A String of Secrets

Chapter 12

I had two bizarre dreams that night.

The first one was about walking the Trail again, this time, continuing the path to Phantom's Campsite. The dirt trail disappeared, and after so much walking, I decided that I was lost. The thick silence of the woods threatened to swallow me whole, and in the distance, I heard someone whisper my name and fearfully tell me to run. But before I could escape, someone grabbed me with cold hands, covering my mouth and muffling my desperate screams.

The second one was about swollen lips, heavy breathing and gripped bed sheets. A pair of green eyes, calculating and patient, eventually lighting up with a satisfied gleam. A concentrated expression that anyone would find intoxicating. Hands that trailed my body with the intent to study every detail of it, slow and torturous. Dizzying touches, whispered commands and breathless gasps.

I woke up around six in the morning, and I decided to give up on trying to sleep again. I immediately checked my cell phone, sighing in relief when I didn't see anything from unknown contacts. I also felt calmer when I remembered that I was in my old bedroom at Dad and Keith's house.

Then I opened my laptop and started looking at news' sites for newly published articles. Like I thought, the first thing that popped up was Professor Anderson's gruesome murder. I cursed quietly to myself when it was revealed that his throat was also slit.

If I were to stick to my theory, then that would mean that Anderson did something horrible in order for the killer to strike them. I never had him as a teacher, but Dana did. If he was found in the science building, then maybe he did something there.

I think it's safe to assume that a victim's secrets is related to their murder, I thought as made some more notes into my document. When I get back to the apartment, I'm going to have to make a map and keep it somewhere in my room.

Then I needed to make a better plan. Before I moved forward, I knew I would have to discover more hidden facts about the victims that I wouldn't be able to find on online articles. If I stuck with my theory, then that meant that someone besides the masked killer had to have known what the victim's secrets were.

But first, I needed to get through Alex's funeral.

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I always found it upsetting that one's funeral would have more attendants than any of their birthdays would.

When Mom died, I was surrounded by people I had never seen before. I wasn't even sure Dad had seen them before. I was seven years-old, and I felt confused when strangers told me many stories about how great she was, how perfect she was, how beautiful she was.

But nothing hurt me more than the 'was' in each of their stories.

I sat beside Dana in the funeral home towards the back. There were a lot of people from the university attending, both students and professors. Alex was a well-loved young man, and I hoped that he would feel content knowing that so many people cared for him.

The Starr family were towards the front, and as I watched people take the stage and talk about Alex one-by-one, my eyes flickered to his portrait near a sealed casket. His warm and friendly smile, his strawberry-blonde hair, his deep brown eyes and freckles that looked like stars.

This isn't fair.

As some family members continued talking about Alex's best memories and achievements, I noticed that there were sad smiles in the crowd, along with teary, puffy eyes. I heard faint sniffling, and I counted how many people left the large room so they could sob privately. Six so far.

He was so kind. I can't imagine him doing something so horrific that someone would want to kill him for it.

There was more sniffling -- this time it came from me. I hadn't been able to cry at all since the news was delivered, probably because I hoped for him to come back. But sitting at his funeral and listening to people talk about him in the past tense carved open my chest and ripped my heart out from it. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and though I kept my pain quiet, I was screaming inside my head. Dana reached beside me and took my hand when she heard me sniffle. Her own eyes were red and puffy.