#22

"You killed thirteen girls, and a man, from what I gathered"

"I did no such thing"

Whack. I felt a whip land across my bare stomach, sending a bolt of pain across my whole body. I was tied onto the bed, and I was no longer on drugs. I could feel the pain every time I got whipped, and every time my body jumped up in reflex the restraints holding my limbs down dug into my skin.

"Let's drop all these lies. I'm not asking you for confirmation. I'm telling you what I already know"

The room was still dark and I couldn't see anything. Maybe the guy had night vision goggles on for all I know, because his whipping was very precise, deliberately landing on the same spots multiple times.

"Fuck. What do you want from me"

Whack.

"That does not sound like someone who repents"

"Fuck you"

Whack.

"You know you shouldn't die right? For the sake of your precious Rika"

"Fuck. Why are you doing this?"

"As I said, as long as you are here I'm certain that Rika will show up, to rescue her poor little slave"

"You little piece of shit!"

Whack. Oh, fack.

"Now. I know what you did and I have some theories, but I want to hear it in your own words – why did you do all this?"

"I said, fuck you"

Whack, whack, whack.

"You know I can kill you. Like right now. It may not matter to you, but it will matter to Rika, aren't I right?"

Jesus, how does he know?

"Right, you fuck. I did kill them all. What do you want?"

"Let's start with the first one – why did you call Rika's classmate?"

"It was a fucking accident!"

Whack.

"You accidentally plant a knife through a girl's throat in a back alley?"

"Seriously, I didn't mean it. I was sorry about it too"

"You seem to kill a lot of people by 'accident'. Some people you've killed multiple times"

Shit.

"I have no fucking clue what you are talking about"

Whack.

"Let's move on. Then you killed a man in the public toilet. What happened there?"

"It was a fucking accident!"

Whack – this time the whip lands across my face. Fack this stings.

"Don't test my patience! You kill two people in the space of an hour, in

different locations, by accident?"

"Yes, you stupid fuck! I'm telling it like it is"

Then unexpectedly, the man went silent, which made me more nervous as I was expecting another crack of a whip.

"Let's suppose you are telling the truth. You killed the first girl by accident. Then you killed another man – possibly as a cover-up. These two murders you did not intend"

"Now you get it"

Whack. Fack. On my nose.

"And the second girl?", I hear a very faint tremble in his voice.

I could not answer him. Because it wasn't an accident. My first planned and cold-blooded murder.

Then the brutal whipping began all over my body and all I could do was wail in pain while he screamed "Why! Why did you kill her!"

#23

It was a few days after I accidentally killed the 'bitch' that crossed Rika. I couldn't believe what I have done – how was a teenage boy supposed to react to accidentally committing a murder? Strangely though, I did not go into any mental breakdown, and I was able to nervously, but calmly continue my following days. The murder was reported on the same night on the local news channel, and it caused quite a stir in the school the next day, as expected. I wanted to see Rika for some comfort, although there was no way I could tell her about what happened, especially considering that I somehow was trying to do something for her, but with a terribly unexpected result, as always.

But just as the luck would have it, she seemed to be occupied with some things in the following days. We could not meet up during lunchtimes or after school, and she just replied "sorry next time" to my texts. This made me nervous – did she suspect anything? But even the police haven't visited me yet, nobody knows. But then again, this happened after she specifically told me about this girl, so maybe she could reasonably suspect? But again, do I – or any other normal schoolboy in my age – look like someone who can commit murder and casually turn up at school the next day?

The second murder of the man in the toilet also made the news. Initially as separate news, but soon the police and the media caught on that the weapon that was likely used for both murders were the same, or very similar. So all of sudden, the whole town was getting gripped with the fear of a possible serial killer on loose. For fuck's sake, I'm just a normal boy who got into some horrible accident.

On one unexpected afternoon, I received a text message from Rika just before school finished. "Let's meet up after school today" it said.

Hence we met up after school, and she duly greeted me. We just talked about random casual stuff and walked towards the mall which was not so far away from our school, and got a table in the café where we went previously, the very same place where Rika first told me about this girl that was bugging her, which was the start of this horrible incident.

"So what do you think about the double murder on the news?", she casually dropped the question when there was that moment in a conversation between friends where a transition to a new topic would be the most natural thing to do. My heart dropped like a rock but I stayed calm.

"It's scary as hell. Two people were murdered on the same day. We haven't even had a single murder case in this town in years"

"Is that so" – was this even a question?

"er, so, what do you think?" – was I looking for some justification?

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know, the girl that got killed.. she was someone you hated"

"Well, of course, I can't say I'm 'glad' that she died like that, but objectively my life is better without her" – I felt vindicated.

"That's a very truthful and brave thing for you to say"

"Why brave?"

"Most people would feel guilty – unjustifiably I have to say – that someone they hated died a horrible death, you know, like bad conscience kinda thing"

"Heck, it wasn't me. People die when they are killed. Such is life"

"Right. People die when they are killed.."

Then she turned her head away slightly and murmured something, just soft enough for me to hear but not clear enough to be certain what she said, but it sounded like "but not everyone"

"Sorry? What did you say?"

"Button it up"

"Huh?"

"Your trousers button. It's embarrassing"

I then looked down and noticed that I was slouching back on the chair with legs parted, with my trousers unbuttoned.

"Oops. Sorry"

"sigh.. you really are clumsy, to the extent your clumsiness could kill"

My heart sank again, but she probably didn't mean anything by that, and she does use the word 'kill' a lot anyways.

"Haha..er.. yes, I knocked you out accidentally too when we first met"

"Yes, and you tried to check out my fangs. What was that all about?"

"Er... I don't know. It was stupid of me. I just saw you sleeping and you had your arms crossed across your chest, and I just thought, oh, she's like a vampire, and the curiosity got better of me before I could even realise what I was doing"

"You really can't control yourself – your train of ridiculous thoughts get straight into action"

"Well, that's probably why I don't have many friends.."

"Poor you. Anyways. Let's go"

"Right"

Then we walked out of the café, said goodbye to each other, and headed home separately.