Grace:
“Is the man still here?” Dakota whispers into my ear. My head snaps up in surprise. I check my watch. It is early in the morning. He would have to be gone.
“No.” I tell her. “Why?”
“I’m busting out of here.” She informs me and takes a hair pin out of her hair. “Have a good life, imamates.”
“Like h*ll you are!” I grab onto her and wrestle her to the ground. “He’ll kill you!”
“If what you said is true, he’s gonna kill me anyway. What’s the point?” Dakota yanks herself from my grip.
“Then you are a b****!” Luna screams at Dakota. Dakota turns around in surprise.
“Why? Because I wanna live?”
“You haven’t even been here for a day. DON’T SCREW UP EVERYTHING WE HAVE WORKED FOR JUST BECAUSE YOU WANT OUT! IT’S OUR LIVES TOO!”
There is an eerie moment of silence as every gaps at Luna. Luna, the calm peacemaker, the leader of our group, screaming at the new girl?
“Are you okay, Luna?” Sasha asks and Luna shakes her head.
“No! I’M NOT ALRIGHT! I’M PRETTY D*MN P*SSED OFF! Do you know how long I have been here? A long time! Months! And then we get this whiny b**** that couldn’t even last a night.”
“Just because you’re okay with being treated like s*** doesn’t mean I am.” Dakota snarls and pushes passed Luna. Luna grabs onto her arm.
“If you leave, we get busted. We get beat. We die.”
“When I get out I’ll come back for you guys.”
“He’ll kill us before you can. And besides, the doors are locked. He’s thought of everything. You won’t make it.”
Dakota looks at Luna in surprise. “How do you know?”
“I’ve been here a long time. Do you think you’re the first girl to think of running away? You’re not getting out.” Luna tells her firmly.
“Who cares if we die? At least we can say that we tried!” Dakota says.
“Technically we won’t be able to say anything….” I begin before Sasha interrupts me.
“And you’ll kill all of us.” Sasha tells Dakota, backing Luna up. “But if you want to have that on your conscious, but all means, escape.”
Dakota seems to consider this and after a moment she slowly says, “I bet we could get out with some planning.”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” Claire interjects, quietly.
“You’ve gotta be kidding.” Luna sighs. “Guys. He’s not an idiot! He’ll find out. He’ll punish us all. He’ll kill us.”
“So what?” Sasha turns on Luna quickly. Flakey little b****. “The new girl’s gotta point…..even if she’s kinda annoying and b****y. We could plan something.”
“Without the Lord finding out?”
“Totally. He’s gone during the day. How is he supposed to find out what we’re talking about?” Sasha answers. Luna bites her lip.
“I think it’s best of we just leave it up to the authorities.”
“Luna.” Claire says. “I’m next. I’ve been here the longest besides you and he won’t kill you. I don’t want to die. We’re smart too. We can find a way to get out. And then we will be saved. I don’t wanna die.”
“No.”
“Well you’re outvoted.” Dakota says firmly. “Does anyone have any ideas?”
“Woah girl.” Sasha grins. “I just agreed to take part in the plan. I never said I had one.”
“You guys have been you’re the longest!” Dakota responds.
“I got an idea.” I speak up. “Luna says that the Lord locks the door upstairs. But Dakota, can you really unlock doors with your hair pin?”
“Of course. My cousin taught me how to when I was little. We used to sneak into his little brother’s room and mess it up.” Dakota smiles fondly at the memory.
“Well, if you can do that, why can’t we unlock the door upstairs?” I ask and the girls nod in agreement. I glance over at Luna to see how she is taking to this agreement, but she seems to have not heard us.
“What if it’s not a normal lock though? It could be like…..a combination lock.” Claire says.
“No problem. We’ll have a backup plan for that.” I say confidently, even though I’m concerned now too. I hadn’t thought of not being able to get out.
“Then we call 911.” Dakota says. “We call and tell them we are locked up.”
“We don’t know the address.”
“They trace calls.”
“Will we be able to get out in time?”
“If we do it right after the Lord leaves for work we should have plenty of time.” The girls faces are all lit up with something I have not seen for days; hope. Confidence. We are really going to get out of here.
“You just got a lot less annoying.” Sasha informs Dakota and she smiles.
“When should we do this?” Claire asks.
“Tomorrow.” I tell her. “We can’t risk staying here any longer.”
“You guys are making a huge mistake.” Luna warns us but we pay her no mind.
“Luna, you’ll see. It will all work out.”

Rita Fox
Seven Days:
“Whoever we are dealing with, is truly the most sickening thing humanity has to offer.” David says, the disgust he is feeling spelled out all over his face.
We have arrived at the Bacon house once again, to see Mrs. Bacon sobbing. In her hands is Grace Bacon’s finger.
“Who gave this to you?” Simon asks Mrs. Bacon. Julia gives him a look.
“If she knew, we wouldn’t be here now would we?”
“I saw him.” Mr. Bacon speaks up and David takes out his notepad.
“Did you see his face?”
“No….it was dark. It was hard to see. But his car….it was a pickup truck. Red. And he was tall, really tall. He was wearing a black jacket and gray pants.”
“Where did you see him from?” David asks.
“I…..Grace loved crime shows and she got me hooked on a few of them. I remember that in one of the shows, a profiler mentioned that the killer often returned to the scene of the crime. Every night since she’s disappeared or whenever I’ve had a spare moment, I’ve been watching from the window. I thought it was the guy and I was about to get my gun but when I saw the package I assumed he was just delivering a package, although I did think it was kind of strange that he wasn’t driving a package truck or whatever.”
“Thank you.” David shuts the notepad and winks at us. “I think we may have enough to get a profile out to the public.”

Rita Fox
Piece by Piece Killer Profile
General Statement

The killer we are looked for today is a white male in his mid to late thirties. He is suspected to have blonde hair and blue eyes because we believe he is killing people out of hatred for a past authority figure, the most likely guess being his mother. We believe he is above normal height and normal strength, but not in a way that stands out. He drives a red pickup truck, the last digit being either a “z” or an “s”. He was seen wearing baggy gray pants, most likely part of a uniform. He has an above average intelligence but works at a low income job, most likely never having gone to college. This man is not married, but we suspect he may have been married at one point and been recently divorced. This may have been his stressor. Even though he is not married he does have someone living with him, a helper. It is a female and she is most likely working out of fear. This may be a mother, a sister, or even one of the girl’s he is keeping. We ask anyone with information to please step forward because we think that some of the girls are still alive. Look at your neighbors, coworkers, even friends. It could save a girl’s life.


Gage
Something isn’t right. It’s quiet. It’s never quiet, especially when a new girl comes. There are no tears. There is no screaming. This is not okay.
I call back for my little helper, quietly so I do not wake the other girls. She sneaks out, careful not to step on anyone.
“What do you want?” She snarls at me.
“That’s no way to talk to your Lord.”
“I hate you.”
“Well like it or not, you are in this just as much as I am. So spill; what is going on?”
My helper clenches her jaw. She’s uncomfortable. Good. Suffer. “The new girl, Dakota, is planning on running away. She has persuaded the other girls to join her.”
“Looks like a time for some new bodies….” I think out loud and the girl panics.
“No! Please don’t kill the other girls. Please! I don’t want you to kill anyone anymore! I’ll….I’ll…”
“What, tell? You can’t tell on me. Have you ever heard of accessory to murder? Several states consider them just as guilty as the murderer. You’ll spend the rest of your life in jail.”
“I’m a minor.”
“And according to the law, a serial killer.”
The girl bites her lip and looks up at me. “Please, just kill one girl. Dakota. That should be enough to stop the other girls.”
“I’m not going to be persuaded by you.”
“Then I’ll run away too.”
“Accessory….”
“That’s not fair! I would have never done any of this if you hadn’t threatened me!” Tears start to fly down the young girls face and I smile at her misery. Her beautiful blue eyes are muddied up. She still looks like a wh*re in angels clothing.
“Do you think the police will care? Or your lawyer? I ain’t paying for no lawyer for you.”
“You are horrible!” She hisses at me.
“You’re starting to catch on. Now, wake up Dakota and bring her to me.”
“Promise not to kill anyone else.”
“Listen to me….”
“It will be pretty d*mn hard to take on all those girls at once.” She warns me. She has a point. Maybe it would be best…..
“You get your way this time. But I want to be fully informed about EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS AROUND HERE! This is my house and I’m in charge. And all your little friends will die anyway.”
“Why don’t you kill me too?”
I don’t respond because I don’t know.

Grace
Eight days
Dakota is dead.
“Missing anyone?” The Lords voice wakes us up with a start. I glance at my watch. 5:40 in the morning. He’s early.
“Um…” Sasha sits up confused. “What do you mean?”
“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
“What do you mean…..my Lord?”
“New girl.” Everyone immediately turns to the corner that Dakota had taken. It was empty.
“Where is she?” Luna snaps, a look of pain and surprise on her face.
“Let this be a lesson to you girls what happens when you try to leave.” The Lord slams the vents shut, with no breakfast at all this morning.
The other girls glance around nervously until we hear the door slam shut from upstairs.
“We’re not still going to escape, are we?” Claire asks me nervously. “I mean….”
“How did he know?” I shriek. “How. Did. He. Know.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Luna speaks up. “We have a spy.”
“A spy?”
“Yeah. How else could he know if he had been at work?”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Maybe he didn’t really leave and he was listening in.” Sasha volunteers.
“Maybe….” Luna says slowly, but the damage has been done. No one can be trusted anymore.
“Either way, if he knows it’s only a matter of time before we are taken too. I say we still escape.”
“But we don’t know how to work the key.” Claire points out and I nod slowly.
“You’re right.”
“I know how.” Sasha tells us eagerly. “Dakota showed me in case we had to run fast or if she was caught.”
“When should we go?”
“Now.” Claire states calmly. “We need to get out.”
“Everybody have all their stuff?” Sasha jokes. We all smile, but the look of terror doesn’t leave our faces.
“Pick the lock.” I order Sasha and as she gets started I look over at Luna.
“Aren’t you coming?” I ask her and she glares at me.
“You don’t know what you are doing.”
“Yes we do.”
“No, you really don’t. I’ve been here the longest. I know.”
“Can it, Luna.” Sasha snaps. “Do you want to die here?”
“Better here than out there.”
I don’t understand what Luna is saying but before I can ask, Sasha unlocks the door.
“Bingo.” She breathes.
“Come on Luna.” I grab her arm.
“No.”
“You’re not staying in here to die. The Lord will kill you.”
“No he won’t.”
“How do you know?”
Luna grins at me. “I just know.”
“But….” I yank at my arm as Sasha and Claire bolt out.
“STOP!” Luna screams at them. Sasha and Claire freeze. Luna yanks at my arm and pulls me out of the door. I wince in preparation for the sunlight, but I am instead greeted by darkness. The blinds are down.
Luna walks over to the couch and fishes into the cushion. After several minutes she yanks out a gun. Luna smiles and holds it against my head.
“Don’t move.” Luna orders the others. “Unless you want Grace to die.”