The Murderer

by Paul Smith

  “Jessica...if that's your name I am going to guess that your mother was murdered. What happened to you though?” Jasmine whispered as she bit down on her lip, that was the very second she realized Jessica wasn't crying anymore. Wondering what had made her stop crying.

  “I am hoping that you will show me more. Show me everything that happened that night.” Jasmine talked to her, holding onto the baby tightly. She had to know more but saw that Jessica wasn't ready to show her yet.

  For now the crying had stopped and the things that Jasmine had seen was going to keep her up all night. Sighing heavily she put Jessica in the box and took the glove off. Putting it in the box with her she left the kitchen, turning around in the doorway she knew that she wouldn't be able to see Jessica if she went back to the box. Jasmine thought twice about shutting the kitchen light off, she didn't know much about Jessica but she had a feeling any baby would want the light on for the night. Where Jessica had been buried under the dirt and left in the dark she was sure that Jessica would need the light more then ever now.

  “Good night.” Jasmine whispered and went off to her room to think over the things that Jessica had showed her that evening. With the help from Jessica she would see the truth of what happened, it would take some time but she would see it all.

  Chapter 5 : Jasmine Gets Closer To The Truth

  The more Jasmine laid in bed and thought about what Jessica had shown her the more she began putting the man and woman as being Jessica's parents. That was the only reason she could see Jessica showing her what she had seen. Not knowing who the second man was yet, she couldn't rush Jessica. She didn't want to make Jessica mad, after all she had been the one who found Jessica and Jessica had chosen to show her some of the scene that had gone on.

  Jasmine couldn't understand why no one had found the body, if it was Jessica's mother then where was the body? Then she began thinking she had did her research all wrong. She should have been looking for Jessica's mother instead of Jessica. The more she thought about it the more excited she got knowing she was figuring out what Jessica was trying to tell her.

  Not being able to go to sleep she went into her computer room and looked through news paper clippings and even searched for murder in the park. Only one article had come up. The only one she needed.

  Unknown Woman Found Dead In Park

  Early this morning a woman was found dead under the street lamp in Links Park. If anyone has any information who this woman is please call your local authorities. The woman was murdered, a horrible scene that should never happen to anyone in this community. A park that once was safe is now being avoided during the afternoon and early evenings of summer. No children are out playing in the park, no one enjoying their afternoons reading a book. Again if you have any information on who this woman might be please call your local authorities.

  “Of course it wouldn't be an easy thing to look up.” Jasmine groaned, saving the article to her computer and knowing she couldn't go to the authorities with what she knew. She had no proof of what had happened. She didn't even know the man who had killed her. All she knew was that it had to be a planned murder. Shortly after Jessica had been taken was when she was killed, not even five minutes after Jessica disappeared into the night in the arms of who Jasmine figured was her father.

  As daylight broke Jasmine got ready to go to the park. She figured the only way she would be able to completely understand what was going on was to be there herself and be able to go to the street lamp and check it out. There was no harm in seeing if anything had been left behind after they had taken Jessica's mother's body.

  Jasmine picked up Jessica after putting the glove on to make sure she had her with her. Then taking the glove off it looked like she was holding nothing but she knew she had Jessica with her. Now finding it kind of neat that she had a baby with her that no one could see.

  When she got to the park she stood right where Jessica had placed her the night before. She wanted to see everything during the morning hours as she had during the dark night. She looked over at the lamp post and visioned what had happened before she made her way over to the street light. For a moment she thought that her feet wouldn't move just like they hadn't the night before but her feet led her under the lamp post without a problem.

  Looking up at the lamp and then looking down into the grass she sat down with the glove tightly in her hand trying to find something, anything that would give her a clue of who would have killed Jessica and her mother.

  Just as Jasmine was about to give up and go home she found a small, heart shaped, locker. Looking around she didn't see anyone in distance to see what she was doing. Quickly Jasmine put the locket in her pocket, feeling as if she was going to caught stealing something.

  Little did Jasmine know when she walked away from the park and headed home someone was watching her from a white car in the parking lot just outside of the park. The man kept his eyes on Jasmine as she headed away from the park. He wasn't sure what she had but he knew she had picked something up while she was looking around in the grass. When he went back with information for his boss he knew his boss wasn't going to be too happy.

  Chapter 6 : The Locket.

  Jasmine didn't know that she had been followed, she didn't dare look around and have someone look at her as if she had done something wrong. Though it was all in her head she was sure that everyone was looking out there windows at her as she walked her neighborhood and into her house. Jasmine closed and locked the doors, making sure the house was completely locked up including windows. She had a strange feeling come over her as she entered the house.

  Jasmine put Jessica on the table and put the glove back on. Seeing that Jessica now had her eyes open. She had dark blue eyes and they seemed to be staring at Jasmine. Watching every move she was making.

  Jasmine opened the locket and found a small picture of a woman with light brown hair and blue eyes. The same colored eyes as Jessica.

  “So this has to be your mom.” Jasmine whispered, putting the picture up to Jessica's eyes. Though she didn't talk or even make a move Jasmine was sure she was right.

  Taking the picture out of the locket she saw some writing on the back of the small picture that had been shoved in there. Looking at the back she finally had both names.

  “Jessica and Amanda.” Jasmine whispered, a small smile coming to her face. Feeling better about trying to figure out what had gone on.

  The sound of the doorbell ringing made her jump. Quickly she took off the glove and made her way to the front door. Looking through the peep hole in the door she covered her mouth quickly and stepped away from the door.

  There was a man at the door that she didn't know but she had a feeling it wasn't good news. For a man to come to her house in broad day light she knew it was very risky of him and if it was Jessica's father then he was there to hurt her knowing she had been snooping around.

  The doorbell rang three more times before all was quiet again. Jasmine didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she should check to see if there were any other noises of someone trying to get into the house.

  After a while of not hearing anything Jasmine slowly made her way to the door and looked out the peep hole, seeing no one was there she closed her eyes and felt a smile of relief come across her face.

  “He must know that I have Jessica.” Jasmine moaned, knowing that if Jessica was going to show her everything she had to hurry up.

  Jasmine stayed up that evening instead of going to bed. She was waiting for the cry, when she heard Jessica's cries she looked at the clock above the stove and saw that it was two in the morning. She did the same thing as she had the night before. Putting on the glove and holding Jessica in her arms, not as scared as she was in the beginning.

  This time Jessica didn't bring her to the park. She was inside a shack, Jessica had taken her to where she had been murdered. Standing in the corner of the shack she saw a small fire burning in a fireplace. A few seconds later she saw the man who had been ringing her doorb
ell earlier rush in, Jessica in his arms.

  “Shut up!” The man hollered, his black hair slightly long and covering his eyes. Jasmine couldn't see where Jessica looked anything like the man. His nose was wide and hers was thin. Her eyes were blue and his eyes were brown, thinking Jessica had gotten her looks from Amanda.

  Jasmine could hear Jessica crying and screaming her head off as they came into the shack. She could see the man begin to lose his cool because he couldn't keep her quiet for even a second while he tried to think.

  Jasmine shook her head when she saw the man cover Jessica's mouth. Even her muffled cries were irritating him. She couldn't understand why he would even take her and have her mother killed if he couldn't stand her crying.

  Before Jasmine could even cry out or reach out a hand to Jessica in order to help her she watched the man drop Jessica on the hardwood floor. Hearing Jessica screaming and crying louder and louder.

  “I don't want to see anymore!” Jasmine hollered, trying to close her eyes and seeing she couldn't. They wouldn't close, knowing Jessica was making her watch the horrible scene.

  The man picked Jessica up again and this time he threw her face down so he wouldn't have to look into her eyes. That was when Jasmine saw Jessica's head hit off the wooden chair, now knowing where she had gotten the bump on her head.

  “Stop, please stop!” Jasmine screamed at the man, knowing he couldn't hear her she felt tears coming to her eyes as he picked Jessica up one more time and banged her head off the edge of the chair over and over again until the crying stopped.

  Jasmine saw the blood, she saw the the blood on the chair and when he lifted Jessica's face she saw a lot of blood gushing out of her head and down her face. There was no more crying. The shack was silent.

  The man wasn't even crying. Jasmine knew for a fact that it was her father now. Now that he was hollering at the dead baby that had once been Jessica.

  “I didn't even want you, I didn't find out about you until today Jessica! I didn't want you and I still don't!” He screamed at the baby repeatedly as if it could hear him, even if Jessica was still alive while he was screaming at her she wouldn't have been able to understand why he had been so violent with her. She wouldn't have been able to understand that she had to die so young because she was unwanted by him.

  Chapter 7 : Too Late To Go For Help

  Jasmine wanted to go, she could feel her toes moving inside her shoes. She knew she was able to go if she wanted to. There was no way she could, she had to see more.

  The man brought Jessica's lifeless body too a small sink and washed the blood off of her. He showed no emotion as he cleaned off all the blood. She watched him disappear into a room and come back out with a small, black, dress. The same black dress that she had found on Jessica when she uncovered and opened the box. He had put her in there. He was the one who had done it.

  Jasmine followed the man out of the shack, watched him grab a shovel from the side of the shack and start digging. Jasmine now knew where she was. She was in the woods where the dog had brought her in the beginning.

  Jasmine shook her head a little confused. There had been no shack when she followed the dog into the woods the morning before. After the man had dug the hole he placed Jessica into a small box, the same metal box she had found and lifted out of the ground. She watched him throw it in thee hole like there was nothing inside. Quickly he covered it and, the hole wasn't deep at all. The reason why she had seen the sun shining off the metal. In the dark it was hard to see if he had buried the box all the way.

  He man threw the shovel off to one side and went into the shack again. Jasmine had a feeling he was going to come back out so she stayed put. Hearing moaning and groaning behind her she looked around. Her eyes grew wide when she saw another ghostly shape making its way to her. The closer the ghost got to her the more she realized it was Amanda. Jasmine thought she was looking for her baby.

  Not thinking anything of it she turned back around when she heard the man coming out of the shack. He had a can of gasoline and began throwing it on the shack, walking all the way around it until the gasoline container was empty.

  “No please! Give me back my baby Ted!” Jasmine heard Amanda screaming out, begging him for Jessica back.

  Ted couldn't hear her as he set the shack on fire. Watching it burn, the reason why Jasmine hadn't seen the shack the other day. It no longer existed, he had gotten rid of everything or so he thought as she thought about the locket back at the house.

  Jasmine looked down at the glove that was on her hand. Turning around and thinking Amanda was going to ask for her help she saw the matching black glove on her hand. They had belonged to Amanda. The glove were hers.

  Jasmine watched Amanda's face turn angry, bruises and cuts on her own face as she drew closer and closer to Jasmine.

  “You!” Amanda screamed, bringing an object out from behind her back, Jasmine hadn't even realized that she had her other hand behind her back until she saw the knife. The knife that looked so real, wondering how Amanda could hold it if she was a ghost.

  “No please, you don't understand!” Jasmine hollered, hearing the crying of Jessica again. Almost as if Jessica was warning her to run, but it was too late. Jasmine couldn't move, her feet felt like they were glued to the ground.

  “You are the one who brought all this pain back to me! You didn't call anyone, you didn't tell anyone when you found my baby!” Amanda screamed at her louder and louder.

  Jasmine felt the first stab in the shoulder, felt the searing pain cut through her as she saw dark liquid spreading across her shirt. Tears in her eyes, she knew Amanda had been right as she felt the stabbing pains all over her body each time Amanda stabbed the knife into her.

  Jasmine saw Amanda's cuts and her blood all over her own shirt from the man stabbing her from under the street light. She had witnessed a murder and she didn't do anything about it. She didn't go for help, when she had read the article was when she should have called the police even if they thought she was crazy she had the glove, if she could see Jessica surely they would have been able to when they slipped on the glove she had.

  Chapter 8 : Amanda Makes Jasmine Pay With Her Life.

  Jasmine didn't see Jessica again that evening, as she fell to the ground and stared up at the darkened sky at the stars. She felt herself fading in and out as Amanda came into her eye sight with an evil smile on her face.

  Before she closed her eyes she heard Jessica crying, crying from the ground now where no one could reach her. The crying getting louder and louder, she saw Amanda's eyes move to the burial site where her baby was buried. She watched as Amanda covered her mouth and then everything went black. All the pain was gone, Jasmine felt something different as if she was being lifted off the ground. Wondering why she was no longer in pain she soon got the answer she was looking for.

  “I could have let you burn in hell. I am doing what Jessica wants.” Amanda hissed when Jasmine realized she was looking at her own dead body on the ground.

  Jasmine saw she was really dead, blood still seeping out of her body and realizing quickly that she was a ghost now, just like Amanda and Jessica were.

  “What do you mean? Why am I still here? What does she want?” Jasmine asked, thinking when she tried forming the words they wouldn't come out of her mouth. Her voice seemed to echo in her ears though.

  “Jessica feels that you are the one who will find out who killed me. Even if the authorities never find out who I am or who killed me I can get my own revenge. Its respect for my daughter.” Amanda told her, not taking her eyes off the burial site. The crying had died down.

  “What happened Amanda? Who killed you?” Jasmine asked her softly, she knew she should have been mad that Amanda had killed her, killed her for nothing. She was almost as bad as Ted for committing murder.

  “I don't know. Ted and I.....we were arguing the night I was killed. I know Ted didn't have the guts to kill me himself. I told him about Jessica a week before the murder, it had taken me t
hat long to tell him she was his after we broke up. I thought he would be happy to have a daughter, I thought we would start over only this time as a family.” Amanda told her in a quiet voice.

  “He didn't want her. He didn't have any plans to have a child.” Jasmine whispered, nodding her head.

  “Look, I don't want to talk about it. I don't like you Jasmine. You had a chance to blow this wide open and you chose to keep it to yourself. How could you do that?” Amanda growled at her, knowing all she had to do was touch her heart once and she would go directly to hell.

  “I didn't think anyone would believe me Amanda.” Jasmine muttered, not wanting Amanda to be upset with her but she was.

  “If you succeed in finding out who killed me to set Jessica to rest herself then you have the chance to go back to your life. I took her life, I have the power to bring you back and all this would have felt like a dream.” Amanda sighed, knowing it wasn't Jasmine's fault. Their dog had gone to Jasmine, had picked Jasmine to lead into the woods.

  “You can do that?” Jasmine was shocked to hear Amanda was willing to give her another chance at life.

  “I make the rules, if you can find the man who murdered me I can get my revenge and rest easy. The only thing I want now is revenge for who killed me.” Amanda glared over at her. Wishing she was still alive herself.

  “I will help you. If we search together we can find Ted and I'm sure he will lead us to the man.” Jasmine was already thinking of how they could find Amanda's killer. Thinking it was going to be so easy.

  “You don't understand, I can't stay with you, even now I'm beginning to fade away Jasmine.” Amanda saw her hand disappear.

  “I have the glove on. I should be able to see you.” Jasmine told her hurriedly.