Don't Fall Asleep

Chapter 8

Asleep

Wednesday. July 23, 2014. 10:43 PM

There was no time to waste. As soon as I was able to, I lifted myself off the ground and headed towards the trail. I ran as fast as I could to get out of there on the uneven ground. Since I used my whole night the night before just to memorize my way out of this place, it didn't take long to get out. Before I knew it, there were no tree's around me to block the night breeze.

Thankfully, I somewhat remembered the forest from the only other time I had been there the first time I took over this body. I thought for a minute about where I should go to try and find the killer and decided on going to my home. I hoped that the killer would be looking for me and so they would be around my house trying to figure out where I might have gone. Once I found them, there was only one way I could determine it was them or not. My first encounter, my senses were fading, so there isn't much I could use to identify them aside from my sense of feeling. If they grabbed me, I would be able to tell by their grip that it was them. There was also the problem that they would have to grab me, however, so I would also need to get away.

My plan was that I would find the killer or, rather, they would find me then they would grab me. I would identify them by their grip, just to be sure, and then memorize their smell. If I did that, it would be much easier to find them again afterwards and make them confess. I was quite proud of myself for my genius plan.

I took the fastest route I remembered that I could take without getting lost and found my way to my house. To my dismay, it was just as quiet as every other house I had passed. I couldn't hear a single footstep aside from my own, nor could I smell anyone else nearby. It was a dead end and my plan failed. I had never considered what to do if the killer wasn't here. The only thing I could think of doing was going to the scene of the crime, but it had already been a few days since the murder and it was all the way across town. If I was going to check there, I would have to wait until tomorrow night otherwise I wouldn't have enough time to get back to the forest so Zena wouldn't know that I was walking around again. That, and my senses would probably fade before I would encounter the killer again.

The night had been wasted. I found nothing at the house, which I now realize didn't have a very high success rate, and I had to walk back to the forest with as much information on the killer as I left with. I felt all my hope drain from my body as I went back the way I came. The night felt colder now and my emotions were negative. I was becoming a pessimist. If I couldn't find the killer soon, would the police find them? I knew the real killer wouldn't have dragged me to the crime scene just to watch my other half struggle, however. There had to have been more of a reason to it. The killer probably left clues pointing towards it being me who killed the person. They would undoubtably use me as the excuse to blame my other half, since nobody knows what I do during my consciousness.

Now that I thought about it, there was no way I could prove that the killer was the one who actually killed someone once I find them. All I could really do was hope for them to snap and come clean. Did they really need me to find them for that to happen, though? I wonder if it would even matter if I found them. Maybe if I could find a way to tell my other half who the killer was, Zena could at least come out of hiding and stop feeling so guilty. If she knew the truth, maybe she could get the killer to confess. I just needed to find them first.

Halfway back to the forest, I started hearing the other footsteps. They were nearly in sync with mine, just a little off rythm. If my senses weren't so high, I wouldn't have noticed them. I almost didn't hear it, since I was thinking so hard on the killer subject. The only person I could think of that could be following me would be the killer. I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face. Now all I had to do was pretend I didn't notice them and continue walking.

I slowed myself down enough for them to be able to catch up to me without noticing that I purposely slowed myself. Once the other person got closer, their step was more in tune with mine. I had to strain to hear their footsteps and make sure they were still following me. After a while, they caught up and when they figured they were close enough to catch me, they started running. I did my best fake surprised look as I spun around towards my stalker.

Not long after I spun, I was taken down. Thankfully, it took them a while to catch up so I had prepared myself mentally and knew exactly what I was going to do. If I hadn't heard them, I would have panicked. Instead, I took in their scent and memorized it. The smell was vaguely familiar, which I expected considering the fact that they attacked me and framed me for murder only a few nights ago. The scent, however, still gave me a bit of a headache.

My headache threw me off a second too long. I lost my calm that was allowing me the chance to escape and I was taken in to a difficult hold and had a sharp object held to my throat. The only thing that kept my heart rate down was the knowledge that this person wouldn't kill me because they needed me to be framed. While I was going over ways to escape in my head, a female voice whispered in my ear much closer than I was comfortable with.

"Better hurry up and catch me, the police are on to you," I could hear the smile in her psychotically cheerful voice that sent shivers down my spine. "I'll only play you're game with you for a little longer. If you find out who I am, I'll tell the police everything. You make this so much fun."

With that, she let go and was gone before I could take another breath. The only thing I could hear was the beating of my own heart. This girl was the killer, and I needed to find her. Fast.