The Curse Of Eden

'You disgraceful child!'

The familiar sound of glass shattering caused an involuntary whimper to escape little Collette's lips.

He didn't like that though. Weakness was a sin.

'No please, please don't hurt her.' Her mother begged.

Collette didn't have the strength or the guts to look up, knowing very well what was coming. She made sure to never remove her hands from over her ears or dare open her eyes. Collette remained curled up in the corner trying her hardest to mute down the voices.

'She needs to make up for her sins. I'm going to cleanse her!' Her father screamed and suddenly, she heard mother's body hit against the floor as Mr. Patrick tossed her away from him.

A second whimper escaped Collette's lips as she felt her father approaching. Her body tensed from the remainder of the pain to come and her mind tried its hardest to escape. 'Help me!' She prayed silently.

'I'm doing this for your own good. You'll thank me later for that. You'll understand.' He spoke as he unbuckled his belt.

The metal clanged and the leather fractioned against the fabric of his pants. The combination has already become best friends with Collette's body over the years.

'NO! Please.' His wife pleaded but it fell on deaf ears.

'Help me!'

But her silent cries were unanswered. You think that after that many years someone will hear you and come save you but when you try again and again to no avail, you start to lose hope. Collette didn't though. Never.

'I'm going to cleanse you and rid you of your sins.' He sneered.

She readied herself for the impact, and a loud scream resonated from her lips and echoed around the room from the impact.

Collette opened her eyes with a start. Sweat trickled down from every skin pore and her breathing came out as shallow pants.

Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and she looked towards the digital clock they had on the nightstand, the red numbers notifying her that it was three in the morning.

It's been a while since she had a nightmare about her past and she felt a pinprick in her chest. Everything that has been happening those past few days is already catching up to her and Collette didn't know if she was ready for an emotional rollercoaster such as this one.

She looked to the other side in search of Adam but his place was empty. Cold even, indicating that he's been up for a while now.

Collette breathed in tiredly as she zigzagged her way to the bathroom, hoping that the cool water would calm her fired up body down. Heat left her body in waves and anyone within a mile radius from her would easily feel it. She splashed the cold water across her face and down to her neck and around her ears, instantly feeling a lot better.

Searching then blindly for the towel then bringing it to dry her face, she groggily opened her sleepy eyes to look at her reflection in the mirror only to let out a high pitched scream.

Her reflection wasn't the only one in the mirror as a black figure lurked behind her at a distance.

Collette was quick on her heel as she spun around, a part of her hoping that it would be nothing but a fragment of imagination and like the movies, the figure would immediately disappear. But it didn't.

Collette stared wide eyes at the dark silhouette. Sh couldn't outline any of its features and she felt herself both tongue tied and paralyzed and her breathing was almost nonexistent.

But the figure started moving.

'You owe me!'

Its voice was screechy, and it turned Collette's body into an overactive washing machine, vibrating uncontrollably as the figure ran towards her.

Collette screamed and upon reflex, hid her face in the towel. Then suddenly, it all went quiet once again.

Her breaths resonated across the bathroom walls as she turned on her heels in search of whatever that had just attacked. But she didn't have to wait for long as she was met once again by the dark shadow once she turned around again, igniting another ear bursting scream from her.

Once again, Collette found herself waking up with a start, this time, her gasp for air was in big gulfs.

Her body trembled widely and her heart fought against the constraints of her rib cage.

The sun rays danced their way inside her room. Déjà vu hit as she noticed Adam's empty place.

It was eight in the morning which meant that it was time for Collette to execute her plan.

Her body shuddered as her eyes turned towards the bathroom door and she instantly decided against using that bathroom for a while and to use the guest's one instead.

Making her way to the kitchen, a note from Adam displayed itself on the kitchen island.

'Morning pumpkin, I bought breakfast and kept it in the fridge for you. I promise to be back for dinner. '

Thoughts ran through her head as she munched on the turkey sandwich Adam bought her. She wasn't sure how things were going to play out but she had to take her chances. She wanted to prove to herself more than to anyone that she too, is still useful. And that she, can finally face her past.

After swallowing down the hesitance along with her last bite, she reached for her phone and dialed Ken's number.

Adam always kept his teammates' numbers and other emergency contacts written on a paper hung on the fridge to call in case something happened.

"Hello." Ken answered after the third ring.

"Oh..uhm..morning Ken, it's Collette."

"Yeah I know. How can I help you?" He replied as a matter of factly.

Collette remained silent for a second at his unexpected reply before speaking again.

"Uhmm...I was just calling to ask if Adam was at the CIB."

"He left like thirty minutes ago actually for some fieldwork. Did you try to call him?"

"No, I don't want to bother him. It's just that I think I dropped my necklace in his office the other day and I wanted to come get it but I didn't want to bother him with something so trivial." She laughed nervously at the end. Ken remained silent for a second or two, probably trying to process how this is important that she had to call him.

"I still don't get how I can help you with that. Would you like me to look for it for you?"

"What? No, no. I'm coming to pick it up myself. It's just that Adam has let me off so he wouldn't really appreciate me coming down to HQ and I want it to stay as such."

"You don't want him to know that you paid us a visit." Ken got the point.

"Yes."

Again, Collette was met by nerve-racking silence. "Sure. I'll make sure he knows nothing about it." "Thank you."

She hung up the phone with her husband's partner and was quick on her toes so she gets to his office and leaves quickly before he came.

She knew very well that she was deceiving Ken, and that Ken, as a matter of fact, saw right through her words. But she had to take her chances. Reaching the CIB headquarters, she made sure to move as quickly as possible towards her husband's office.

"You search for the necklace and I'll be on the lookout." Ken winked at her as he escorted her to Adam's office, shutting the door behind him.

He was obviously an accomplice and it made her feel more at ease.

Collette didn't waste time as she went towards Adam's desk, searching for the familiar folder, stamped with a red 'classified' seal. And thankfully it didn't take her time to find it.

Walking towards the copy machine, she started making a second copy of the papers inside, her legs shaking from the anticipation of the moment and it felt like the machine was mocking her by being the slowest it could be.

The machine was finally done copying and Collette quickly put everything back to where it used to be, hiding her own copy in her bag before leaving the room.

Ken was standing outside with his arms across his chest.

"All done?" He asked in a suggestive smile, making her smile at him as she nodded her head innocently.

"I really hope you know what you're doing Collette. You're getting both our heads under the blade."

"I'll update you." Was her only reply as she started making her way out.

Reaching the house, she made sure that Adam was still outside before setting everything in front of her, laying all the victims' pictures next to each other in order of death.

"Okay, so we established that all of you are part of the Holers' cult. What else could you possibly have in common?" She thought out loud. "Tell me something about your killer." Jason Green, 30 years.

A father of two. Lives with his wife and kids.

Cause of death: excessive bleeding from an incision on both wrists.

No signs of struggle. No other injury marks except an E on his left wrist and marks of rope that was tying his wrists and ankles.

A truck driver. A Holer.

He was the first recorded victim in the E case three months ago. But of course, now, Collette knows better. Her father was the first.

The thing was that all victims had their clothes changed after they were killed and moved so it was hard to figure out where the original crime scene was or be able to easily find something that could help. No traces of any kind of drugs in their systems so it was difficult to know whether they were murdered awake or during a peaceful sleep.

Collette racked her brain in search of anything the killer could've missed. He was a human being after all and he was bound to slip somehow. But where was it? Where was his mistake?

She knew for a fact that serial killers loved a show. They loved telling people about what they did and even get recognition for it.

Serial killers kill for four purposes mainly. Either anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain, or attention-seeking. And while it's the rule known in books, yet E seems to be displaying none of those things.

He was a man with purpose yet his M.O. (Modus Operandi) showed no sign of anger. He wasn't angry at his victims so maybe he wasn't directly involved with any Holer before.

So why was he killing them? They weren't rich and they weren't famous.

Collette's brain worked harder than it ever did before. This wasn't her normal criminal profiling way. The victim had nothing in common with any other serial killer she's ever met before.

Unfortunately for E, the police had been secretive about his case ever since it started three months ago so as not to cause mass terror. For all they know, whoever witnessed a body was passed off as just a murder, never announcing that there was a serial killer on the loose.

"If he's on a mission of some sort, personal or not, he'll still want to make a statement." Collette spoke out loud as if highlighting an important line in a book.

"So he'll be choosing a place with more exposure with each kill to gain the recognition he needs. He'll want people to know."

An hour has passed looking for any clue but with each time, Collette comes out shorthanded. With a frustrated sigh, she decided to go freshen up with some raspberry flavored tea. "Where will you strike next E?" She asked out loud as she sipped on her cup.

Walking back to her makeshift investigation place, she stood at full length, looking down at the papers scattered around her.

Simon Green. A truck driver found dead in his truck. Bloodless with the letter E on his right arm. No signs of struggle. Murdered on the 17th of April 2019.

Matt Daherty. An office worker, found dead in the janitor's room, tied to a chair. Bloodless with the letter E on his right arm. No signs of struggle. Murdered on the 20th of April 2019

Noah Henderson. The CEO of his own company. Found dead in his office, tied to his desk chair. Bloodless with the same letter E on his right arm. No signs of struggle. Murdered on the 3rd of May 2019

Mark Lennon. A hotel manager. Found dead in the indoor swimming pool area, tied to a chair. Bloodless, with the letter E on his right arm. Not a single sing of struggle. Murdered on the 13th of May 2019.

Aaron Kerrigan. A school teacher. Found dead in his car as it parked in an alley. Bloodless with the letter E on his right arm and no signs of struggle. Murdered on the 15th of June 2019.

E didn't even have a proper schedule. The times were scattered out randomly.

And finally, Jason Everglade. Another school teacher who fell through the roof of the pizzeria, tied to a chair.

And while the discovery location changed with every victim, one thing was in common. They all had their clothes changed at their wrists were slit.

On a thoughtful note, Collette got the city map Adam had in his office room and started pinpointing the areas where the victims were found with red dots. Surely, the police had already done something similar but she wanted to try her chances.

But it got even more complicated when the dots didn't correspond to an obvious shape or pattern.

Three dots appeared next to each other from the east to the west. Then the other three moved under them in the opposite direction so they made two equally sized, parallel lines.

"If there was just another victim, maybe then I would've known where he'd be striking next." Collette voiced her thoughts as she rubbed her finger across the cup she was holding. And then it hit her like a ton of breaks.

Dean Patrick. Husband of Laura Patrick and father of Collette. Found dead in his house kitchen dear his unconscious beaten up daughter and wife. His throat was slit in a clean, professional line. Collette placed another red dot in place of her childhood home which continued the bottom line more to the east.

She gasped loudly when it formed in her head.

A serial killer loves a show. He wants to be known, recognized. And he'll choose the perfect place to display his latest creations.

"I think I know where the next victim will be."