STORY STARTER
You are stuck in a room with a psychopath who wants to kill you. You have five minutes to convince them otherwise.
Write a short speech to convince this desolate individual to spare your life.
Bloodbone.
Dawn regained her consciousness in a dark room. It smelled of a mix of mothballs, a damp basement, dust and blood. Blood? She looked around the room. It wasn‘t like the horror movies her best friend liked watching so much, with a rickety chair, a singular squeaky lightbulb and a creepy figure with blood dripping off an axe behind her. It looked more like an old attic, fairy lights strung up on the beams below the celings, a small round window through which she could see the sun setting, the sky soaking up the last remainders of the orange pink light. In the corner Dawn could see a reading area with a small shelf and beanbag, they‘re were framed posters on the walls of movies, books and bands too, and all in all it seemed like a very normal place to be, except that she didn’t recognise anything and could still smell the blood. Suddenly she heard the stairs creaking. A girl walked into the room, blond hair strung up into a messy bun on top of her head. With her dark brown eyes and petite build she looked almost like an elf, if you looked past the tatterd trainers crusted with dirt and red splashes and her left cheek that was held together mainly by paper stiches. And the knife of course. That was an aspect that really stood out. „Oh!“ she exclaimed, her eyes growing wide as she looked at the girl infront of her, shifting uncomfortably at the sight of the blade glistening in the others hands. „I didn’t expect you to be awake yet! But if you are… well that’s better actually. Makes it more interesting if they talk when it’s happening.“ The girl clapped her hands, like a toddler would if they got candy. „How about introducing ourselves first!“ she said joyfully. „I rarley go out, so I never meet anyone interesting!
My name‘s Anya. Well, not my real name, but we‘ll go with it. I‘m a diagnosed phycopath, also known as The bloodbone killer and I know everything about you. I could kill you on the spot if I wanted to, but where’s the fun in that? Nonono. I suggest I give you five minutes, no more and no less, to tell me why you get to live. I decide if I like your answer or not. If I don’t, I‘ll kill you. If I do… probably still will. So, time starts now Dawn. Whatcha got?“
Dawn had never thought harder in her life. She‘d been tracking the Bloodbone case for months now, only to end as another victim? No. She wouldn’t go down without a fight. And that fight would be with her mouth. If there was one good thing about being sharp tounged it was speaking before thinking, and that’s exactly what Dawn did. „Just out of curiosity, what would you _do _with my body after? I mean, apart from lather my skeleton in blood. What about the flesh? Do you eat it? Feed it to wolves? Sell it? I‘ve always wonderd.“ „What is it to you?“ Anya asked, visibly amused. „Well, I saw this documentary on cannibalism. Vile stuff, weird as hell, but damn it was interesting! I mean, what must it be like, inside the mind of a killer. I‘ve always thought… I mean, what are your motives? The _real _ones. None of that Revenge, Love, Anger things. Why? Boredom? People getting to close to finding you?“ A pause. „Or is it some kind of fetish? Needing to prove to everyone you can get away with anything? You know, there’s a slight problem with that. Want to guess what it is?“ Anya raised an eyebrow. „60 Seconds left on the clock and you want to play a guessing game? Sure. What’s the answer?“
Dawn smirked. „They get overconfident. You see, you may have taken my phone and smart watch, but you didn’t take my bracelet. You know those annoying ads where people show off their _press this button and you call your emergency contacts and the cops_ jewellery? I don‘t think much of it, but my parents wanted me to wear it. Well, guess what Bloodbone? When my five minutes are up, this place will be full of cops. You‘ve lost honey. Well played.“
Anya looked shocked for a second. But then- she smiled. She actually smiled. Shaking her head she said: „Ohhhh Dawn, you’ve got it all so wrong. See, Bloodbone never looses. I‘m out.“ She turned on her heel to leave, but was tackled to the ground by a police officer. „Anya Janwinh, you’re under arrest for abduction, kidnapping and suspected murder. You have the right to remain silent…“ The cop continued on while Anya rolled her eyes and someone untied Dawn. She had gotten out. That would be some story to never tell a soul.