Serial Killer
Andy pulled up and walked slowly to the trailer, he unlocked the padlock he used on the outer door and glanced in the window.
Alicia was in her corner of the bed already, cowering away from him as far as she could get. He could tell she showered, her hair was wet.
He walked back to the truck and grabbed a paper bag of canned goods. He entered the trailer and glanced at Alicia, then put away the supplies. When he was done he walked towards the bed.
Alicia pulled the chain as tight as it would go, as she tried to get to the farthest corner away from her captor. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she thought to herself, ‘So that’s why he wanted me clean.’
Andy looked at the taut chain as he knelt down at the foot of the bed and pulled a drawer open. He pulled out a tshirt, underwear, and pair of sweat pants cut into shorts and dropped them on the bed. He then stood up and walked to the bathroom and opened the panel that hid the plumbing pipes. He pulled a brown bath towel out and tossed it on the bed on top of the clothes.
He moved to the far end of the kitchen, “You didn’t go through any of the drawers here looking for something to help you escape.”
Alicia said nothing to her captor. She reached for the towel and noticed the clothes were all in her size. After she dried her hair she spoke, “I was afraid of what I might find.”
Andy half smiled and walked out of the trailer so she could change.
Night soon faded into existence. The entire time had been spent in silence. They had a meal of cheap canned pasta and meat, the kind Alicia loved as kid but hadn’t eaten since. She stayed as far away from him as possible at all times, and he would leave the trailer every four hours so she could use the facilities. When they ate he sat with his back to her, but always left an empty chair on the opposite side of the table facing him.
This ritual went on for three days. The meals would change but that was all. Every morning he would wake up and make them both coffee. He would leave her mug on the table and take his with him as he left in the truck.
Andy took the dirty laundry to the washateria this morning, it would give Alicia plenty of time to look around if she was going to. He cleared his thoughts and checked the rear view mirror. The long straight stretch of country highway went on for miles in either direction before it reached civilization.
He saw a young thin blonde woman in her early twenties wearing a tied up flannel. Her head was down, her eyes on her phone, one hand texting the other on the wheel. Her two month old baby in the backseat, judging by the car seat and large diaper bag next to it.
He looked at the heavy frame of the old pickup he was driving. He would survive the crash, would her next victim? People like her were the real serial killers.
His thoughts returned to Alicia. One project at a time. People like this mom were a dime a dozen, they could be taught nothing. She was as good as dead anyway, there was no reason to expedite it.