiled up at him.

"You seriously want to go see the body? We'll be late for school!" he paused, "Also, yes I will give you a lift so you can see." he gave in to her because to be honest, he was curious too! He squatted down and took his rucksack from his back and into his hands. Alice climbed onto his back and wrapped her arms lightly near his collar bone. He put the rucksacks strap into her hands so she could carry it while he held her in place on his back. Reuben started walking towards the crime scene when he heard his best friend Hendrik call out to him.

"Yo Ruebs, what kind of accessory is that and where can I get one?" Hendrik called out. His blonde hair nearly covering his hazel eyes. They sparkled with amusement.

"You can get one at 'quit hitting on my girlfriend Market'! And seriously man, don't be so judgemental and mind your own damn business. I can do whatever I want with her!" Reuben called back at him as Hendrik approached them.

"Well maybe if I go there I would be able to find someone our age and not just some sophmore." Hendrik retorted.

"Excuse me? I'm not just some sophmore! I'm a sophmore who managed to get such a perfect boyfriend like Rueben." Alice claimed with a sassy tone and layed her cheek against the side of Reubens head. With that said, Hendrik walked away muttering at his group of lacrosse jocks who were nearby. Approaching the flagpole, Reuben and Alice were able to make out the voices of the chattering police. They could just barely hear them talking in hushed voices when they saw the two students approach.

"The victim is Mara Von Kuhn, early twenties, worked for Zubway, she was a tourist from Berlin. Arrived five weeks ago and was expected to bunk at a family members home, but reportedly never arrived Sir." one officer said.

A pathologist spoke up from the ground where the body lied "Victim shows signs of restrain and bruising. There are strange marks on the stomach that appear to be of Saule. Possible signs of bondage as well."

A tall man with a cap looked down at the pathologist "Looks like our killer upped his game. Everyone, make sure to be on the lookout for anyone, suspectedly male, who has any kinks or who is prone to not being able to find a woman to produce offspring with. We need to find him before he starts targeting even younger women!" with his speech ending, the members of law began to disperse and clean up. The outdoor loudspeakers turned on overhead and all the students around campus looked up.

"Students of Crows High School, do not worry or speak with the law forces. Please calmly attend your classes like normal and stay out of it. Have a nice day everyone and do not worry." it was the principal speaking from his office microphone. Everyone parted ways and went to class. Everything was normal except the extra gossip about the deceased Von Kuhn lady. Generally people gossiped about sports, trends, other people, etc.

Finally lunch came around and Reuben set out to find Alice and her friends. After a few minutes he spotted her light pink hair at a table with Oliver and Olivia, her two close friends that were also twins. "Alice Mosnik, how dare you not wait for me by thy doors!" he joked with a british accent as he sat at her table with his food. Alice looked away from her friends and at him instead.

"Why hello Mr. Heilscher. How were thy classes today" Alice asked him while poking his arm with a fork.

"They were ok I guess, but onto the more important matters." Reuben replied in a normal voice. "With the police talking about 'Der Frauenkiller' targeting women younger than twenty, you need to start being more aware of your surroundings. There is absolutely no way I would let anyone steal you from me, however when I'm not around I can't control things like that!" he finished worriedly.

"Oh quit overreacting Reubie. I know this a small town, but there's like a 9/100% chance it'll be me out there getting killed!" Alicce pointed out.

"I know! I'm just super worried because if that bastard finds you pretty he might take you and try to do things like he did to that poor tourist! I mean, that guy tried to-- he tried to impre-" Reuben stuttered.

"I know, I know. You don't have to finish that sentence. But trust me, I'll be ok baby..." Alice stressed to him with worried eyes. She got up and walked to his side of the table and hugged him from behind. Reuben held her arms that wrapped around his chest and looked up at her from his seat. Alice leaned down and quickly kissed him. The lunch bell rang for classes to resume.

The day dragged on like a draugr following a gepard. Eventually eighth period ended and everyone started home. Reuben walked Alice home per usual, except this time he looked out for any possible Frauenkiller, but didn't spot any suspicious men. I hope Alice stays safe tonight... Reuben thought as he locked everything up and went to bed.

A/N: In this series, google translate will be your new bff because I enjoy using German words or sentences occasionally as seen in this chapter and I would love to hear some feedback in the comments or anything you like or dislike or just regular comments. I would love if I could get some regular readers as I will most likely update this story with a new chapter every week or month!