Chapter Text
It was a crisp evening as she walked back to her apartment after a long day. The first week of classes wasn’t just rough for the students, she reflected as she entered her building and got in the elevator. After spending years studying and earning her bachelor's, master and eventually a PhD, she landed a job teaching psychology at a nearby university. The days were usually long and slightly tedious at times, but she enjoyed bringing education to the youth (even though most of her students were not too much younger than her). She was pretty young for a professor, even though she was about 28.
The apartment was dark when she entered, but thankfully not too cold; it was late August, so the summer heat had not quite begun to fade yet. She flicked on the lights and set down her bag. Letting out a sigh, she plopped down on the couch and just lay there for a minute, until her cat came over and started to paw her. She lifted herself from the couch and made her way to the kitchen, where she put some food in her cat's bowl and refilled her water. The name was Rory; she had adopted her when she was a kitten. She had gone to the animal shelter when she moved to this place. She had been looking for a companion to keep her company since she had no family or friends in the area. After feeding Rory, she decided it was time for her to eat something as well. It was a good thing she had some leftovers from earlier in the week because she was way too tired to cook.
After heating her food, she sat down at her desk to plan her classes for the rest of the week, but after about 15 minutes, she gave up and decided to just watch some TV. It had been a more stressful day than usual, she reasoned with herself; she deserved a break. She was starting to doze off,ff but when she moved to a more comfortable position, she hit the remote and accidentally changed the channel. She moved to go back to what she was watching, but froze when she saw what was playing on the news. “Breaking news, a body has just been found on the campus of Northbridge University. The body, which was identified as a professor at the school by the name of John Hale, is badly mutilated; he seems to be missing large chunks of his thighs as well as internal organs such as his liver and even his brain. Local authorities are investigating and request that anyone with information about the murder come forward immediately. At the current time, authorities request that everyone remain calm but cautious, as the killer is still on the loose. This is Silvia Davis, signing off.”
For a moment, all she could do was sit still, her body still processing the shock of discovering that one of her colleagues was dead. Sleep didn’t come easily tonight.
The next day, as she was wrapping up a class, she noticed two people standing by the entrance. When they saw she had noticed them, they began to make their way over to her. They were a man and a woman, the man looked to be in his early forties, he was wearing a loosely buttoned shirt with an even more loose tie, his was was light brown and fell just passed his ears, the woman, on the other hand, looked to be closer to her age, late 20s maybe early 30s. Her hair was long and dark, and it was in a ponytail that fell just passed her waist. Her eyes were a shade of brown so dark they were almost black. She was wearing a simple black pantsuit. Both of them were wearing badges that marked them as working for the police, detectives, maybe?
“I suppose you’re here to ask about John?” She asked as she began to put away her papers and notes from class.
“As a matter of fact, yes, we are,” the man said in a friendly manner.
“Allow me to introduce us. I am Violet Fo. This is Arthur Jones. We are the detectives assigned to solving that case of your coworker's murder,” the woman added, “Since you two worked in the same department, am I assuming correctly that you knew him well enough?”
“Yes, actually, we were on friendly terms. I must admit I’m sad to see him dead”, she stopped arranging her papers to actually look at the detectives.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions about him?”
“Be my guest.”
The interview continued until her students for her next class began to trickle in, and the detectives had to leave, lest some of the students overhear a little too much about the investigation. As the detectives left, the woman, Violet, looked back with a slightly eerie smile before she followed her partner from the classroom.
By the time she returned to her apartment that night, it was already dark and the streetlights were on, as she walked, as a few leaves that had already begun to turn fell around her, as if warning her of the next season's approach. When she returned to her apartment, she heard what sounded like footsteps in the kitchen. Her pulse quickened as she slowly edged towards the door, grabbing the first thing she saw, which turned out to be a hairbrush, not the most useful weapon, but it would have to do, she thought despondently. As she reached the doorway, she peered around the corner to get a glimpse of the intruder, but all she saw was an open window, its curtains swaying in the breeze. She ran to the window to try and spot anyone leaving, but the street outside was deserted save for an old lady walking her dog. As she turned to go, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, a flash of red. When she turned to get a better look, all that was there was a single blood red rose and a folded-up piece of paper. She unfolded the paper quite not knowing what to expect, but all that was there was a heart drawn in a pen as red as the rose.