Grim Or Grin

Chapter 12: The Boogeyman

Chapter 12: The Boogeyman

(A few months later, in) JUNE

Angela's POV

"Miss Fairy. Miss Fairy," a little voice said as I felt a tug on my uniform. I turned around to face a little girl dressed like a doll. Her hair fell in neat curls around a porcelain-marionette-like face and a pink child size Victorian styled dress clothed her small frame. I suppose it was possible for my strangely coloured irises to make a child think I was a fairy.

"Yes, Little Princess?" I asked. "Where's your mother? It's not safe for a little princess to be alone."

"Mama is in the market," she replied as she pointed to the market. "She told me to wait outside for a while so I came here to talk to Miss Fairy. Mama warned me about Grim but he only punishes baddies. I listen to Mama so I'm a good girl, right?"

"Yes, of course. Grim only punishes baddies at night so if you do anything bad, make sure you correct it, okay?"

"Oh! So he's like the Boogeyman! 'Cause he only appears at night," the child said.

I nodded just as the little girl waved good bye and ran towards her mother. 'That is one way to see it.' The Boogeyman was mythical and usually held a monster-like appearance. It punished naughty children without any traces of its presence. Similarly, Grim knifed criminals without leaving evidence behind, a totally different persona from a student. For some reason, this thought bugged me a lot. It had to be a student. But how did a student go from studying to becoming Grim? It was not simply acting. It was two distinct personalities in one individual. Multiple personality disorder? Was that a possibility?

I walked briskly to the police station. I had to look through some of the students' files.

Cole's POV

"We're in trouble," I said. The Starbucks cafe I sat in overlooked the plaza, a relatively large span of empty space where events could be held on. Beside it was an old wet market. I felt like some kind of stalker, following the policewoman, Angela, below. As much as I hated to admit it, I supposed I was but for entirely different reasons than the average stalker that appeared in books or music videos.

She walked away with much enthusiasm after her chat with someone. I could not see who he or she was though from where I sat. It was not a seat I was happy with but the only other seat available was occupied by a businessman reading the morning newspaper and enjoying his cup of coffee. He also seemed to be waiting for someone, glancing ever so often at his wristwatch. Since he was not going to leave soon, I had no choice but to occupy this seat.

"Yes, we are. Looks like the police are going to make a move," Daemon replied. It was unusual for Daemon and I to have a conversation but considering how the police already knew part of our identity, we had to keep an eye out for any more discoveries by the police. "It's time we made ours too."

I was startled by that. Even though there were plans in place, I had never expected to execute them just because of a person's walking posture. Grim was a big name on the wanted list especially with recent...developments.

A few police stations from other neighbourhoods had begun considering the possibility that the Strangler and other newspaper nicknames for Daemon were the one and same current Grim. After all, 'these' killers had all managed to fly under the radar extremely well by leaving zero evidence and 'they' all 'disappeared' shortly after the string of kills. A chase would ensue soon so Daemon was right as per normal. With so many police officers working around the clock to find Daemon, it was only a matter of time.

Furthermore, it seemed that Angela had been given a hint. She was quite upset for a period of time when the search came up empty handed. It definitely blew a major hole in her superiors' trust in her and from what I could guess, she was treading on thin ice. A single mistake could make her drown; lose her job. For her gait to become sure and full of certainty, there was only one possibility - this hint was a game-changer. She could finally catch the culprit and not only restore her superiors' trust in her but she would be happier that "the damn murderer" (as said by so many of the victims' family members) was caught.