Laying on my bed in my room while reading a manga, I heard a familiar noise. *ping* my door rang and I heard a voice on the other side. "Kuroshi, lunch time." I frowned while setting the manga down. Now I was upset, "I told you to stop calling me that!" I said angrily while heading towards the door. "But heard that's what they called you on the news, don't serial killer like to be called by their alias because of the attention?" he countered. "Well I'm different… now leave." I said while walking away with the food tray that he slipped through the door slot while we were talking. I then stopped in my tracks and told him something before he left "oh and also, I don't think a mental ward employee should be encouraging serial killers by using their alias…" he looked down blushing after I said that. Oh, he probably just realized that I was right, not like I care though. After he left I sat down at my desk and began to eat. Now my day was nearly ruined by his visit. I sighed. It's not just because I hate men that I don't like talking to that guy, it's also because he is so clueless that he irritates me. His name rojo, he and Cindy are the only two employees on this ward. They take care of everything from changing bedsheets to giving the patients food. Cindy is kind of nice but she is strict with the rules. Rumor has it that she only got this job because her uncle is the facility manager. That's the only reason that I couldn't seem to respect her, she relies way too much on her uncle, I still like her as a person but I don't believe that I would be able to recognize her as an authority figure.

Yes, I am now in a mental ward. After my final victim, the ruling was that I wasn't in control of my actions and deemed "mentally unfit for making reasonable decisions" but that ruling was just passed as sympathy from the jury because of my father. It's not like I wanted their sympathy, I could care less but at least I wouldn't have to go to prison. Another reason that the judge went easier on me than most criminals is because, though not mentioned in court, I at least had some sense of justice. All ten of my victims were very abusive men that were considered the "brutes" of society. They all abused their families in several ways, I made sure before committing my crimes. I knew that what I was doing was immoral and completely wrong but after looking at the way those so-called humans ruined their wives and children emotionally, something inside me told me over and over again "save them!" and that is what I did. When testifying in court, they were so broken from the abuse, they couldn't even find a reason to blame me.

Unlike other serial killers, I am "unique" as the psychologists classified me. I do not find joy in killing, I only did for other people's sake. The only things that I did that the usual serial killer does was the memento (lock of hair) and the same type of victims. I didn't even use the same weapon more than once, which made it even harder to find me. The reason I was caught was because I was "saving" one of my classmates who was being sexually attacked by an upperclassmen, it was by pure coincidence that heard her shouting for help, and I was so angry that I ended up strangling him to death. That was the only time happened out of passion. The girl I saved called the police which is why I ended up here… I don't blame her at all, I find it hard to blame women for anything since my mother dead especially when they are in shock, and the psychologist diagnosed it as a part of my grief.

I looked at the meal that was sitting on my desk, it came with roast beef, yams, mashed potatoes, asparagus and jello. It astounded me that we get to eat meals like this here but I guess it's because we considered "less criminal" compared to people in prison because the patients on this are mostly unaware that they are doing something "wrong".

I actually grown fond of my room, it's comfortable. The only problem is… the damn camera. We are monitored 24 hours a day. Even though they allow us some measures to ensure our privacy, like a built in wall so they can't see you changing or a separate bathroom, it's still really hard to fall asleep knowing that someone watching you… on a more pleasant note, they allow us privileges, like entertainment (reading material, fashion, etc.). We're not allowed to leave our rooms, so they provide us with anything that want as long there is no rule against it.

The meeting:

I was fixing my hair in front of my mirror for no particular reason whatsoever. It's not like anyone is going to see it. I stuck the pins that my mother gave me before she died in my shoulder-length pony tails. Well, they aren't really ponytails, they look more hanging dog-tails on each side of my head. The pins were pink and circular, they looked more like cufflinks. my "dog tails" are separate from the rest of my short, wavy hair. The top of my head adorned an antennae-like collection of strands that curves from the top of my head and points to the floor. I could never really fix my "antennae" because if I cut it, it would just look weird and would grow back anyways.

While looking at my reflection intently, I heard a small voice. It sounded like it was coming from the wall behind my desk, I leaned under my desk but heard nothing… am I hearing things? "Hello?" the voice said. So I wasn't hearing things. Good. Here I was thinking that I finally lost it. "Hi. Who are you?" I said in response. "I'm…- I tried…-" the voice said as if trying to respond. "I can't understand you. Sorry." I said apologetically. "Ah! I…- ha…- idea-" after she said that a minute later I was surprised by a "fwip!" noise, I looked to the left and saw a vent in the wall I never noticed before with a small strip of pink paper under it that smelt like roses, on it said the following: "hi! My name is Annie. I saw you walk by my room on your first day here and I thought 'she looks adorable! I have to talk to her!' your name is kuro, right?" there was a heart after the word adorable. upon reading the short but spontaneous letter, I found out that my face was getting hot, at first I thought I getting sick. When I felt my face I realized that I was blushing… but I never blushed this hard before. When I was still at school, I was complimented several times but it never really had any significance. "Adorable…" I repeated to myself. Especially when men at school said I was "cute" it creeped me out, it made me feel disgusted, so why? Why is it that I react so strongly to these words? This ward is for female patients only… is it because she is girl too and because I hate men? I immediately realized that wasn't the reason. No… that's definitely not it. This person, with just a few words, it feels like she is looking directly at my soul. I realized that she was probably waiting for a response. I grabbed a piece of paper out of my desk drawer and ripped a sliver off of the bottom, after I did that, I wrote the following: "yes… my name is kuro. Thank you for the compliment. I'm sorry but I don't remember seeing you. I think I was too nervous to notice anything. Why did you decide to say something after a whole week?" I was still pretty suspicious, this was a facility for serial killers, after all… she could be completely insane. Her next letter said: "well, I was afraid that wouldn't respond. It took me a while to build up courage to talk to you. I have been trying for three days but you didn't seem to hear me until now." Three days? "Such dedication" I thought. When I was thinking that, another note slipped through the vent, I said: "also, I would be really sad if you didn't talk to me." She put an unhappy face at the end. I blushed. We continued to each other friendly notes until it was time to go to sleep.

Laying on my bed, I thought about my conversation with Annie, I smiled. After my recollection I then stopped smiling and hugged the stuffed bear that was on my bed. "Adorable…" I thought and hugged my bear tightly. I was blushing again. This has never happened before. My heart was racing. Sure, I favored girl's opinions over guys and I never really found men attractive, far from it. Even though I always thought that, I never reacted this way to a girl either... love never really seemed fit for me. Love? Is that what this feeling is? "No." I reassured myself in my thoughts. "I'm sure I'm just embarrassed." I hugged my pillow tighter. There was something that has been bothering me when since I started talking to her. She is really nice but that just made my question all the more important, "why is she here?" as I thought that, I feel asleep, frowning.

Next chapter…