A serial killer doesn't just pull up to some random person's house and kill them. If they do choose to kill someone in their own home, it's often premeditated and not done at random.
Aubrey Palmer, who decided to take inspiration from serial killers in his approach to combat, found it preferable not to attack randomly. And yet, in this public area, with several witnesses, he had no choice but to make the first move.
…
Pouncing at Bloody Mary, Aubrey aimed to jam the scissors dead-set through her skull. Yet, she extended her hand, his scissors going through her palm. Blood splashed against her face, as she looked at him with her black eyes, blood running down them.
Aubrey's face ran white with shock as he leapt off the bathroom sink, looking up at the ghostly figure of his childhood.
Shit, I wasn't able to end the fight in one blow. What now? I don't want to fight her.
Aubrey let out a soft exhale, a crooked smile on his face.
"Nope."
Aubrey ran out of the bathroom, grabbing Sienna by the wrist.
"Okay so the kids were just playing around, thought they saw Bloody Mary, anyways let's go, woohoo!"
Speaking manically fast, Aubrey led Sienna away from the bathroom, looking behind him every few seconds.
As it would seem, Bloody Mary couldn't leave the bathroom. And thus, Aubrey managed to escape scot-free.
Though, I don't know if those kids did… Nah, they'll be fine. I did it when I was a kid too, and I'm obviously still here.
They went through the mall, and once a good distance away from the bathroom, Aubrey let go of her wrist and profusely apologized.
"Sorry for the suddenness of it all, that's my bad, really. I'm so sorry. To make it up for you, we can go anywhere you want, is that alright?" Aubrey asked, to which Sienna's eyes narrowed.
"No, not really. If we're dating, I feel like it's not good to always be worrying about things like being indebted to the other, no? You do something good for the person because you like them, not because you want them to owe you, right? And if you do something bad to them, apologize, and if they forgive you, then that's that. Or, at least that's what I think."
Aubrey looked at Sienna with a marveled gaze, as his heart once more began to race.
"That's… yeah. Wow, you really are smart."
"Hah, oh stop it! I'm not as smart as you'd think. I can be really dumb sometimes."
"Well, so can I. How about we be dumb together?"
"That… doesn't sound too bad."
The two walked hand in hand around the mall, visiting stores and talking to each other about the silliest of things.
…
Driving her home, the two played their favorite music, with Sienna playing a mixture of cutesy songs alongside some melancholic ones, and Aubrey playing a mixture of pretty much everything.
As they drove, Aubrey thought up an idea. They arrived near her neighborhood, Aubrey activated his Snowfall ability, plummeting the temperature drastically. They arrived at her house, and talked for a little bit before.
"Y'know, I really had a lot of fun," Sienna said, hugging the stuffed animal tightly to her chest. Aubrey nodded his head in agreement, turning down the music and smiling at her.
"Same here. It was really, really nice, actually. You thinkin' of doing this again sometime?"
"Duh! It was nice, getting to explore a new place, getting to talk about things… Yeah, it was nice. Which is why… here."
She let go of the stuffed cat plush, placing it in Aubrey's lap.
"Here you go. You said it looks like me, so it's all yours; you can think of me through it when I'm not around, okay?" She said with a soft smile, their eyes locking together.
"Is that so? Well, alright, if you say so. I'll do just that."
"Thank you. So, um… yeah! I'll see you tomorrow at school, okay?" Sienna exclaimed, as she put her hand on the door handle.
"Yep, see you tomorrow."
"Bye!" She said with a smile, opening up the door and—
"Woah!" She yelped in surprise, feeling a sudden cold wind blow against her. Her t-shirt did very little to protect her from the cold. She quickly shut the car door, as Aubrey snickered slightly.
"Hey, that's a bit mean, don'tcha think?" She said with a slight pink tint to her face, as Aubrey forced himself to hold back.
"Yeah, sorry, sorry—it's just, it was kinda funny. Being all like 'bye, WOAH!' and all…"
"It just caught me off guard, that's all!"
"Yeah, I know it did. Um, that shirt's probably not gonna be too warm, so I'd say we can trade."
"Hm?"
Aubrey took off his sweater, handing it to her. "There. You get the sweater, I get the stuffy. Sounds pretty fair to me, don't you think?"
At his gesture, Sienna dug her face into the sweater to hide her face, as she laughed and put it over herself.
"Yep, fair to me. How do I look?" Sienna asked, checking the sleeves. Aubrey wasn't too much bigger than her, but it was still not the best fit, being definitively oversized.
"..."
Aubrey, hesitant to speak, looked at her. Each time he saw her, it was as if he were seeing her for the first time all over again.
"You look," he began, as he spoke out from the depths of his heart which was still so enamored, unable to truly process her. "—Beautiful. So wonderful."
Her face still red, Sienna simply let out a chuckle. "Thank you, Aubrey. I'll see you later, Yozo."
"Yoz—oh, right, Yozo."
—The main character of the book he bought in their initial meeting.
Aubrey made the air less cold, warming it up before she opened the door and left, going back to her house and entering inside.
He drove off, and when he arrived home, he put the stuffed animal on his bed.
Really… I love her.
…
A week had passed since the date. Aubrey took an MSF course in order to waive the road test, and had completed it. However, he had not yet gotten his certificate to the DMV, meaning he wasn't quite licensed yet. He did not even have a motorcycle, so he was fine with that for now.
As he checked his bank account, he found only a small amount of money. Or, at least a small amount of money when it comes to buying a motorcycle.
Of course, he could choose to lease it, but in his mind, when he made 1,000 dollars per monster slain (a number which varied depending on the strength of the monster), he decided that it would be better to just get it all over with and completely own it.
So, with that in mind, he got Sam's current phone number and gave him a call.
"Y'ello?" Sam answered, with the sound of a woman moaning in the background present.
"Hey, so uh, I wanna impress this girl but I'm broke. Can you throw some bands my way—"
"Get a job."
Sam hung up, and Aubrey sat in silence for a bit.
Having dug himself in layers of irony, it seemed Sam took the first layer (that of shamelessly calling his unemployed friend and asking for money) seriously, so he sent him a text.
"But fr tho, wanna go on a duo monster hunter trip? It'll be fun"
He put his phone down, seeing his mother enter the living room. They had gone on a trip for the week, and had arrived back to find Aubrey's door missing. His parents, naturally, were mad, but they forgave him and replaced it, his father using it to teach him how to replace doors.
"Aubrey, where are you going?" His mom asked, to which he got up from the couch, stretching his back.
"Just going shopping. See you in a bit."
"Alright, stay safe!" She called out as he left the house and got in his car. Aubrey did still live with his parents despite being in college, mostly because he didn't want to live with roommates and deal with their shenanigans.
Though he often hung out with his friends, he had a deep desire to remain alone at times, and thus dorm living would be unable to satisfy him in that regard.
He checked his phone, seeing Sam reply back with an "Sure, I'll let them know"
Aubrey leaned his head back against the seat, before grabbing a backpack and making sure all the supplies were ready. His outfit was all black, and he made sure to cover his face as he was going to be attracting quite a lot of attention.
…
Returning to the mall, Aubrey entered the bathroom once more. He looked into the mirror, though he did not look at his face.
"Bloody Mary… Bloody Mary…"
His voice soft, Aubrey unzipped his backpack and took out his items, one of which being a hatchet consisting of a blade made from incredibly tough steel, and a handle made up of forged titanium alloy.
Every time I see it, I'm glad the HPC provides equipment necessary for the job.
Wielding the hatchet in his hand as his choice of weapon, Aubrey spoke thus.
"Bloody Mary."
The lights went out, and in the reflection of the mirror, the visage of a woman standing with blood dripping from her scalp and eyes being made clear. She emerged from the mirror, standing atop the sink and remaining silent.
"SHIT!" Aubrey shouted, backing up. His back hit the wall of a stall, leaving him unable to escape.
He turned to run away, but she leapt at him, banging her hand against the stall door creating a loud thump which made Aubrey jump. He turned back around, placing the hatchet's handle in his mouth as he took his second item and pulled the pin.
With a light toss, smoke began to fill the room quickly, obscuring both their vision. But, just before they lost sight of each other, Aubrey summoned the Slit-Mouth-Scissors and opened them, throwing them at Bloody Mary's head.
The ghost let out a primal wail, a scream which rang through Aubrey's ears violently. The woman extended her hand, allowing the scissors to stab into her hand from the front.
"Punishment… You deserve to be punish—"
"..."
Moving silently through the fog, a black wraith obscured its murderous intent. Not allowing her to speak even a single word more, he acted thus.
A hard, sudden impact was delivered to the back of her skull. Emerging from the gray smoke which covered the room, blood splashed onto the floor, a body dropping to the ground in sync.
Aubrey quickly sunk his teeth into the corpse, taking large bites at her flesh and swallowing them without taking time to chew, needing to act immediately. He consumed, and consumed, and consumed, until the body began to spin around, collapsing into one center point, removing all of the evidence of it ever existing.
Aubrey grabbed his belongings and went away, leaving the mall after a successful mission.