Chapter 2

I didn’t want to believe Julian was a murderer.

He was always so nice, and his smile was incredibly charming.

We first met at a coffee shop.

Sunlight had spilled onto Julian’s almost translucent face, and on a whim, I walked up and asked for his SnapChat.

As a boyfriend, Julian was attentive to my every need.

But now, the stark evidence lay before me.

The woman’s voice was hoarse and grating, like sandpaper.

“He likes to date young girls, play the perfect boyfriend, then trap his prey here and slowly torture them to death.”

“I don’t think I’ll last much longer. He’s already getting bored with me. You’re his next victim.”

“It’s Sunday night. He has his regular Sunday evening church service. You can use this time to escape.”

“Any later…and you won’t get out. Have you ever heard the fairy tale of Bluebeard?”

I had heard the story of Bluebeard.

Duke Bluebeard married a new bride and told her not to go into the innermost room, handing her the key.

But the bride couldn’t suppress her curiosity and entered the room.

She saw several hanging corpses – Bluebeard’s previous wives.

The bride was terrified, dropping the key into blood, but she could never wash it clean.

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The woman let out a strange laugh.

“He’s marked this door. Once you’ve been here, he’ll know the moment he sees you.”

I instinctively looked down at my hand.

There was a deep blue mark, strikingly obvious.

I tried to wipe it off with my clothes, but it had no effect at all.

“You’re probably trying to wipe off that mark, just like I was. It’s useless.”

“It’s methylene blue, used for cell staining. There’s no way to get that mark off for at least a week,” the woman said with difficulty.

I started to panic.

“Why can’t I call the police?” I asked.

At the mention of “police,” the woman’s voice suddenly became agitated and fragmented.

“No, absolutely not! If you call the police, we’ll both die!”

Just then, I heard a sound from upstairs.

It sounded like a car pulling into the driveway.