Chapter Text
The first man was found about eight days ago. The news spread quickly through town, a violent death that shook the small population.
He was a farmer who had been complaining for months about some animal that had killed two of his cows. A creature that left a mess behind, yet was still hard to track.
Gossip travels fast. Soon everyone knew about Joe’s brutal fate. At his funeral, the body filled the coffin only from the waist up and the empty space was packed with white roses.
It was ruled an attack by a bear or a wolf, but no one knew for sure, and the police barely had time to catch their breath before it happened again.
When the body, well, when Aleera Dantes’ torso was found by the boarding school cook on a Tuesday morning, the small town’s unprepared police were called in. They had to scramble to recover what remained of the young woman before the rain washed everything away and animals erased any trace of DNA.
But for now, there was nothing beyond the center of her body and torn skin. No head, no Arms, not even a single finger.
I remembered Aleera.
For a short time, we shared a dorm room at the beginning of the first year.
It happened after the final exams. I was buried in sleep when the world began to fade, and only then did I understand that air was no longer reaching me. When my eyes finally opened, I found my own reflection trapped inside Aleera’s blown-wide pupils.
I shoved her off, she was suffocating me with her lips. I coughed violently as I screamed every insult I could think of.
I hit her, pulled her hair, shoved her into the desk and the sound of the computer hitting the floor woke the surrounding rooms.
Soon the dorm supervisor was there, pulling me away from Aleera, who was bleeding from the nose.
“Fucking abuser! Crazy bitch!”
They struggled to pry my hands out of her blonde hair, I ripped out a fistful.
She kept apologizing. But if I hadn’t woken up, would she have apologized at all? I don’t think so.
I didn’t report her, but after that, the life she had lived in the shadows came to an end. A harsh light was turned on above her. People knew what she had done, they joked about her in the hallways. It wasn’t easy, one could call it hell. A hell intense enough that, some time later, she disappeared.
Aleera took the seats at the very back of all the classrooms. She arrived before class began and left quickly as soon as it ended, as if trying to pass through the school unseen, without leaving a trace.
We never spoke again.
It’s not cruel of me not to feel sorry for a stranger who took advantage of me. I feel sorry for her death, that’s all.
Of course, the circumstances in which she was found haunted me for a while. That is... She was found on Tuesday, and we haven't had classes since then. I thought about her during the entire first week of break, gave a statement to the police, visited her memorial, and when I met her mother, my stomach twisted when she said her daughter liked me very much.
But now we're a week away from going back to school. Two weeks of recess for Mother Cabrini School, meaning two weeks where any night is prone to clandestine parties and cheap booze.
So when I heard about a band that was going to perform at one of the bars in town, I knew I had to go, you know, to get a dead teenager out of my head. All I could think about was counting my money to make sure I could get drunk that night.
- What can I get with twenty eight dollars?
Daria: Some cheap shots.
Daria is my roommate. You know Daria from the cartoon? Well, very similar.
- It’s not a bad idea, right?
Daria: Please, I know is sad but, nobody should think of death for that long, it’s bad for your head.
One day after Aleera, the police gathered all the students in the auditorium to maybe try to knock some sense into our heads, “don't go out after dark, don't walk on forest trails, don't come home late,” they said it was an animal attack from the way the body was cut, anyway, animals are afraid of loud noises, right? Even a rabid wolf wouldn't go into a rock bar.
Monday, 9:43 p.m.
Torture Me is playing with a badly tuned bass that scrapes against my eardrums, burrowing into my brain already soaked in alcohol. Beeing drunk at the end of my second drink does not make me weak, just an economic person.
The yellow lights hung from the triangular ceiling, bathing everything in a warm glow, while the smell of old wood, spilled beer, and stale fried food mingled in the thick air.
The bar owner used a bad joke for the name of the establishment, At Poly's, is packed and buzzing with drawn out conversations and loud laughter.
Lydia: Look, those men at the last table want to talk to you.
Lydia is an not really friend of mine from school.
- Cute.
Lydia: Girl, they're from the police, Officer Wright wants to ask you about Aleera.
- Yeah... No way.
Giving more attention to where she points, a table further away, two men completely separated from the rest of the drunk students. The first, dark hair, wore a plaid shirt with rolled-up sleeves, his posture too relaxed for someone who claimed to be a police officer. His dark eyes scanned the room with boredom, he looks tired.
In front of him, the other man, with dark blond hair, one hand resting on his chin, wore a pair of black gloves, even though the temperature there did not justify such an accessory. With his other hand, he tapped a pen slowly on a notepad thrown on the table.
Neither of them seemed to be there to drink, the glasses sweaty, the beer warming up untouched. What a waste of cheap booze.
Lydia: They said they'll pay for any information.
I could feel the scales in my head tip toward the side where I know I have more to gain than to lose, so I step away from the counter and walk over to the men.
- Hi... Officer Wright?
I hold out my hand and he shakes it.
The blond man doesn't bother to look me in the face.
Officer Wright: That's me. Sorry to interrupt your fun. My partner —he nods toward a dark blond man holding the notepad— and I are part of the police investigation unit. It's no big deal, it's just that you were Aleera Dantes last roommate.
- Was I the last one? Probably not, dorms aren't allowed to have single occupants, there are always two or three.
I sit down on a free chair, my senses, already numbed, convinced me to sit down in midair, almost falling.
Officer Wright: That's what they said at the school, you were the last one, what can you tell me about Aleera? Were you close?
- Definitely not. Well... Sometimes she talked to herself... Once she... she was definitely quiet, so we never truly had a real conversation.
Can't they even pay me for information? Not that I care, money is money.
Officer Wright: Once what? - He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
- Nothing, she was a sleepwalker.
Officer Wright: At any point while she was sleepwalking did she say anything out of the ordinary?
- No.
Officer Wright: Okay... funny, some teachers reported that Aleera always talked about you.
- Well, talking about me and us being friends are two different things. Maybe she was so lonely that she made that up.
I noticed that the blond officer was writing down everything I said. And I also notice that Officer Wright didn't seem satisfied with the informations I gave them, but for two strangers that's all I have to offer.
The blond left a $20 bill on the table. They both got up quietly and disappeared into the small crowd.
Aleera Dantes was definitely crazy, but so socially reclusive that no one would ever know just how much
My cell phone vibrates in my pocket.
“Daria: I couldn't find you, so I went out for a smoke with Nick.”
My eyes rolled back. Nick is an idiot. He's slept with half the girls in town, but Daria swears it's different with her.
Well, everyone has their own terrible choices. At least mine is getting drunk without the risk of getting knocked up by some junkie. I have $20 to spend at the bar and after that morbid interrogation, I need another drink.
Tuesday, 6:30 a.m.
Beep beep beep beep beep be-
Shit, I forgot to turn off the alarm that wakes me up for class.
It feels colder than usual. A thin shiver crawls up my spine as the early morning wind slips through the half-open window, brushing against my skin, unwelcome.
Instinctively, I pull the heavy blanket over my head, seeking warmth in the cocoon of darkness. Only then realizing I’m not wearing anything, I’d fallen asleep naked again, one of those nights where exhaustion drags me under so completely that I forget everything.
With the shift of my body the fabric moves giving space for light to enter. Seeing that my feet have mud stains and my knees are scratched, what a mess.
My throat burned with every swallow, raw with irritation. A sign that I’d thrown up the night before. The taste lingered, dry and bitter at the corner of my mouth.
- God, my head is going to explode. Daria, are you awake?
No answer. She hadn't woken up.
I turn my back to the room, schooching inside the blancket. Judging my desire to get out of bed and the need for a shower.
Did Daria came back yesterday?
Putting a hand on my aching head, swearing I'm never drinking again. I had to get out of bed to check and the moment my feet touched the ground, my brain sloshed loose inside my skull. Shit.
I searched for her over and over, as if it were possible to lose someone in the narrow space of a single bed.
Daria's bed is empty. It's still the way she left it yesterday. Some clothes scattered around from when she was deciding which t-shirt to wear.
My head pulsed in sync with my startled heart, I had to sit on her bed. Staring at the white wall, trying hard to remember how I even got back to my room.
I remember stumbling every step back to the dorm. Surely the officers money bought me a few shots. My stomach remembered how I was sure I wasn't going to survive.
I remember tellling someone that I needed to sit down and how I coudn’t even see straight, and while ridiculously trying to stay at my feet the drink coming back up, I swallowed.
Everything spinning.
They responded with “One foot at a time” and “God, you drank too much.”
We passed a burger joint, my stomach growling with hunger. Complaining when I saw the sign that said Closed, I wanted to eat something to ease the nausea.
There was a small sign on the glass that read Smile, you’re being filmed. I didn’t smile, i I flipped it off and stumbled mid step.
I helded on to the person, the girl. It was a female voice. I could only look down, and I remember seeing Daria's boots. She had bought them in the middle of the year at some store in town. Black boots with a small heel and silver zippers on the sides.
Minutes after this realisation the vomit came on strong, probably when I let go of Daria and felt to the ground, which explains the knees. In front of the dorms I drowned the grass in bile and cheap liquor, and after that I don't remember anything.
I left her alone, my best friend, in the middle of the night, with a murderous, hungry animal prowling the forest.
I start to search desperately for my phone, its not here. I can't call her without my phone, so I have to go to the police in person.
Yesterday at the bar I was wearing a skirt with no pockets, so I carried my money in my phone case and the phone inside my jacket. God, where's my jacket? Did I leave it at the bar? This is terrible. I'm naked, dirty, my hair stinks of vomit and I lost Daria.
- Shit.
I got up to quickly. Feeling the vomit rising, my mouth salivating excessively. I had to sit on the carpet, both hands over my mouth, holding back the liquid.
Daria: Eeww.
I look up, at the bathroom door to see Daria with her hair all messed up and a hungover face.
- You bitch! - I walked toward her in a zigzag- Where were you? I didn't see you in bed and thought you'd been eaten!
I fell into her in a hug, partly for comfort, partly to keep myself standing.
Daria: Please, don't hug me while you're naked and stinking -She pulls me away from her, hands me my towel, while covering her nose with one hand- You look like an animal hit by a car.
Letting out a short laugh of relief, I gave her a small shove, just enough to slip past her and into the bathroom.
I lean my face against the bathroom door to stare at her a little longer, calming my heart at the possibility of losing my closest friend.
When turning my back to the bathroom door, I'm facing the mirror above the sink, a prehistoric human looking back, oh, its me.
The shower knob was cold against my fingers when I turned it. A few drops of icy water splashed my arm, and the world felt unbearably cruel to me.
Waiting for the water to heat up I could think how last night was very irresponsible, I was really airheaded, didn't even question whether the way back to the dorm could be dangerous, especially after drinking so much.
The tiles near the water began to hum. Warm steam curled upward, and when the hot water touched my back and my friend was alive on the other side of the wall, the world felt at peace with me again.
The calming scent of conditioner blended badly with scenes of how Daria’s body could have been found, with the yellow tapes keeping people at a distance, my vomit on the floor, the boots speckled with her own blood.
I shake my head, she’s fine.
Breathing deeply, watching the dirt and fatigue run down my body, scrapped knees, legs and disappearing down the drain.
Everything is fine.
I put on the most comfortable clothes I could and made Daria dry my hair, since hers is short and doesn’t need a blow dryer. Sometimes I make her suffer a little.
Daria wanted to go out for coffee and dragged me along. I went just to keep her company, because even the thought of anything dissolving in my mouth made my stomach churn.
Daria: Nick wants to see me on Sunday - she says cheerfully.
- And Nick looks like he has a long list of sexually transmitted diseases.
She rolls her eyes and laughs.
Her expression quickly changing.
Daria: Police cars?
I follow her stare, outside the dorm entrance surrounded by a small crowd of students, one of the officers trying to keep them back.
We walked toward them, one of the officers notice, he was quick to come up to me.
Apparently, a security camera filmed Lydia and me returning to the dorm together, and they wanted to know how I was the only one who made it back to my room alive.
- Maybe you saw it wrong, I came back with someone else.
Officer: Are you saying the footage is fake?
- I don't know what to say, I remember...
I pause.
Except that I don't remember, impulsively I ended up convincing myself that the boots I saw were Daria's. I felt stupid for thinking that no other girl would have shoes like hers, which were bought in town, where there aren't many different stores and where Lydia had probably bought the same ones.
I remained silent.
Police officer: Look, we don't think you're guilty. Given the circumstances in which we found her body, it would have been impossible for a human being to have done that. We think you might have seen the animal.
When I arrived, the body was already inside those black plastic bags. But through the eyes of a tired small town police officer inexperienced with this type of situation, the shock of having seen something so horrific was transparent.
- Sorry... I didn't see anything.
More questions Where asked, such as what time we left the bar, if it was just the two of us, several questions that I couldn't answer because I was reckleslly drunk
He asked me to wait, saying he would take me to the police station.
Lydia was dragged to a part of the forest, where a student, Sara, found her early this morning, she followed the trail of blood on the grass until reached Lydia. The police was called and after they had zipped the body in a black bag, Sara told the students that got a the scene too late to see her how she had been torn and bitten.
Apparently, there will be a search for the animal, it was also decreed that no establishment should remain open after 8:00 p.m., as a “not so strict” curfew so as not to affect local commerce.
Tuesday, 10:20 a.m.
Officer: Do you remember hearing screams before you lost consciousness?
- No.
Officer: Do you remember hearing any noise in the woods near you at any time?
- No.
Officer: Kid, —she puts her hand on her forehead— it's not that the police are accusing you, it's just that your friend died and you don't have a scratch on you. Did you wake up feeling any pain?
- No.
Officer: Ok, I'm going to request an examination, in case the thing left any DNA on your body that matches the DNA found on Lydia's.
They put me in a cold room and made me take off all my clothes. First the front, then the back and hair. Shameful.
They looked for scratches on the front of my body and then asked me to turn around, the woman started to divide my hair into sections before quickly stopping.
Officer: Theresa, look at this.
Theresa was another officer who made a surprised noise when she saw my back. She talked about gettint a camera.
- Camera?
Officer: And you said you didn't feel anything? You must have been really drunk not to feel this.
Her words were filled with sorrow, I asked her what it was but she didn't describe it to me, I had to wait to see the photo.
Theresa came back with a rather large camera. She used the flash and I just prayed that my whole butt wouldn't show up for other police officers to see.
Letting my eyes adjust to the small camera screen I saw a large cut from my left shoulder to my right waist. It looked deep, should be painful, but I didn't feel it there.
The two women noticed my state of shock and at least offered me a donut and coffee, but I refuse it, not feeling hungry after that.
- That guy from the police investigation unit was also at the bar that night. He asked me some questions about Aleera. Is he here?
Officer Theresa: What was his name?
- Well, his last name was Wright.
Theresa laughed softly.
Officer Theresa: We don't have any Wright here and the only investigation unit is in the neighboring town. Sometimes he was a freelance journalist. That happens.