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Zero, Valley of the Dolls
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INT. CRYSTAL COVE - BEACH - NIGHT
NARRATOR (V.O) Victim number one. Gia Anh Diep. Body discovered laying face down in the ocean waters under the midnight sky. Their blood tainting the murky waters around her. Time of death approximated to be 00:18. Ligature marks were discovered around her neck indicating strangulation as well as multiple contusions dotted around the body, scattered like freckles. Cause of death: drowning. A substantial amount of water was discovered within the lungs of the victim. They had been held under the salt water water they were discovered in. There seemed to be no visible bleeding and yet it surrounded her like a halo, staining the white dress she wore. Angelic even in death, she would always be known for it now and in the afterlife.
Victim number two. Dior Astor. Face down in the sand, lying only a couple feet away from Diep, the same white dress adorning her body only this time, it's covered rather carelessly in sand. Or maybe it's not about the care since it seems to indicate rage more than anything else. Blood cakes her body, clinging to it like its only lifeline, refusing to let go as it lines the edges of her wounds and stains the pretty garment. A wolf but it seems that someone sunk their teeth into her first.
Avani Kulkarni. Victim number three. Knife mercilessly plunged into the stomach, body posed as if to give one final performance. Saltwater sprinkled on her like the morning dew, the waves washing away the blood and the remnants of her presence. Invisible. She craves the spotlight but not even her death could grant the chance to bask under the moonlight.
Victim number four. Five days after the first three deaths, Nina Ramona Delgado's body was discovered on the floor of the foyer. Cause of death: a single gunshot wound to the heart. Precisely. The boyfriend found the body returning from extended after school hockey practice. He opened the door with his key, found her body laying there on the floor and proceeded to call the ambulance, cradling her body in his arms as he hoped to give life to her corpse. Dead dolls don't come back to life in this story. Note, only two other people had the keys to the house, her the mother and the sister, both of which weren't in the town at the time having to support the younger sister at a ballet competition. The gun was never found, there were no motives, no suspects, no evidence, nothing. The case ran dry until it faded away, not before it tore up the family some more.
The final victim, victim number five: Odessa Hyde. Death ruled suicide. Cause of death: drug overdose. Zolpidem (sleeping pills/insomnia treatment). They were known to have insomnia and so the emptied strip of pills on their bedside table was not uncommon. However this time, she went to sleep and never woke up. Murder was ruled out almost instantly. Nothing to hint at otherwise and not enough to convince authorities that it could be anything but the sadness of losing her four close friends.
The media ate it all up, feeding on the small town tragedy as they called it, draining the locals of everything they had left if the girls hadn't already taken it from them. Even the faintest glimmer of hope was snatched away from them in an instant. But they too grew bored with nothing left to leech on as days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. No new leads meant that the local authorities had no choice but to close the case and let the residents finally mourn the deaths of their beloved cheerleaders, their picture perfect dolls, in peace.
