Chapter One: 'Curiosity Killed The Cat'

"Ahhhh"

The housekeeper, Laura, screamed as she saw the hideous, gory, sight in front of her. There was a puddle of blood on the perfectly washed tiles. The body of a man probably in his mid thirties lied lifelessly on the ground, his long, full, hair covered part of his face, the white shirt he wore was soaked with blood, Laura could tell that it was white and not red because the morning of that day she had seen him walk into the mansion just like he did every Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

This man who could steal the hearts of women with just a glance had become unable to even look at anybody, he had lost the ability to see, to breathe

To live.

A young girl, ostensibly seven or eight years old, stood in the midst of the bloodied scene. Her hair was in loose pigtails, there must've been a struggle earlier as her deep black hair looked like a bird's nest, she must've been as stunned as Laura at the sight because at first blush, she looked rather dazed.

When she saw her, Laura had the urge to go meet her and comfort the child but that urge was dramatically pushed down when she saw the knife the child was gripping.

The knife was covered in blood, the floral dress the young girl wore had been painted with blood, the girl didn't move, she stared numbly at the dead body, her breathing was chaotic.

Laura couldn't hold on any longer, she rushed to the open kitchen to grab her cellphone and immediately called the Police.

Back at the living room, the young girl slowly bent down and knelt in front of the dead body, her grip on the knife loosened which resulted in it hitting the ground with a clank. Tears slipped down from her eyes as she moved to touch the body, to hold it, to feel the warmth she had once felt emanating from him when he was alive, this was the third dead body she had seen since the beginning of the year and it was only July.

She sucked in a deep breath, her heart was breaking in a speed science couldn't fathom, she could only express such ache with tears, but how long could she cry, but then, if she didn't cry, how would a child of barely eight years old express the pain in her heart.

She shivered but she wasn't cold. The heat pierced through her bones, but her sweat was cold, her heart beated unconventionally but her mind was calm. She felt nothing less than guilt, for what she did, what she was doing and for what she would do for the rest of her life.

She knew that that would be the last time she'd ever let herself feel emotions. All the tragedy she had been through for the year was enough to make a grown man run mad, but she was barely eight. However, she couldn't allow herself to lose her mind, she wouldn't let someone rob her of her freedom, she would do anything possible to get it back.

Laura walked back into the living room, her eyes were filled with tears, she didn't stare at the dead body anymore, her focus was on the child. The child she had been with since the day she was born, the child that had lost her parents in a tragic accident four months ago. Then, she had watched the smart child slowly lose her mind and her composure, over the loss of both her parents.

Before her parents died it was like they had predicted their lives coming to an end beforehand, hastily they had made their best friend the guardian of the child, to run the company until the child became twenty, but the child had killed him in cold blood, she had murdered her parents' most trusted ally.

Laura was struck by fear as she watched the child pick up the knife. The movement of the child was not something one would call slow, but it wasn't fast either, it was unhurried, the expression on her face was one of fatigue. Laura watched the child grip the knife and stare at it with no attempt of tossing it away or placing it back on the ground.

The act made the child look deranged and Laura never thought that she would ever be in a position to be terrified of a child of barely eight years old.

"When will the cops get here?" The child asked, the hoarseness of her voice was laced with pain and devastation and for a minute, Laura was unable to find her voice. Laura thought the child had asked this to calculate the time she had left to kill Laura and run away from the scene. The thought alone made Laura grip her elbow in fear.

"You don't have to be scared of me, what can a child like me do to a woman like you?" The child asked like she had read Laura's mind, but it seems like the child had completely lost her mind, the situation she was in was a clear proof that she could kill Laura without breaking a sweat.

"A child like you killed this grown man, what can you possibly be incapable of doing?" Laura thought, but she definitely could not say that out, the knife was still in the child's hold.

If a normal person had seen the scene and called the police, they'd have run away in fear but Laura could not understand why she chose to stand there and watch the child, maybe she had thought the child would run away from the crime scene, that could be the reason why Laura decided to stay behind. Or, it could be that she was curious to see what more this child would do, she had totally forgotten the saying

'Curiosity killed the cat'.

The distant wails of the sirens pulled Laura from her trance, she walked to the front door, making sure not to remove her gaze from the child, but she needed her eyes to open the door so she had to reluctantly peel her eyes away from the child and opened the door, she waited patiently for the cops, she turned to stare back at the child and she unexpectedly met the cold, murderous, dark blue eyes of the young girl.

Laura's heart skipped a beat.