Recognize Me

A carnival turned crime scene. A serial killer using a weapon so rare not much research has been done on it. The cautious one in the friend group lives to tell the tale. The odd one in the friend group is nowhere to be found. 

Chapter 3: SQUARE ONE

   After hours of searching and connecting the dots, the police started seeing me as a suspect because they thought it was strange that I would insert myself into the investigation. They took me in for questioning but I thought it was normal because I found two of the victims. For a motive, they said that I had such narcissistic traits, I would find people who looked like me and disfigure them because “there could only be one me,” which is so shocking and made me laugh a little because who thinks that? 

  Once I realized I was a suspect I started answering the questions with more caution. The FBI started getting involved, and with the help of both the state and local police along with the FBI, there was now a profile. There wasn’t much to the profile other than the killer being male, young; and maybe in his teens. Someone who needed attention from women because of possible maternal issues. The investigation turned up a few love letters with no mention of who wrote them or who they’re for. These letters had graphic detailing of what the writer wanted to do to the receiver. The only thing the police told me was that these details matched what had happened to the victims in this case. I don’t fit the profile being that I am female. I thought about everyone I knew who went to the fair. 

Then it hit me…Mason Kim. My friend who suddenly went missing when the first body was found. I’ve known him for years, and yet I don’t actually know much about him. It only recently struck me as weird how he would only ask me how I was and what I was doing but when I returned the question, I’m met with silence or an excuse. All I know is what the police told me about his story after this case was closed. His mother had abused him all throughout his childhood and his parents had divorced. Custody was given to Mason’s father but maybe the courts were too late. Growing up, Mason was always with his mother because his father was almost always at work or on a business trip. He didn’t know his dad all too well so Mason assumed his father was a good person, because what were the odds that both of his parents were bad people? 

  The trauma had been set in stone. His father was the type to seem normal in public but horrible at home. He would make sure that he never hit Mason in places that can’t be covered up because masking bruises is hard, but the physical and psychological pain that can’t be seen in public done to young Mason would severely damage even an adult far into their own life. 3 years after custody was given to the father, Mason became an orphan and was turned over to the state. He was 16 when he was on his own.

    From what I’m told, Mason’s father had died in a car crash, his navy blue Koenigsegg Jesko Attack sped over a cliff and into a body of water. After having discovered that the killer was involved in Cooper’s wife’s death, it was suspected that the same killer might have been involved in Mason’s father’s death based on a signature found on each car. At first, this signature was written off as a scratch because that’s what it looked like, but upon closer inspection, it was the initials “MK” which eventually led to the suspicion of Mason being the killer. 

     I could not believe this simply because that means that 16 year old Mason would have had a hand in his father’s car crash. How would that even be possible? He was so young… We were standing next to each other one second and the next I couldn’t find him. I brought him up when I talked to the police which they replied with “Any lead is appreciated. Thank you.” I said you’re welcome not expecting much because Mason was harmless. He’d been through so much, there was no way someone so broken and innocent could do such a crime. Right?