Keira Alexander left her house that morning. She was an eighteen-year-old with long, curly blond locks and an ex-boyfriend to go and see. "Bye Mom!" she had yelled before slamming the door. She didn't know it would be for the last time. Behind her, her sister and brother, Katelyn and Kevin, shook their heads in disbblief. They knew that their sister had just signed her life over to the cruelty of fate. They knew they would never see her again. Their mother burst into terrible sobs. "She'll die, she'll die!"

He had changed so much since he got back home from the war. He seemed off at first, a little bit unsettling but nothing too concerning - but after a few nights he over stepped boundaries, came into Kate’s bedroom at night without her permission and started to carry a knife in his pocket.

Saturday, that’s when we completely lost him. We were all in the dining hall eating a meal when he slammed the steak knife into the table, laughing maniacally. We should’ve taken him somewhere sooner, we all knew something was wrong, why didn’t we do anything? He craned his neck towards Issac, jamming the steak knife out of the table and pointing it at him. “Calm down buddy, everything’s fine,” Zack stated hesitantly, slowly pushing his chair away from the table as if to make it quieter. But it was not quiet. It sounded like nails on a chalk board. We all began to rise, as did he - still pointing the knife at Zack. Kate tugged on his shoulder in a hurry. He groaned, ramming his elbow deep into her stomach, sending her tumbling backwards. Kate cried, “What the fuck?” and I rushed over to her side, glaring daggers into him. While he was distracted, Zack charged at him, tacking him to the floor beside me and Kate. He let out a loud growl and pushed Zack off him. ‘Why did Zack do that? He’s much stronger than him’ is all I could think of, blood rushing to my brain as I helped Kate up. The boys tossed and turned on the floor before suddenly... Clank. He shoved the knife deep into Zacks neck, blood gushing all over his face. Me and Kate screamed, running towards the exit, only to find that the door was locked. Resistance was futile at this point. We were done for.

Please ... stay away ... I saw what he was, I knew what he was but at the same time, I just could never leave him. He had enraptured me and I didn’t want to ever leave. Despite my job as a detective, I just couldn’t stop myself.

Weak. That’s what they’d all been. A homeless vagabond freezing in the chill of December,forgotten. A sickly patient left to rot in a hospital bed,isolated. A lonely soul with no one left to turn to for comfort,alone.

All would be willing to kill for a strand of attention.

This man was their saviour.

The one left to the street swept up into his warm embrace,never to be forgotten again.

The one fallen ill healed,never to be isolated again.

The one alone showered with gifts and affection,never to be alone again.

Oh how lovely it had been. Before the cracks appeared.

He proclaimed it in ‘love’ for each,of course.

What else would such care be?

Such time.

Such attention.

Such a fun little game.

It must be love.

A lifetime of neglect and abandonment had taught her to treasure every ounce of love ever sent her way. She'd learned how to clutch and steal and hoard whatever affection she could find in this empty world. So when a man comes along, offering sweet words and caring touches and promises of a life of everlasting love, she fell fast. And she fell hard.

She didn't see the cold, hard, ground speeding up towards her until she landed, crashing hard into reality.

Wait, no, not reality.

A nightmare.

Everything he'd said and done, all in the name of his "love" for her, was nothing more than a deception. A deception he was now using against her.

She could do nothing but try to run and hide; but how could you hide from someone who knew every inch of you? Down to her very essence, her very soul (she'd given everything to him, and oh how she regretted her naivety), everything had been laid bare before him, and where it had once brought her great relief...

It would now be the cause of her undoing.

She only hopes that her death will be swift and painless.

She knows it will not be so.