Killer

Another killing. I stand at the scene of the murder in the middle of the street. It seems the child was killed in the dead of night, left to bleed in the street. Such a public spot. It seems the killer doesn't care where they kill, just that they can kill.

Like the children before, tho one had a ticket to see a show, but unlike the two before, it was at a different theatre to see a different show.

Maybe I should go and see this show as well. There must be some correlation between the tickets, I just don't know what. I left the scene in under five minutes and began roof hopping over to the next theatre.

The theatre was in better condition than the one I had previously been to, but only by a small margin. I changed my outfit and then waited for the show I wanted to see to start. It wasn't long, only an hour, but every second that passes could cost the life of another child, so I was slightly on edge.

Once I was in the theatre, I took my seat and watched the show. This time, the play was about a princess who pretends to be a commoner, but ends up being recognized and kidnapped. After that, she is sold into slavery and later killed by a raging wolf.

Why are these stories for kids?

That was beside the point, however, as I had just learned who the killer was while watching. All of the kids seemed to have a ticket to some random show at some random theatre, which meant that that was how the killer chose their victims. The kids that went to see shows were killed.

What was confusing was who would be able to do that. A ticket collector works at a single theatre, which rules them out. They each saw plays from different directors, which rules out the directors. I thought it could have been someone within the audience, but I quickly learned it wasn't after watching the show.

The killer was the actress. In the play I saw before, about the greedy girl who got herself killed, the same actress had played as the one that performed today as the princess. The actors from the first didn't seem to be performing in this one, which easily ruled them out as well. The actress must have chosen her victims from the crowd, stalked them, and then killed them once she was alone.

Now all I have to do is catch her.

I ran outside and threw on my costume while out of view, then ran back in. Most of the kids who had been watching instantly surrounded me, as I was a hero who they looked up to.

"It's the Secret Magician!"

"Cool, a real life hero!"

"Can I get a high-five?"

I don't have time for this. If the actress heard this commotion, I would lose the element of surprise. I need to get past them, now!

"Listen, you all need to get outside, now! There is a bad person inside. Be sure to be as quiet as possible."

Hearing me speak, fear instantly etched itself onto all of their little faces, but they did as they were told, quickly exiting the theatre. Once they were out, I ran into the stage and into the back, where the actors were taking off their costumes so they could leave.

The actress wasn't among them.

"Have any of you seen the actress who performed with you as the princess?"

As I spoke, everyone turned to look at me, and then their eyes widened as they recognized me.

"You're the Secret Mag-"

"Forget about that, where is the actress? I need to know, now."

The actor who had played one of the kidnappers pointed to a back room, and I motioned for them to leave, which they quickly and quietly did. I slowly went towards the back room, being sure to be silent. Once I got to the door, I kicked it down.

"Come quietly. I already know you're the murderer.

Inside, the actress had been changing, as she had her own room being the main actress. When she saw me, she knew the game was up and ran for another door at the other end of the room, presumably an exit. I was faster, however, and created an air forcefield right in front of her, causing her to run straight into what was an invisible wall, and fall backwards onto her butt.

At that moment, she realized she had lost. She picked herself up and off of the floor while speaking to me.

"I must admit, I didn't expect to be caught by the Secret Magician. What an honor."

"Why did you kill them?"

"Why? Because I thought it was fun!"

She had a creepy and distorted smile on her face, but I knew she was lying. Her angry footsteps from every crime scene say otherwise. Besides, I always know instinctively if someone is lying or not.

"You know that no one has ever successfully lied to me before, right? That's part of what makes me such a great hero."

The smile on her face disappeared and was instead replaced with a blank expression. She stared with empty eyes right through me into some nonexistent void.

"Fine. I lost my kid, Jake. He was a great kid, you know. He was always happy, playing with his friends in our large front yard while having a blast. After he died, I felt empty. We were such a high class family, clearly better than those below us, yet he still died while they haven't.

"Why should some low class kid deserve to live when my boy couldn't? These commoners don't deserve to have kids, and should instead just die and make space for those who are better than them. I killed their kids, cutting their tongues out so that they wouldn't speak back, and then slitting their throats so they died. They deserved it anyways."