Chapter 7

As the harvest moon started to rise over the crest of the mountains, “El Diablo” was busy planning his next attack. He could not believe that he was still able to run and hide from the police so well. He had already killed three times and they did not appear to be any closer to figuring out who he was. Every night after the “cleansing of the wicked” he would wait until the body was found. He liked the exhilarating feeling knowing that he was so close and yet no one was able to figure out who he was. He was actually able to see what the investigators were looking for and make sure that he did not leave anything behind that would tie him to the ritual that he had completed. Of course, the public did not see what he was doing as something right. They saw it as a crime against the innocent. If only they could see it though his eyes, then they would know why it had to be done; then they would understand him fully and applaud him for his efforts.

He knew many of the key players in the investigation on a personal level; at least he felt that he knew them. He had an unnatural need to know all of the people who were going to be involved in his life. Even though he did not want to have these people in his life, they were a necessity, without them no one would be able to hear his voice. He had watched the way that the Chief of Police was acting around the television reporters. Chief Roberts was acting as if it was a normal day on the job. He did not want to appear as if he did not have the situation under control. Of course, “El Diablo” knew that he did not have anything under control. There was no way for him to anticipate when or where or who the next attack was going to be upon. Once Chief Roberts figured out that this was not simply a murder case but rather a cleansing ritual maybe he would be able to get everything under control.

Roger had not always been a vengeful man. He had been well liked in high school and looked up to while he played on the football team. He was not the best player but he did help his team to victory on a few occasions. He did not have any girlfriends in high school but he didn’t really want any. Who had time to deal with girls who only wanted to go out with the jocks of the school? Of course, he was a jock but not like any of the others. He could feel that they felt sorry for him. Yes, he was a good player but yet he was nothing like the other players. So what had happen to him? After high school, he just could not find his niche. He attempted to attend college but that just didn’t fit him well. He did not like the conformity that it tried to place upon him. He did not like to be told what to do. He knew that he had an important role to complete during his lifetime and it was just a matter of time before it was reveled to him.

When he turned 22, he finally realized what he was meant to do with his life. He was sick and tired of everyone thinking that they were better than he was. Just because he did not fit into the mold that everyone expected him to be in. It angered him. Why did anyone have to be like someone else? Wasn’t it okay that he was his own person? Of course he wasn’t like the rest, none of them had a mission that they needed to carry though before they reached 30, he did. No one had the right to tell him what he could or could not do; where or where not to be. He was his own person and he was tired of everyone telling him that he was not good enough. If the role that he was to take on for the rest of his life was important enough to be delivered directly to him, though a dream, then he didn’t care what the rest of the world thought. He was important and they would soon all realize it.

At first he only thought about killing people, he did not expect to be able to actually act upon it. He wanted to make the world a better place for people like him, people who were eccentric. He liked that word, eccentric, it fit him well. He was not weird or strange or abnormal, he was eccentric. He would dream of what the world would be like without people thinking that they were better than others. Then the rest of the world would be who they were and not try to be someone that they were not. He thought that he was going a little crazy when he first started to make a list of people that he wanted to take out of the world. He wanted to wanted to cleanse every bad part of society so it would be perfect for everyone else that was still around to enjoy it, him included. He had to make sure that no one found it or knew what it was about.

He had had a scare when his mother had found the list about six months ago. He thought for sure that he was going to be caught. But she just thought that it was a list of people that he wanted to meet in his lifetime. She told him that she thought it was cute that he wanted to get to know so many famous people. She even had the audacity to tell him that she thought that if he got to know these famous people, maybe he would make something of himself. It was then that he had to add her name to the list. She was going to have to be one of the final “acts of cleansing” that was completed because it was going to hit home. They might actually be able to figure out who he was if he took her out of the picture too soon. He looked at his list on a daily basis to figure out who would be the next to be “cleansed.”

It was not that he was angry at those that he killed, but rather that he did not like what they were doing to the society as a whole. They were corrupting those around them and also others in the world. They did not look outside their own little world and see the impact that they had on others. This is what so upset him. How could people be so shallow to think that what they did would not impact others? He hoped that by bringing to light all of their transgressions forward that others would realize the errors in their ways and would change. The hard part was making people see the transgressions of “the wicked” instead of having them just reminisce about all the good things that they had done in their lives. He was going to have to change the way in which he left the bodies. They were not seeing what they needed to see.

Instead everyone was focused on the positive aspects of the victim’s lives. He was so feed up with the way that the media was handling this situation. He felt that this next “cleansing” might make them realize what was going on. He was going to leave a note explaining what had gone wrong in her life. Maybe then they would start realizing that he was not just doing this to be mean, but rather to do them all a favor. He had the perfect victim to “cleanse”; he was sure that no one was going to expect him to go after; he was going after Becky Newman who was constantly reporting the crimes. She always appeared to be shocked by the newest victim. How could she be shocked; it was so obvious why he was choosing who he was choosing? Maybe after he made an example out of her, the rest of the world would see what he was truly doing. He could not wait to see the fear in her eyes, when she realized that she no longer was going to be reporting the news, but instead was going to be the news herself. He knew that he had to act quickly because he did not want the police to get the upper hand; he liked to be in control and he planned on keeping it that way.