The Red Town

While most of Heldale slept off the sugar and sweat of the field festival, the night air turned cold and uneasy. Fog rolled in low and heavy, veiling the streets in a silvery haze.

The cheer of the day's festival had long died out. The streets were almost empty now—almost.

In a lonely part of town, near the old mill bridge, a teenage couple stumbled out of a small car. They were laughing, tipsy from sneaking drinks, their cheeks flushed from both warmth and flirting.

The girl twirled under the boy's arm, laughing breathlessly.

"Okay, last dance," she giggled.

"Only if I get a kiss at the end," the boy said.

But then—snap.

A twig cracked from somewhere in the woods.

The couple paused.

The boy turned. "...Did you hear that?"

The girl swatted his chest. "Don't try to scare me."

The girl pulled him towards her and kissed him. They made out for few minutes until another sound louder than the first punctuated the air.

They both pulled their lips back and turned their heads. The boy squinted into the dark, his smile slowly fading.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

Silence.

Then—

A rustle. A flash. A scream.

It was over in seconds.

----

The next morning, their bodies were found slumped by the river, throat slit and eyes wide open in horror. Their blood stained the grass in dried pools.

Mayor Ronald Myers was woken by a phone call at dawn. He clutched the receiver tight as his face paled, the cigarette between his fingers forgotten and burning to the filter.

"They found two bodies this morning sir ."

His jaw clenched. "The festival was supposed to be secured."

"Yes sir. We all made sure of that but it seems like… the killer had struck again."

Mayor Myers stood by the window still in his sleeping robe, staring out at the early sun bleeding into the sky, lighting up the town. His reflection in the glass looked ten years older.

"Schedule a meeting this morning and everyone must be present. Everyone." He finally said.

"Yes sir." The person on the other line responded. The line suddenly went dead again.