Keeping Secrets

Our story is about a town, a small town, and the people who live in the town. From a distance, it presents itself like so many other small towns all over the world: safe, decent, innocent. Get closer, though, and you start seeing the shadows underneath. The name of our town is Greenville. It’s been a week since the discovery of and Jake Jones's body, but his death is not the first nor would it be the last that the town of Greenville would suffer. The town now had its first serial killer.

Everyone’s afraid to say it, so let me be the first. There is a serial killer amongst us. San Francisco had the Zodiac. New Orleans had the Axeman. Texarkana, Texas, had the Phantom Killer. The list goes on and on. Add to their ranks Greenville's very own psychopath, the unknown name of this mysterious killer, who is still out.

Like the Red Death showing up in an Edgar Allan Poe story, the Black Hood had come to Riverdale. With that grimmest of reapers looming over us, how did we cope? Putting all this behind us for one night is exactly what the town did, the homecoming dance was coming up, and everyone was busy asking their friends or spouse to the dance, while I am busy writing away in the town's diner about what they are trying to forget. Later that night, there was another death, the girl next door, Jenna Moore. The captain of the cheer squad, childhood best friend of mine. Everything ended when she became popular and I became the girl on the bench with a computer and a story to write.

Every fairy tale comes with the same warning: Good children should never go into the woods alone. Stray from the path and who knows what you’ll encounter. A hungry wolf. A handsome devil. Or maybe something worse. The deaths of Jake Jones and Jenna Moore are all the town talks about, and still, the killer is still out there, but now the killer is leaving clues, notes on the front doors of each house in the small town. The town was rising with worry, for they could be next.

After the first death, we had all hoped it was just suicide from a stressed and anxious teen, but after the autopsy, the truth was out, and now it has settled into the minds of everyone there, there is a serial killer, and they are thirsty for blood. The kids in the local high school found a way to cope with the deaths of their classmates, alcohol, and fizzle rocks. With another death of a Greenville High Schooler, the Homecoming dance was canceled, but Luke Smith, the captain of Varsity football, my neighbor, my crush since 3rd grade, had decided to host a party in his home while his dad was out of town on business work. Thinking I would spend another night drinking coffee at the diner and typing away, Luke had invited me to the party, and there was no way I was going to turn down a high school party.

Monday after the party, everyone was still hungover, but that wasn't the worst thing, by 4th period, the sheriff would have his first arrest. Emma Fisher, Luke Smith's girlfriend since the fifth grade, was arrested for the accusations of the murder of Jake Jones and Jenna Moore. All evidence pointed back to her, her blood at the scenes, her fingerprints, and her DNA all over the crime scenes. One thing was off though, she was out with Luke. By Wednesday morning, she was released, which still meant, the killer was still out.

Fear. It’s the most basic, the most human emotion. As kids, we’re afraid of everything. The dark. The boogeyman under the bed. And we pray for the morning. For those monsters to go away. Though they never do. Not really. Just ask Jake Jones and Jenna Moore. But it never ended with them, the Shadow Killer was still out and had made another round, leaving a note this time with the dead body, warning the town, "If the town cannot keep their children under control, then I will be the one to do it, for these kids have sinned, and I am the one to get rid of it." No one knew what it meant, for we didn't know what trouble Jake, Jenna, and Emma had gotten into. yes, that's right, Emma Fisher had been the victim this time. Weeks had gone by and not a single word from the Shadow Killer, the town was quiet, and people in it too. Maybe the sins the Shadow Killer was talking about had gone away, or even better, the Shadow Killer themself. But when things started to get quit, when we started to let our guard down, the Shadow killer struck again, this time it was none other than the boy across the street, Luke Smith.

Guilt, innocence. Good, evil. Life, death. As the shadows around Greendale deepened, the lines that separated these polar opposites blurred and distorted. “I’m guilty,” the Janitor confessed to the sheriff. But of what? It was the ultimate cliffhanger: the janitor had confessed but was he really the face under the mask, or was he covering up for someone else. Was he being paid to do this, was he being threatened, or was he really the killer?

You know how there are just some towns where bad things always seem to happen? Well, Greenville has become one of those towns. The most recent horror? The school janitor turned out to be a serial killer. But we were putting him away along with our Christmas decorations. In Greenville, everyone wears a mask, not just the Shadow Killer. But every so often, the mask slips and our true selves are laid bare for all the world to see. So we scramble to put it back on, like a kid in a cheap Halloween costume, but it’s too late. People have already seen what’s underneath. And it’s terrifying. But the biggest secret the town still doesn't know is the true killer. A secret buried with the janitor and the 4 dead sophomores. I was the true Shadow Killer, and no one will ever expect it. Who expects a quiet girl who writes to be the killer, but then again, no would've expected the janitor to confess for a murder he didn't commit.