Chapter 1 - A Beggining
PART 1 - Curiosity
Clark Newel rubbed his gray stormy eyes and drug his long spider like finger across his full lips and narrow cheeks reveling in the feel of his skin.
His body seemed to rattle as he sat suppressing the hysterical giggles that clogged his chest like maggots and threatened to crawl out of his mouth and into the world. He sat at a low desk, his long powerful legs stretched almost lifeless in front of his seat and disappearing under it into the shadows where no light could reach.
When he could finally control the joy bursting free inside he sat up and turned on the small laptop that sat before him. It whirred into life and threw silvery light across his well-tanned skin.
He tilted his head, thinking, and finally he typed into the search bar - Google. His long nails tapped away and soon on the screen were typed these two words.
The Phantom
You could say that Clark was highly interested in what the masses had to say about this particular individual. Nowadays people couldn’t shut up when it came to their opinions.
What ever the issue, Clark knew he could find one SOB or bigot who just had to comment. With issues stemming from abortion to race to religion and the environment, it was inevitable that everyone would have something to say about everything and they wanted everyone else to know how important their feelings were.
Personally, Clark believed that was the only reason the internet was created in the first place was to glorify the individual, but hey he wasn’t complaining.
To Clark this was a blessing, it broke down barriers that were usually very hard to breach, it allowed anyone to device and be deceived in turn, it was the best tool for a hunter of women, a stalker of darkness; and Clark knew that if he wanted to find out what people were saying he just had to find a good chat room. Rapidly he tapped the enter key and a minute or two later a results screen popped up. It reported that there were over “670,000” hits for his search. Clark chocked as he giggled once more.
“Quite...quiet...be quiet.” he whispered to himself. His hands quaked as he fought himself for control. Eventually silence fell and Clark turned his attention to the screen once more The Phantom was a mystery to Clark. He didn’t understand why he had felt so driven to seek him out. Clark’s behavior had become erratic and moody over the passing weeks.
Sleep had evaded him like a lost lover. His mind would run in circles for hours and he would be helpless to control it. Hunger hounded him, but he hungered for something that he didn’t know how to find, something essential, but lost to him all the same. He had also lost all drive to work and congregate with his peers at work. One thing and only one thing did he seem to care about and that was The Phantom.
Clark knew as much about the mysterious Phantom as he had learned from reading the morning paper. The Phantom just so happened to be a feared, and in some small disturbed circles, a celebrated serial killer, that emerged in 2014. The Phantom then mysteriously vanished in the late fall of 2018, leaving a bloody confused path of corpses behind him.
PART 2 -
HDYCAP
Clark continued to scroll. He rolled his finger along the mouse almost lovingly, unaware of the intimate gesture. Finally his finger halted its caress and Clark smiled as he read the most obnoxious header he had seen so far.
How Do You Catch a Phantom?
Www.mystery4ever.com
it read. Clark clicked his mouse and scrolled down the new page that appeared, eventually his eyes came to the main article. Ignoring the shivers that licked up his spine, Clark began to read.
Posted March 12th 2019
By; Patti Limpbet
Where has he gone?
Tragedy and unanswered questions, that is the sum of the Phantom investigation. It all began when a body was found early December 17th 2008.
That day a seasoned patrol cop happened upon the body of twenty- year-old Tanisha Graham Lopez who had been missing for two days prior according to her family. The Lopez’s, had worried for their daughter and had planned to call the police that very day to make a missing persons report. They were afraid that they were being too paranoid by calling after only a two day absence. According to Mr. Lopez it was normal for his daughter to visit her friends for days at a time. “She was a very outgoing girl with a social life to match” Mrs. Lopez commented in an interview.
Sadly they Lopez’s were notified by the authorities the very day that they had decided to make the call. The family was devastated and the community was outraged, but no answers could be given to the family at the time. The cops had no leads and so the case was slow to take off. As the family grieved the police continued their investigation, which after two fruitless months led them to work with the FBI when a disturbing discovery was made.
The FBI linking many other cases to the present homicide case took over the investigation indefinitely as all across the state cold cases with matching M.O’s came to light. There were three girls from California, four from New York, two from Florida and now four from North Carolina. All together there were thirteen murders and it seemed that everyone had been completely blindsided.
As the FBI scrambled to put a profile together for what was obviously a very sick and dangerous man, the trail suddenly went dead cold. The Phantom, as the media came to dub him in the months of the intense investigation, went back to the shadows and never returned. A couple years passed and the masses began to forget about the serial killer MIA(missing in action). Soon people began to gossip
“He moved to Mexico.” some lied.
“He lives up in the wood for sure” the kids whispered at thier party’s. People speculated.
" Did he die?” they asked hopefully
“Did he simply tire of it?” they wondered in horror.
Sadly, none of these questions have been answered because the Phantom still has not been brought to the light. He could have died, yes. He could have suffered a terrible accident or he could be that perfectly normal looking guy, buying eggs and bread in the line across from you in a grocery store.
All we all can know for certain is that the cops are far from easy to fool twice. They are still searching for The Phantom, ready to find him wherever he’s slunk off to. Maybe we can all rest assured knowing that this monster will be brought to justice.
To all the families that are in pain right now, and who have suffered through these long years, we all offer our support and hope that your loss will be avenged one day soon.
If any one has any information please contact........
Clark couldn’t stop laughing, the giggles filled the room, turning into the mad laughter of a demon. He was so close to tearing open, to tears and something else, something heavy and deep and hungry. Uncompromising and merciless.
Clark deftly turned off the computer, but the laughter did not cease. He felt thick, his libs full. He could sense something splitting, all over his body, the stitches that he had created were dissolving. They were popping and he was sliding free, the maggots crawled out of his throat and ungulate down his chest. His loins squeezed, his body felt hard, it felt like he was waking up, being born. Being freed.
Clark giddily jumped up from his chair and flung himself down onto the hard hotel bed that smelled of roach spray and body odor best left unthought-of . He tossed around like a happy child, and curled into himself. He snuggled into the scratchy cover reveling in the feeling consuming his mind and realized that this is what he had been looking for all along. He had been searching for release. Release that only the Phantom could give. But Clark also felt thick and he groaned on the bed wishing that he had another kind of release.
“If only I hadn’t finished off my afternoon entertainment soooo early.” he thought and a wave of confusion and disappointment swallowed his happy smile.
Confusion because he didn’t know where the thought had came from only that some part of him had thought it and disappointment because the feelings of being awakened were dying away. Clark meditated quietly for a second listening to the not so calming sounds of music and merriment off in the distance.
For the first time Clark seemed to realized that the loud beats and booms had been there all along. Then he heard it, like a shot gun going off in to the sky and as the echoes traveled into the thin walls a voice seemed to whisper to him.
“Its time...its time!” Suddenly Clark felt everything was ready. He was ready. Laughter turned to cackles as Clarks mind fractured more and more.
Clark rolled to the edge of the bed and hung his head off the side, giving him an upside down view of the room bathed in darkness only feet away from his bed. Then a disturbing thought came to him. “Who am I?” No answer came from inside because his insides were changing.
“Why am I here?” A whisper over took him, but still no answers came. “What is my name?”
The man stared into the dark bathroom three steps away, where a pale, bloody feminine arm hung limp out of the large white tub. He got up and flipped the light switch just inside of the door, illuminating the grisly sight.
A woman, still and dead lay in a tub of bloody thick water. Whatever she used to look like no one would ever know because her face was horribly disfigured. There was nothing left, just meaty sockets, punctures and jagged cuts made up her eyes nose mouth and ears.
Crimson was her new makeup. Along the floor of the now lighted room could be seen various articles of clothing. Items that were once her possessions. A slime green dress, a purse stuffed with bills, and Chile pepper colored high heels. Clark knew that this would all reveal soon enough that this woman was nothing but a prostitute. Now she was even less then that. Seeping essence ran sluggishly from various cuts, like crimson silk it cascaded over pale skin, but the deepest and most gruesome was the viscous gash tore across her neck.
That one cut almost separated her head from her shoulders and a curtain of congealed blood coated her large breasts, pink nipples and belly as it pooled between her legs and into the water. The man looked into her lifeless hazel eyes and winked. The man knew his name now.
Part 3 -
Happy New Kill
The Phantom exited the bathroom and the hotel, carrying his computer and a duffel bag that no one could possibly know the true contents of. Heavy instruments clanked in happy harmony as he lugged it down the dark sidewalk. No one stopped him or noticed him. He carried himself confidently and with a swagger that should have turned eyes, but not tonight.
The name “Phantom” suited his very well. As he turned yet another corner traveling further and further into the city, the Phantom looked up, just in time to see spectacular explosions of color and confetti.
He blinked slowly, like a beast among the chaos realizing that he had found his way into a large crowd. Faceless, nameless people jostled and screamed, and danced, and pointed all around him. The Phantom caught a glimpse of the New Year’s glass ball falling from the high heavens to the concrete earth. All around him people yelled and waved to TV cameras all over the world.
“5!...4!...3!..2!...1!“The mobs screamed into the air.
Right on cue phones rang and couples embraced, sucking tongues out of heads, making silly promises, and generally getting hot and heavy in public.
The Phantom loved it all. He sighed, content, as the last of the strings popped and the person that was once named Clark Newmez died right there on the street and no one could be bothered to care.
It was officially 2022. He turned and disappeared into the crowds, mad laughter mingling with the roar of the world. The Phantom was happy that it was time for his return.
