Mercy Abbott - The Kiss of Death

Runaway Girls

She soon realised that she was sitting on a chair with her hands tied behind her. She twisted her arms but it hurt. She was in some kind of an abandoned factory. In front of her was a man- standing and watching her- he had a mask on his face- but he was dressed like a businessman, in a brand new suit- his bloodied axe was glistening in the single beam of sun light that peered in through the broken ceiling of the room.

Her skirt was half torn which revealed her beautiful brown legs. She wanted to scream and call for help but her lips won't move- she was trembling with nervous excitement and maybe with fear- maybe today was the day she would die...the man was calmly watching her as if he was undressing her with his eyes- it was creeping her out and she tried to cross her legs in embarassment.

She kept thinking how she ended up in this situation, the last thing she remembered was her getting into a taxi from the police station and a smooth manly voice of the driver asking her for her destination and everything was blurry after that. Or maybe there was something else she didn't notice.

What could it be. She shut her eyes and tried to think hard- the black taxi...the driver... was he old? No, around 40-ish. He had dark hair. And what else? Yes... there were some flowers on the seat. When she asked the driver about them he said that some previous passenger must have left them there. The flowers...yes...they looked familiar...

"Flowers?Red? ... Oh God!", she opened her eyes and looked at the man again.

"Could he be ... the serial killer?", she kept thinking.

"Am I being held captive by the same killer that I was investigating?", she swallowed hard and kept staring at the man with fear and suspense.

The man walked towards her.

"Aah... so you're awake?", he said.

"I was admiring your beauty...my my... what lovely legs you have...", said the man standing a few feet away from her with his bloody axe still in his hand.

"Agh! who the hell are you... why am I here?", Mercy asked repelled by his words.

"Patience sugar...patience...let me stare at you for a while...after all you won't be alive for long, now that you've met me..", said the man.

Mercy could feel that he was grinning underneath that horrible mask. She really wanted to kick him in the guts.

"What have I ever done to you?You creep...", she yelled in anger.

"Such anger... ah.. it turns me on...", replied the man walking behind her, "Why... you've been after me for so long ...I thought you'd want to meet me...after all you're my number one fan...".

Mercy took a good look at the man in the mask. He stood no less than 6 ft. tall and wore a black suit and had golden cufflinks,his shoes were well polished and he had black gloves on his hands. He wore a peculiar looking japanese kabuki mask on his face and his hair was dark. The short axe he was holding in his left hand has fresh blood on it. Could it be that he had killed someone recently? He had a dark devilish charm about him and he spoke quite elegantly. Is this the killer that she was after?

"Huh... so you're the serial killer that the police is looking for... tell me do you plan to kill me too?", asked Mercy boldly.

"Oh ,so you're smart too ... yes my dear, I hate to say it but I have to end your life too... You are starting to annoy me a little... ", replied the man pacing slowly across the room.

"So you killed Amy? You scroundel!! Why did you do it? Why?", yelled Mercy.

"Meh! Just for the fun I guess...I get bored easily...", replied the man calmly, as he dipped his axe into a bucket of water to remove the blood stains.

Mercy was furious and she tried to twist her arms to free herself but it was of no use, the restraints were too tight.

"And who have you murdered now?", she asked.

"A nobody...well she was a cop but still a nobody... she should have minded his own business but he interrupted me...and I hate interruptions...she even tore your dress trying to save you...ha ha! ", the man replied as he cleaned his axe and raised it in front of his face and looked at it for a while.

"You do this for fun? You demon!!", Mercy asked.

"Yes... it's just a hobby my dear... most people like to travel or to paint or play an instrument...me...I like murder...the screams, the blood of my prey...thrills me...", he replied.

"You're sick!!", she said.

"Ah! No... I'm evolved... I'm better...You see what does it matter if I kill a few people every now and then...the world is full of people anyways... stupid people, boring people... I kill them because I'm smarter... they're just prey for me and I am the king of the jungle...", he replied cleaning his axe with a piece of cloth.

"So why do you leave flowers for your prey and why do you kill only women?", she asked again.

Mercy was actually trying to buy some time by stalling him for a few minutes longer. The police would definitely notice that she was missing and they would track her through the transmitter on her necklace.

"Hmmm... so you think that by asking these questions you will be able to stall your imminent death and the police will save you? How naive you are little girl... I've already thrown away your necklace while I snatched you away... now there's no way anybody can rescue you....", he replied as he finished cleaning his axe.

Mercy was amazed.

"How did he know about the necklace?", she thought.

The sun was setting and a 10 yr old Billy was walking home from his friend's place.He was supposed to be back home an hour ago and was half scared that he would be grounded when he reached home.His father was a strict disciplined man who hardly ever smiled and Billy knew he had to face his wrath today.

"If only James hadn't taken me to chase those rabbits on the hill...Now Pops will be so angry! ",thought Billy as he walked fast towards his house.

It was getting dark and the sun was almost settling down beneath the mountains.Billy started to run now as the growing darkness was beginning to scare him.

Suddenly there came a low humming sound from across the corn fields to his left.The tall grass around the field began to sway from a strong draft of wind which came out of nowhere.Billy's heart started pumping ,he ran faster.A shining bright light caught the side of his eye.Billy paused for a while and looked to his left.There was something in the middle of the corn field a few yards from him.The crops swayed from left to right as if a hurricane was forming in the middle of the field.He saw lights , that slowly started to illuminate the entire field.He could feel the hair on his arm rising ,a cold drop of sweat ran down his back,dry leaves on the ground were slowly rising up in the air...the earth began to shake...

Billy simply turned around and ran and didn't look back.He ran as fast as he could until he could see his house in the distance.As he began to approach his house,the sounds died down but he could still see those strange lights. He opened the gate, ran towards the door and began to knock furiously. His mom opened the door and saw Billy breathing hard,exhausted, and shaken."Good lord Billy!", cried his mother"What happened to you?Where have you been?"

Billy was in tears now,"Mom I will never be late again!.." said Billy as he hugged his mother.

Mercy was dumbfounded, she had to get out of there as soon as possible- the maniac was going to kill her now! It must've been just over an hour that she was in the taxi- she was chatting with the driver about the flowers and then she suddenly fell sleepy. But she didn't understand how she was kidnapped, how she went unconscious and was brought here. Could it be that the driver was the killer who brought her here? She didn't she his face-all she heard was a voice. Or was the cab driver his accomplice? Above all she didn't understand why her limbs were all numb- maybe she was drugged? Whatever the reason, she had to think fast before something bad happens.

"Astra inclinant, sed non obligant."

On Christmas eve Chloe sat watching the stars outside through the window . Her father had been smoking and drinking again and her mom was preparing dinner as the guests would soon arrive. Chloe felt like going outside for a while, to get some fresh air - the cigar smoke was becoming unbearable inside - life was too lonely for a 16 yr old. She opened the door and stepped out, "Its not that cold!", she thought and closed the door behind. The stars twinkled in the hazy skies and the moon peeped out lazily out of the clouds. She sat down on the stairs and thought of the days when she was a little girl and her father would gift her something on every Christmas eve- this year he sat silently staring at the fire and said nothing- the war had taken everything away from them and these days he spoke very less . Chloe sighed and drew a long breath...

Someone was coming... Maybe Uncle John from Dakota... Chloe stood up to greet the man but was surprised to see a shabby old fellow in a rugged coat slowly limping towards her. She was scared and turned towards the door but the man called out to her, "Say missy, sorry to bother you but it seems like I am lost..." She turned around and said, "Where are you headed Sir?". "Well I've been looking for one J. Stinson around these parts." said the man."I've never heard of him." replied Chloe and turned towards the door. "Wait!"said the old man, "I've something for you" and handed her a silver strung necklace with a blue pendant. "Why thank you, but it doesn't belong to me", said Chloe staring at the beautiful necklace. She looked up to find that the man had suddenly disappeared, as if the darkness had simply swallowed him. She was simply awestruck and looked at the pendant again, tiny words shone from it in the dark, "The stars will guide your way"... Suddenly there was a loud noise of something crashing into the woods... Chloe hurried back inside and closed the door.