A girl hides behind a corner before peeking at the boy standing in the light of a lamppost. He stands still while staring up at the full moon, as if painted in a picture. “Deal Stake,” the girl murmurs, “Vicky will make you mine, mine, all mine.” She laughs quietly but gleefully. The boy turns around as if sensing eyes on him, but by then the girl is already gone.

He shivers once, twice, before turning back toward the moon and trudging on through the snow. Witney notices him from her window and stares as he passes by her house. She frowns and says, “Freak,” before returning to her schoolwork.

The boy walks through the metal fence gate to a house. As he opens the front door, he looks behind him. He freezes for a moment before the sound of a slamming door breaks him away from his reverie, and he walks into the house. From the fence, another boy stands staring at the now closed front door. His face slowly morphs into a grin. “Soon I will be the only one left,” he whispers.

Inside the house, the boy leaves pieces of his clothing on the floor as he walks in: his hat, his coat, his belt, his shirt, his undershirt… He goes to the bathroom and turns on the bathtub faucet. Moments later, the tub is filled with steaming water. He eases himself inside, and his red skin slowly regains its usual color.

“Young Master, how many times have I told you not to leave your clothes strewn about?” a woman shouts from outside the bathroom.

“Shut up, woman!” the boy yells back. “You’re merely what my parents hired to be--a maid!”

“Go complain to them then! I’m the only one they could hire.”

Annoyed, the boy sinks his head underwater and relaxes.

As the boy leaves the bathroom, he hears a scream from his front yard. He rushes to the nearest front-facing window just in time to see a figure dash out of the gate. Dying the snow black is a girl who lies on her side. The front door slams shut and a woman runs out to the girl.

As soon as she reaches the girl, the woman suddenly trips and falls forward.

After calling the police, the boy runs out the front door to the girl. Clutched in her hand is a bloodied knife. “Vicky?” he says, horrified.

“Deal?” The boy looks up at the sound of his name and finds a girl standing at the gate.

“Witney? Why are you here?”

Witney looks at the two bodies on the ground before looking back up at the boy. “I came out for a walk… I-I heard a scream… I…”

The boy holds up his hands in a cautionary motion. “Calm down Witney, deep breaths.”

She faints.

“Ms. Vanness, could you tell me what you saw?” a policeman says.

Witney squirms uncomfortably within the blanket wrapped around her. “I saw the fr… Deal walk by my window, like he always does. Then Keil Arriels followed, like he always does. Then later in the night, I heard a scream. It’s very unusual to hear screams, you know, in this quiet neighborhood, especially at this time of night, you know, like 2 A.M. Most of the neighborhood is asleep. So, I went out… I saw a figure run away, and then I walked over in the direction of the scream… and then I saw the-the body… and then, she just collapsed… and then Deal stared at them and called her name…” Witney begins to sob. “Vicky did nothing wrong! Yes, she had a crush on a weird guy but, like, she didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Please calm down, Ms. Vanness. You said the woman collapsed?”

“I… I don’t… I…” Witney gasps out.

“Did Deal kill them?”

“I-I don’t think… I… I…”

“Alright. Get some rest, Ms. Vanness. Someone will check in with you later.”

“Th-thank you.” She watches the policeman leave, lets her sobs slowly die out, and then frees herself from the blanket and leaves the scene unnoticed.

When she reaches her house, Keil frowns at her. “I told you not to give my name.”

“You can’t stay in hiding forever, Keil. Someone will catch you eventually.”

“No, no one will. No one knows about my love for him except you. Everything is connected to him. And your testimony shows he’s not the killer.”

“You could have been the witness too. Besides, you can’t kill everyone close to him, Keil.”

“Voutim’s the last. I’m the only one who is left now.”

“But why her? She was a nice person.”

“Not as nice as you thought. Did you see the knife in her hand?”

“You didn’t plant that there?”

“Do you think I could have faked that death grip she had on it?”

“Then what about the maid?”

“Occupational hazard. It wasn’t my fault.” He smirks. “Deal is safe. That’s all that matters.”