The Journal

Bryan returned around 4 p.m. after visiting some places in Haston city. He was mostly impressed with the foods they offered and he determined to learn some few recipes. He went to his cubicle and first browsed through the case folders one after the other. He didn't go through the autopsy results yet as he wanted to wait till he received the results of the seventh victim. Today he would only study the CCTV footage and some other information about the victims.

Rita Damien, 27, was the first victim. She was a runway idol. Among the victims she was the richest. Bryan discovered that her murder was the only one which had an additional case of theft. Her ring was taken, and according to family, this golden ring was very expressive. The ring was made of gold with some emerald stones lining it. It also had a small diamond at the tip and the word "MX" was engraved on it. The police had failed to recover the ring, and had filed it as one of the clues.

Mark Sunny, 32, the second victim, was a school teacher with an average salary. He also died in his room with traces of broken glasses which was proven to be the glass used by the victim.

Gabriel Andrew, 17, a part time worker at a bar, he was killed two weeks after the second case with the characteristic blood text.

The fourth case was a woman of 40, who worked at a baking factory. She was discovered five hours after her death.

James, 29, was the fifth victim who worked in an orphanage. He had no family.

Christine, 35, a business consultant, died shortly after.

And now. Angelina Ezekiel, 24, who was murdered just this morning.

Bryan felt a headache as he read through the information. He noted the victims' occupation and salaries. It appeared this killer which was branded "The Exorcist" targeted mostly average working class people with the only exception being Rita. He also noticed that these murders happened over an inconsequential time frame. Another thing was that the victims all had brown eyes. He would take that into consideration, though this wasn't a factor to identify a pattern.

All through he kept reflecting on the blood text, he believed this would be key to unraveling this mystery. He had handled some cases where the killer would leave subtle clues like drawing on victim's body, dropping an item etc. This wasn't to serve as clue for their arrests but it was their way of announcing their presence, a kind of trade mark.

"The weak has been exorcised, you're next" he repeated the words. He added it to his mental list. He would consult someone later.

Next, he went through the CCTV footage from the seven crime scenes. He noticed that the footages for the third and fifth victim didn't provide any information as the cameras were located at areas which didn't really capture the houses. He also went through nearby cameras only to discover the same thing. He decided to look at the other four first.

"The hell!" he cursed as he watched the last video. In all the four videos, an obscured figure clad in black robe with a hood would enter the house of the victims. It wasn't clear how but Bryan only saw fast moving figures. The figure would then reemerge in less than three minutes! So fast? Who could kill a person in three minutes?

Bryan's heart beat faster as he thought of many possibilities, while ruling out ghosts.

What puzzled him more was that this killer, whatever it was, would smile at the camera after coming out! This might have freaked the police out. It was like he was boasting of his invisibility and invincibility. The hood he wore didn't cover his mouth; hence, Bryan could see that his lips curled up. His heart sank. These videos were already filtered by experts yet it still looked hazy. Just what did this maniac do?

Bryan went ahead to watch the last video and was perplexed to discover the same exact pattern. He sighed and leaned into his chair while stroking his chin. He decided to visit the last victim's family the next day. He had a nagging feeling about this last case. No sign of struggle, killed in less than three minutes, smiling psychopath, blood text...

Bryan mentally repeated the things he noticed over and over again as he packed his stuff as he decided to head to his hotel room first.

....

Raymond Street, Haston city.

Little William tapped his pen on the little writing table in his room as he read through what he had just written. He felt uneasy for unknown reasons. He didn't know if it was a good or bad thing to have witnessed such things. He sighed deeply and let his pen continue to dance over his journal, documenting everything he saw and could remember clearly. He rarely stopped to think twice about what word to use to explain the scene.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

He heard a knock on his door. Must be mom, he thought.

"Will, honey, dinner is ready. You should come out now." He heard her mom, Rayla, say.

"Okay Mom, I'm coming out." He shouted back and stood up hurriedly going to the washroom.

Their house was located along the less crowded Raymond Street, but this Street, though being a secluded area, had a peace and quiet that he loved. He had come to like this life, albeit it was nothing compared to the life he and his parents had before.

....

After waiting for a while, Rayla turned the door knob to her son's room and went in. He spotted clothes littered around. It looked like a typical teenage boy's room. Over on the wall near the bed was a poster of a popular rapper, Steve, then on the small bedside table were MP3 players, game consoles, action figures and some comic books. Rayla swept her eyes across the room and froze when she spotted the open journal on the small writing table.

"This..." She failed to react as her face paled. It wasn't the journal but what was written on it that gave her the creeps.

"Today, I witnessed yet another one. This time, the 'exorcist' didn't pay me any heed, as if I wasn't there.... I watched as he walked over to the girl on the floor who was helpless....his sharp blade cut through her....shout? Of course not! I took this opportunity to see the killer's key features, though he had a hood on.

Blue eyes...angled cheekbones... receding hairline...

"It" has a supernatural strength...

Why does "it" want me to watch him kill?"

Rayla felt her heart tighten as she read through the bizarre text her son, who was only 14, wrote. She had seen the news about the murdered Angelina over the next street, but she didn't expect that her son was a witness, not to one but two of the murders!

She flipped open to the previous page and saw an identical writing. It was about the murder of the sixth victim. The writing style was the same except that this one was filled with fear.

"....the killer placed his finger over his mouth and told me to be quiet..."

"Mom! Don't read that!" Rayla was startled by her son's voice. William came running over to grab the book. He didn't seem pleased that his privacy was invaded.

"Son, what did you do?" Rayla gulped as she managed to phrase the question.

"Nothing, mom," William shrugged.

"I-I saw you sleep last night...how did you get to witness this?" Rayla's eye rims were already reddening. She didn't want this boy to end up like his father, in prison!

"What have you been doing? How did you get in contact with a serial killer?" Rayla grabbed his shoulders and shook him a bit when he wasn't answering.

"Mom, I don't know. That night I was just returning from Mr. David's place, I heard noises and checked...then I saw him. Last night, as I was sleeping, I also heard noises...it was like I was drawn by something..." He stopped when he saw his mother's angry face which expressed anger, shock and disbelief.

"Y-you don't believe me right?" He leaned his head back and asked, "of course you don't, just like you didn't believe in dad, that he was innocent!" William stepped back. He felt hurt that his own mother would think he was crazy. She was the reason he had to leave his previous school and come down here to hide; she didn't fight for dad even though he kept saying he was not guilty. Tears formed on his eyes as he reminisced over the past.

"Do you know this," Rayla pointed at his journal, "can send you to jail? Huh"

"Don't you dare talk to me about your father. I did fight for him, but what could I do? Fight the police? The evidence was all very clear!" Rayla was fuming.

"Evidence lie sometimes" Will said softly, "this? I won't stop, just like I haven't given up on dad. I will make sure the police gets this, this can go a long way to solving this mystery!"

"I forbid you from speaking to the police!" Rayla roared, her voice echoing through the room.

Will looked at her skeptically before he stormed out muttering under his breath, "I hope you're not his next victim!"