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‘Alarm at 6:45AM and 3 seconds, play 14 seconds of I Hear A Symphony for alarm, roll on side and stretch out arm to full extent, turn off’
Janie talked in her head as she woke up, recounting her routine to be exact. ‘April thirteenth’ She did this every morning ‘twelve steps forward from the left bedside, five steps left into bathroom’ she had it all down in her memory. She couldn’t help it. Janie had OCD, a disorder that made her feel as though everything needed to be a certain way. She counted her steps, her directions, her time, everything. That was her normal. ‘Four minute tooth brushing, three minute hair brushing, toilet use, forty five minute shower, clothes were set out yesterday’ she repeated like clockwork. ‘One hundred and two feet out of the bathroom, seventy down the hall, twenty down the steps, turn right into the kitchen, ninety minutes for breakfast’.
Once her morning routine was done, it was out the door and walking to the college. Janie lived in a large town, buildings everywhere you went. There were spots of nature here and there along with some parks. The edges and the outside of town are where all the large woodland and nature filled areas are. Right behind Janie’s house was a small nature trail, only wide enough for two or three people to walk down and have a bit of space from the trees. A four mile walk that leads just across the street from the collage, one hour of alone time in nature. ‘Eight thousand steps’ Class didn’t start until 11:30 so Janie was fine. Janie used this path to avoid people since no one else went down there, especially after recent events.
The woods around the trail were known to be a hiding spot for criminals and a garden of dead bodies. People don’t go down the trail as they believe it to be a death wish, but Janie was unbothered. She liked the silence of the dead. No one can be nosey that way.
Janie arrived at the school on her normal time ‘10:45AM’ and walked up to the school. ‘Five minutes to get to the door, ten to get to the closest bathroom from the entry, five minutes to use the bathroom, ten minutes to get to the correct floor, 2 minutes to get to the class, thirteen minutes of free time before class’ the same routine, repeated in her head as always. Janie peacefully walked over to her seat, but stopped dead in her tracks. ‘Arian, right next to my seat as always’ she thought to herself. Janie groaned.
Arian was like Janie’s opposite. She was short and he was tall, her hair was light and his was dark, she was organized and he was a mess, Janie could list the opposites for hours. ‘Fourteen steps forward, fifth desk to the right side of the room if you view from the front, chair closest to the wall’ Janie counted as she walked to her spot, dreading any conversation that comes up. She plopped down in the chair next to Arian, he muttered away to himself as he rapidly wrote down in his notebook. Janie was organizing her supplies as she pulled them out, glancing at Arian every other item. As Janie finished her organization she took another glance over at Arian’s notebook, something caught her eye this time. She focused her eyes a bit closer and spotted her name inside ‘Janie Crimson’ it read, words around it that she didn’t pay attention to. Why was her name in his little notebook?
“Oi, do you mind?!” Arian snapped at her a bit. Janie blinked back into reality, realizing she was leaning into him in her attempt to read better. She quickly backed up to her normal position, but not breaking eye contact. Janie then did something she never thought she’d do purposely, strike up a conversation with Arian.
“What are you writing about?” She asked, curiosity peeking through her like window blinds. Arian quickly slipped in his homemade bookmark into his book and closed it.
“None of your damn business” he snapped aggressively, sneering at her. “I thought you hated nosey people, so why are you dipping your nose into my business?” Arian raised an eyebrow, his frustration now mixing with new curiosity. Janie cleared her throat, thinking of a non-creepy excuse.
“Well you write in it everyday, and recently you’ve seemed extra invested in it. So it occurred to me that you’ve never actually mentioned what it’s for, and I got curious. That’s all.” Janie spoke with him, hiding her intent. Arian looked her up and down, holding the notebook to his chest.
“You? Curious? Doesn’t seem like you.” Arian looked at her as if trying to read the pages of her face and mind looking for reasoning, like an officer reading through documents to fish out inconsistencies in a case.
“And it’s not like you to visibly show how invested you are in something, especially a book. Am I right in that aspect?” Janie pointed out. Arian looked down, contemplating.
“Can you keep a secret?” He asked. Janie nodded her head, trying her best not to show excitement. Arian looked around suspiciously, watching for any open ears. The only students in the room were either writing or sleeping. “Alright Crimson, I’ll give. You better keep it a secret though.” Janie wanted to groan at that name, he always addressed her by last name. She nodded in response anyway.
“I’ve been looking into the murder cases and mysteries. Ever since the first victim I’ve been writing down every detail about it. Where they were last seen, where they were found, what state their body was found in, who they knew, their history, their similarities and differences, all those kinds of things. It’s really interesting to look at. The police have barely made a dent in the case, but I’m pretty sure I’ve almost solved it.” Arian ranted to Janie like a child does about their favorite tv show. He was invested, and it made Janie uneasy.
“What are you gonna do once you figure out who you think did it?” She asked, hiding any excitement or unease that might peek through.
“Find proper evidence, of course. Maybe even catch them in the act.” Arian told her. He had thought a lot about this, it was showing.
“Who’s to say you didn’t do it, hm?” Janie asked almost slyly. Arian turned to her with a grin that you could almost describe to be frightening.
“And who’s to say I did? Doing some investigating of your own there Crimson?”
“Not at all. I’m focused on my work and projects, that’s it.” Janie told him while slightly leaning back, he was unnerving her. “What if the killer is in the room now?”
“Who knows. Maybe they’ll make me the next victim because I know too much. Would you keep my notebook for me if I got killed, Crimson?” Arian turned to Janie while leaning back like this was a normal and chill conversation. Janie thought about it for a second. What a question to ask.
“Sure I would. Someone has to see who the killer is, right? And if they do kill you, we’ll know your notebook was right. Maybe this conversation will count as evidence.” Janie reassured him. Arian grinned at her as the bell rang in their ears, Janie could just barely make out the next words he said.
“Hopefully.”
Janie walked out of the college at her normal time ‘6:45PM’ to go home, taking her normal path. The night air chilled her lightly as the moonlight barely shone through the tight branches of the forest path. It was always darker on the path than in the normal streets and forests. Janie walked down the path counting her steps as she went ‘one hundred eighty seven, one hundred eighty eight, one hundred eighty nine’. Something about this walk felt off though. She felt watched, but tried to focus on her counting. She walked slower as she struggled.
Janie was almost down the full way of the path to her house ‘seven thousand three hundred seventy six’ when she heard a rustle. She whipped her head back, only darkness could be seen as clouds covered the moonlight. Janie turned around and started walking faster, counting every other step. ‘Seven thousand three hundred eighty four, seven thousand three hundred eighty six’ another crack, and it was close. She started sprinting. The dirt kicked up beneath Janie as she ran too fast for her counting to keep up, fast thuds following behind her that drew too close for her comfort. She could see the light on the side of her house and kept focus on it. She moved her hand around her bag to grab her house keys as fast as possible, pulling them out as she approached the door fast enough to nearly break it down herself. Janie swung inside and locked the door, breath heaving out of her. She checked out the window and saw nothing. Where did they go?
‘April sixteenth’ it had been a few days since that night. Janie learned that Arian had gone missing only a few hours after they left the college; he still hasn’t been found. Janie was walking home again but she didn’t count her steps like usual, her mind was too focused on Arian’s disappearance. ‘Have they found any evidence, do they know where he was, do they have a lead, what do they know?’ She repeated the questions in her head over and over like a broken record player. The fact that she didn’t have the answers to these questions gave her anxiety. ‘Will they find him?’
Janie approached her steps pulling out the house keys, she was holding onto the knob to make sure the lock held still when she used the key. The door opened easily before she could pull her keys out, it was unlocked. Janie froze in her steps and felt her heart race ‘maybe I just forgot to lock it, no worries, no one comes to this side of the town anyway’ she told herself as she entered the house. She started to count her steps to the stairs and up, going every other number ‘one, three, five, seven’ her head repeated its route. Janie got to the top of the stairs and felt her heart try to leap out her throat. The picture frames on her hallway table were all either out of place or knocked down ‘it’s nothing, it’s nothing, it’s nothing, it’s nothing’ she repeated in her head trying to calm down. There had to be a proper reason. Janie walked down the halls faster now not even counting as she was busy repeating her previous phrase. She got to her bedroom door, wide open to welcome her. ‘One hundred seventy steps, eighty steps right’ that’s how far the doorway was from the downstairs front door. She looked to her work table, heart pounding more. The bed and drawers had been messed with, the pencils and mug on the table were out of order. Someone must have been here, that has to be the answer! Janie ran down the hall not sure what to do, someone was in her house earlier, they might still be there, they might have-!
She grabbed the door handle and froze. She sat for a few seconds and then started chuckling at herself. Janie’s anxiety really was getting to her, she realized as she recounted this morning to herself. She had been late for school after she neglected to turn on her alarm the night before due to all her homework. When she left the house she was bumping everything and knocking stuff over, she was looking for her keys before shift too; explaining the open drawers and messy bed. The night table was never cleaned before bed, so it was still a mess coming home. Janie laughed at herself and her anxiety before a rush of relief settled over her. No one had been here. She was still chuckling at herself lightly as she went back to her room, counting the steps up to her night table ‘one hundred seventy steps, eighty six steps right, three fingers to the side’ the only notebook on her desk that stayed where she had put it. Janie grabbed it and brought it back downstairs. She passed through her kitchen and grabbed her old bag as she went to the basement to work on one of her newest projects.
Janie switched on the dim light at the top of the crooked stairway, the steps nearly rotted and added to the musty basement smell. She closed the door and hummed down the steps placing the bag on an old table and pulling a single item out of it. Jer steps echoed through the small and tight space as she approached one of the room's corners with the notebook and item in hand. Janie stood in front of a moving mass in the corner, pulling the light cord above it to see. There sat Arian, arms and legs bound with rope and rag tied around the mouth to keep him silent. He looked up at Janie as she waved the notebook in front of his face. “You recognize what this is, Arian?” Janie asked him. He nodded slowly, the notebook was his, the one he’d written about the cases in. The notebook where he exposed Janie with enough evidence to put her away. She dangled it in front of him, out of reach. Janie spoke in an overly calm manner, grinning above him. “I figured we would use this for the start of today’s set of experiments. After all, you’re not going to be needing it anymore.” She showed the other item to Arian, he started to try and shout. It was a lighter. Janie leaned over face to face with Arian. “Have you ever wondered how long it takes for an entire notebook to burn? Let’s find out, shall we?” She lifted the lighter and set fire to all the pages and the covers, the ash and small pieces of burning paper fluttered in the air like doves turning into crows and ravens before falling with broken wings. It took two agonizing minutes for it all to burn. Arian layed on the floor defeatedly. Janie simply hummed as she when to the other side of the room once more to retrieve her bag. “Now then, let’s get on to the fun experiments.” She spoke as she walked over to Arian with a wide smile to stretch her face.
As Arian lay on the floor his eye spotted a single scrap of paper, one of a few that survived the burning. Written on it was the phrase that he made the fatal mistake of writing next to Janie in class, the phrase that doomed him and could’ve saved many others from a terrible demise as he had found on that trail Janie took every day.
“It’s Janie Crimson.”