Paper Heart Goodbyes

Ch. 14 Paper Heart Killer's POV

I knew that my...extracurricular activities the past few years would attract news. I expected it from the police, FBI possibly, the news. I wasn't expecting social media to catch hold of the stories and for podcasts to be made and message boards to be created.

Every once in a while I check out the message boards just to see what people are saying. People are so creative! Some of the ideas and theories are so crazy. They give me way too much credit. Making blood sacrifices to the devil? Being a jilted lover? I guess the paper heart could make people think that, but that's laughable to me. I just leave them because I like it and as you know it does have meaning to me.

Anyway, like I said sometimes I like to check out what people are saying about me. The media has dubbed me "The Paper Heart Killer", which I suppose has a nice ring to it. I'll live on in history with my own moniker like "Son of Sam" and "The Zodiac Killer". Most of the articles floating around about me are just the facts - what is known about when the killings took place, who the "victims" were. I put victims in quotations because, of course, regular people think they're the ones who are to be pitied. But what about me?! I'm the one who's been wronged here. I'm the one who keeps getting betrayed over and over again. And then, I'm the one who has to kill. I'm the real victim here.

But, I digress. There's one recent article that really caught my attention. It was a sort of fun article rounding up some theories about why I do what I do. This reporter really caught my attention. She seems like such a cool person. She found a way to still write about me, but put a spin on her article. It's not the same old article about the so-called victims, but instead focuses on me. She wonders who I could be and it's so nice for someone to actually have an interest in me as a person. It's rare that people are willing to put me first.

I've been thinking about posting on the message boards for a while. I'd love to interact with these people, but at the same time I don't want to accidentally give anything away that might help the authorities locate or identify me. I would not do well in prison. There's also the possibility that people won't believe I am who I say I am and that might hurt me most of all. I absolutely despise when people call me a liar. Take Samantha for example. We were great friends, or so I thought. Then, I went for dinner and told her she had to make a choice. I told her my real name and explained why I had concealed my identity. She called me a liar. Can you believe that? I didn't give her another name to "lie" to her. It was to protect myself until I knew whether she was the real deal or not. And, of course, she failed and had the nerve to call me a liar.

I could always post on the message boards as someone else, but where's the fun in that? So after days of weighing the options in my head I decided to write something. I set up my computer and made sure my IP address could not be identified. Shout out to my contacts on the dark web for that help. I had to make a username to post on the message board. If I'm going to do this I might as well go all the way. I typed in "PaperHeartKiller". I did a search and found all the threads about me and the open case. It's so weird to think of my life as an open case. It's not like I go out of my way to find people to kill. Believe me, if I didn't have to kill them I wouldn't. I'm still waiting for the day where I find that friend who proves to be worthy and loyal.

As I scrolled through I found a re-posting of that article I was talking about. Written by a young up and coming reporter, Tess Collins. The person who re-posted it, someone with the username Mindy525 said "Great article by Tess Collins. Interesting read where she sourced theories from all different people. Wonder if any of these are true!"

I hit reply, cracked my knuckles as I thought of what to say and began to type.

"I really enjoyed this article! Thank you for sharing and thank you, Ms. Collins, for writing such a thoughtful article. It can be hard for me to keep up with all the theories swirling around the internet about me and I genuinely appreciate you compiling a list of the most interesting ones. @Mindy525 you know I can't say whether any of these theories is true! But I will say I am in serious awe over how much you all have become invested in my story. This is one of the few articles that is really about me and not about the people who died. It's a breath of fresh air and I'm eternally grateful. Please keep up the good work, Ms. Collins. You've got a bright future ahead of you and I can't wait to see what your next article will be. I wouldn't be opposed to more articles about yours truly! ;-) " 

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Thanks for reading! Today is another double chapter update day! Ch. 15 will be posted in just a few moments!