Chapter 3 - Meeting a serial killer.

The wind was howling through the empty skeleton of the building. Only some floors were finished. I slowly made my way up. It was only my steps that I could hear but I was certain that the boy was here too. Somewhere hiding from me. The sun wasn’t reaching some corners and spots which made them cast black shadows. It was making me nervous. They reminded me of the shadow that I would always see in my dreams. My mobile phone that I was still holding in my hand, started vibrating. It startled me because I had completely forgotten about it. Mamoru’s name was written on the display.

“Ayumi, where the hell did you go?”

But before I could answer him, I felt something hard hit the back of my head. I toppled over and fell to the ground. My skull was pulsating, and I felt something warm and wet running down the side of my head. Someone walked around me. I saw two black boots in front of my face. My head was hurting too much to lift it up. A hand grabbed my phone from the ground. Whoever was standing in front of me, then proceeded to kick me in my stomach. It made my body twist in pain, and I fell on to my back. I was finally able to see the face. It was the boy I followed here. He was smiling from ear to ear. My eyelids fell shut and I was surrounded by darkness.

I dreamt that I was drowning. Water was entering through my nose and mouth. It was getting into my lungs too. My eyes opened in panic. I was not dreaming. The water was ice cold, and my wet clothes were dragging me down. I was in a tank made from glass. My feet touched the bottom and I managed to push myself up. I gasped for air the moment I broke out of the water. My hands were clutching on to the wall. The top of the tank had been left open. I lifted my body up and was able to stand. I coughed up water. My teeth were chattering uncontrollably. A small fist was reaching out to me. It opened and I saw two round candies wrapped in paper. One was red and one was blue. I could also see some unusual carvings on the palm of his hand. It belonged to the boy who was standing right in front of me. His black, medium long hair was unkempt, and the tips were dyed green. The pink bunny clip in his hair was not doing a good job keeping his strands of hair out of his face. He was wearing black shorts and a very oversized white hoodie with red paint all over it. One of the hoodie’s arms was missing and I could see several scars. But it wasn’t only his arm that was covered by them. His face and legs were covered in scars too. The pink fanny pack that he was wearing was open. More candy wrapped in colourful paper was inside of it. There was something very unsettling about him besides his scars, even though he looked like a frail middle schooler.

“Have one.”

His big, green eyes were sparkling. My body was shaking. I didn’t know if it was because of the cold water or the boy. My legs were losing their strength to hold me up. I grabbed the red candy and got out of the tank. Water was dripping from my clothes. The boy found it amusing and started laughing.

“Eat it.”

My trembling hands were twisting the wrapper while my eyes were looking around. It seemed like we were still inside the construction site. The sun was going down. Hours must have gone by after I passed out. The wrapper slightly opened, and I saw something black and white inside. It didn’t look like candy at all and it felt squishy in my hands. I fully opened the wrapper and saw an eyeball looking back at me. It was bloody and the optic nerve was still attached to it. I gagged and immediately threw the eyeball out of my hand. It dropped into the tank, and I saw it slowly sink to the bottom. I frantically wiped off my hand on my skirt. The boy was laughing even harder now. He opened the second wrapper and another eyeball popped out. It was a different colour than the first one. He threw it into the tank as well as if it were a game that we were playing. I glanced at his fanny pack, and he quickly sipped it close. Chills ran up my spine.

“They are my eyeballs. I gave you one. That’s enough.”

I felt nauseous. The boy walked into the next room. I wanted to follow him, but my legs wouldn’t move from the spot. The boy’s head peeked from the door frame, and he stared back at me.

“Aren’t you coming? Your friend is waiting.”

My strength came back after hearing his words, and I immediately ran after him. The next room looked the same, except there was no water tank but a girl sitting on the floor. Her hands were cuffed to a metal bar that was emerging from the ground. A potato sack was covering her head. I only needed a glance to know that it was Charlotte. She seemed to be unharmed.

“You know, my parents were murdered.”

The boy was tapping his foot on the ground and kept giving me and Charlotte glimpses in turns.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

You could tell that my words were insincere. I walked closer but the boy imitated me and took a few steps closer to Charlotte as well. It was too risky to go any further. I was afraid of what the boy was capable of.

“Do you want to know how they died?”

“Sure.”

He sat down next to Charlotte and started stroking her hand.

“They were cut. Big pieces and small pieces. First, they screamed but then they didn’t anymore.”

Cold shivers were running up my spine again. My throat became dry.

“Did they find the murderer?”

The boy started giggling. He turned his head towards me. The ear-to-ear smile was back on his face. His eyes were wide open. It was unsettling.

“No. But they did find out what tool he used to do the deed. Want to guess what it was?”

He stood up and held his hand out to the side. I heard him whisper something and a bright, green light was emitting out of his hand. A chainsaw materialised next to him. It was black, except for the bright green blade. A metal chain was connecting the boy’s wrist to it.

“Please don’t misunderstand. I loved my parents and they loved me. I even collected all their blood and painted my room with it. It calms me down.”

The chainsaw was turned on. The sound was echoing through the empty room. He removed the potato sack, and I could finally see Charlotte’s face. She was unconscious.

“Wait! Don’t do it! Please!”

I started running towards them. The boy swung the chainsaw down. The metal bar with the handcuffs was cut into half. He swung it again but this time towards me. I jumped out of the way but tripped and fell back. The previous blow to my head was making it hard for me to move. I felt dizzy.

“Don’t come closer and I’ll tell you another secret of mine.”

I got on my knees and nodded my head, not moving my eyes off the boy.

“Good. Listen carefully. I like to collect trophies. So, I can be proud of myself.”

“Trophies?”

“Yeah. I gave you one, but you threw it in the water.”

A sense of dread came over me. This child in front of me was a serial killer. Who knows how many he had murdered already with the chainsaw of his? And his next target was Charlotte.

“I’m sorry but how about you take me instead of that girl?”

“No. I can’t do that. Ino told me not to kill you, but he did say I can do whatever I want with her. She is useless to us.”

He grabbed Charlotte by her hair and shook her head vigorously.

“Wake up. Did Ino give her too much of the sedative?”

“If you let her go, I’ll give myself up and stay here with you.”

“Give yourself up? Are you stupid? I already caught you.”

He tilted his head sideways and giggled. My legs felt numb. I punched them to wake them up again.

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

The chainsaw stopped and he dropped it to the floor. He made his hand into a fist and without any hesitation punched Charlotte’s face. Her brown eyes opened, and she cried out loud. Blood was dripping down on her blazer from her nose.

“Charlotte!”

I forced myself to stand up and ran towards her again. The boy let go of her hair and jumped into the air. The chainsaw was still laying on the ground. He swung his leg towards me. I tried to block his kick with my arm but instead was sent flying into the wall that was behind me.

“Ayumi!”

“Playtime is over. I don’t care if you live or die. I just want your arm. But doing it with my chainsaw will be no fun.”

I didn’t know how but I was still conscious. My whole body was twitching from the pain. I fell to the floor again. The boy grabbed his chainsaw. I saw him mouth something and the green light from before returned. But it was coming out of the chainsaw this time.

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