BROWN EYES

After

Two months later.

Madison's diner was full. The moss green tables laden with food and the undeniable chatter of happy families.

The whole town was bustling. The air was still chilly but inside the diner, the warmth of people and the ambience of the place brought out a homely feel.

Three teenagers sat at the last booth. The one people rarely ate at. Brought together by tragedy, friends by loss.

"Coach kicked me off the team after the last game we lost." Cody said quietly as he drank a chocolate milkshake.

"Sorry about that." Josh said absentmindedly, eating Yolanda's chips.

Yolanda whacked his hand away and dragged the plate closer to her. Her hair in a bun and glasses on the bridge of her nose. Her hazel eyes bleak.

"This is the first time I've gone out without my contacts." She said as she pushed the glasses up her nose. "Somehow, I feel it's all over now. I don't have to where medicated contacts anymore."

"Because you quit the cheerleading team?" Josh asked, "or because of the other stuff."

She smiled a smile that didn't quite reached her eyes. "All of it. I'm going to study Biochemistry, do something useful with my life y'know."

"I understand," Josh smiled as he stole another of her chips. "I don't know what I'm going to do yet. What about you Cody?"

"I don't know, I might travel the world for a year, get away from this place, see other cultures and stuff." He mumbled, licking the froth that had gathered on his upper lip. "But what I do know is that after graduation, I'm never coming back here."

"Do you guys need anything," the young waitress said, holding up a jug of coffee. They all shook their heads and she left to serve another customer. The diner was as busy as any day, the cling ding of the bell above the door mixed with the noise of children and pots and pans as people hustled in and out.

Suddenly, the Television volume was increased as one of the towns police officers who frequented the diner asked the people to keep quiet.

"....Authorities say his last kill was on the second of January and before that, the twenty third of December. He's a man in his late thirties but has undergone multiple surgeries to make him look younger. He also has different coloured hair anytime he's seen but his eyes are a striking blue and it seems like he only targets young women with brown coloured eyes. The police are als....."

"So they didn't catch him? They told us they would catch him. They said they would find Cordelia's murderer." Yolanda said as she began to sob.

"He's even killed again." Cody whispered, his milkshake long forgotten.

"Shhh..let's hear." Josh demanded, his voice broken, his cheeks wet with overdue tears.

"...was abused by his mother verbally and suffered sexual abuse from his baby sitter who both had brown eyes. The police have consulted the help of a psychologist in this case. It also seems he murders only during the holidays but we don't know why or what he uses to collect the eyeballs of his victims. Many locals have termed him the 'holiday killer' and that's all we have for now. This is Khadijah Yakubu reporting for channel 43, your number one news channel." She said as the clip changed to an ad of some toothpaste.

Everyone in the diner turned to them. They'd been quite famous over the holiday, it was all anyone could talk about but after New year's, the town had settled back into normalcy. But now, people looked at them with pity and sorrow and even fear.

"Uh..I have to go. I've got therapy for 3:30." Josh announced as he paid for the food he'd eaten.

"I should go to." Yolanda said as she stood to wear her scarf. Cody also stood up but he looked lost and stared off into space.

"Cody are you alright?" Josh asked as he waved in front of Cody's eyes.

"Just think about it for a minute. His mother abused him verbally and his babysitter abused him sexually and they both had brown eyes. So now he kills women with the same coloured eyes because he's been broken." He said looking right at Yolanda, her clear glasses doing nothing to hide her eyes.

"Don't think about that." Josh said as he walked with them out of the diner. He could feel all their eyes on him. Blues and greens and browns, all staring at him.

"What about Duke, how do you think he's doing. You guy's still talk right?" Yolanda asked Cody. After the ordeal, he'd visited Duke numerous times, helping him with his grief.

"He's. . . Alright I guess, he said he's going home, to Kenya, he said they were going to go after the baby was born so he's still going to go because it's what she would have wanted." He sighed. He was scared for Duke. He'd gotten so much slimmer and had began going bald. Perhaps Kenya would be good for him.

"I'm thinking of going with him." He added as they walked together in the February wind.

"That might be nice." Yolanda said, her hands in her pockets. "You'll still call and talk to us right?"

"Of course, I haven't even told him yet but I just want to go." Cody said, his eyes staring into nothing as they walked together.

"Well bye guys, this is where I leave." He said as he turned a corner and kept on walking to his therapist. One thing on his mind - the man that had taken Tara's eyes. The Holiday Killer.

The end.

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Thanks to everyone who read this crap. You guys are awesome.

Sooooooooo what happened was that I was at this store and it just started raining heavily. Some people came in cause it was impossible to walk in the rain and I just thought....what if one of them was a serial killer.......and that my friends is how this story was born.

Thank you!