RED: Welcome To Fayetteville | Complete ✔️

Chapter 27: RED

Zach shoved his face deeper into his pillow. He squeezed the ends of the dark blue pillow case until he almost ripped it apart. He leaned up, tears rolling down his face, grinding his teeth in anger; he slammed his fist into the pillow.

"No!" he yelled. Over and over again. As if he could beat his pillow into making Jasper come back. He lost another friend... all over again.

Evelyn's shadow emerged in his bedroom door. He leaned up, but his tears still blurred his vision. He could see her silhouette change to her wiping her face, too. A sniffle broke the silence.

"Me too, Zach," she whispered between her tears. She made her way over his dirty clothes and untied shoes to sit on his bed. Zach leaned up to meet her, leaning on her shoulder.

"Who would do this? Why Jasper?" he asked.

Her hands were shaking and she took a deep breath to try to hold back her tears, "I have no idea... if I knew, I would do anything to stop them. But I'm scared that this is so much bigger than we think..."

"It's bigger than we are... it's bigger than I am..." he whispered.

"What?" she asked.

"I can't do this, Evelyn. How are we supposed to be okay? How do we continue?"

"We have to... I know, I don't want to either... but we have to."

"Continue until we're next?" He closed his eyes and let another tear fall onto his gray bed sheets.

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Kathrine leaned down, letting her towel drop over her shoulders. She grabbed the sheep-white towel and spun it around her hair. She flipped it up on top of her head to let it soak in the rest of the hot water in her hair. She ran her hand over the fogged mirror to reveal her face. The water ran down over the mirror to the sink. Drip. The shower was still draining.

Her phone was sitting on the counter's edge next to the sink. The song that was playing changed into something more relatable. The songs that put you in a bad mood, but it's so relatable that you have to listen to it. Thinking you could have written the lyrics yourself.

I think I'm done

Trying to run from the gun

But I feel like I have to

Can I run where there is no sun

The depressing tones and beats bounced between the moist and steamy walls of the bathroom. Kathrine felt like she had done nothing but run her entire life. She had her mom, but she was forcing her to run with her. She had to... she was her mom. She ran to Tennessee to get away from Florida.

Where to next? She thought it was time to pack her bags and get out again.

Her phone lit up. She leaned down and read the message. She almost dropped her phone with her wet hands, but she opened it... letting her nerves get the best of her. Her hands started shaking as the messages rolled in.

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Once again, he shuffled his papers. He stepped up to the podium ready to talk to his town. This time, behind the sheriff was Deputy Evans and two FBI agents. He was ready to give as much information to Fayetteville as he could. He wanted to protect his people, and he felt like giving what he could to the press would be helpful.

After Sheriff Mullins gave his speech, he used just the right words for the news outlets to turn it into a catchphrase. There's the Zodiac Killer from California, the Phantom Killer from Texarkana... It didn't take but three hours before all the major news networks shared the term. They showed the picture Jasper took on the square of the person in the hoodie walking down the sidewalk. That was the famous picture.

But nobody was saying "the person in the hoodie" anymore. Everyone in the news made a term that would never be forgotten, and everyone in Fayetteville would hate that color for the rest of its existence... or at least until they figured out the identity.

The killer finally had a name: RED.

**Author questions: What did Kathrine do in Florida? How will things change now that her past is on its way to bite her? The killer now has a name: RED ; how will this change the town?

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