Hunting Gemini

HUNTING GEMINI
By Kevin D. Cottrell




“A crime against a child is the worst kind of crime; than, the most heinous of all criminals must be a child killer. This story is dedicated to the smallest of victims … who no longer have a voice.” –Kevin D. Cottrell

“Man is the cruelest animal.” – Nietche

“A predator can be obsessed with killing, just as I can be obsessed with hunting him down. But, he isn’t forced to kill anymore than I am forced to pursue him.” – Special Agent John Douglas (Ret, F.B. I.) “Obsession”



Raleigh, North Carolina
May 23rd, 1990
8:00 P.M.

The moon watched in the darkened sky, peeking through low hanging clouds, providing just enough brilliance for shadows. A slight chill in the air that smelled of moisture and freshly cut grass. In the outskirts southeast of “The City of Oaks” A figure slowly crept upon a single family home at the court of a quiet neighborhood. Skillfully the dark figure opened the back gate of the quiet home and dragged a forty foot aluminum ladder with wool socks duct taped to the top beams.

Silently the shadow raised the ladder to the corner bedroom of the second floor and seated the legs. With barely a whisper of sound and the skill of a spider the shadow climbed to the landing with plastic bags taped to his feet. Just below the window with a gloved hand he pulled out a roll of masking tape, gently taping the pane above the latch. Removing a small hammer from a canvas sack he struck the glass shattering the pane with a downward pull he removed the pane held together by the masking tape. He placed the pane into his sack along with the hammer. He took his time cleaning the small glass shards from the inside of the room. The shadow figure re-taped the window leaving the ladder in place and the window unlocked. He crept back down to wait behind a shed, for the family to return home.

***

A few hours had passed as the sky filled dark and ominous, the rain came down in torrents creating instant puddles and small ponds in the well kept yard. Water rushed along the fence line carrying with it fresh clippings as a large truck pulled into the driveway, its headlights searching.

“Amy, pull your hood over your head were going to run for it.”

“Okay… daddy.”

“Hold your mom’s hand as I lock the truck and you two run for the front porch.”

“Jeff hurry, the rains coming down harder.”

“Dawn get Amy inside. I’ll be in a minute.”

“Go up and take a shower your dad will be up soon.”

“Okay, why? Did you tell him about Ryan?”

“Of course I did sweetheart, what did you think that you could keep him a secret from your father? You’re still too young to date.”

“He isn’t a date…he is a tutor.”

“Yeah, right I have seen the boy. I’m out of this you explain it to your father.”

“He was the boy that you pointed out in the stands tonight?”

“Yes, that was Ryan…he’s strong and very smart. He doesn’t smoke or drink and he runs track.”

“Yeah, you left out the fact that he is older than you and very cute. Okay, I’ll talk to your father, but you two will study at the kitchen table where your father and I can keep an eye on him, alright?”

Amy smiled, “I don’t think it’s him you have to keep an eye on.”

“AMY!”

“I’m just kidding.”

“Hey baby.”

Amy turned and looked back down the steps. “yeah, mom?”

“You did real good out there tonight…I’m so very proud of you.”

Amy ran up the stairs grabbed a towel and turned on the water. She was sore and the water felt good. She toweled off and changed into her favorite blue cotton pajamas and brushed her teeth.

“Honey…you decent?”

“Yeah, daddy…sure, come on in.”

“You did a great job tonight kiddo you’ve worked so hard and me and you mom are very proud of you.”

“I messed up on the high beams.”

Yes, maybe so but the floor routine was perfect…your team is a cinch for county.”

“Look you get to bed…you’ve got school tomorrow and your mother tells me a friend of yours is coming by to help you with your school work.”

“How old is this boy?”

“He will be fifteen, tomorrow.”

“He better be ugly.”

“Oh, daddy.”

“Good night kiddo…I love you.”

“I love you too…oh, can I have some money? You know to buy him a present.”

“Please, mom said she would take me to the mall…right after school.”

“Well…okay, but if this kid isn’t ugly I want my money back.”

Amy just giggled as her dad shut the door. She sat at her vanity and brushed the bun out of her long flowing blonde hair. Soft blue eyes looked back at her with anticipation of the following day. Amy climbed into her bed and turned out her bedside lamp. The day was long and she was soon fast asleep.

***

Two hours had passed since the light went out in Amy’s bedroom and her parent’s room at the other side of the house. The rain came down in steady sheets. Patiently the dark form waited under the shed his eyes fixed on the quiet house looking for a movement, there was none. He rose and pulled down a ski mask in one single movement. His legs were stiff as he moved at a crouch towards the ladder. Slowly he crept up the ladder and mounted the landing and with the silence of a predator he slowly raised the bedroom window.

Amy awoke with a start a shadow stood above her. She tried to yell out but an iron hand clamped over her mouth. She tried to scratch at his arms as his free hand griped her throat than switching to both hands he squeezed. Amy’s eyes bulged as she drifted slowly into the black. He gripped her neck with all of his strength feeling the life drift away; minutes had passed. She was gone and he felt a power that he never felt before.



He lifted her off the bed and easily flipped her over his shoulder. Just as easily as he entered he went out the window and down the ladder. He didn’t even look back leaving the ladder against the dark red brick. He would come back for it after he took Amy to his quiet place, his sanctuary. Soon after the dark figure returned and entered through the gate gently removing the ladder and closing the gate behind him. He carried the ladder through the woods as easily as he carried Amy. He propped the ladder against a large oak tree and carried the lifeless form up to a boxlike construction of plywood and tin sheeting. He closed the wooden door behind him after laying Amy on a dirty mattress; then he lit a single candle.

He striped the soft petite body of Amy Kempton, slowly and methodically, leaving her with only her laced baby blue socks. He slowly dried and brushed her long golden hair, her lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling. He possessed her completely throughout the night… she was his now; she was always his. The rain pounded the tin roof of the tree fort as if a thousand voices were incessantly asking, why?

***

The sun rose slowly creating a rolling fog of impending doom signaling a distant future that would paralyze the city. Sunlight crept through the wet window of Ryan Chase’s second floor bedroom. The new morning light gently caressed the bindings of treasured books of science, history, encyclopedic, and literary works. Not your normal fifteen year old boy. Ryan was a straight “A” student, a highly intelligent young man and today was his birthday.

He opened his deep blue eyes as he brushed aside a lock of hair the color of straw. His feet hit the hardwood floor with a smack as he dropped down and performed fifty pushups and fifty crunches in his tee shirt and fruit of the looms. His body was chiseled and lean. Ryan put on his shorts and grabbed his running shoes. He ran down the polished stairs leaping over the lower banister like a gazelle.

“Ryan…when you get back wake up your brother, Ricky; the two of you can start celebrating your birthday’s as soon as your father comes home.”

“Happy birthday…baby.”

“Awe… mom I’m not your baby anymore.”

“You will always be my baby, I love you.”

“Thanks ma, I love you too. I’ll be back soon.”

Ryan stretched for about twenty minutes in the front yard taking in a deep lungful of air. He took the time to fully stretch his hamstrings, quads, and calf muscles. He felt loose and awake the rain last night made him stiff. Ryan started a slow jog on the five mile course he ran on weekdays before school. Today on his birthday he was allowed to stay home. He had made up any school time way ahead and added some extra credit.

The sun has not been up long and was working to burn off the morning fog.
Ryan picked up speed as his muscles started to warm up. He ran to the end of his neighborhood that led to a park. Leaving the street and along a dirt path that led across a foot bridge and into the steaming woods. The terrain gently rolled, the well worn path cut through hills and stately hard and soft wood trees. He left the path and sprinted up a small hill stopping at the top to catch his breath. In the distance he could see the tree fort his father built years ago for him and his brother Ricky. Ryan could see movement and the flash of yellow light.

Ryan cautiously walked down the path. He saw the ladder and noticed the socks taped to the end of the beams. He quietly scaled the ladder until he reached the landing. He heard someone talking inside. Slowly Ryan opened the wooden door and saw Amy’s glazed eyes staring at him naked on the mattress. In the shadows Ricky was standing buttoning up his pants.

“What have you done?”

“Oh, my God…Ricky…what have you done?”

“She’s mine now.”

Ricky closed the distance in a mad blitz kicking Ryan out the door of the tree fort and down the eighteen feet to the hard ground. Ryan landed across a log his arm bleeding, a white bone jutted through the skin as blood shot out with every heart beat. Ryan desperately tried to crawl away, gasping painfully, trying to catch his breath. Ricky grabbed a hatchet from under the mattress and started to climb down the ladder.

“Drop it Ricky… you just drop the hatchet, Son.”

“Everyone get back and lower your weapons, no one shoot my boy.”

“Sheriff….”

“I said get back Goddamit, See what you can do for Ryan.”

Sheriff Joe Chase tried to calm his son, Ricky while his deputies picked Ryan up and lead him to his house.

“Dispatch…requesting an ambulance at the Sheriffs residence,” Deputy Franks said into his Motorola handset as he holstered his weapon.

“Now drop the hatchet, son. No ones going to hurt you.”

“We can work this out; please, just drop the weapon.”

Ricky let the hatchet fall as Sheriff Chase took his son into custody. A tear ran down his chiseled face.

“Check the top, Franks…get up there and check it out, now.”

“Turn around son, I have to place you under arrest…were going to work this out.”

Deputy Franks climbed to the top of the ladder and pushed the door open.

“Sheriff…we got a body up here…it looks like that young girl, Amy Kempton, the little girl reported missing this morning.”

Sheriff Chase, the color erased from his stern face he slowly walked Ricky down the dirt path towards his patrol car. He wanted to form words…he couldn’t.

THE END