Sweet Tooth (A Murderer Love Story)

Chapter 3 - A Precaution

•Penelope•

Penelope wandered into the living room with a thick, white towel wrapped around her head and a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth. She had already changed into her work clothes, which consisted of a simple turquoise t-shirt and black skinny jeans, and now stared at the TV with her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

The blonde had evidently fallen asleep with the TV turned on, and had unknowingly left it on a news channel. Now, she stood in front of it with her arms crossed and her caramel eyes trained on the reporter. She ignored the burning, minty sensation in her mouth as her eyes quickly read the headline that scrolled along the bottom of the screen.

Young woman found dead in alleyway. Identity confirmed to be 25 year old Louis Springs.

Penelope was incredibly silent as the reporter spoke quickly, glancing back at the scene behind them every now and then.

"In the early hours of this morning, Lillian Webster, while on her morning walk, was horrified to discover the body of a woman in an alley."

The camera shifted to view a latina woman who looked to be in a slight state of shock. Her dark, wavy, shoulder length hair was swept to the side to reveal brown, surprised eyes. Penelope had to quickly flee the living room as the mint sensation became annoying, and swiftly rinsed her mouth out before freeing her hair from the towel. Afterwards, she hung the towel on the bathroom door before entering the living room once again.

"-And I glanced into the alleyway without a second thought, not expecting to see anything other than a few trashcans. The sight was so gruesome, but I knew I had to tell the police."

Lillian faltered, as though remembering the image. After a long moment, the camera switched back to the original reporter, who wore a troubled expression.

"Police officers, after investigating the scene, have come to a conclusion on who they believe the murderer is. Due to the severing of all ten of the victim's fingers, they had decided that the killer is none other than the serial killer Alien. Alien is known for torturing his victims before killing them, and it is believed that he sees murder as a game of sorts."

As the reporter spoke, a grainy security camera photo had appeared on the screen. It revealed a man's figure wielding a dagger in his hand, his face covered by a mask. The mask was a light grey, matching the man's hoodie, and bore large, ebony, alien eyes. But the eyes were not the most chilling feature on the mask. Not by a long shot. The creepiest part about it was the wide, toothy grin that spread along the bottom part of the mask. The pointed teeth had a slight yellow color, and it reached from ear to ear, in a quite literal manner.

A shiver traveled along Penelope's spine, and she forced herself to turn away from the television. Alien hasn't attacked anyone in m
weeks, and the authorities had began to think he died or something. Each victim had been savagely attacked, usually missing a limb or two or covered head to toe in small cuts. Penelope couldn't help but recall the time when the name 'Alien' had first appeared.

It had happened the day he committed his first confirmed murder. The crazed man had recorded himself as he slowly ripped apart his victim with just his bare hands and a rusty blade. After he had done this, the psycho sent the video to a news channel anonymously. After the horrid video had traveled the internet, viewed by countless individuals, many people began speculating who could possibly be behind the mask.

Some conspiracy theorists thought that he was a robot controlled by the government, but that idea was quickly debunked once a government official was brutally slaughtered. But, most people seemed to agree that there was no way this murderer could possibly be human. They said that he must be some sort of monster, reasoning that he didn't seem to feel any remorse for his victims. Thus, the name 'Alien' was born, derived from his startling mask that covered his identity.

Penelope didn't realize that she had had gotten carried away in her thoughts until her stomach growled ferociously. The lean female pushed away her thoughts and was just about to leave for work when she felt her heart sink into her gut. She paused, her hand motionless over the handle of the front door, and turned on her heel before heading to her room.

She pulled open her closet as her eyes scanned the wardrobe for a second before landing on a small box in the corner of the narrow space. Penelope crouched down and opened the small box carefully, revealing a couple of self defense weapons and tools. It would probably look strange if she brought a knife to work, so she decided that it would be best to select something else. Her fingers fluttered over a few indecisively before latching onto a small canister of pepper spray.

The blonde swiftly stuck the bottle into her purse before actually leaving her house, grabbing the cookies from the fridge. Her car was a beautiful red sedan. She liked having the interior spotless, although it didn't always stay that way.

Penelope pulled open the driver's side door before lowering herself into the small car. She had to admit that it was a rather short car for a 5'7" woman, but it was quite roomy on the inside. She carefully pulled out of the apartment parking space and drove onto a main road.

As she was driving, her stomach protested once again, begging her to feed it. Penelope groaned before her eyes landed on a Starbucks that happened to be on the way to her place of occupation. Her light brown eyes danced with excitement as she entered the drive thru.

A few minutes later, she was back on her way to work. It wasn't the best of breakfasts, but perhaps she could grab something at work.

Soon enough, she reached her workplace. It was a rectangular building with wide windows in the front. There were other shops on either side of the building, but Penelope payed little attention to them.

Penelope put her hair up into a high ponytail before stepping out of her scarlet car, facing the bakery. A smile graced her lips, as she was one of few to love her job. A colorful sign blinked at her welcomingly, even though it was only morning.

Madam Sugar's Bakery

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Hiya! It appears that I'm a day behind my estimated update, so apologies on that matter. I hope you are enjoying the story thus far!
Estimated Update: Sometime in the next three days.