He’d done it respectfully. Cleanly. And he had paid them the ultimate courtesy. He hadn't looked into their eyes at the moment they died. He thought that was a sign of his reverence for them. Only afterward had he laid them down on the ground and stared at their dead faces.
He’d strewn them with petals, a sign of his love and admiration for his prom princesses, a reflection of their own beauty. The petals had been stripped from the flowers, just as they had been stripped from their life. Flowers and women, combined to create the perfect sacrificial scenario, he thought, pleased with his logic.
And of course, he was careful to leave nothing behind. No evidence. No witnesses.
Nobody would ever know what he did outside of school hours. Except for them. He'd allowed each of them to see what lurked within him before the final chase, because he had felt it important, that they needed to know. He’d trusted them with his ultimate secret. How lucky they were!
His heart was pounding as he turned off the road, onto the timber plantation. It was the pine trees, he thought. The scent of pine, which had always made him feel so energized, and so happy.
These moments, so special to him, could not possibly stop. Not until he had taken his final prize. Three was a lucky number. Three was the total he needed.
The third girl he planned to take was very special to him. While the other two were the first and second princesses, she was his prom queen. That was how he thought of her.
She was a soft, vulnerable soul. Not as obviously beautiful as the other two, but he saw her attraction. Those soft eyes, that incredible figure. Hair like silk.
She hadn’t paid him any attention, so he was going to take her life as well. What a privilege it would be to get so close to this beautiful woman, and to share her last moments on earth, even though she had rejected him and he knew there could never be more between them.
What would she see? What would she feel?
He knew she would see him, and she would feel him. And then she would be gone.
She was so special to him, so beautiful. He could feel the aftermath of the ecstasy already. The warm feelings, the head rush.
Bemused, the teacher realized that this experience was like a drug to him now. The moments when they saw him standing and watching would forever be engraved in his mind. He wanted to relieve the clench of his heart that he felt as he watched their faces change, with terror and fear written over those beautiful features.
He had made such an impression on them. For the first time they had seen, really seen him. Now, soon, his prom queen would do the same. She would see him for who he was. Not who he pretended to be.
But first, he had to get to her, and he knew he had to do it fast. They would be locking down the community. They would be searching for suspects. But he thought he was ahead of them. He was sure the local police would not move fast. County sheriffs. Not such a high caliber of investigator, surely? Slow, rural and bumbling, he guessed. He was confident he had the time to do what he craved, and then to cover his tracks.
Getting to her. How could that be done in the way that would suit him best? This girl had few hobbies. She wasn't a rebel. She didn't go out running alone. She didn't have a boyfriend to sneak out into the woods with.
So this would be more difficult, a challenge for him.
The teacher considered it. He liked a challenge. It was all part of the chase. It was the pressure of time that made it more difficult. By tomorrow morning, at the latest, he wanted to have this underway.
Luckily he had been observing this girl and he thought there was one solution that would work perfectly.
It was so easy to watch her, to watch all of them, from behind the darkened windows of the utterly average car he drove. A car nobody noticed, in a color the eyes slipped over.
He was good at that. Watching. Staying unseen. And he had an extremely sharp eye for detail, which had served him well many times.
The teacher was good at many things.
The teacher knew he was good at murder. And getting better with each new girl he took.
Although the police were involved, he knew, for sure, that nobody would ever find him out.
The teacher was always very careful to leave no traces.
He parked the car, and then got out into the cool, spring night. He looked up at the sky.
There was no moon. He liked that. And tomorrow morning was supposed to start off cool but fine. Again, what he needed. The elements were working in his favor.
He walked along the path, thinking of how he was going to manage his next and final sacrifice. It would be his last one, so he needed to make sure it got done in a way that would leave an even bigger impact and memory, seared in his soul.
Humming softly, he mused over his plans as he strolled.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN