Nicole Sulikowski

I'm walking down the road i'm completely unfamiliar with. The air is crisp and as my breath leaves my body, I wonder where I'll be in a year's time. The forest is dark and the stars are shining, but I don't think it's beautiful. This town, these people- they have no meaning without Harrison and Lumen. The killing's are getting old and the suspense isn't there because I'm not working for it. The hunt is something I enjoyed and now it's gone. I have no access to a computer or killer's files like I used to and the want and need to kill is slowly dripping out of me. The only hunt i have on my mind is the hunt for my family, except this time everything will change. I'm not looking to hunt them and kill them, I'm looking for love, support, and people to take away my loneliness from me. There's no point in staying here. It wouldn't be crazy to reveal what really happened...right?

Three days later I find myself in a stolen, worn out truck reeking of cigarettes and loneliness, kind of like me minus the stench of tobacco. There's no going back now, Dexter. You're almost at the airport. The car and money were stolen, there's no way you can go back.

The road is slippery and wet and I'm feeling unsure about my entire decision again. I see "Easton's Airport" light up in the night and I pull in, reluctantly. The person on my passport's name is "Joshua Billing" and I'm wishing i was him right now. That smile, those eyes, they look so...happy. Airport security is a joke- i could be a terrorist or murderer going onto that plane and they wouldn't even know. Joke's on them though. I walk through the corridor and get on the plane, setting my backs down and thinking about what a mistake I'm making.

10 dreadful hours later, Argentina is in sight. I know Lumen. There's no doubt in my mind that she left where we arranged to meet. That, and my hunting abilities. Lumen and Harrison will be mine again, it's only a matter of time. Getting off the plane and realizing how happy I am is something I've almost never felt before. An hour or so passes and I've managed to get an address, key, and phone number for Lumen and Harrison- how incredibly easy.

"Hello? Lumen? Are you here?"

Lumen peeks her head from behind the kitchen wall, holding a screwdriver.

"How did you get in my house?!"

"Lumen...it's me. It's Dexter."

As soon as the words "it's me" came out of my mouth, Lumen drops the screwdriver and stood there, fully in sight now, with her mouth gaping wide open.

"This isn't possible. You died. I saw the news article, you died at sea. Dexter what the fuck is going on?!"

I was pretty unsure of where to start, or how to tell the love of my life I faked my own death.

Another thought came to my mind. Where's Harrison? Why isn't he here with Lumen?

Slowly, I said, "Lumen just give me a while to explain. All i want to know right now is where Harrison is. That's all i want and I'll explain what happened."

"You're insane! I'm not letting you anywhere near Harrison. He's just now old enough to understand you're not coming back and what do you do?! You came back! Who in their right mind does something like this?! Didn't you think for a second what kind of effect this would have on us?"

Before answering, out of the corner of my eye I see a door upstairs shut, very slowly. I ran up those stairs and opened the door. Lumen was sprinting after me, screaming, and grabbing the air instead of grabbing me. She wasn't fast enough to stop me from seeing my son.

"Harrison! It's daddy! Aren't you excited to see me?"

Harrison had this look on his face, a look i've never been able to understand. He was sad.

"Mommy lied to me dad...she said you were dead. Why would she do that to me?!"

"She was just confused. I went on a vacation. It's okay, I'm here now."

At this point, Lumen was furious. Her face was red with anger and her fists were balled up at her sides.

"Get away from him Dexter. I mean it, get away from him."

Ignoring what Lumen was saying, I turned to Harrison and said, "Hey son, don't you want to go get something to eat? I'll buy you some nuggets, I know you like chicken nuggets."

Harrison shook his head yes, but he wasn't looking at me, he was looking behind me. As I turn around to see what my son was staring at in horror, I turned right into that same screwdriver I thought Lumen left. She was too weak and my wound was barely bleeding, but it was there and i was pissed. Pissed at Lumen, pissed at Harrison, but most of all pissed at myself. How could I let my feelings get in the way of my hunting? Any other day I would have double checked to see if that weapon was still on the ground before acting, but not today. Anger swept over me and without thinking, I turned and grabbed Lumen's neck and shoved her against the wall.

"Daddy stop! Please! Stop hurting her," Harrison yelled.

I heard Harrison screaming more pleads in the background but the only thing in my mind was squeezing hard enough to take that breath right out of Lumen's body. Just like that, I stopped thinking and the hunting kicked in. Lumen's face was a color that i've seen once or twice in my life. The color was a beautiful purple and red and it's nowhere to be found in a box of crayons or in an aisle of paint. This is what i've been missing all my life. This color was all i was focusing on. Gasping and attempting to rip my hands off of her, Lumen began to wear herself out and eventually stopped moving. Still squeezing, I heard that final heartbeat. The beat echoed in my ears and gave me peace at last.

After I dropped Lumen's body on the ground, I snapped back into reality and noticed Harrison laying in the corner crying. Oh how I hate the crying and begging. He was MY son, how is he not able to accept this? So much of me flowed through him every single day and he's sitting there crying over his "mom".

"Hey buddy...it's okay. She's okay, she's in a better place now. How about we go get those chicken nuggets we were talking about, huh? Does that sound good?"

Harrison got up and tried running out the door, but before he got fully out I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him back.

"Why are you doing this to me?! Let me go!"

As soon as i was about to tell Harrison to stop yelling, we both heard a knock on the door.

"Lumen? Is everything okay in there? We've been hearing a lot of yelling," said one of the neighbors I'm guessing.

"Tell them everything is okay Harrison. If you say anything else I swear I'll kill you just like your mom," I calmly said to Harrison.

Right before I took my hand off Harrison's mouth i had a strange feeling that he wasn't going to listen to me. I took my hand off his mouth and he just sat there for what seemed like a decade.

"HELP! HE-" Harrison screamed

The second i heard the "h" come out of his mouth, I knew i was in trouble. I grabbed Harrison and slammed him against the wall, just like i did to Lumen. He was looking at me with these helpless eyes and even though he was my son, I didn't want to stop. I couldn't. So i strangled my own son to death and threw him on the ground, quickly trying to plan my escape.

I heard the front door fling open and two pairs of footsteps come up the stairs. Okay, Dex, this is either going to go really well or you'll get caught. The two men entered the room and I stood there standing above both bodies, staring directly at them both.

"Oh my God. They're dead. Addison, they're dead," the guy who's name wasn't Addison said.

The mystery man stood staring at the two dead bodies in front of him in shock while Addison looked extremely angry. I've seen this look before. He was about to attack me. And what do you know? Here he comes, running full speed towards me.

Being out of this type of life for a while didn't stop my natural instincts from kicking in. I ran towards him and snatched his arm, twisting it behind his back and pushing him to the ground. I wasn't going to strangle him- no, he really got to me. I'm going old style on him. I punched little ol' Addison in the head just hard enough so he'll pass out but not die on me. The other idiot was still staring, but now at me and his friend? Lover? Whatever he was and they were, no name was staring at us. I began to walk towards him, but he took off out the door and down the stairs.

"You think you can outrun me?! Keep running! I promise I'll catch you," I yelled after him.

Sure enough, I caught up to him and tackled the guy down.

"Tell me what your name is," I demanded.

"I-it's-it's Brian. My name is Brian," he said

"Well Brian, you and your lover Addison are going to die today. Now how do you feel about helping other people out? You should have just minded your own damn business."

"That's my brother," Brian said.

"Good. The second family I'll kill today."

I hit Brian in the head to make him pass out, like Addison, and dragged Addison downstairs so they both were where i could see them. I started to look around the kitchen for seran wrap or anything I'd be able to go back to my old habits with. Nothing. This house was almost completely empty. Running out of options, I realized I put my fingerprints everywhere. Would if really matter if i was "dead"? I had no clue. What the hell am I doing? There's no way I'd get out of this one. I couldn't think of anything to do for once. I went to sit on the couch, enjoying my last moments before everything went bizarre.

I've almost completely given up at this point, until one last idea popped into mind. I bolted up off the couch and ran into the kitchen, finding one of the only knives Lumen had in the drawer. I got to the two idiots passed out and shook Addison for him to wake up. As he started to look at me with his hazy, in pain, eyes I looked directly at him and stabbed his brother in the chest.

"NO! BRIAN NO!"

Oh, he was upset. Brian coughed a little and blood started to run out of his mouth. He would never be able to survive that.

"Here. Kill me. Take this knife and stab me," I said to Addison.

"You're fucking crazy. I'm not killing anybody."

"Suit yourself then."

I took the knife and pointed it towards myself.

"You'll be the last one out of this. I hope you look back on this day and it haunts you that you couldn't get revenge for your own Goddamn brother. I'm doing what you wouldn't. I've had my fun and now this is the time for me to meet my destiny," I said.

I was hoping this would get him angry enough to shove the knife that was still pointed at my chest into me. I was wrong. He was just looking at me, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Do it. I want you to," Addison said.

I never thought i would come to this point in my life. I used all the force i had in me and i let the knife enter inside me. The world started spinning and I kept getting visuals of my family, especially Deb. I wondered if i would meet her and if she would ever forgive me. I felt all the blood coming out of me, it was warm and had the distinct smell that i loved so much. I wonder what type of pattern I would be making. I closed my eyes and started to slip away. I felt myself going, and going, and going-

And then I woke up.

I sat up in my bed with my heart beating fast. I started laughing soon after, I would never give up killing, not even for my family. I stood up, got myself ready, put on my warmest flannel, grabbed the paper i had with an address on it, and went after my next victim.