painkillers he was eventually out.
Chapter 6
He walked down the dark street in the downtown district of Winchester, avoiding eye contact with every passerby who stumbled drunkenly out of a bar or club. He felt naked without his mask, and shoved his hands into his pockets. It was chilly outside tonight, just barely enough for him to see his breath. He had been stalking the sidewalks outside clubs downtown for nearly two hours with no luck, but now the clubs were now starting to close up. It was the perfect time to catch his next victim.
“I need the final pawn tonight,” the man said, in a hushed whisper to himself.
A young girl that had just exited a bar alone was just ahead of him. He watched her closely. She had light brown hair and was wearing a skin-tight pink dress and shiny black high-heel shoes. Apparently, she had a bit too much to drink. She lost her balance after dropping her phone and trying to pick it up, falling over onto the pavement face-first. The man rushed ahead and helped her up off the sidewalk.
“Whoa, be careful there girl. Are you ok?” The man said as he forced himself to put on a fake, robotic smile. He had practiced this act his whole life, and had become reasonably good at pretending to be a normal human.
The young girl looked up at the man. She saw his tall frame, big hands, and dark black hair and brown eyes. “Hmmm...not bad,” she thought. The hoodie he had on was plain black, and maybe he was a little too old for her, and a little fat, but she thought he was handsome. He was clean-shaven and smelled like cigarettes.
“Soooo drunk,” the young girl stammered, “Hey! Don’t I know you?” She held up her now-broken cell phone and frowned. “Oh. I was trying to call a cab.” The girl looked up at him with her most innocent look and pleaded, “You can help me, right? Yeah? Let me get a ride home will ya?”
The man was taken aback for a moment, and then realized this girl had never met him before in his life. She was just trying to score a free ride from a sympathetic or overly horny man. This was as much a game to her as his little game was to him. Her friends had told her before that she was stupid to go off with people she had never met before, and that she was just asking to be raped or murdered, but every time she had done it and made it home safely.
“Of course I can give you a ride home. My car is parked right over there. C’mon and I’ll help you to the car,” the man said, wrapping her arm around his shoulders.
He was a perfect gentleman. It was extremely hard for him, when every fiber of his being was screaming with desire to watch this worthless bitch die. He envisioned her struggling for life hanging from a rope, or slowly suffocating to death with a plastic bag. Just the thought of it was enough to nearly drive him over the edge. But he knew to do that too soon here in public might end the game.
She seemed to not care that he was touching her. The man was uncomfortable with the physical contact, but hid his emotions. Both of them walked over to an old rusted out Buick and the man helped her in. Gravel crunched under his feet as he walked around to the driver’s side. The man climbed in and loudly slammed the door. The surrounding parking lot was completely empty and not well-lit.
The girl was disturbed by his sudden, rude behavior. She scrunched up her face angrily and drunkenly said, “Damn, did you have to slam it?” Then she looked over at him and laughed.
The man’s face changed in an instant into an expression of pure disgust. He locked the doors, and told her bluntly, “Put on your seat belt.” She looked away for a moment to grab the seat belt, and in one swift motion he slammed her head into the dashboard as hard as he could. It resounded there like smashing a ripe watermelon against a brick wall.
“You listen to me, you little whore! You’re going to die tonight.