"Phillip? Phillip?!"
I picked up the phone to hear Jenna's voice on the other end of the line. My cell phone had been ringing off the hook more than halfway home from the college. I had thrown it into the back seat of the vehicle just so I could concentrate on driving. As soon as I closed my car door, I picked up my cell to twenty missed calls and Jenna's panicked tone.
"What's wrong, Jenna?" I asked.
"Oh, thank god you are okay!" She sounded exhausted and stressed.
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" I questioned. If I had picked up the phone on the freeway, there was a good chance that I wouldn't be.
Jenna let out a large puff of air into the phone speaker, "The university sent out an emergency alert. There's been a murder on campus! Someone was found dead on the northwest side. They didn't say whether it was a male or female." She breathed in deep, "I know you usually take that path. You got off so late tonight, and the weather was bad. I thought maybe you were the one the police found. When you didn't answer at first, I thought for sure you were dead!" Jenna's voice broke over the phone as she started to cry. Before I could console her, Clark took the phone.
"Glad to know you are alright, Phillip," he said curtly.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Jenna was going nuts with worry."
I bit my lip as I shuffled in through the front door, still soaked with rainwater, even after the forty-minute drive home from the university. "I was on the freeway," I said to Clark. "It would have been worse if I had picked up the phone and got into an accident."
"True," Clark said.
He sounded relieved, though he didn't say so. I was glad Jenna had him to calm her down. I don't know what she would do otherwise. Other than him, I was her only lifeline. If something happened to me, at least she had him.
"By the way, did you notice anything odd when you were walking back?"
"Odd?" I thought a moment, Victor crossing my mind. He was odd but didn't seem harmful. "Not really, no," I lied. "Why?"
"The university letter said they found the person around eight-thirty tonight. I know you got off work around seven-thirty. That's the whole reason why Jenna's been going nuts."
"Oh wow," I said, not knowing what else to say. "I guess I got lucky then."
I thought long and hard about Victor, the man who walked me back to my car. The man I'd been watching for months now. The women he walked out of the bar with never repeated.
Was it possible that he murdered them?
I mean, maybe? It could be a possibility based on all his allusions to find someone to eat as he walked me back to his car. But if that were the case, why didn't I end up dead?
No, it was merely a coincidence that he just happened to be on campus tonight. I counted myself lucky that he had walked me to my car. That I had made it home safe and alive.
Wait! What if he was the one they found dead?
My stomach filled with dread. There was literally no one else there with me on campus except him. I'd offered him a ride back to his car, and he'd refused. My heart dropped.
"Phillip? You okay, man?" Clark's voice called me back to the present.
I drew in a large breath, "Yeah. I'm alright. Tell Jenna everything's all good. There wasn't anybody there with me the whole time. If there was someone who got murdered, it definitely wasn't while I was there."
"Pick up the phone next time!" Jenna snapped from the other side of the phone.
"As long as I'm not driving, I will," I said back to her.
I heard Clark sigh, "Alright, you two, cut it out! Glad you are alright, Phillip. I'll let you go. Have a goodnight."
"Night," I replied.
"Love you!" I heard Jenna call.
"Love you too!" I shouted. I heard Clark groan, and then the phone cut, leaving me alone in the silent static of my home.
***
All night I wondered if Victor was alright. The more time that passed, the more I started to panic. What if he was the murderer and I indeed had just escaped with my life? What if he was lying dead in the bushes that separated our campus from the outside world?
No, it couldn't have been him that was murdered. He was too self-assured, too confident. When I left the parking garage, he headed the other way, off-campus, toward the bar. It couldn't have been him. It had to be someone else.
As I convinced myself that this was undoubtedly the case, I headed up to my room to find a change of clothes. I took my textbook with me, removing the bookmark and placing it on my bed again. I was grateful nothing had gotten wet or smudged.
It had been nice to finally meet him. To hear his voice. To see what he looked like up close. Yet, the more I looked at the bookmark, the more a feeling of dread passed over me.
What if it was him who was dead on the northwest side of campus? Would I be at fault? After all, he was last seen with me. Inside I started to panic.
Forgetting my sodden clothes, I made the poor choice to go back out into the rain, back out into the biting cold of November. I slid into my car and began to drive down to the university.
It was Friday. Victor would be at the bar. It would be simple, I would go there, open the door a crack, and just see if he was okay.
I had no idea what I was doing. I barely knew him, and yet here I was going back out into the pouring rain to make sure he was alright when a murderer was on the loose. I turned my key into the ignition, hit the gas, and headed out into the dark night.
***
I parked on the street outside of the bar. I wished the weather were better as I slammed my car door shut, stopping only briefly to wonder what in the world I was doing.
I didn't know him. I'd only just spoken to him tonight. If he was here and okay, he'd think I was a stalker or had a crush on him, neither of which were true. I just wanted to see if he was alright.
As I locked my car door, I paused briefly on the side of the building, where there was an alleyway. A sound like moaning mixed with the sounds of tearing flesh and swallowing caught my attention. I turned, my body locking up with tension at the odd combination of noises.
I looked down the dark alley and saw the outline of a man in the street-lamp-lit darkness. A man who had a woman pinned to the wall. The rain was splattering down around them, masking the sounds somewhat, but not enough to distract me from the churning of the man's jaw on the girl's bared shoulder. Moaning came from the girl again, then that same tearing sound, a crunching noise, and the unmistakable sound of drinking.
The more the man's jaw worked between her shoulder and neck, the fainter she became. I watched her small hand fall to the side, losing all ferocity of lust that she had just been enthralled in. The man pulled back, a large, wet stain in his wake. I watched as the girl went utterly limp in his arms, appearing as if she were dead.
I took a step back, blinking rapidly, hardly daring to believe there could be someone this sick. The rain on the pavement splashed beneath me, making the man turn his head.
My breath hitched, hardly daring to believe the monster I was now staring at. I had seen him before. Had been watching him for months. My legs swiftly moved as I began to run away from the scene, but I wasn't fast enough. Before I could even register what was happening, my body was slammed against the cold brick wall of the building.