I never understood why I overshare the way I do. The way I can’t seem to keep my mouth closed; Words just exploding out of me from the deepest parts of my soul. Words I long to tell someone, someone who is willing to listen long enough. I never understood why I always chose the wrong people to confide in, the ones who claim they love me, only want to hurt me. From family, to friends, and back to family, it’s all the same. Who’s left to trust?

Hello, my name is Cynthia Adams, and this is my side of the incident that occurred on August 14th, 2012. It was the summer right before my Freshman year of college. The excitement ate me alive as I packed my bags to leave home, and chase the life I had always dreamed of living. My goals were set in stone, I didn’t plan to stray away from the ideas I created in my own head. My life would be perfect. As I loaded the last bit of my luggage into my maroon sedan, I felt a pit of sadness in my stomach. I would miss my parents terribly. In my heart I knew that this was the path I had to take, but at the time, I didn’t realize was that things wouldn’t go accordingly. That for the rest of my life, I would carry this tragedy with me.

As I arrived at my new college, I felt a sense of peace. I had made it, my dreams were finally happening. I was escorted to my dorm, where I was able to unpack all of my luggage. To my surprise, there was an extra bed. I thought maybe I had gotten the wrong room, so I peaked around the corner and the room was right. It was the room I was assigned, but why were there two beds? I put it out of mind, until a girl walked in claiming this was her dorm room. She was just as confused as I was. It turns out that we were roommates, we just weren’t told ahead of time. She smiled in my direction, so I took it upon myself to welcome her with a friendly handshake. I introduced myself, and she did the same. Her name was Rachel, Rachel McCoy. Her name rang a bell in my head, where did I know that name?

Rachel and I conversed for many hours. We unpacked our bags, and decorated our sides of the dorm room. We divided them completely in half, and I made sure of it. I brought my tape measurer to be exact. Rachel ordered a pizza, and when it arrived we turned on a chick-flick. She and I became very close over the next few hours. She shared some of her deepest feelings with me, things that I couldn’t even begin to tell people, especially a person I had just met. Rachel ended up telling me about the boy she was seeing, Michael Long. Michael was my ex boyfriend, we dated all throughout high school. He broke up with me so he could have the “college experience”. It caught me by surprise, and I didn’t see it coming. My heart was completely broken after hearing that he was with someone else, I just didn’t know it had been Rachel. As night fell Rachel became restless, she paced our dorm room, and it was seriously creeping me out. I finally approached her and asked her what was wrong, she said “I don’t want to fall asleep”. It caught me off guard, but I agreed to stay up with her, so she wouldn’t fall asleep. I should’ve noticed something weird, but I thought maybe she was just an insomniac.

When the clock struck 1:24am I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore, I slipped into a deep sleep. I remember it being just a few seconds, but when I woke up and the clock read 3:47am. The drowsiness was like a thick cloud blocking my eyes and ears, at the time I didn’t even notice Rachel mumbling to herself. I gained my full consciousness, and I walked over to where she lay. I said her name, and got no reply. She just kept saying to herself “why did you let me fall asleep?”. I shook her violently, hoping she’d wake. I remember feeling a cold chill down my spine, fear crept inside of me very easily at this point. She began to shout the same sentence “WHY DID YOU LET ME FALL ASLEEP?!” “Rachel…. Rachel…. RACHEL!” I shouted, she finally awoke, and I finally felt okay again. She told me that she was prone to nightmares, and from this point on, I remember her having at least two nightmares every week.

I got home from a late night with some friends, Rachel was already in bed. I went to the bathroom and washed the smudged makeup off of my face. I brushed my teeth and hopped into the shower. Hands in my hair, I heard a shout. It was Rachel’s scream, I knew it pretty well by now. I remember saying out loud, “it’s okay Rach, I’ll be out in a minute”, but I couldn’t lie to myself , Rachel’s nightmares and screaming annoyed me very much. I rinsed the suds off of my body, and wrapped up in a towel. I put on my pj’s, which I always keep in the bathroom. I then headed to mine and Rachel’s room, where I noticed our front door being opened, my eyes scanned our room, then I found an atrocity that my mind refuses to forget. Rachel’s lifeless body lay there, covered in blood, completely dismembered. The person who murdered her had a complete rage fit. I couldn’t even recognize her anymore, and the memory of my mutilated friend haunts my every thought. The case of my roommate, Rachel Olivia McCoy, was later cracked by a very detailed investigation. It did turn out that there were drugs in her system. She was taking medication that wasn’t prescribed to her, causing the very vivid nightmares. I blame myself, I should’ve ran to help her. So many people have accused me of doing it, and they have every right to. I did. I have been living in an institution for the criminally insane for over a decade. I will spend the rest of my life here, with no chance of being free. People aren’t always as virtuous as they may seem.

Mark was an average Joe. He was in his mid-thirties living in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He never really got out much. He generally felt lonesomeness clawing at him. He worked at a small movie store, his pay wasn’t astounding, but it was an appreciable amount. His apartment was located in the “not so nice” part of town, which isn’t saying much, considering the town he lived in is extremely underprivileged. He arrived home one evening, Tuesday, January 16th. The coldness creeping into his cracked windows caused him an enormous amount of discomfort. He popped a microwaveable meal into his toaster oven, hoping that would warm him up. He tore off his work shirt, and slid into something more appropriate for the occasion. Slithering into a blanket, he crashed onto the couch, and waited for his meal to cook. He grabbed his cell phone from his pocket, and scrolled through the media, in hopes to find a beautiful girl to attempt to talk to. His intentions weren’t questionable, he just wanted some company. To his surprise, he found a woman who was around his age, her name was Anna, she was local also. He couldn’t help but to investigate. He swiped through all of her feed, and made an executive decision to message her. His message read… “Hello! My name is Mark. I am also from Arkansas, and I was wondering if you’d like to meet for coffee? And maybe chat a bit?😊” He was bewildered when he saw the three dots bobbing around. Anna replied with a message, her words exactly were… “Sure! Where are you?”
They continued talking and they scheduled a date to meet. Things were starting to look up for Mark, his lonely days were finally over! So he thought.

January 19th, Friday morning, they agreed to meet at a well known coffee shop in Mark’s town. Mark’s heart raced as he quickly got ready and stumbled out of his apartment, running late, which was typical for Mark. He squirted a few sprits of a random $6 cologne on his neck as he drove down the street, after some time, he arrived at his destination. Seeing Anna standing on the sidewalk next to the outside tables, he felt so relieved. He pulled in, parked his car, and stepped out of his vehicle, and was greeted by the most beautiful woman he believed he had ever saw. She was on the taller side, slim but not quite fit. Long blonde hair with red lips and rosy cheeks, she looked like she had fallen from Heaven, her smile could light up a room, and she smelled amazing. A musky vanilla scent that really caught Mark’s attention. Mark didn’t necessarily have a well-put-together look like Anna did. He was decently attractive, his smile was crooked and his nose was large, but he wasn’t hideous. His shaggy brown hair was hardly ever combed, and his tall appearance made him insecure. He slouched over as he stood, but something about his look made Anna crazy… maybe too crazy.

They joined each other, chatting among themselves as they entered the cafe. They ordered a plate of mini donuts and a pitcher of coffee, which they would share. Anna began to ask Mark simple “get to know me” questions, like his favorite food, his favorite color, and his hobbies outside of work. Mark did the same for Anna. Their answers weren’t anything special, just simple replies. They laughed and smiled with one another, Anna felt grateful to meet Mark, she believed she needed him. After a couple hours of conversation, they felt as if they connected. Anna asked to bring Mark to her home, naturally Mark agreed. He didn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t. Hello? A beautiful girl invited him to her house! How could he say no? Obviously he thought he would be getting lucky, but how could he not? Anna was making apparent romance advances. They arrived at Anna’s house, it was quite big for one person, Mark just thought she was wealthy, which wasn’t a problem for him, considering his current situation. They walked in, and Mark immediately noticed a smell. It wasn’t a pleasant smell, it was a burnt almost rotten smell. He realized there were candles lit, and he thought maybe one of them had gotten blown out. He lived a fairly filthy life, he wasn’t one to judge. Anna showed him around the place, she showed him the kitchen, the living room, the dining area, her bedroom, and her bathroom. Mark noticed another door, his curiosity got the best of him and he reached for the handle. Anna yelled, she shouted at him to “NEVER GO IN THERE!!” She told Mark that it was another bathroom, and that the plumber hadn’t fixed the pipes that bursted. Which made perfect sense to Mark, it was freezing outside. They sat down to watch a movie, Anna, knowing Mark’s job, asked him which movie he wanted to watch. He chose Gone With The Wind, it’s evident where it was heading with these two.

The lights were low, the movie played on, Mark noticed a slight pressure on his shoulder, Anna had laid her head on his shoulder. It brought him such a great deal of confidence, that he couldn’t help but kiss her. A make out sesh broke loose, but it was short lived, it was interrupted by something Mark had noticed earlier. The smell, it was back with a vengeance. He pulled away from Anna, telling her he had to use the bathroom. She began to ramble on about how to NOT go into the room he tried to enter before, he gave her his word and headed down the hallway. He noticed the smell was much more intense, he couldn’t ignore it much longer. He did what Anna said not to, he approached the door, covering his nose as he opened it. He could not believe what he was witnessing, he must be having a nightmare.