Mark then grabbed the focus back and asked, “So who is up for some mental challenges tonight?” Looking around I think he already knew the answer. “How could someone commit the perfect murder—one in which there is no way a person could get caught?” Wow, this sounded interesting—they could count me in on this.
“So what criteria do we use for victim selection?” Daniel asked eagerly. Everyone then focused on me while Mark continued, “Okay, let’s say you have a child molester in your neighborhood that the courts won’t deal with—is that an okay challenge?” Seemed okay with me and I asked, “Does he live alone?” Daniel answered and said he did, but he has a big guard dog. I thought about it and proposed, “Well, first I would watch his habits—once I establish when he’ll be home—alone—I would throw out a steak with poison for the dog—something quick acting.” Everyone was listening intently. “Then I might knock on the door, ask to come in…then act as if I needed to use his phone—once in I would shoot him!”
Nicole then said, “Okay, but now you have a body and possibly an investigation, how do you reduce the possibility that you will be caught for killing her, I mean him?” I thought for a second and then said, “Well, that might be a problem but unless you have a connection to one of his victims you shouldn’t have to worry—if your only motive is to get rid of him then how could someone connect you to the killing?”
Mark clapped his hands, “Very good point, the closer you are personally to the guy, or woman, you kill, the more likely the police will investigate you.” Then Mark added, “Now that may seem ironic, that you can’t be personally connected, which gets rid of your motive in most cases, but that is crucial.” He continued like he was teaching a lesson on killing, “The longer the body is not discovered the harder it will be for police to investigate for clues. Find his routines, like Melanie said, and then I would add find when he tends not to work for at least a couple of days. Then, if you do it on Friday, nobody at work will suspect what happened until he doesn’t show up for a few days. By that time, especially in the summer, what the police will find won’t be too pretty, and they won’t be inclined to hang out looking for the most minor of details. Of course, you have to ensure you left nothing there in the first place.”
This was more fun than a board game I thought. I rather enjoyed the intellectual exercise in these scenarios that Mark threw out for consideration. Then he went back to the original situation, “Let’s go back to the child molester—the one who sounded like the jerk we took out last winter …” Then Daniel added, “Okay, but there was no dog in that one” Mark continued, “True…but let’s see how Melanie did…first, she got in the house, then used a silencer, I hope, and then left. Now that’s pretty simple but probably effective. The way we did it was very similar but we made sure the body would have a chance to decompose so the heat was turned on full blast. Also, no car was used to get there so no observant neighbors could get information to give to police once the body was discovered.”
I thought this was developing into some sort of role play game and I loved acting. I joined, “Okay…so how many victims have you guys taken out?” Daniel responded simply, “A few, but they all had it coming.” I laughed at that. Nicole then asked, “Now Melanie, what if we weren’t just kidding around?” I answered her that in that case I would have to be very careful... to which everyone grew a bit silent. I then joked, “Okay, if you guys plan on killing me this evening how would you do it?” Nicole answered, “Oh, I guess since we like you so much we’d let you decide—I mean we could just simply do you in I guess.” I shot back, “That would not be very imaginative, now would it?” In quick response, Nicole, with a sinister deep voice asked me, “So what would you suggest?”
With this morbidly fun exercise I thought for a moment and said, “Well, if you wanted to be creative I suppose you could tie me up and then do whatever you wished…torture…you know, the works.” Nicole enthusiastically urged me to continue,”Well, as I said, it would probably be more fun for you to see how much I could endure and still live, Then you could then place my traumatized body into the freezer, just to add to the effect as I’d still be alive but not caring all that much anymore that death would soon release me from this experience. You could then always chop up my body and you’d have meat for a few weeks.” I then waited for reactions to my grizzly proposal, but it seemed Mark was the only one a bit uncomfortable.
Mark then said in a slightly stuttering voice, “That’s quite creative, but there are some problems. First, you are a really nice person, so doing that would be out of the question, second, obviously someone would come checking on you and might desire to do a search, plus, your car would have to be disposed of and…most importantly, I don’t have an appetite for Melanie steaks for the next several weeks.”
I was enjoying this play, “Oh, I’m not sure…maybe you’d just have to give me a try…I might be good as a menu item.” At that point I realized how that might have sounded, especially as I reflected on how flirtatious I may have sounded, and it was apparent that Mark seemed to have reacted with nervousness. In girlish giggle I noted, “I mean, in a cannibalistic sense everyone!” and at that Nicole and Daniel started to snicker and whisper something to each other.
Nicole interrupted the extremely embarrassing moment and said if she were trying to set up a murder the planning would have to take everything into account. She went back to me, “I’d wait until I knew you were going on one of the nature hikes you said you really loved, then there’s any number of ways to take your life and nobody would be around to help you. After that, your body could be weighted down and put into the Columbia River. Of course your car could be parked in front of a chop-shop in a bad neighborhood with the keys still inside—thereby there would be no trace of you and the police would eventually give up.”
Nicole really seemed to enjoy her planning, maybe to the point of making me wonder if it could actually be something she had in mind. It was strange, though that a part of me actually thought that perhaps they did plan on murdering me that evening. They seemed way too convincing in their little drama. I have to admit that the thought was rather amusing. I fantasized the scene in my mind...sure, it would be me being tortured and killed, but for some reason it was fun to think about. My heart rate went up, not out of fear but out of thinking about this taboo subject, of course it would be less of an imaginative exercise in masochism if someone else was on center stage and not me.
Mark broke my train of thought when came to my defense, “Oh don’t worry, I’ll make sure these two don’t harm you.” To which Daniel blurted out, “That would be a first, you know.” Nicole just laughed in the same sinister manner she had before.
Then Nicole went back to my original scenario staring at yours truly, “You know, there is a way not to have to go out in the woods. It is deer hunting season, isn’t it?” Nobody seemed to know, “Well, let’s say it is. You kill a deer and make sure all the neighbors see you preparing it in the garage—people do that all the time. Then you could mix her bones and organs into the deer remains and then crush anything like the skull so any identification as human remains would be extremely difficult. Then throw the mixed remains in a dumpster or toss them all together on a deserted logging road. Nobody would dig through the pile to see if everything was deer or not. That just leaves the meat which, if you didn’t want to eat it, you could occasionally throw it away.” Nicole’s description seemed very cold and calculating—kinda eerie, but well thought out. Mark commented, “That might work. Reminds me of what they do to dispose of bodies in Tibet—except they smash the bones up and burn them and feed the meat to birds—they call it ‘sky burial’.” Mark continued, “It might work but no, that’s not what we are doing this evening—so don’t worry Melanie.” I laughed and said “Thanks, I feel better now.”
As the evening progressed we watched some TV and discussed the upcoming debate tournament. Mark and I joked around quite a bit and eventually he asked what I thought of the game we had played ear
lier. I admitted it was bizarre but I liked bizarre. He then jokingly made the comment, “So do you want to join our serial killers club?” I decided to tease back just to throw him off, “Well, the night is young, maybe we should go out and find our first victim and test our some parts to our scenarios.” He laughed and asked who we should have as our victim, to which I shrugged my shoulders and said that since it was late then anyone would do, and maybe since there was a serial killer on the loose in our area anyway we could just pick up some college girl. He acted a bit surprised and asked, “I thought you only wanted to take out victims that sort of deserved it.” I thought for a moment and said, “That’s true, it would have to be someone whose contribution to humanity was negative.” We looked at each other and Mark responded, “I agree, maybe we can practice later—when we find someone that deserves it.”
The evening eventually wound down and Daniel offered to take Nicole home. When I drove off I had to admit that it had been an interesting evening but I was left with some really weird questions—concerning Nicole as well as the stuff about the killer game. On the latter question I had just figured I had some really imaginative friends and anyhow, I had really enjoyed the evening and appreciated being a member of our little circle. As for Nicole, I really had no clue—but I was not about to let anything interfere with our friendship.
Chapter 10
The weekend had been tremendous fun. I did not wake up Saturday until it was nearly three in the afternoon. I went downstairs to get something to eat and my mom commented on my sleeping schedule. She asked what kept me out so long, and I said I was hanging out with Nicole and Daniel which she seemed to be pleased with. Then I went back upstairs and sure enough, Nicole was greeting me on MSN. She apologized for not being able to come over Saturday night or on Sunday but said she looked forward to seeing me at school.
That school week was now met with anticipation. Sure, on Monday I would have to endure Lamb but at least I had an excused absence Friday for the debate tournament, so only two days of him that week.
One of the enjoyable parts of debate is when you get to go away for a competition. This one was in Central Oregon and we would be going up in a small bus and stay overnight. I was just sad that there would be no time for nature stuff.
Nicole and I got to hang out a lot that week—Daniel was busy with some tests to see if he might qualify for some special military program after graduation. Nicole was fun to talk to—and she seemed really self-confident when around me, but still shut the rest of the world out. She seemed to crave connection more than most people but when I said I had to do something she still acted like a child afraid to be left alone. Yet when together she was anything but a child.
Nicole brought up the Friday evening during lunch (we had left the school for the nearby fast food establishment) and eventually caught my undivided attention when she asked, “Melanie, if we really were a group of serial murderers would you still like us…or would you be scared and turn us in?” I only took a second to think about it and responded in a friendly manner, “No way! I mean I’d still be your friend and would never dream of doing anything to harm you. So unless you plan on killing me I would never say anything…but then again if you did kill me I guess I wouldn’t say anything either.”
Nicole then took my hand and I could swear I saw a small tear in her eye, pulled my hand closer to her and, looking into my eyes, asked, “If we were in reality into this sort of thing would you consider joining us?” I had enjoyed the game on Friday and didn’t mind playing again, “It would certainly make life more interesting, wouldn’t it?” I replied. She smiled and gave me a hug and said, “I really am glad you are my friend…it’s really awesome that we think the same way!”
Other than sometimes in school that week it seemed I was never away from Nicole, Daniel and Mark.—whether out together, in school together or on-line. Even Mark joined in on chat room discussions as well as sending e-mails. We seemed to be forming a unit closer than an actual family.
As Friday approached I was really excited about the trip. I did not really prepare for speech events—I had signed up for extemporaneous and impromptu categories and didn’t think I had to worry too much. When I woke up Friday I did not care it was raining, only that the next two days I would be with my friends.
The drive was not long, and the conversations were really interesting, but Mark, Nicole and Daniel did not joke around about our favorite subject—maybe the other students in the school van would not understand. So we mostly talked about current events to help prepare—other students would sometimes interrupt our group but generally we were in our own little world. It seemed that traveling together made our bond even stronger, and again I thought about the concept of “family”
The rain had disappeared as we crossed over into the dry climate on the eastern side of the Cascades. The tournament itself proved to be fairly standard; arrive at the school, get signed in, go to your first event, lunch, next event and off to the hotel. I had done this many times before, but now I was with friends, comrades, people I could relate to on a deeper level. Strange, in the past I didn’t really think about the other students, just that most seemed like Hollywood caricatures—mindless and unworthy of my efforts to destroy them in competition. Now I actually had a feeling of contempt for them as I realized that most were spoiled rich kids trying to make their resume’s look better. Yeah, they were smart, way smarter than the average high-schooler, but most did this because their parents pushed them to join. I looked down on their lack of true commitment to anything.
I converted my contempt and anger into competitive drive—and I very much enjoyed lashing out at my opponents. In the past I had caused several students to cry in debate rounds as I crushed their arguments. Did that make me feel good? I don’t know if I really felt anything but satisfaction when word would get out to the rest of my team. The coach at the other school resented the fact that I won, and won, and won again with so little effort. She thought this was a learning experience while I guess I saw it as a blood sport. I made no apologies.
Mark wished me luck in my events and I warned him I would take no prisoners. He responded, to my liking I might add, “Not only do I want no prisoners, I expect you to leave them a mass of trembling human flesh!” I loved it! I sarcastically teased him, “Now come on, It’s all about learning and sportsmanship.” We both laughed—he knew what it was really all about! I assured him I would not disappoint him. Afterward, I thought about the way I said that, and I wondered if he caught the hidden feeling that my promise meant—but I figured he didn’t...but what if…?
I did really well, and qualified for the next day’s rounds with ease. I rushed over to Daniel and Nicole to see how they had done and they too had qualified for finals. Mark met with us after he had talked with the other students from our school and told everyone to save their receipts for dinner so the school could reimburse them. That was wonderful since they all took off together and we could go out without their company.
“So, we have the evening to do as we wish, so what should we do?” Daniel asked. Mark suggested pizza so we found a place nearby. It was nice not only to be alone together but to be in a far off location I thought to myself.
As we waited for our order Nicole commented on the events, “Well, we all slaughtered our opponents today.” Nicole said this with a confident laugh. Mark cautioned, “True, you did well but never get too confident—that’s when you let your guard down and someone catches you.” Then he said, “However, you all did really well and I have to give special congratulations to our new warrior Melanie! You got excellent judge reviews except…”Mark hesitated. “What?” I asked? “Well…it seems one judge commented on your competitive style and she gave you top scores, but she also warned that rhetoric is not a ‘blood sport’”.
Mark smiled as I reacted with detest, “What the…who does she think she…” Mark cut me off “Don’t worry Melanie, you won and who cares if you irked some judge?” Mark’s tone was extremely pra
ising in words and tone and then Nicole added, “Hey, maybe she thinks you are a psycho—try not to scare her too bad if she’s one of the judges in the final rounds tomorrow.” I thought to myself how cool it was that the judge had actually used the term “blood sport” to describe my style.
As we were eating Mark received a call that a pipe had burst in our hotel and we had to change rooms. Daniel offered to help move our stuff so we could finish eating and they promised they’d be back in a while.
Nicole and I sat there and talked a few moments and then I commented, “It seems Daniel and Mark get along really well.” Nicole then responded “Yeah, they like each other’s company—they love to do the same activities…everything.” Nicole then got a distant look combined with playfulness as she looked at me and asked, “Wanna know somewhat of a secret about Mark and Daniel?” Of course there was no way my curious nature could say no to that. “Melanie, you can’t tell anyone about this at all!” she warned me. “I absolutely mean nobody can know about this—under penalty of death.” Nicole watched as I looked with a “Please continue” gaze. “Okay, Melanie, remember the other night when you described murdering you?” I said yes, and then she got more serious than I had ever seen her, “I will make that fantasy a reality down to every detail if you tell anyone even the smallest detail about this.”
Wow, it seemed Nicole was really putting on a great performance but my inner psychic intuition said that acting was not taking place. True, she loved dramatic expository speech so I discounted my discernment in favor of seeing this as colorful acting though. It was a weird feeling, part of me was amused, and part of me found it somewhat chilling, but it was exciting as well, no matter what. “Please, continue!” I begged as I pulled in closer to her so nobody else could hear our conversation.
Melanie's Journey Page 10
