I get taken to the police station for questioning, luckily the officers seem nice. They told me they want to know more about the stalking and how things are at work.

  I'm not a suspect of the crime yet.

  After five minutes we have arrived and I am let out of the car.

  Inside the station it's just warm enough and I'm glad to be out of the cold.

  I get taken to a room where the detectives are, they're the ones I met before.

  "Good morning miss..."

  "Edith Shaw."

  "I'm detective North and this is and this is my colleague Reed. We have a few questions for you."

  I nod as answer.

  The questions they start asking are not difficult. some of them they've already asked before.

  Like where I was at the time of the crime, in my apartment of course.

  I could even prove it with the location sharing app on my phone.

  They asked me about my relationship with the victim, Myla.

  Colleagues and friends.

  Other questions were about the stalking that Ian did and if I suspected him.

  "I don't know if he did it, but maybe he helped the killer?" I ask questioningly.

  Detective Reed takes notes from my answers and detective North calmly asks the questions.

  "Are you okay with seeing the pictures of the crime?"

  I don't want anyone to die anymore. the city would be a lot safer without a killer on the loose.

  I hesitate for a moment but then I make a decision: "Y-yes, you can show me."

  Detective Reed takes a couple of pictures from a white envelope and lays them out before me: "Just let us know if it's too much." Detective Reed says with a kind smile.

  As he shows me, the nightmare from last night enters my mind again and I feel the urge to vomit.

  I still remember the wet noise the organs made and I remember the digital voice of that damned murderer.

  Stabbing.

  Cutting.

  Laughing about it all.

  Enjoying themselves like a child playing with toys.

  Myla is not a toy.

  MYLA WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE!!!!

  "Are you okay?" She asks kindly.

  I nod and take a good look at the pictures.

  The body parts were stuffed in one of the lockers, her own.

  It was left open and blood covers almost everything. The lockers, the floor, everything around it really.

  I see the place where I should have stood frozen in my nightmare.

  With their awful laugh and terrifying smile.

  Their calmness while cutting apart my friend, like they had all the time in the world and zero fear of the possible consequences. Not caring about all the people who would soon be traumatized or unable to continue their lives normally.

  I take a closer look and something takes my attention.

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  Under a dark desk something is lying, could that be the organ the killer playfully threw at me?

  "Sir, there is something under here..." I let him know carefully as I point at the picture in question.

  "Let me see." He puts on his reading glasses and takes a good look at it.

  Then he suddenly exclaims: "You're right, something is underneath." Then he turns to face his colleague: "Have the others discovered it already?"

  She shakes her head: "I've heard nothing of that sort, but it hasn't been long since they started.

  "We should let them know soon." He says to Reed: "We have to go there anyway."

  It doesn't take long for the questioning to end and they take me back to the office.

  I quickly go to see how my colleagues are doing.

  Not so good.

  Almost all of them have red eyes from crying and Ian is nowhere to be found.

  The higher-ups decide to send us all home because of the horrible thing that happened. I wonder why they haven't sent us earlier. If there had been some kind of massacre, isn't it normal to let everyone have the day off? Or was this so that they could more easily gather us for questioning?

  I visit the park where it's quiet and decide to call my mom, I just need someone to listen to me about what happened and my parents have always been good listeners.

  I look in my contacts and click on my mom's icon.

  They are currently on holiday, so they might not have time for me, but I just want to try.

  I really need to speak to them.

  Ah, she picked up.

  "Good morning Edith, why are you calling this early?"

  "Hey mom, sorry. I just..." What the hell should I say after all the things that happened? "I-I guess I just miss you two." I can't keep it together and the tears start coming again.

  She seemed to have heard the wavering in my voice: "Oh, dear, what happened?" She asks in the same tone she does when she knows that I'm not feeling well. A tone of worry and one of the gentle kindness she has always had for me.

  She uses it when I'm sick, she used it when I had fallen and scraped my knee.

  I'm very thankful to have a mother like her, always kind and willing to listen to my problems.

  Then before I know it, I start telling her the complete story, even the part I kept hidden to the police.

  My nightmares. The murders. The stalking. The paranoia.

  The fight with Nova and my friends acting weird.

  Everything.

  And you know what, I can't stop it, it needs to get out and it needs to now.

  As I tell her all the horrible events that have taken place over the last couple of weeks, my mother turns silent. A worrying silence, after which it is her time to speak: "Oh dear, I'm so sorry I can't be home right now. Your father and I will take the earliest flight home, you have the key, so you can just return home."

  "Y-you don't have to."

  "No, I want my daughter to be safe! We're coming back!" I can hear her rapidly talking to my father in the background, filling him in at an incredible speed

  And then he gets on the phone as well: "Honey, if there is anything we can do for you right now let us know okay."

  "Thanks..."

  Did I just ruin their holiday they had longed for, for so long?

  I'm such a terrible person.

  "Please, I'm okay now."

  "No, we're coming back home ASAP. We can't let you alone right now, as you told us, there is a killer on the loose. You need to get out of that city, take the keys and return home."

  I take out the keys of my bag and look at them through my tear stained eyes: "I can't just leave everyone at work behind."

  "Edith, if what you told us is correct, the killer might be someone who works with you. They could get in right?"

  "I guess."

  "Alright, we will see what we can do." My father says, sounding as if he's trying to calm both me and himself down.

  After that the conversation continues for a little bit and we say our goodbyes.

  I hang up my phone and look around me.

  It has gotten colder while I've been sitting here and again I can feel the prickling of a gaze in my back.

  Honestly I don't even want to know who it is, I quickly stand up and take my leave.

  I go to a café I haven't been to before, but it's one with many people in it.

  I order something to drink, but don't think that I will be able to eat anything for a while.

  The warmth in the building should have warmed me up too, but I can only feel the coldness in my heart, the coldness of loss. As if hollowed out and empty.

  Suddenly I can hear the vibrating of my phone, someone is calling me.

  I pick up the cold object.

  "Hello?" I ask half expecting it to be the killer on the other side.

  "Hey Edith, I heard what happened at work." It's Peter on the other side, I breathe out a sigh of relief.

  "Hi Peter, did my parents call you?"

  "Yeah, they did and asked if I would let you stay with me for the night. Since the whole thing with Nova."

  Classic mom, gosh I wish she didn't, but what else to expect. She knows Peter really well and his parents too. We went to the same high school after all.

  "I'm not surprised, sorry about that." I answer him.

  "Don't worry, it's okay. I'm readying a room for you now, so come over when you can. You know the address after all."

  "Alright, I will be there soon."

  We hang up and I finish my coffee.

  I take my stuff with me and leave the café, I've already paid before so I can just leave.

  I must have been inside there for quite a while, it has already gotten dark outside or maybe it's just because of the dark rain clouds.

  Walkin through the darkening streets I text Peter that I will be taking the train to him soon.

  Then as I click on send, I sense someone behind me.

  They're close, very close.

  As I turn around I can see a person wearing a mask.

  A rather familiar mask.

  But before I can recognize it, it's all too late.

  Less than a second has passed and they hit me hard in the head with a heavy object.

  I stagger and they hit me again. Before I fall to the ground I notice why it's so dark. Someone had turned the lights off for all the stores close by.

  Now it starts getting darker and darker.

  I don't know if I'm hit again, but I fall face down onto the grey pavement, it's dark before I really land.