We fall silent as shock settles in. My friends and I had just been walking along the nature trail in Crawley Park minutes ago, we did this weekly with our dogs, every Tuesday evening. It’s safer to travel in a large group. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears. We’d heard a pop in the distance, they had thought it was a dirt bike, or a backfiring car. There is so much blood, they look like mannequins. I had joked with Inanna about it actually being a gunshot. She hadn’t laughed. I see Tori pull her phone out and Sunny move towards the bodies. The dogs had gotten agitated at the sign reminding people it was a bike and walking path. Melanie is crying, Elise looks green in the face. Inanna spotted a bloody footprint first. Tori runs back to the park entry to lead the police to us. Sunny had seen a knife lodged in a tree. Melanie is holding tightly onto all our dog leashes, she’s frozen in place, staring ahead. Elise had shrieked as she unknowingly stood in the blood trailing down the uphill trail, the texture was gross and sticky, she hadn’t realised it was blood at first. She had been texting her boyfriend Ian. We can still see the playground from here. Officer Tran is the first on the scene. Sunny had been the one to spot the blood bath, Melanie had screamed. Officer Elle arrives next; she calls over her shoulder to the paramedics. She tells them to be careful, to prepare, that the sight was horrific. The two officers on scene call for back up, the dispatcher tells them help is on the way. Irene is thanked by Officer Tran. The paramedics tell Sunny to step away from the bodies, she goes and stands with Melanie, taking some of the dogs’ leashes from her hands. Elise tries to give a statement but can’t stop the sobs. Inanna pulls her away, telling her not to look, that it’ll all be ok, to take a deep breath. Officer Tran’s back up arrives. Sunny and Melanie give a short series of events to Officer Elle. I stand back, continuing to observe from the back.
I can’t help the smile that creeps up on my face. I can’t help the laugh that bubbles up in my chest. I can’t help the way I look around at all my friends, they begin staring back at me. They think I’m crazy, maybe I am. Maybe I am. Maybe I am. Maybe I am. Maybe I am. Maybe I am. Sorry Inanna, sorry Tori, sorry Sunny, sorry Melanie, sorry Elise. I’m not sorry. I brought them here on purpose. I knew what would happen. Of course, only vaguely. Human emotions are so unpredictable in fact. I killed them. Stole life right out from under them.
I used that knife, sliced the throat of the first victim, she was a fierce fighter. I stabbed the second victim too many times to count, she wasn’t expecting a thing. I cut through the sternum of the third victim, one swift hit that took her down quickly. I severed the spinal cord of the fourth, she begged for the end. I pierced the leg of the fifth, I tied him off made him watch me cut off his hands and feet, and watched him bleed out from his wounds. All with that knife.
I left that footprint. it was from the last victim, the only one who died on site, the only one I didn’t move here. He died this morning. He was so easy. I chose this trail. It’s my favourite hunting ground. It’s so vast. From Crawley Park ending at the Rapport Avenue flood plains. They all died somewhere on the trail. At different times of day.
I invited them all. It was me. When the police ask me why, oh why, oh why, oh why? Because IT’S ME. There’s one thing they all have in common. Their names are Charlie. That name is mine. That name is mine. That name is MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE. So, you want to know why? Because – Inanna, Tori, Sunny, Melanie, Elise – IT’S ME CHARLIE.
©2021 Poppy B. Humble
Poppy B. Humble Writes 