Chapter Two
|Starbucks|

Elizabeth walked alongside the lockers of her high school, her legs trembling slightly, her confident gait gone. Last night's dream was still fresh in her memory. Her usually sparkling blue eyes looked dull and pale today. Her smile looked strained. She was wearing a rather normal outfit, not grabbing much attention from the teenagers roaming in the hallway.

Her hair was disheveled as if she had forgotten to comb it down. Dark circles loomed beneath her once radiant eyes. Anyone could tell that she has not been sleeping well lately. All it took was one look at her sorry state. 

Elizabeth was horrified after she woke up today. Her room was too much to take in. And the news didn't help it at all. When she switched on the television this morning, she was greeted with a picture of a mutilated woman, a knife shoved into her chest, right where the heart was supposed to be. The mere sight of the body made her sick. 

Then a video popped up. Detective Mary Parker and Alex Ricosta were standing at what Elizabeth supposed was the crime scene. 

After what seemed to be an infinity, Detective Parker's voice greeted her ears. 

"There have been a dangerous number of deaths in our town in the past few weeks. The victims were girls so far. There were no male deaths of this manner reported in this duration. The girls have been killed rather brutally, the lack of any major scars from bindings show they were hopeful till their last minutes. They were then stabbed in the heart with a knife.

The murderer always leaves the knife behind. So far, we couldn't find anything about the killer. But we'll find him soon. That's my promise to you. 

Until then, please don't go out with strangers. Don't date unknown men. It's not safe. You never know who this mysterious person could be."

When Detective Parker was finished, Detective Ricosta spoke up.

"I've seen many cases of homicide, but I've never seen one as bad as this. The killer has killed these girls mercilessly. We found a dead body yesterday night, the girl's name was June Summers. 

She was found in an alleyway, killed by a stab to her heart. Many other injuries were also found. We couldn't connect with anyone close to June. So if you're watching this video and you know June please come to the police station immediately."

Elizabeth remembered the news channel playing a slideshow containing pictures of the victims of the case after the video was over. They were all stabbed in their hearts. She felt sick as she watched them. 

A bad feeling settled over her stomach. She felt nauseous, scared too. When she woke up today, she saw something shockingly horrible. A deep fear crawled up her body as she took in the sight of her blood-stained floor. A message was left for her there, written in a vicious red.

"I will come for you, love," it read. 

The scent of iron nipped at her nostrils. She tried to shake off the image from her mind, trying to wake up from this nightmare. But this was reality. It surprised her, how the mere smell of blood could affect her so much.

When she showed the message to her mother, she accused her of doing all this to get people's attention. She told her to stop doing such things, and how she would not tolerate it if Elizabeth pulled a stunt like that again.

Her mother never loved Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth's father had died the day she was born. He was coming to the hospital to see Elizabeth, but in his joy, he had failed to notice the car rushing towards him as he drove. 

The driver was a drunk teenager who apparently had no idea of the world around him, one that had decided it would be a great idea to end his life by bumping into a car. The impact was so strong that it took both of their lives in a matter of seconds.

Though Elizabeth never got to see her father, her aunt used to tell her about him. How he was a good man who treated everyone with love, how his life was a really respected one. 

Her mother, however, never talked about her father with Elizabeth. Deep within her heart, she blamed Elizabeth for everything. Yet she wasn't the one to make her feel bad for it by accusing her of her father's death every now and then.

It surprised Elizabeth that a mother could be so cruel to her child. 

To be truthful, she was afraid of her mother. Her life was an endless struggle. But she never gave up hope. She had always believed that something good would happen and life had started to turn better, but then death started visiting her on a daily basis.

At first, she thought that it was probably nothing, but as time passed and the nightmares started getting worse. She had convinced herself that it was nothing serious. But after today's incident, she knew for certain that something bad was going to happen to her. After all, her dreams were never false. 

As she reached the cafeteria, her eyes started roaming everywhere, searching for her friends. She finally spotted them, sitting in the middle of the room, busy grabbing people's attention. She walked towards them.

Her friends greeted her, but she was too busy with her own thoughts. Grabbing Annie's hand, she left the table. Annie realized that something was wrong with her best friend so she told the girls that they'd be back in a few minutes.

Annie stayed quiet as Elizabeth led the way, never once letting go. 

When they reached a fairly secluded area, Elizabeth took a deep breath and told Annie everything that had happened in the past month.

Annie looked fairly confused at first, but then the real possibilities of the situation began to dawn on her. She was sure that Elizabeth's life was in danger. Annie patted her back gently. 

Elizabeth couldn't hold it anymore. She started crying. One by one, tears fell from her eyes. Annie slowly caressed her best friend's cheek.

"We are going to the police station. Now," she said.

When she saw that Elizabeth was still crying, it broke her heart. "Don't worry. We'll figure this out together. Here, drink some water," she said as she handed her a fresh water bottle.

Elizabeth drank it without any complaint. Her throat was dry from all the crying. The cold water soothed her throat.

"Let's do this," she said firmly.

They bunked the school together. Elizabeth had never bunked school in her whole life. She was worried about getting caught, but they had got out of the school borders without much problem.

They took a bus to the police station after walking for a few minutes. As they sat on the bus, Elizabeth's heart thundered within her chest. Her breaths were labored. Her palms were getting sweaty. 

Annie gently took her hand in hers and started telling her a story. 

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl who lived in a town with her mother. Her mother always treated the girl badly because she blamed the girl for her husband's death. 

The girl wasn't loved by her family, but she had some great friends. All of her friends adored her. She was so beautiful, after all. All the boys were crazy for her. But she didn't give them much attention.

The girl had a friend, whom she had learned to call her best friend. They both were happy when they were with each other. They supported each other through every crisis. They even made cute boyfriends together."

Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh. The last part made her giggle. Annie laughed alongside her.

"What happened next?" Elizabeth asked, suddenly interested in the story.

"We'll save that part for later," Annie said in a light voice. 

After a while, the bus stopped near the police station. As they got out of the bus, they started walking towards the police station.

Annie saw Elizabeth's mother in the police station. She motioned Elizabeth to look. As Elizabeth looked at her mother's familiar figure, she was drowned in a deep sense of fear.

What was her mother doing there? She wasn't supposed to be here. She was meant to be at the hospital at that time, doing her job as a nurse.

She grabbed Annie's hand so tightly that her blood stopped. Annie was sure that it was going to get bruised later.

"Beth, you're hurting me," Annie whispered in pain.

As Elizabeth realized what she was doing, she let go of Annie's hand and mumbled an apology.

"Let's go there sometime later. Wanna go to Starbucks?'' she asked trying to lighten the mood. 

Annie was more than aware of the fragile relationship Elizabeth and her mother shared. 

Somehow, Annie felt that her mother was behind all this. She stopped herself from mentioning the possibility to Elizabeth in mid-sentence. Elizabeth stared at her quizzically. 

Annie decided that it'd be best if she didn't know. It would worry her after all. She decided to keep a close eye on them. 

"Starbucks? Sure," mumbled a tired Elizabeth, "but you're going to pay."

Annie chuckled slightly and rolled her eyes at her best friend's childish behavior.

They entered the fairly crowded Startbucks. They walked around and sat on one of the far corners of the shop to avoid much attention. Annie ordered a latte while Elizabeth ordered a chocolate mocha. 

The whole mattress thing was forgotten, even just for a small amount of time, as the two best friends talked about their friends and classmates. Chitter-chatter and laughter filled the air as they both talked. Annie sure knew how to lighten Elizabeth's mood.

When it was time for Annie to leave, she bid farewell to Elizabeth and made her way outside to the bus stop.

Elizabeth watched Annie leave. Her mind was filled with clouds of worry. Her eyes looked hazy all of a sudden. 

She thought that she was going to pass out. 

She ran to the restroom. Then vomited the contents of her stomach.

The strong smell of vomit made her feel sick. She covered her nose with her handkerchief to avoid it as much as possible.

Her head was aching. After she cleaned up, she went back to her table and ordered a coffee. 

From the corner of her eye, she saw a dark figure standing behind, watching her closely. Elizabeth turned around, but there was no one in sight.

Must be daydreaming, she thought as went back to drinking her coffee.

Elizabeth stayed in Starbucks for another hour or so since she didn't want to go home and confront her mother. She wondered what her mother had been doing at the police station.

Was she following her? She wondered about that question for a moment. Her body stiffened at the thought of it. 

Seeing as it was getting dark outside, she decided to leave and catch a bus home. She was still a bit queasy about seeing her mother.

A woman was sitting in her car, tapping her manicured fingers on the steering wheel. Her eyes were fixed on the sidewalk as a blonde girl walked towards the bus stop. The blonde stopped midway in her path, talking to an old friend of hers. The woman's desire to taste her blood was tempting but she waited patiently, not wanting to scare her target away. 

After all, Elizabeth Scottson was a girl worth waiting for.

1936 words

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Question Time

Q.1 Why was Elizabeth's mother at the police station?

Q.2 Do you think Elizabeth should be worried?

Q.3 What do you think is going to happen next?