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Then, as her watch beeped and signaled the changing of the hour, a fleet of footsteps broke the silence. It was faint at first, a mere thud that could have been dismissed as litter scattering across the playground. But it grew steadily, a deliberate, approaching sound that froze Lauren’s feet to the ground.
She raised the pepper spray, her finger poised over the trigger, ready to confront whatever emerged from the darkness. The playground, once a symbol of innocence, had become the stage for a confrontation that would determine her fate.
Then, Lauren’s nightmares came to life.
A figure emerged from the shadows, materializing like a phantom from the darkness. It was the same figure she had seen earlier, a silhouette that seemed both familiar and utterly alien. Lauren's heart raced, and she braced herself, the pepper spray an almost insignificant weapon against the unknown.
He shuffled towards her, inhuman movements that suggested the person in front of her was not of this realm. He stopped around twenty feet away from her, just beyond the reach of the playground’s dim light. Lauren squinted, trying to make out any recognizable features, but the darkness cloaked the figure's identity. It was as if the person standing before her was a stranger, someone entirely disconnected from her past and the horrors that had unfolded.
Was this the same boy?
There was a tense, suffocating pause, where the only sound was the distant echo of the nocturnal beasts in the hills. Lauren's thoughts whipped into a frenzy as she wondered if this was the end, if these were her final moments. Would he pull a gun? Or maybe rush at her and wrap his hands around her throat?
But then, the figure moved, taking a step forward and placing something on one of the swings.
Then, without a word, the figure retreated back into the shadows, melting away as silently as he'd appeared. The swing gently swayed, as if disturbed by a ghostly touch.
Lauren's mind screamed for caution, but curiosity and the drive for survival propelled her forward. She reached the swing and scanned again for her tormenter, only to find nothing but blackness in every direction. She hesitated for a moment, her instincts warning her of potential danger, but the need for answers was too strong.
She collected the item on the swing.
Another envelope, again marked OPEN ME.
Lauren tore it open, a sense of déjà vu hitting her hard.
Another riddle, another puzzle.
The last in line, your final friend
Tonight, she meets her untimely end.
IULHQGV?
Lauren had no time to decode it. She had to do something. She clutched the note, her eyes scanning the playground for any sign of the mysterious figure, but he was gone, vanished as if he were never there. The message was a clear warning, and the safety of someone she once knew hung in the balance. But who was the last in line? As far as Lauren knew, the core five had all been targeted – and four were dead.
The answers lay somewhere in the shadows of her past, a past that was now colliding with a terrifying present.
She needed to unravel this final piece of the killer's macabre puzzle, to prevent another tragedy, to confront the ghosts of her past before they claimed another victim.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Ella faced the woman who might unknowingly be part of a deadly puzzle, reassured that the woman still had breath in her lungs. Matilda, her hand now steady after lowering the firearm, appeared more puzzled than afraid.
‘Matilda, have you received any strange notes in the past few days?’ she asked.
‘Notes? What kind of notes?’ the woman asked.
‘Riddles, puzzles. Anything out of the ordinary.’
Matilda brushed her hair back and glanced towards her front door in confusion. ‘No, nothing. Why? Should I have?’
Ella exchanged a glance with Mia, a silent communication they had perfected over countless cases. ‘We're investigating a series of murders connected to a high school clique,’ Ella explained, her voice steady despite the undercurrent of urgency. ‘The victims received cryptic messages before their deaths. We have reason to believe you might be at risk.’
Matilda's face paled, her fingers nervously twisting a lock of hair. ‘I’ve heard. Everyone’s heard.’
‘You were part of their group?’ Ripley asked. ‘We believe our perp is targeting people associated with them.’
‘I... I was on the periphery,’ Matilda said, ‘but I never got involved in their antics. I just knew them, that's all.’
