The Killer

Chapter 1 - Valerie

Valerie passed through the hallway, books in hand. Various students continuously bumped into her as she continued walking with her head down, but no one seemed to notice. She tucked her long jet black hair behind her ear and headed towards the empty lunch table next to the trash can. Valerie took her backpack off, dropped it next to her seat and started to read her book amongst the noise of conversations around her. Every time she saw more and more students conversing amongst themselves, she could feel more tears well up in her eyes as they reminded her of her friends.

As she read in silence she suddenly heard a gentle voice across from her, but decided to continue reading. After a few more moments she heard the voice again, this time slightly louder. This time Valerie let out a sigh and rolled her eyes as she placed the book down. Once again her jet black hair covered the right side of her face and looked up to see who was sitting with her. She saw a smiling girl with brown skin shoulder-length black hair and big brown eyes. She wore a plain white t-shirt and a black jacket.

Valerie continued to stare at her with big eyes, then slowly raised up her hand to wave. Just when Valerie was going to open her book again, the girl put her hand over the page and smiled at her again. She sighed to herself again and closed the book again after the girl took her hand off of the page. "Who are you?" Valerie asked as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "My name is Daphne," she said with a soft tone. Valerie looked at her again, then lifted her lips into a little smile.

"Aren't you in my English class? Which Daphne are you?" Valerie asked. "Daphne Ocampo," she answered again. "Well nice to meet you," Valerie said with a more joyful tone. "Anyway, what's your favorite part about English class?" Daphne asked. Valerie looked up at the ceiling for a little bit as she thought then responded, "Reading. Reading is my favorite part." Daphne nodded with a smile and said, "Me too! What is the name of the book you are reading?"

Valerie looked at the front cover of the book and felt the book with her fingertips as she traced the picture on the front. "This book is called 'Watch Out'. It is about a girl who has fire powers and becomes a serial killer through bullying over the years, then eventually gets killed by police once they found out how she secretly tormented her bullies," Valerie said with a smile. "So far I'm on the part where she is eating lunch with her friends." Daphne nodded once again.

"I enjoy reading books too. I'm reading 'That Night'. It's about a group of teenagers who go out and disappear one night. Nobody knows who did it, basically a mystery novel. I left off on the part where the friends disappeared and their parents are now reporting everything to the police,'' Daphne said. Valerie nodded her head with a smile on her face.

Daphne smiled back then looked at the clock on the wall of the cafeteria. "Oh, it's almost time for sixth period. What class do you have?" Daphne asked. Valerie took out her schedule from the front pouch of her binder, and looked for period six. "I have Spanish class with Ms. Sousa," Valerie responded as she looked up. Daphne took out her schedule then looked at it. When she saw what her sixth period class was, she instantly grinned.

"Hey, let's walk together to class! We have the same teacher," Daphne said. Valerie grinned as she stood from her seat and reached out to get her backpack. Suddenly, Daphne put her hand out in front of Valerie to stop her from picking up her backpack. "Oh, no—No I'll get that for you!" Daphne said as she bent down and picked up Valerie's backpack. Valerie's eyes widened and she smiled even more. "Oh thank you," she said. As they passed through the hallways filled with students, Valerie and Daphne walked in unison.

As they continued their way down towards the end of the hallway, Valerie saw a paper with the heading "MISSING" in bold. This caught her eye, and she backed up a little and faced the paper. Daphne stared at Valerie to see where she was going then followed. "MISSING: ROSETTE SOUSA: Last seen on September 17, 2018. Known as Señorita Sousa at Woodbridge High School, Rosette disappeared on Monday evening without any trace. The last time she was seen was before she left to go to work. She has wavy, long auburn hair and blue eyes. She is a middle-aged woman and has a red heart tattoo on her right wrist with a dagger going through it. Rosette was last seen wearing dark blue jeans with a plain yellow shirt with white stripes with a black jacket. If she is seen, please call 911 immediately. Thank you for you attention," Valerie read to herself.

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the sight of the paper. She observed the picture of the person and the name again, only to confirm that she did not read the information incorrectly. "Did this really happen?" Valerie asked with stillness in her voice. Daphne glanced at the paper for only a few seconds then looked back down. "Yeah. Shocking isn't it?" she stated in a monotone voice then walked to class.

Valerie continued to stare at her as she just walked off to the class by herself, then followed after her. She narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brows together, disliking Daphne's monotone reaction. "Who reacts like that?" Valerie muttered to herself quietly. She pulled the door open then walked into the classroom.

Valerie curiously looked around the room for who could be the substitute teacher but saw nobody. She looked at the whiteboard and it was empty. All the students were in their usual seats, but no one else was in here. When the bell rang, Valerie frantically ran to her seat and stared at the ceiling as she waited. She heard the door open, then looked to see a brunette with green eyes enter, her dimples showing as she smiled.

"Buenas tardes clase, soy tu maestra sustituta hoy. Estoy triste para informarte que su maestra está desaparecida. No hemos visto a ella hasta ayer porque solamente se desapareció después de la escuela. Entonces estoy aquí para ensañarse hoy. Me llamo srta. Portilla y ustedes van a hacer estas actividades en sus libros de español. Voy a recoger sus papeles en el fin de la clase. ¿Me comprenden?" Ms. Portilla asked. All of the students in the room just stared at her silently and a few nodded.

"¡Qué bien! Pueden hacer otra tarea para sus otras clases pero ahora no hablen porque necesitan terminar las actividades 1 y 3 en páginas veintiocho y treinta. Y RECUERDAN HABLAR SOLAMENTE EN ESPAÑOL. ¡NO ÍNGLES!" Ms. Portilla said. She headed over to the back table where Ms. Sousa usually sat then tapped away on her phone.

Valerie read the activity alone, finished it within a few minutes after reading it then read her book again until the period was over. As she packed her backpack and got ready to go and turn in the assignment, Daphne walked over to her seat with furrowed eyebrows together. "How was the classwork?" Daphne asked seeming to know that Valerie finished first. Valerie looked at Daphne and handed the paper to Ms. Portilla still using her phone.

"It was easy," she said then shrugged her shoulders. Daphne placed her hand on Valerie's shoulder, turned her around as she tried to exit the room then looked at her with huge eyes. Valerie, motionless, stood in the doorway and looked at Daphne's hand on her shoulder then looked back at her face. "Can you please help me with the classwork, Valerie?" She asked as her eyes widened a little more and tightened her grip on her shoulder.

Valero's lower lip quivered a little. "I-um...I already turned in the paper," she said as she tried to back away towards the door. Daphne was now closing towards Valerie's face and then her eyes faded to an opaque black. Valerie's jaw dropped as she stared directly into Daphne's eyes. "If you do not hand me that paper, I will spread rumors that you sent nudes out to Gio. Understand?" Valerie was so mesmerized by Daphne's black pupils that she did not even notice that her feet were off the ground until she started to kick up into the air.

Jaw still hanging down, Valerie moved her mouth to say something but only jumbled words came out. "N-no...I'm so sorry. I'm too busy...I have to g-go to b-b-band practice," she responded. Daphne stared directly at her again, eyes still black. Her eyebrows weaved together and her face was visibly becoming red as she brought Valerie back down to the ground. Once she instantly felt her feet touch the ground, Valerie opened the door and took off running.

"Great, this bitch made me late to my band practice. How is Mr. Gilbeaux going to believe that some idiot levitated me off of the ground?" Valerie muttered to herself as she ran towards the doors of the hallway and exited out to the gym. She ran towards the area with the flutes in their proper suitcases, grabbed one of them and headed towards her class practicing on top of the blacktop.

"Miss Wilkins, why are you late for band practice?!" Valerie froze in place with her mouth open and she looked all around her to see her band mates stop playing their instruments and staring at her. As she looked into each one of their faces, she saw a smirk from Daphne. "Ugh...That girl again," Valerie thought to herself.