The mystery murder

She was awoken that night by a sound on her window, it was like an owl was crying by her window, the window was slightly open so she could see that it was still dark outside.

She had always been told that a crying owl meant impending doom but she had never taken it seriously, after all they were all myths.

Her attention was however called to something else. Apart from the killer headache she felt, she noticed scratches on her shoulders, not just that, her hands were stained with blood.

Alarmed, Olivia jumped down from her bed and ran out of her room, straight to her parents room with the hope of finding her parents and showing them the blood. Panic washed over her fragile mind as she tiptoed in the dark to her parents room.

"Mom, dad" she called simultaneously as she banged her blood soaked fist on the wooden door.

Almost tearing up when she got no reply, she gently pushed the door open and was surprised that it gave way so easily, her parents never left their door open. Olivia was later to find out why. Her parents were not there, it was weird that her parents were not in their room at that time.

Feeling a strange energy around the environment, Olivia ran to the sitting room, she almost puked at what she saw.

There, right on the living room floor, lay her parents and two brothers in the pool of their own blood, they had bite and scratch marks on their neck and other parts of their bodies, the same mark she had up her arms.

"Mom, dad, Aiden, Jasper"

She went from person to person trying to shake them awake, but to no avail, their bodies were stiff, just like the fish her mom had put in the freezer the previous day.

"Nooooo!!!!!" Came her scream of anguish as she watched the lifeless bodies of every single member of her family, sprawled on ground and covered in blood.

Fearing that whatever had taken the lifes of the rest of her family was still lurking around and would find her too, Olivia opened the living room door and stepped into the cold night, fleeing for her life

"Beep beep beep!!!" Came the annoying sound from the alarm clock on the bedside table.

Olivia stretched out her hand tiredly to switch off the alarm clock that was blaring loudly in her ears, feeling tired, as if she should go back to bed, she turned around in her bed and pulled the covers over her head.

It was another beautiful day, although she had been taunted all night by the nightmares which now came more often than not, they had frequented her sleep so much so that she had started to get used to them, she was beginning to see them as a part of her.

She suddenly sat up, pulling the covers away from her face and slowing pushing backwards the hair that had scattered all over her face. Why does the happen to her all the time? She went to bed every night looking organized and pretty, but then she always woke up with scattered hair and swollen eyes. If Gilbert should see her like that he would probably fall out of love. She chuckled thinking how silly she was.

Standing in front of the mirror, she accessed the mess that was her, and how she could fix it. Her life was a mess, both literally and figuratively.

"What can do? Fix the fixables and let the rest be" so were her thoughts as she slipped on her running shoes after brushing her hair and packing it into a clean ponytail, if one did not know they would think she woke up looking like a Cinderella princess. Grabbing her headset that sat on the bedside table, she put it on and off she went.

Olivia had never missed going for her routine morning runs, she needed to keep fit, and she needed to stay in shape. So that is how it had been for her, running every morning before coming back home to get ready for school.

She remembered her mom always made it a point of duty to remind her about going for a run in the morning until she had mastered the act and no longer needed anybody to remind her.

"Mom, dad, I'm off" she called from the sitting room, but she did not get any reply, thinking that her parents were probably still sleeping, she zoomed off. They would just figure it out themselves when they wake up.

Halfway from her house, Olivia bumped into somebody and almost falls to the ground.

"Oh! My" she held unto her chest, feeling her heartbeat, She had no idea why she had panicked so much.

She slowly looked up to see who it was that has ran into her. "Mr. Wilberforce". It was her nice old neighbor.

"Oh! My dear Olivia, I'm so sorry for scaring you this much" the nice old man said with a smile.

He offered to pick up her headset which had fallen of when she collided with him but she declined and picked it up herself.

She assured him with a smile that she was okay before he walked away.

Olivia inspected her headset that was broken as a result of the force with which it hit the ground.

"What a waste, I would just get a new one next time". She hung her headset back on her neck and continued her run, but she noticed halfway that she could not continue, because her heart was beating too fast. She wondered why she got so scared and panicked so much when she had run into the nice old man earlier.

Could it be that her nightmare had succeeded in instilling fear in her?

"Nah! That can't be, Olivia is never scared of anything.

She however made herself comfortable on a bench, hoping to get enough rest and then make her way back home.

Just when Olivia was about taking a sip from the water bottle she held in her hand, she felt like she saw a shadow in front of her. She turned back sharply to see who it was, but just as quick as it had come, the shadow disappeared with no trace.

"Weird" she said aloud, probably her mind playing tricks with her once again.

Just as she was about taking a sip again, she felt something snatch her bottle from her and just as quick as that had happened, she felt someone pull something over her face thereby blocking her view of her environment. And right after that, as she was about to scream. She heard something heavy come down on her head from behind and then it was total darkness.

Mrs Wilson turned in her bed, she stretched out her hand and tried to reach out for her husband. But it looked like he was already up.

She said a silent prayer and did the sign of the cross. Her husband had this bad habit of waking up early and leaving the room without praying which Mrs Wilson never liked, she had always believed in the foundation of prayers, in her words "you should always start everyday by saying a prayer to your creator and commiting the rest of the day into his hands". But her husband and daughter chose to develop a deaf ear to all her sermons on prayers.

"God help them both" she mumbled to herself as she stepped out of bed.

The moment she stepped out of the room she shared with her husband, the sweet aroma of cooking from the kitchen hit her nose, her husband was probably at it again, he must have missed a career as a chef because he was practically a good cook, in fact he takes up most part of the kitchen duties in the house.

Although her mouth watered in anticipation to taste her husband's cooking, because she was sure he was making something special this time. Mrs Wilson decided to go straight to her daughters room to check on her which was her normal routine, although Olivia had recently learnt to wake up herself and go for her morning run, but Mrs Wilson would always want to make sure everything was done as it should.

Just like she had expected, Olivia was not in her room, and as usual Olivia did not make her bed like she had always taught her to.

"Gracious lord, these kids never learn" she said as she walked fully into the room and made her daughters bed before she found her way to ghe kitchen to meet her husband.

On getting to the kitchen, she saw her husband bent over the cooker with utmost concentration, he was still in his pyjamas and had an apron around his neck. Unlike her, her husband Mr Wilson was quite a tall man with a well built body, with brown hair and an equally brown eyes. While Mrs Wilson was quite short, skinny, almost petite she equally had honey brown hair just that hers was a darker shade of brown than that of her husband.

Their only daughter Olivia clearly did not take after any of them both in looks and in physiques.

"Good morning honey" she said going over she she could kiss him on the chin.

"Good morning love" he replied.

"Did you see Olivia this morning?" She asked picking a slice of fried potatoe from the the plate on the counter.

"She had already left by the time I woke up". He husband said not turning to look at her. His full attention seemed to be focused on the food he was cooking.

"Oh! I see" she said leaning on the kitchen counter and chewing gingerly on the fried potatoe.

"So what are you making for us for breakfast? I have a feeling it's something special"

"And you got that right, I'm making something really special for us, and I'm very sure Olivia would like this"

"She likes all of your cookings" Mrs Wilson retorted.

"This one is definitely going to blow her mind" he boasted with his arms in the air.

About an hour later, Mrs Wilson was drying her hair with a towel in the living room, while Mr Wilson sets the table for breakfast. They were all dressed up to go to the office, but however there was one person missing, Olivia was not yet back home from her run, she had been gone for over two hours.

"Must have stopped at her boyfriends house and forgotten she needs to get set for school" Mr Wilson said when Mrs Wilson complained about Olivia's absence in the house.

"Olivia is always like that, making uncalculated moves" Mrs Wilson said wgike doing a final touch to her make up.

After a long time had passed and Olivia was not yet back, they decided it would be fruitless waiting for her since they were already both running late for office. They decided to have breakfast without her, she would just have hers whenever she came back.

Halfway into the breakfast, there was a knock on the front door.

"That must be Olivia" Mrs Wilson said.

She had this style of always knocking on the door instead of just opening it whenever she came home knowing she had done something wrong.

"I would just go get her" Mrs Wilson said walking to the door with a smile on her face.

But she was a bit taken aback when she saw who was at the door, it was not Olivia but her boyfriend Gilbert, all dressed in his school uniform.

"Hi. Mrs Wilson" he said waving at her with a smile on his face.

Mrs Wilson racked her brain for possible reasons why her daughters boyfriend would have showed up at her house without her daughter and wearing a cocky smile on her face when there was a possibility that Olivia had been with him.

She barely nodded her head at his greeting and opened the door fully for him ri come in.

She came to ghe conclusion that the only reason he was there was probably because Olivia had sent him to get some things for her from home.

"So what are you an yiur cunning girlfriend up to this time around" Mrs Wilson asked walking back to the dining table.

Gilbert sat down on one of the couches before he spoke. "Is Olivia ready for school yet".

Mrs Wilson stopped at her tracks, she scratched her ears to be sure she heard correctly before she turned back to face him.

"What did you say?" She asked as she turned fully to face him. She did not know what but her blood pressure rose at the mention of Olivia's name.

"Olivia, is she ready for school yet? I'm here to pick her up. We were supposed to meet at the bus stop but I've waited for her there for a long time but she didn't show up. So I came to pick her up myself"

"What are you saying Gilbert? Is Olivia not with you?"

The boy's face immediately grew pale as he shook his head slowly at the question.

"Honey, did you hear that?" Mrs Wilson asked walking towards her husband. "He said Olivia's not with him".

"What?" Mr Wilson asked standing up from his chair. "So where then is our daughter?"

"You mean you didn't set your eyes on Olivia this morning?" Mrs Wilson asked again, she was starting to panic seriously.

"No, I mean we both had plans to meet at the bus stop today, I decided to come here and pick her up myself since she was delaying to come meet me at the bus stop. And I had been trying to call her but it isn't connecting" he flashed his phone in front of her to show how many times he had tried calling her.

"Is she already on her way to school? Was she dressed for school?" Gilbert asked, his heart beating fast.

"She had actually gone for a run...." Mrs Wilson started to say before she remembered that none of them saw Olivia leave the house so they were not sure where she had gone of to. She stopped halfway. "Wait a moment"

She ran back upstairs to her daughters room, her husband and Gilbert followed after her.

She quickly opened Olivia's wardrobe to be sure if she did not leave the house dressed for school. But her two school uniforms were both intact there.

"She did not leave for school" she said bending down to check where she always kept her running shoes.

"Her running shoes aren't here that means she had gone out to run, and her headset too, she always takes her headset whenever she goes running".

Panic washed over every single one of them as they frantically searched her room to be sure she was not playing a prank on them. Mr Wilson on the other hand held unto his phone and typed Olivia's number repeatedly but they still got the same response, unavailable.

"Olivia! Olivia" Mrs Wilson called as she opened the bathroom door, checked under the bed but there was no sign of her beloved daughter.

"Christopher my daughter is no where to be found" she said holding unto her husband's collar, by this time, she had scattered her hair and was now looking like a mess.

"You have to calm down okay, don't get yourself too worked up. I believe out daughter would be found".

"I don't think I would be able to survive it if something bad happens to my child" she was already in tears now as she ran downstairs, Olivia had never taken this much time out running, the sun was already starting to rise and no one would be out running at this timew.

"Something might have happened to my lovely girl" she cried out scattering her hair. While downstairs, they searched around whole premises In case there would be a clue to find out where their daughter was. After over two hours of frantic search and there was no sign of Olivia, Mr Wilson decided it was time to involve the cops.

"Meanwhile young lad I think you should be on your way to school now, you are already late" he said taping Gilbert's shoulder lightly, "we would take it up from here okay? And I assure that by the time you are back from school Olivia would have been found, safe and waiting for you".

"No Mr Wilson, I don't think I would like to leave this place without seeing Olivia".

"But you have to go to school, besides your parents would get mad at you for skipping school".

"I don't think I would be able to concentrate in class knowing Olivia is missing".

Gilbert insisted on staying despite being persuaded by Mr Wilson, so he just let him stay.

"I would just place a call across to the cops" Mr Wilson announced.

Mrs Wilson on the other hand decided she would just take a walk along the route Olivia usually runs every morning, Gilbert decided he would go with her.

"Wait moment, this is from her headset" Mrs Wilson said picking a button from the ground.

The both inspected it together. "That means she was here" the both said simultaneously.

They started walking even further, increasing their pace until they got to the bench.

There was no Olivia there, the only thing they found there was something disturbing, lying on the bench there, and broken was Olivia's headset. And on the floor lay a bottle of water which looked like it had been carelessly left open so it could spill on the ground, and somewhere not far away from the bottle, lay the cover.

On seeing the terrifying sight in front of her, Mrs Wilson slumped on the ground and burst into tears.

Her daughter had definitely been there, and from the look of things some bad people might have done something bad to her daughter.

"My daughter, Gilbert my daughter is missing" she sat on the ground crying.

"It's okay Mrs Wilson " Gilbert said trying to comfort her in the best way he could. "We need to get back to Mr Wilson and inform him of the latest development, the cops would take care of this". He tried to pull her up but she remained adamant.

"What would I do without my lovely daughter, my Olivia God please protect my child" she cried some more, the tears flowed freely from her eyes, trickling down her neck and soaking her clothes up.

"Please don't get yourself too worked up Mrs Wilson" Gilbert said still trying to pull her up from the ground.

After much effort, he succeeded in lifting her off the ground. She picked up Olivia's headset from the bench took it with her.

She walked sluggishly as they made their way back to the house.

Mr Wilson on the other hand stayed back home and got in touch with the cops, two cops arrived at their house almost immediately he had placed the call.

"What was your daughter wearing when she left the house?" One of the cops asked, taking down notes in the piece of paper he had in his hand.

Mr Wilson scratched his head, none of them had seen her that morning so they had no idea what she had on.