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MAGGIE JENKINS SLAPPED the snooze button on her alarm clock and pulled the blanket over her head. She refused to open her eyes. Just as she dozed off again, the alarm went off. She wanted to hit the snooze button. She and her friends had gone bar hopping until the wee hours of the morning. Even though she stayed out all night, she had limited herself to only one drink, which was more than she could say for her friends. They were probably still in bed and would be there most of the day.
She moaned as she rolled out of bed. Who’d ever heard of waking up at this ungodly hour on a Saturday morning, but if she wanted to win the race, she needed to get out there and train. Her competition would already be out on the bayou paddling away.
As she walked into the kitchen, she looked out the window and took in the beautiful sky as the coffee finished brewing. Bleary eyed, she took in the first streaks of pink that danced across the dark gray sky. She poured herself a cup of coffee and headed back to her room to dress before heading out. She pulled on her shorts, t-shirt, and running shoes. She grabbed the ponytail holder from her wrist and pulled her hair back before heading out. She made sure to grab herself a Greek yogurt to take with her before leaving the house. Eventually, she would need the calories and the protein to get her through the morning.
In no time, she had the kayak loaded, and left. For this race, she would be a one person team. She had been looking forward to this race since she saw the announcement in the paper a few months back. She found the small one person kayak in the want ads for next to nothing. After spending time to clean it up and make sure it didn’t sink, she was ready to go. Each day she improved her time and if the current was right, she should have no problem making good time. Her friends teased her, saying she was crazy for wanting to compete with these guys. Especially since most of them had been racing for years now and were pros.
Maggie just shrugged her shoulders and let the words roll off her back. Everyone had to start off at the bottom. No one started off as a pro. Hell, she didn’t even care if she won. She wanted to compete and finish the course.
At the boat landing, she stretched well before taking the kayak from the bed of her small pick-up truck. Maggie was so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn’t pay attention to her surroundings. She never even heard the man as he came up behind her. It wasn’t until he grabbed her from behind that she realized someone else was there.
***
HE DID NOT EXPECT HER to fight back. Although petite, she possessed a strength unmatched by any of the other women he had killed. She was quick and had the reflexes of a fighter. As he went to slit her throat, she bucked beneath him. She bared her nails and clawed at him. She attempted to throw him off, but he had a good foot over her and weighed almost one hundred pounds more than she did.
Before he knew what happened, she flipped him to the ground. He saw red from the rage that consumed him. The bitch would pay for doing this. He grabbed her ankles before she could get very far and pulled her down to the ground. She swatted at his face and screamed, “Get off of me. Someone please help.”
Her nails made contact with his face and tore four neat gashes down his left cheek. She pummeled his body with her small fists, but her gestures only annoyed him and did nothing to deter him from his mission.
Even though she fought for her life, she was afraid. He felt it radiating helplessly from her very being. The smell of fear emitted from her body; a body that would soon cease to function. She knew he had the power to end her life. The fear he induced in her was orgasmic for him.
She continued her ear piercing screams that tortured his ears and brought on a splitting headache. The piercing screams did nothing except aggravate him further. He took the knife and began to viciously slash at her face instead of just slitting her throat and being done with it. She tried to fight off the blows. He moved from her face down to her breasts where he stabbed the knife deep into her body. Finally, he expertly slit her throat with a quick flick of his wrist. Her body shuddered underneath him as her blood flowed onto the ground.
It was as if something or someone else took control of his body. He continued long after she died to slash, jab and tear her flesh with the knife. He closed his eyes, and the features on his face contorted as rage, hatred and a sick pleasure overcame his body.
When finished, his shoulders ached as exhaustion moved through his body. His hand even cramped from where it had grasped the knife. He leaned forward and rested his head on hers as he breathed in heavily. If someone passed by them, it would appear as if two lovers were exhausted from a round of passionate lovemaking. As he looked down at the body, he was pleased to see that in his rage he had not cut her eyes. He carefully removed the eyes and tongue and put them in the little container he’d brought for this very purpose.
***
HUTCH WATCHED IN HORROR as the blood from the latest victim filled her mind. She had been in a dead sleep when she felt herself being transported to another place. This time she looked through the victim’s eyes instead of seeing the murder from the killer’s eyes. Hutch felt each horrifying stab as he continued to stab the poor woman repeatedly. She almost passed out from the excruciating pain. For just a moment, she thought the killer had stopped. She looked down at the body and saw that it was her and not the victim before he continued with his madness. There was recognition in his eyes.
As the soul left the body, there was another whoosh. Hutch found herself in the killer’s body. He scanned the area to make sure that no one was around. He stood up and looked at the blood splattered ground and the body before wiping the knife on his jeans and heading back to his car.
Hutch sat up in bed and shook Mike. With tears in her eyes, she told him, “He did it again. It was awful.”
Mike rolled over in bed and partially sat up, “What did you say?”
“There’s been another murder. He had so much rage. The attack was vicious. He took pleasure in mutilating her body.”
Mike wrapped his arms around her and brought her into his warm embrace. Hutch was positive that the killer saw her in the victim’s body. He more than likely knew the exact moment she was transported there. There was a shift in the energy surrounding them. The viciousness of the killings would escalate. He found a sick pleasure in mutilating this woman. She felt the rage and hatred that consumed him. Her skin crawled at the mere thought of this latest sadistic murder.
The image of the killer’s cold eyes staring down at the victim filled her with fear. Her body still ached from the numerous stab wounds. The girl fighting back angered him and triggered the rage, but he now had the rush of inflicting pain on his victim so he would continue to seek it out.
Her head spun out of control as she tried to focus on his face once more. Pain wracked her body as she recalled the murder. His face was right in front of her, and she couldn’t focus in on him.
Unable to take anymore, she walked into the bathroom and stripped. She studied her body thoroughly, searching for any signs that she had been stabbed. She had no marks on her breasts or stomach. There were no telltale marks, no fresh or tender wounds; yet she felt every stab he’d made. She assumed she would wake up to at least find her body covered in bruises or welts.
She sighed at her reflection in the mirror and turned away. She didn’t want to dwell on the vision more than needed. The events that she witnessed were terrifying. She needed to take her mind off of the paranormal for a while. She would not let the increasingly gruesome visions take hold of her life.
She turned on the shower and let the hot water seep into her skin. She lathered with soap and washed the last of the fog from her vision down the drain with the soap. The memory was still fresh in her mind, but not as all consuming.