Dan Richards sat in his classroom, grading the rest of his students' papers. The sun had long since went over the horizon, and he looked out of the window and stretched wearily. Just a few more to be done and he could go home. Dan got back to work when he heard a slam of a door from one of the other rooms. The only other person in the building was the janitor.

Deciding that it was just the janitor finishing her rounds, Dan went back to finishing his papers. A loud knock on the door startled him, and he looked up to see one of his students at the door. Aubrey Lin was one of the more popular students, a cheerleader. She usually had a sweet smile on her face, but right now she looked apprehensive and scared.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Richards," Aubrey said tentatively. "I was out in the back by the creek with a few friends, and I lost my necklace. I went back to check, but there was some weird rustling. I got scared and came back. I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important." Aubrey's hand was on her chest where her pendant had been this morning. Dan had only noticed it because it had seemed strange; it wasn't common for a girl like her to wear a necklace with such a strange looking pig pendant.

"Back by the creek, huh? Doing something you shouldn't have?" Dan asked her with a raised eyebrow. "You know that area's supposed to be off limits to students. Especially after that young girl was found there."

"That was a month ago. Whoever did that's probably left or gone into hiding by now. We were just hanging out, you know," Aubrey finished awkwardly.

Dan doubted that. He'd heard that some students were taking Ouija boards to the lake, trying to find the identity of the girl's killer. The last of the ungraded papers was still on his desk. It was really dark outside, and there could be potential problems if Aubrey went missing and Dan was the last one to see her.

"Okay, but let me finish my work real quick," Dan said with a smile. "Wait for me by the edge of the woods; don't go in until I get there. It's going to be a few minutes; I need to lock up the room behind me. I'll put my briefcase in my car then meet you."

Aubrey agreed, obviously relieved. She left the room and headed for the side door, and Dan went back to work. Fortunately, she was pretty. Dan smirked to himself as he put the papers into his briefcase. Locking the door behind him, he waved to the janitor.

"Goodbye, Amy. I'm done for the night," Dan called out as Amy returned his wave. He quickly walked out the front door and put his briefcase in his car. He moved his car closer to the woods, just in case, before walking to the edge of tree line. Aubrey was waiting for him by the forest's entrance, looking deeply into the shadows. Dan touched her shoulder, and she jerked away.

"Sorry, Ms. Lin. I didn't mean to scare you," Dan said quickly.

"No problem. I was just thinking about how creepy it is out here at night," she responded with another peek into the darkness.

"Agreed. Where exactly did you lose your necklace?"

"Oh, this way," she said, beginning to lead him into the forest.

Aubrey walked in front of Dan, leading the way with the flashlight on her phone. There was rustling in the brush every once in a while, but Dan figured that it was probably just a raccoon or something. He watched Aubrey move along the path in front of him. This was practically torture. The last girl he'd killed had been much more of a challenge than this. This was far too easy, and that made him wary.

A girl in one of his classes could also be too risky. The last girl had attended the college, but there was no real connection between her and Dan, not after he'd thrown the dead girl's phone into the creek. It'd be too risky to kill this one here. It was only a mile away from where he'd disposed of the last one. Even if no one suspected him directly, they might realize that the killer was on campus, and that would likely hinder his movements.

Aubrey stopped on the edge of the creek and watched Dan get closer. She no longer looked scared and gave him a coy smile.

"I think it might have fallen in," she said before slowly moving closer to the creek. She dug around the reeds for a couple of minutes before shouting, "Oh! I found a phone!"

That grabbed Dan's full attention, and he saw a light shining on Aubrey's face. How could that phone still work? He had thrown it into the water; maybe it had some kind of waterproof case. Anyway, he took out a knife from his back pocket. The phone, and the girl, needed to vanish. Suddenly Dan felt a firm grip on his arm; a tall, angry young man stood beside Dan with his eyes filled with a tranquil fury.

"It's him," the man said, still giving Dan a death glare.

"Oh wow! He had a knife! How scary!" Aubrey shouted with malicious glee.

Dan took a couple steps backwards, yanking his arm from the man's grasp.

"Not so fast, Mr. Richards!" Aubrey insisted. "We have a friend that we'd like for you to meet. He's rather frightening, but he's not all bad. All you need to do is confess to the police, and he'll go away."

"Confess?! To what?" Dan asked, thinking quickly. "I wasn't going to attack you. I just took out my knife to defend myself from your friend here. You don't have anything. That's not even the dead girl's phone. I'm not stupid enough to fall for your tricks."

"Your funeral," Aubrey warned.

Dan could now hear the rustling of something large coming from behind him. He turned around to see a large humanoid creature step from the shadows, but only its shape looked human. Reptilian green scales covered its body, and even its feet looked like a hybrid of human feet and an alligator's. Dan tried to calm his fear. It was likely done by someone from the art department, he thought until it opened its jaws and roared. No one from their art department could have done something like this.

Dan took several steps away from the creature as it stepped forward with malice in its eyes. Turning to run through the creek, his foot caught a patch of mud, and he slid. No longer able to maintain his balance, he fell. There was a loud sound, and Dan could feel a sharp pain. Something wet obscured his vision as it faded to black.