Blood in the Bayou (Chapter One)

Warning: The following fictional story has moments of intense violence and mild sexual content.

BONUS $1 Tip goes to the first creator to accurately name the murderer in the comments!!!

***

She blinked in confusion as the blood dripped down her wrist. Her eyes were burning, and she wiped her forehead with her clean hand. More blood. Fear quickly replaced her confusion.

Sam. She'd been with Sam. She'd gone too far. He must have snapped.

"Sam... I'm sorry." She called out as she attempted to stand.

Her legs wouldn't move.

"C'mon, Sam... Please," her voice came in a squeaky whisper. She tasted something metallic on the back of her tongue and spat. The red-tinted saliva splattered and foamed over her mouth and chest, and she fought the bile that rose in her throat.

Sam!

She looked around desperately, unable to find her voice. There he was. Sitting next to her. She traced his outline, following his arm with her eyes. She hadn't felt his hand on her chest, but she did now. It burned against her freezing skin.

She looked down to her feet. Her naked skin covered in goosebumps and something sticky.

"Oh my G–"

She cried out as she saw the blood and reached out to Sam, but he did not reply.

"Sam...help–"

She remembered his face before... The hurt. The anger. She had gone too far.

***

She knew he wanted her back, and she knew he wouldn't be able to resist her... But the timing had to be right. She waited until Liz was in sight before walking up to Sam. He was surprised to see her there. It was his place with Liz. It had always been their special place.

God, how she hated her. Sara watched as Liz came running up before making her move. She pulled Sam against her, taking his earlobe between her teeth as Liz came to an unsteady stop and ducked behind the dumpster, spying on them like a pathetic peeping Tom.

Sara ripped open the last button on her blouse and pressed her body into Sam's, laughing as Sam pushed her to the ground. She wasn't smiling for him, though. She looked right at Liz, her laughter growing as their eyes locked, and Liz shed a tear. Sara locked eyes with Liz as she let Sam take from her what he had never wanted from Liz. And just as Liz was about to run away, Sara called out.

"Oh, Sam! Tell me you love me!"

"I do! You know I do," he groaned. Sara laughed as Liz ran away, her eyes filled with tears and her gangly legs bobbing beneath her like a baby deer. As soon as Liz was out of sight, Sara shoved Sam off of her body.

"Get off of me!"

"What?" he shuddered to a stop, barely holding himself up.

"I said 'NO!'" she cried out loud enough for some of the other students to come running. "Get the hell away from me! I told you, we're done!"

Sam stood, zipping his jeans and reaching for Sara's arm.

"But... Sara... you said..."

Sara leaned against him seductively. "It's not what I said, Sam. It's what you said... That's what I wanted her to hear. And she did. Just before she ran away like the little bitch she is."

"What--" Sam froze, his face reddening. "Liz..."

"Yep... she had quite a view from behind that dumpster. But don't worry, she's gone now. And she won't be back... Ever again." Sara laughed as Sam lunged toward her. She pushed him hard in the chest, slapping his face as she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I said get away from me. No means No!"

***

"Sam... I'm sor–" Her throat gurgled as the blade pressed deeper into her chest and blood filled her lungs, pouring out from her mouth.

She looked at her attacker as her arms fell limp to her sides. She could feel the blade being pulled from her flesh, but she could not fight it. She could still move her eyes, though. She tried to look at the stars as she felt the life leaving her, but she was met only with those eyes. No longer warm, they looked at her with a cold hunger. And hatred. She felt the urge to shiver, but her body lacked the strength. Cold and weak, she stared in terror as she felt her feet being lifted. The sky shifted, and her head throbbed as the rocks and sticks smacked into her.

The blood filled her nostrils as she was dragged, and she coughed and gagged until she could no longer see through the blood in her eyes. Then, suddenly they were clear, but they burned so bad, and her throat...

As the water filled her lungs, Sara thrashed with the last of her strength, letting loose one last scream as the knife pushed through her heart, and the water claimed her.

*

Liz sat on the edge of the pier, staring out past the levee. Her long, slender legs were covered in bites from the mosquitos that swarmed around her, and she unconsciously scratched at them until small droplets of blood trickled down her legs and disappeared into the murky bayou beneath her.

It used to be her and Sam's special place, but she barely saw him anymore. Liz sat alone on the creaking boards for hours, barely noticing the mosquitos or the fog that was quickly enveloping her.

Lying next to her was a small, black notebook with an envelope sticking out of the pages. Her college acceptance letter. She had rushed to school that morning, eager to show Sam that they would be going to the same school, her heart racing in her chest and the wind screaming in her ears. He always waited for her behind the gym so that they could walk to homeroom together.

But he wasn't alone that morning. She gritted her teeth in anger as the tears continued to fall. She couldn't get the image from her mind. The nausea that overwhelmed her as she hid behind the dumpster. The bile that rose in her throat as Sara pressed her half-naked body against Sam's.

Liz never expected Sam to share her feelings for him. But she thought maybe... after Sara had dumped him in front of everyone...

But no. And to do that in the one place that he knew Liz would look for him...

*

A sudden, piercing scream jolted Liz out of her trance. She stiffened and tilted her head toward the direction of the scream. Maybe she had imagined it.

Another scream broke the silence. It was quieter but more intense than the last. Liz leapt to her feet, listening and watching as the darkness grew around her. She slipped on her shoes as another scream came from the woods. It was closer and louder this time. She froze and strained to listen.

Mere feet away from her came a splash and a strange, guttural moaning. She saw movement in front of her, and her heart seemed to stop dead in her chest. She ran.

When she reached the road, she paused to look behind. It was dark and eerie. She heard footsteps behind her. Terrified, she ran all the way home. She ran to her bedroom, bolting all the doors behind her. As her heartbeat slowed, she surveyed the yard through the window. Nothing. She tried to dismiss the fear, but it held her in its grip.

*

Not thirty feet from where Liz sat when she heard the first scream, a nude figure waded through the warm water, the blood and sweat rinsing clean. Liz's perfume lingered in the air, mingling with Sara's blood.

Sara stared unblinking into the darkness. Tears still shimmered on her supple cheeks, and her lips were still parted from the scream that had died on them. A lock of her bloodstained hair fell away as it was severed by the knife, before her attacker quickly fled leaving her naked body floating in the moonlight.

The pages of Liz's forgotten journal rustled in the wind as it was lifted, and one of the letters fluttered loose, slowly coming to rest atop the water next to Sara. Knife in one hand and notebook in the other, the figure took one last look at Sara, her blood and Liz's swirling together in the murky water. Then, with unnatural swiftness, the figure was gone, and Sara was left alone in the darkness.

*

Liz awoke with a start, a scream dying on her lips. The room was dark and hot, and she felt disoriented. She tried to remember the nightmare that left her clothes moist from sweat, but the details evaded her.

She looked outside. Her mother was still not home. She surveyed the yard again. Blackness.

She could not shake the feeling that she was not alone, but she told herself it was just lingering anxiety. She walked to her bedroom door to check that it was still locked, and then she undressed and returned to her bed. Not realizing how real the threat was, she closed her eyes and allowed sleep to take her.

*

Her alarm jolted her from another nightmare, leaving Liz filled with adrenaline and fear. She sat prone in her bed, trying to remember the details of the dreams. Something was gnawing at her, and she could not shake the feeling that her mind was trying to tell her something. She gave up trying to remember and got ready for school.

When she was leaving, she failed to notice that her journal was returned to her nightstand.

Liz walked around back and into her empty homeroom, laying her head on her desk.

"Liz!" She jumped as Sam shook her awake.

"Sam! What?" She cried out, before seeing his face.

He was pale and had been crying. "Sam," she said full of concern. "What is it, Sam? What happened?"

"It's Sara. Lizzie... She's dead."

Liz stared at Sam. "What? What are you talking about?"

Sam was shaking his head. "I don't --" He was interrupted when the officers walked in. It was Mark and Ricky.

Ricky had only graduated three years before, and they were all friends. He walked over to them. "Lizzie," he said softly. "You need to come with us. You too, Sam."

Liz was in shock. "What? Why?" She looked at Sam. He looked terrified.

Mark walked over and picked up her backpack before gently taking Liz by the elbow.

"Liz. Just come with us, okay. We'll talk in the car." He was a few years older than Ricky, and she barely knew him. But he was always kind, and she trusted him. She felt dazed and allowed him to guide her out of the classroom and down the hall.

Liz turned and looked at Sam. He followed after them, his hands shaking furiously. The students were lining the hallway, whispering and pointing at her as she walked. How she wished she would wake from this nightmare.

When they reached the police car, Mark tossed her bag into the car while Ricky opened the rear door for her. "Get in, Lizzie."

She obeyed. Sitting next to Sam in the back of the cruiser. Her heart was pounding, and she felt nauseated. She looked from Sam to the pair of eyes that looked back at her from the rear-view mirror.

"Someone, please tell me what the hell is going on!"

No one answered her.

*

The station was only a few blocks away, and before she knew what was happening, Liz found herself sitting in a dark, dank room that smelled like cleaner and various bodily fluids. It did not help her nausea. Ricky sat across from her, refusing to speak or meet her gaze.

"Where's Sam? What the hell is going on, Ricky!?"

"I can't, Lizzie. Just... just keep quiet, okay?"

Mark had left them when they arrived, but he now returned. He was holding a folder and a clear bag with a piece of paper in it. Liz looked at the paper. She gasped. It was her college acceptance letter. It was stained from water and what she guessed was blood. She suddenly remembered that she had abandoned her journal at the pier last night. Mark tossed the bag on the table. Then he opened the folder and splayed several photographs in front of her.

Liz looked at the table in horror, unable to speak. She looked away, shutting her eyes. The photo closest to her was a close-up of Sara's face. Her eyes and mouth were open, and she had blood on her face. She was dead, and Liz would never be able to forget the sight.

She looked across the table at them. Ricky looked as nauseated as she felt. Mark just sat there, quiet and unblinking. He looked at Liz and nodded to her. She knew he didn't want to be in that room with her. Neither of them did. She wondered who was watching behind the glass. Was her mother there?

Mark finally broke the silence. "We know you were there last night, Liz. We found your letter, floating in the water only a couple of feet from where we found–" He paused and took a deep breath. "Where we found Sara's body. And we know about her and Sam."

Liz stared at him. She tried to speak, but words failed her. She looked at the table, at the photographs... at Sara's face. She wretched, quickly pushing herself from the table and as far away from the image of Sara's dead and milky eyes.

She hadn't eaten in days, but she couldn't hold back the bile in her throat. She gagged repeatedly, her chest heaving until finally her body purged the disgust and fear and anger that she had been holding in. She couldn't remember the last time she'd cried in front of another person, but she couldn't hold the tears back. Her retching turned to sobbing, and she slumped forward in her chair.

"Please. Please take those away," she cried out. Mark nodded, and Ricky gathered up the photos, tucking them into the folder again.

"I think I heard her screaming," she said softly, choking on her tears. "But I didn't... I didn't know it was her."

"What do you mean, Liz?" Ricky asked as he sat back down across from her.

She wiped her face and tried to compose herself, before telling them about the events of the previous day. She told them everything from the schoolyard to the nightmares that woke her up in the night. The screams that had sent chills down her spine, and the splashes in the bayou that sent her running home.

She watched as they exchanged glances. Ricky spoke first. "Lizzie, we know about Sam and Sara."

Liz stared at him. "So! What does that have to do with anything?"

They stared uncomfortably at her until she broke the silence.

Liz gaped at them. "You think I killed her?"

"Did you?" Mark asked her bluntly.

"What?! You're crazy!"

"Or was it, Sam?" Ricky asked, almost pleading with her to say 'yes.'

"Sam? Why would Sam?"

"Was it his idea, or yours?" Mark asked her softly. "Or did you kill her so she couldn't file charges against him for the rape?"

"What rape?! What the hell are you–"

"Not another word, Lizzie." Her mother barged into the room. "That's it, gentlemen. You're done. I'm taking her home. Come on, Lizzie."

Liz looked at all of them, unsure of herself. Mark nodded. "You can go. For now... But we will have more questions."

*

They sat in silence until her mother pulled into the driveway. "I'll be home late again. There's money in the usual place. You can order a pizza and stay in, okay?" Her mother brushed her hair away from her face and hugged her.

Liz looked at her mother, her eyes begging her to stay.

"I'm sorry, Lizzie... I have to go. I can't lose this job... You'll be okay. Just lock the doors, and don't answer the door or phone for anyone but me, okay?"

Liz slowly climbed the stairs to her room. She felt numb and tired. Like she was sleepwalking. She pushed her bedroom door open and immediately climbed into the shower, desperate to wash away the smell of the police station, the squad car, and the lingering smell of Sam and Sara's sweat that she'd been unable to cleanse from her mind since she saw them together.

She usually took only cool showers even in the winter, but she turned the water as hot as it would get, scrubbing her bare skin furiously as her tears mixed with the soapy water at her feet. Finally, when the water ran cold and her legs could no longer hold her up, she stepped out of the shower and walked to her bedroom with her face buried in a towel.

Water dripped from her body, leaving wet footprints on the linoleum as she walked. The plush carpet pressing against her bare feet somehow soothed her as she stepped into her bedroom, and she pulled the towel from her face, opening her eyes for the first time.

"Oh my G– Sam!"

She threw the towel around her torso, quickly ducking into her closet.

"Sorry, Liz..." Sam sat on her bed, his unblinking eyes fixed on the photo collage that hung above her desk.

Liz grabbed the first nightgown she found and sat down next to him, her eyes following his.

"Sam, I–" She paused as the tears fell down her cheeks.

Sam reached over and took her hand, surprising her. "It's okay, Liz. Let's just sit for a while."

They sat in silence for a long time, both lost in their own thoughts as they stared at the photos on the wall. Photos of the two of them. And of Sara, before things had gone bad. Before Sam had fallen for Sara, and before Sara had let him think she loved him too. Liz felt her eyes begin to burn again, but she kept her eyes fixed, unblinking until the photos became blurry. Until everything became blurry, and then it was suddenly too much. Silently, she cried until Sam pulled her against him and lay down with her on the bed, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, his knees tucked into hers as he curled his body around her own and held her.

*

"No!" Liz awoke with a start as the bed squeaked and shifted.

"It's okay, Lizzie." Sam squeezed her hand, softly kissing her on the forehead.

"I have to go before anyone finds me here. It won't look good."

"Liz was too tired to understand what he meant."

"Please, Sam..."

"It's okay, Lizzie. I'll call you tomorrow."

Liz fell back against her pillow, pulling the blanket tightly over her body, silently crying as he walked toward the door.

"Lock the doors on your way out?"

"Yeah..." He paused, his hand on the doorknob, and took a deep breath before looking back to her.

"You know... Lizzie. I loved her."

"I know, Sam."

"But not like I love you."

Liz sucked in her breath. "What–"

He was gone. Liz closed her eyes, desperately trying to make sense of everything that had happened. She kept replaying what Mark had said earlier about Sam and Sara. She couldn't believe they would think she would hurt Sara. Or that Sam would. She kept repeating that same word over and over in her mind... rape? Sam would never do that. But she hadn't had the courage to ask him about it.

She looked at the alarm clock on her nightstand. Three am. She sighed and stood up from the bed, lifting her nightgown over her head and pointing a fan toward the head of her bed. She checked the lock on the door once more, before finally climbing under the covers.

Clink.

Liz jumped from her bed, adrenaline suddenly coursing through her once more.

The fence.

She peeked through the curtains, surveying the yard once more.

Nothing.

"Stop it, Liz. Just go to sleep, and tomorrow this will all be a bad dream."

*

Liz again woke up screaming and sweaty. It was pitch dark in the room. Her pulse was racing, and she felt dizzy. She felt watched again and sensed a presence in the room with her.

"Mom? Are you home?" Silence.

"Sam?" No answer.

She laid back down, dismissing the thought and closing her eyes. Then, like a light switch suddenly flicked on, she remembered what had been nagging her earlier that day. Her eyes flew open, and she stared at it. The unmistakable black binding, the ribbon tucked into the spine. The smear of red...

She lurched forward. Her journal. It was on her nightstand. She remembered the evidence bag with her letter in it. There was no journal with it. They had not found it. That meant...

Her chest heaved as she strained to breathe calmly, her eyes roving across the shadows of her room.

Then, she heard it. A guttural moan. Like she'd heard the night before. Then, raspy breathing. For the second time in two days, Liz choked down the bile that rose in her throat. She scanned the darkness, examining every shadow.

Thud. Rustle.

There. Behind the door, slight movement. She watched in terror as the figure emerged from the darkness. A familiar metallic scent filling her nostrils.

"Oh God! Please–" Her voice trailed off as her eyes flicked to the figure's face. Those eyes. She knew those eyes. Once so soft and kind, adoring even. Now, they were cold and looking at her with a vicious hunger that made her nauseous.

Her eyes traveled down the figure's torso, the moonlight reflecting off bare skin. Her hands flew to the blanket that had fallen to her lap as she remembered her own nakedness.

The figure stopped, anger flashing behind black eyes as the knife glinted in the moonlight.

"No!" She cried out as the blade thrust toward her, glinting in the moonlight. She threw the covers off her naked body and hurled herself toward the bathroom.

Too late.

Her head slammed into the wall, and her vision darkened.

"Help!" She screamed, but her mouth was stopped as she was thrown onto the bed, her face pushed into the pillow. Her side burned as the blade slipped into her flesh between her ribs. She screamed again, throwing her head back. The weight was lifted from her briefly, and she pushed herself up and looked to the doorway. It was blocked. The blade thrust toward her again, and she stumbled into the nightstand, her hand brushing the lamp. She wrapped her hand around the base and bashed it against the window to her right.

Another sharp pain in her stomach. She could feel the blood dripping down her skin. Her head swung backward as her hair was pulled tightly behind her. She flailed her arms wildly, her fist making contact with something soft.

She climbed onto her bed and rushed out the window, ignoring the searing pain in her side and stomach as she gripped the curtains for leverage. If she could just climb to her mother's window...

Too late. Her blood curdled as a primal cry escaped her attacker, and the blade pushed through the flesh of her back. She fell forward, losing her grip on the curtain.

*

Liz heard the footsteps approaching and tried to stand, to run, to cry out. Nothing.

Wake up, Lizzie! Wake up!

But this was not a nightmare she could wake from. She felt the tears slip down her cheeks as the knife was ripped from her back. Finally, she overcame enough of the paralysis to cry out softly as her body was lifted and turned on its side. She watched helplessly as the knife was pressed against her chest and dragged along her skin like a lover's caress. Her eyes burned as the blood dripped down her face as she felt her head being wrenched upward. The figure roughly severed some of her blood-stained bangs, taking a chunk of her flesh with the hair, before leaving her alone in the darkness.

***

Dear Reader: I began writing this story about twenty years ago. I return to it every now and then, spicing it up, altering it, adding to, taking away, etc. But this piece of fiction, this introductory chapter (or two) is the first piece of real fiction I ever penned, and I hope the finished product will be my first to be published. But since I am never satisfied and rarely write anything NEW to the story, this might be all there ever is.