FRIENDLY CHAT
“You’re not married, right?”, I asked him as we headed back home. Even though our residences were in the same direction, his home was at a walkable distance and mine was almost double of that. I was having a mild headache, so I thought it would be better if we talked about something to keep my mind off the pain. Also, we had not spoken for a few minutes, so I took the opportunity to break the silence.
“Yeah, why do you ask? Found someone for me?”, he asked with his eyes wide open and with an even wider grin on his face.
“No, I just thought it would be nice to have someone waiting back at home. You know, a wife preparing a meal for you, waiting for you to come back and then falling asleep on the dinner table.”
The excitement on his face as a result of my previous question faded away like a flower drying up in a time lapse video which is so popular nowadays. “You have some really good imagination, my friend. I wonder why you are not married yet.”, he said in a sad soft voice.
“I am not following.”, I asked, confused at the statement he made.
“I mean, you have a good job at the bank. You have a decent family background. You maintain a good physique with your every day’s fruit salad lunch and body exercises. Your height is also adequate for any lady to fall for you.”. “Tell me again why you are not married. I remember you did have a girlfriend a few months before, right?”
I hesitated to answer. I didn’t want to remember her again after our break — up. All the memories I had with her started coming back to my brain swiftly just like a flood engulfing the earth in an instant after the dam holding back the water reservoir breaks down. I had loved her with all my heart.
But I was not enough. She wanted more. “Yeah, we… we broke up like 2 months ago.”, I replied.
“I have to say, she was perfect for you and also very beautiful. You two would have made a good couple.”
“I know. I also thought the same. I was happy and thought my life was perfect. But it seemed her life was not. You know the nature of our jobs. We have been working many night shifts for the past few months. And I have been very stressed lately because of that. She started doubting if I was having an affair in the office. I tried to convince her that it’s how my job is, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“We used to have frequent quarrels until one day she left me with a note behind. It seems her parents had found her a better guy than me for her and she just left. They thought I abused her physically. I had never even laid a hand on her. If anything, I was the one getting mentally tortured every day. All these just added and piled up to the stress I have.”, I said to him. He nodded every once a few seconds while agreeing to my story very patiently.
“I am sorry. I shouldn’t have dug into your personal struggle with her.”, he said softly.
“That’s fine. I feel better when I get a chance to share my story”, I smiled. “I used to get frequent severe headaches. These headaches have gotten so severe that I have even fainted a few times. So, I consulted a doctor about my situation. He has prescribed me some medicines which I believe are very strong but keeps my stress level and headache in check.”
“I did find an empty pill bottle on your desk 2 days ago. Is that the one? You do know those pills are generally drugs those teenagers use to get high, right?”, he asked.
“Yes, that’s exactly the one. I looked them up on the internet and found that those pills are used to keep a person calm and relaxed. Generally meant for people with heavy headaches, anger issues, etc.”
“That reminds me. I need to buy those pills again. Both the bottles in the office and my home are empty.”. This reminder made me remember again the headache that I was having which I tried to ignore with the conversation we had. The pain had increased compared to the moment we left the office premises. I patted my head with my left hand to give a quick small massage on it.
My colleague’s attention was already diverted to something else. He was staring somewhere else continuously and he had a frightened look on his face.
“What’s wrong?”, I asked. “I don’t think my story was even a bit scary.”
“Keep your voice down and look over there.”, he whispered. His finger pointed towards a narrow alley on the right of the street where we were walking by. “That’s the lane where one of the night hunter murders took place.”
I frowned a bit upon knowing that he had stopped listening to me. But the fear on his face was too intense to complain about it.
“I think the hunter is not around tonight. Even if he is, I think the 2 of us can have an upper hand on him.”, I tried to relieve him of his fear.
“Yes, as long as there are 2 of us. I heard the hunter first isolates or waits until the victim is alone. Then he emerges from the dark quietly behind, grabs the victim and then stabs him to death.“
“You seem to have done your homework on him. How do you know that? I don’t think the newspaper said anything about isolating and waiting.”
“Well, the newspaper said that all of his victims share the same set of wounds, right? One on the throat, 2 on each eye and slits on the wrist. If he would attack the victim from behind, the target would surely struggle a lot.”, he explained.
A question mark popped above my head like in one of those silly kids cartoons. “Yeah, so?”, I asked.
“Well, if the victim struggles, the hunter wouldn’t be able to hit exactly on those body parts. There would be some other wounds on his body too. Like a cut on the face or on the shoulder. The set of wounds, as written in the newspaper, are too precise to be just random stabbings. Also, if you grab someone from behind first, there is a high chance that the target will scream loudly and alert everyone around”
“Then how do you think he does all that? Obviously, one must immobilize the victim before making precise stabbings, right?”
“Well, that’s the key part. I don’t think he grabs a victim from behind. More likely it should be from the front. It’s not a grab to immobilize the target’s whole body but rather to be precise on where to strike. Take for example, you grab an apple firmly before slicing it into multiple pieces. Likewise, you must grab the target by his shoulder or his neck to strike in an instant. If you miss, the target will run away and alert everyone around. The hunter must be very strong and swift to make his move.”
“But why those body parts? I wonder. You can stab a target on its stomach like they do in the movies or even in the head. The body parts of the victim that he attacks are not the first parts I would think of if I was a hunter.”
“Think about it. I have read news where the details on the stabbings were given. The wound openings are reported to be small but very deep. Most of the readers have speculated that the knife used in these attacks is most probably a small kitchen utility knife. Those knives are small but very sharp and long enough to stab deep up to a vital point.
And I think the hunter is brilliant in the choice of body parts he chooses. By attacking its eyes, the hunter takes its ability to see. By attacking its throat, the hunter takes its ability to scream and cry for help. And by slit on the wrist the victim slowly bleeds to death unable to see or scream for help. I think he enjoys watching his prey struggle. The police have really justified the name of the Night Hunter. Just like a tiger or a wolf in the wild. They first bite into the neck of their prey, piercing its windpipe and often breaking the spinal cord in the process.”, he said, admiring the way of the hunter.
“It seems like you keep up with all the news of this hunter. Are you his follower or something?” I teased him with a slight friendly bump of my elbow to his shoulder.
“No, not really. No one deserves to die that way. I’m only admiring the fact that he is not just another lunatic on the streets. Whatever he does is all planned and implemented perfectly. Just like how a hunter thinks.”
“Well, I hope they catch the guy quickly. There should have been a curfew in this area already, but I didn’t see any police around today on our way here.” I said.
