Prologue: The Lonely Girl
It was already going dark when Jared saw the little girl wandering through the streets. A cold December afternoon was turning into a colder December evening, and the sun was getting close to dipping below the horizon. He knew he’d have to be home quickly or there’d be trouble, but equally he couldn’t leave a child - clearly lost and confused - meandering through the road. Especially at this time.
She was staggering slightly, as if one of her legs were injured; yet it wasn’t severe enough for her to stop. She was barely dressed, wearing only a nightie and slippers, and she didn’t seem to be too phased by the temperature outside. Jared, meanwhile, was shivering and he was wearing a thick jumper and a coat, and he’d just walked almost five miles with a full rucksack. The girl was shuffling along at a snail’s pace oblivious to the weather.
He checked around to see if there was anybody else in the street before making a noise. Loud noises weren’t safe these days, especially when the entire area he was in was silent. He didn’t want to pierce through that blanket of nothingness and put himself in danger. There could be anyone or anything lurking around.
The road was empty. He decided to get a little closer and then get her attention.
“Are you okay?” he ventured quietly, when he was almost within whispering distance. He held his breath for a short time while he waited for the response, but it wasn’t forthcoming and she continued along the path she was taking. He thought that maybe she hadn’t heard him, so he tried the same words again - only this time slightly louder.
She stopped dead in her tracks. Jared could feel his heart pounding ten to the dozen and could do nothing but stare at the back of her head. Without moving a muscle and without the slightest hint of emotion, she replied with only one word: “Yes.”
The girl waited a second and then continued to walk, much in the same manner as she was before. Jared jogged to catch up with her and, feeling a little more relaxed, he continued. “Only it’s just that I can’t see your mum or dad around here,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”
She stopped again and once more didn’t turn around as she spoke back to him. “I’m fine,” the kid added, much in the manner as she’d talked before. It was blunt and unforgiving, and again she continued to stumble along the road as soon as she’d finished.
Jared caught up to her just as she put her weight onto her front foot and grabbed her by the shoulder, half spinning her around. “Listen,” he began, “I just want to know that you’re going to get safely home before…” He stopped in his tracks as soon as he caught her eye. Her face was ashen and her eyes had sunk deep into her skull.
He let out a yelp and scrambled back from the child, allowing her free from his grasp. She just looked at him, through those cold, sunken eyes, trying to work out what he was doing. After a moment, she let out a wail and began to stagger at him, as he lay on his back in the street - only to find he was too quick for her.
With a sigh of inevitability, Jared pulled a knife he’d stolen from a nearby hardware store only a few weeks earlier from out of his jacket pocket and took it out of the plastic sheath that was there to protect it. As the girl got close to him, he calmly and forcibly slid the knife into her forehead and killed her almost instantaneously.
She fell silent and then dropped to the ground in a heap.
Jared gave it a moment, before pulling the knife out of her head and wiping it clean on her nightdress. It went back into the plastic covering and then straight back into his pocket. Without even a moment’s thought, he picked up his rucksack and continued back to his camp.
