CHAPTER 1. Piercing eyes

"Come on, come on, come on", muttered Kevin as he anxiously glared at the old brown landline telephone that sat peacefully on a palm push tray that was well polished. He sat on an old green sofa that was torn and appeared to be threatening to swallow his buttocks. His legs were shaking, his knuckles were red as he continuously squeezed his knees as if intending to hurt himself. The whistling sound, made maybe by a steaming kettle, coming from the kitchen escalated his anxiety making him clench his teeth. The teeth clenching made his words sound like a hiss. Cutting Crew or maybe some other band played loudly on the radio, commanding Kevin's parents, Roy and Jane, to dance to their music. Jane's black pumps made a loud tapping noise as if she was a tap dancer performing in front of a singing audience.

"This reminds me of the first time we met, Roy. The winter of 66", shouted Jane as she continued to dance. The whistling noise from the kitchen, the tapping of the pumps as Jane continued to perform, the loud radio; all these noises made Kevin's face turn red. He was a pile of live coals hissing in a sea of anxiety. The commotion stitched by needles of disorder made him squeeze his knees even harder. By the second, the noises became a choir, whipped into a frenzy by some conductor as they sang a crescendo of some unknown song while Roy and Jane's happy mood glinted and flashed with the crinkled delight of it all.

They were all suddenly silenced by the ringing brown telephone. It was as if it was demanding attention from a loud, hysteric crowd.

The ringing telephone was, at that moment, competing for Kevin's attention and it won. He frantically jumped to his feet to pick up the receiver. He wore tight blue jeans that were not long enough to touch his ankles. The milk-white socks he wore bridged the jeans and the blue low cut sneakers he wore. He had a red tucked in t-shirt on that had the word LIBERTY written in white. He ran his left hand nervously through his unkempt, blonde hair and his right hold tightly holding the receiver as he opened his mouth to utter a word.

"Hello", he said into the receiver to the person on the other end. The voice on the other end was faint, very faint, only Kevin could hear it. It appeared as if the voice was monopolising the conversation as Kevin hardly said a word.

He nodded his head throughout the two minute conversation. He was smiling too; no, not smiling, he was grinning. He was agreeing to something and he definitely liked what he was agreeing to. His smile crept even wider across his face as he made the last nod.

"Okay, see you then", he said finally.

His parents had been looking at him all the time, listening. The curiosity on Jane's face was like a piece of art drawn to perfection.

They had both been listening to the conversation as if the singer on the radio was no longer interesting to them. Besides, someone else was now speaking on the radio, the voice was male and it was talking about a serial killer or something like that. The flames of the 1980s had already started burning. The crime was already devouring the spark of life to the core, the spark that was even alive in their bones and souls. The fire that the music, movies, fashion and revolutions brought in the 80s ignited and was fighting strongly against the red scotching flames of crime. Serial killings, robberies, domestic murders and so on. They all escalated in the beginning of the decade.

"Who was that", Jane asked as though she didn't know who it was.

"Uhmmm, it....it was my friend.....John, John Bolden, the kid who stays three houses down", responded Kevin with an acknowledgement of the disapproval that was going to be heaved upon his borrowed joy.

"No". Jane said as she took a slow step towards Kevin.

"YOU. ARE. NOT. GOING. WITH. HIM", continued Jane as she separated her words which was never a good sign.

"Oh oh, here we go again. Three, two, one", whispered Roy under his breath. He knew his wife very well because after his personalised countdown, Jane started yelling and scolding on top of her hoarse voice. It was the same story as everyday, it was the only reason why Jane always fought with her son.

John Bolden.

He was the reason for all the unrest. Jane started telling Kevin how much of bad company John Bolden was. This was the millionth time John Bolden was being mentioned and it was never for a good reason. The quarrels also ended in Jane or Kevin drowning in tears. Jane loathed John Bolden, she despised him. She had a valid reason to do so. John Bolden was scorned by the whole neighbourhood. He was seen as monster by the mothers, that came to eat one's child's morals. No parent wanted their child near John Bolden. When he was nine years old, he tied their neighbour's dog to the railway tracks and fortunately, the dog was saved by a passerby a minute before the train came. To the passerby's shock, he saw John Bolden standing by the tree nearby, glowering at him as if he really wanted to see the train pulverise the dog. He was a sadist, some blamed it on his father who drank his way into parenthood. John Bolden's mother had left when he was thirteen and no one ever got to find out where she went. His father, on the other hand blamed him for his mother leaving. John Bolden found a seed in his father's anger and its name was hate. He buried that seed in his mind and watered it with more anger.

"You're not going to celebrate the new year with John Bolden. NO!"

Roy was now listening to the man speaking on the radio who was still talking about the serial killer who was on the loose. Jane and Kevin were stilling quarrelling about how they were going to welcome the new year. As she shouted at him, her eyes stung into a greater fury with every word. Their quarrel was swallowed by the man on the radio's voice, therefore, Roy couldn't hear the contents of the quarrel.

"The killer binds his victims' legs and hands and then he puts a rose in their mouths, then he takes a picture and leaves it at the scene", described the voice on the radio. The voice must have been a detective's or any officer of the law's. He spoke calmly with censored police language.

"What surprises us the most is the fact that he doesn't leave a drop of blood behind. He poisons his victims before putting a rose in their mouths and that's it", he added.

"Well, thank you very much for the information detective Davis. How should we explain the increase in crime in the 80s I mean....", a new voice jumped in with a question before Jane shouted over the voice.

"Switch that thing off!"

After Roy had switched the radio off following his wife's command, there was a deafening silence in the house. The noise from the kitchen had died down, Kevin had left the battleground which was their living room and he had slammed the door shut. Jane stood in the midst of the living room with no hint of regret on her face. She was a tough English woman with a perfect jawline that emphasised her toughness. She had rich, yellow, shiny curled hair that was not long enough to touch her slightly broad shoulders but its fringes only brushed them. She had a pair of piercing blue eyes that spoke louder words. Her eyes were her super power. Roy on the other hand, was a soft man. He had long brown hair but not as long as Jane's was. He was a year younger than Jane but he didn't look so. He was handsome, a genuine article. He was tall, strong and had big arms.

"It's 1982 and our son can't get off that telephone. Roy, I'm worried", she concluded as she walked out and into the kitchen, leaving Roy alone in the utter silence.

Jane's nightmare was lurking in the darkness of his son's mind. He wanted to celebrate the new year with John Bolden. There had been word around that John Bolden was probably the serial killer terrorising Edina. The whole of Minnesota had already heard of the serial killer but most of his victims had been from Edina. John Bolden was nineteen years old, therefore old enough to fall prey of suspicion.

Jane was understandably possessive. Kevin was their only child and she wasn't ready to lose him. She had vowed to do whatever it took to protect him. Roy and Jane had gotten Kevin his first car for his seventeenth birthday and a polaroid OneStep 600 Instant Film and Land camera for his fifteenth birthday. They gave him everything he needed and wanted. He had all the trending sneakers that other kids longed for. He was living in milk and clover. Unfortunately, Roy and Jane couldn't give him the friends he wanted, not just any friends, but John Bolden. He wanted him only.