Chapter 25 Chapter Twenty-Five

After get off work on Monday, I felt something was wrong as soon as I walked in the door. Someone has been to my house. The locks were intact, the windows hadn't been pried open, and there was no sign of any damage, but I just knew someone had been in.Maybe I'm smelling pheromones left in the air, or maybe I'm just messing around with my Raz Boy chaise lounge.It doesn't matter how I know, I know anyway, someone broke into my apartment at work. This kind of thing is pretty common in Miami.Every day people come home to find their TVs gone, jewelry and electronics stolen, homes smashed, property looted, and their bitches pregnant.But my case was different, as I quickly inspected the apartment, I knew that there was nothing missing in the house.

I got it right. Nothing less. But there is one more thing. It took me several minutes to find out what the extra thing was.Supposedly some artificially induced reflex prompted me to check the obvious first, but all my belongings were intact.Computers, stereos, TVs, video recorders... are all in place, and even those precious microscope slides are neatly placed on the bookshelves, and the dried blood on the slides is still the same. Everything is exactly as it was before I left. Then I check the more private places: bedrooms, bathrooms, medicine cabinets.Everything was as it was, but there was a sense in the air that these things had been inspected, touched, and moved by someone who had moved so lightly that not even a particle of dust had touched them.Nothing strange, nothing missing; no trace of anything.

I'm absolutely sure someone has been in, but why exactly?I stood up, stretched, took a deep breath, and tried to make myself think of something pleasant, but the pleasant thoughts refused to come. I shook my head and went into the kitchen to get a drink of water. Now I can find it. Now I can find it. I stood in front of the refrigerator and watched for an unknown amount of time, but I just kicked around like this stupidly. A Barbie doll's head hangs from the fridge, and a magnet in the shape of a tropical fruit clips the Barbie's hair to the fridge door. It's not my thing.

I opened the refrigerator, and the torso of the Barbie doll lay carefully in one of the upper compartments, her legs and hands ripped off, and her torso ripped in half at the waist.The body fragments were carefully wrapped, neatly stacked and tied with a colored ribbon.A small and exquisite Barbie mirror is clutched in one small hand of the Barbie doll. I stared blankly for a long time, and finally stretched out my little finger and flicked the head of the Barbie doll.I closed the refrigerator door, let the doll's head hang on the refrigerator door, turned and walked into the living room.I threw myself on the couch and closed my eyes.I knew I was supposed to feel irritable, angry, scared, bruised, paranoid, righteously angry.But none of these feelings.In addition to being a little delirious, I may be agitated - or is it high excitement?

It must be my favorite artist who came to visit me.It doesn't matter how he found me, it's easy, I could do it. What is he trying to tell me? Did he mean to say "I'm watching you, I'm going to get you"? Or, he's saying, "Want to play?" I just want to play around. I do want to play around. But what about that mirror?The mirror held by Barbie's stump has a much deeper meaning.The only meaning I can think of is: "Look at yourself." But what's the point?Why should I look at myself?I'm not that vain, and I don't like looking in the mirror—at least I'm not complacent about how I look.I obviously want to see the murderer, but why do I want to see myself?So I still don't understand the meaning of this mirror.

I made the choice of a normal person. As a normal person, I decided not to take any action, and I was not going to tell Deborah, and even if she would blame me if she found out, let her do it.For some reason, I decided to keep this my personal secret and not tell anyone.This way, I have a better chance of being close to the client.The purpose of approaching him, of course, is to bring him to justice.This is natural. The next day, I lived a day in the way of a normal person, and my mood was not disturbed by this incident. When I got home, the phone rang and I was going to let the answering machine handle it.It was Rita and she asked me to call her back.Why?Does she want to blame me for kissing her recklessly?Still think we can go further?

Rita is just a cover, a silly kid's coat that I wear on weekends to hide the fact that I did what the funny killer did, only this time I didn't do it. Is this jealousy?Of course I'm not doing that right now.I've temporarily decided to quit a while ago, and I'm sure I won't be going back to my old job anytime soon. That's too dangerous. I'm not ready yet. But-- I went into the kitchen and patted the barbie on the head, and the barbie didn't say a word.I can't stand this blatant intrusion, the confusion reinforced by Rita's phone call, what's wrong with me?

I went to the window and looked out.At this time, it was already dark, and a light rose in the sky above the distant sea. Seeing this light, a faint, treacherous voice sounded in my heart. moon. I vaguely heard someone calling my name, it was nearby.It was a cold rustle other than a human voice, a non-tonal tone, a whispered thought from a dark messenger within me, and I don't want to hear him now. I felt so hopeless that I tried everything to get rid of the feeling, but it didn't work at all.So I did something that shocked me: I called Rita. "Oh, Dexter," she said, "I'm just—I'm a little scared. Thanks for calling. I'm just—"

"I know," I said, but I didn't know anything. "Can I come and see you later, I'd love to chat with you." "Of course you can," I told her.We have an appointment, and I will go to her place later.After I hung up the phone, I was restless for half an hour, and finally the soft voice in me slowly came back to my mind, and it calmly told me that this night was really unusual. I can't help but go to the window again, the moon is smiling secretly.I drew the curtains, turned and walked away, pacing up and down the apartment, from room to room, touching things as I went.When I walked into the kitchen, I saw that Barbie's head again. I stroked Barbie, and a strange feeling arose in my heart.

The mutilated limbs of women. Pure white, ribboned limbs. Rita's face emerged. I just want to play around. I do want to play around. But I'm not ready yet. That's okay, there's still a little time to prepare, and I'll surprise him. I got dressed and walked out of the apartment, the dark messenger in me smiled knowingly, and we disappeared into the darkness together...