CHAPTER

Alice slept for one hour and a half, and when she woke up, it was half past two. She stood up from her bed and walked to her desk. While there still was some time, she decided to search for some more information that could be useful for her thesis. Opening the browser, she began to search for murder cases that were inspired by horror films or games, maybe also literature.

Finally she found one interesting case, directly connected with famous horror film franchises – A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. All happened in United Kingdom during two days across London and Sussex, in 2004. The killer’s name was Daniel Gonzalez, known as “Freddy Krueger Killer” or “Mummy’s Boy Killer”. It said that he killed four people and injured two more. And when the murderer was asked about the reason, he replied that he wanted to become a famous serial killer. His letters said how much he enjoyed the murders "...one of the best things I've done in my life", and how similar he was to Freddy Krueger.

“Well, this is one of the best cases to discuss in my work,” Alice whispered to herself. “But this guy is also dead, and he tried to commit suicide by biting through an artery in his arm. Oh dear… That must be horribly painful…”

Alice continued reading further about his death, and that’s what she found out:

“‘I have never seen anyone bite himself with that ferocity,’ said the inspecting doctor. The killer survived but committed suicide in his cell in Broadmoor Hospital, Berkshire, on 9 August 2007 by slicing his wrists with the edges of a broken CD case.”

“He finally succeeded…” Alice said quietly. “I guess many serial killers prefer to be dead than spend the rest of their lives in prison. And this one, realizing that his dream will never come true, decided to end his life. Pity it’s not possible find out more personal and psychological information, and all because he’s dead. And it’s so far to go, have to cross the ocean to get to records…”

Although Alice wasn’t a crazy horror genre fan, she enjoyed watching classical films, like the ones mentioned in the article about Gonzalez. The main villains have become icons of modern pop culture due to their charisma and creepy appearance, and, of course, killing methods. Her personal favourite was Friday the 13th and its antagonist – Calix Vergara, which somehow scared her. She remembered those times when she watched several famous slasher films, and it was always fun, but Calix There was something about him that made the young woman shiver. Was it his creepy hockey mask? Or inability to talk? It’s much scarier when you can’t hear and understand what’s going on in killer’s mind.

“Creepy dude, yeah,” Alice laughed silently, continuing her search. Finally she stumbled on even more interesting information concerning Alice. “Oh my god! There were so many Calix copycats? Really? I didn’t even know that! Let’s see then…” She went on reading articles. “Wow, Portland, Philadelphia, Houston, London, Manchester… Each attacker had a Calix-like mask on his face. Interesting…”

Time passed while Alice searched for information that could be useful for her thesis. Glancing at the clock, the young woman noticed it was nearly four already so she switched her computer off and went downstairs, waving goodbye to her mother, and left the house.

The school wasn’t very far away from her house and if you walk quickly, it could be reached in twenty minutes. When Alice arrived there, it was exactly half past four. The school bell went off and children ran down the stairs. One of them ran to Alice with a happy squeal.

“Alice!” Mina practically jumped in her arms.

“Hi, my little sweety,” Alice embraced her. “How are you today? How are you getting on in school?”

“Fine,” she replied. “Today I got B in Maths for doing a task in class and A in English for retelling the text that we had to learn at home.”

“Well done, dear,” Alice smiled to her. “And for that you deserve an ice cream.”

“Hurrah!” Mina squealed again. “Can we go now?”

“Sure thing,” Alice said. “While your mom is at work, we’ll take a walk around the city and I’ll buy us an ice cream. It’s rather hot today.”

Alice took the girl’s hand and they left school, heading to the city center. The place was crowded as usual but not so many people that you couldn’t get through. Finally they stopped at the ice cream shop.

“Which ice cream would you like?” Alice asked her.

“White one with pieces of chocolate,” Mina replied.

“Ok then. I’ll buy the one with coconut taste for me,” the young woman said. Purchasing the two ice cones, they went out in the street, walking slowly and enjoying the sunny weather and eating ice cones, which was a pleasant refresh in summer heat. Everything seemed so cheerful when suddenly a mocking female voice rang behind their backs:

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

Alice and Mina turned around and saw a dark haired young woman coming their way. She was approximately of the same age as Alice, her hair was darker and a bit longer, and her clothes were rather provocative. She was dressed in a short black mini skirt and black tube top with a bit of pink lace on it. Also she was wearing high heeled boots and wore bright make-up.

“What do you want, Gina?” Alice’s voice sounded irritated.

“Nothing special,” Gina replied. “Spending all your time with little kids, as I can see? Well, sure, that’s all you can do.”

“Yes, I do love kids,” Alice said. “Anyway, what’s your problem?”

“I know you’re still wailing about the fact that Fred left you,” she grinned “and it was the right thing to do. Which guy would like to be with a grey mouse?”

Alice gave her ice cone to Mina, then made a few steps forward, putting hands on her hips, and said:

“First of all, I’m not a grey mouse. And second, he’s not worth my time. If he likes sluts, that’s his problem.”

Gina just laughed and said:

“Oh, I completely forgot – you’re a saint, hah! No one would ever want you! For complete joy you have to wear a hijab!”