The Bloody Face

"Shit!"  Sarah dropped her glass, spilling diet Coke and ice cubes across the computer screen, the desk, and the floor.

"What's wrong?"  Her roommate Bonnie hurried over to Sarah, who sat with her hands over her face.

"Look!  Look at the computer screen."

Bonnie peered over Sarah's shoulder.  "Study guide for the Microbiology midterm," she read.  "I know you're worried about the test but it can't be that bad."

"No, there was a face."  Sarah lowered her hands and stared at the computer screen as if it had bitten her.  "I was looking at the study guide and suddenly this awful bloody face was staring at me."

Bonnie laughed and patted Sarah's shoulder.  "You must have wandered into one of those joke websites that show up every year around Halloween.  They get you to stare at the screen and something scary pops up.  Last year there was one that was supposed to be a contest to see if you could find all the differences between two pictures.  I had my nose right up to the screen trying to see the differences when this demon face flashed in front of me.  I almost wet my pants."

Sarah shook her head.  "But it wasn't any random website.  It was Dr. Hastings' home page for the Microbiology course.  I don't think Dr. Hastings has a sense of humor, sick or otherwise.

"That explains it," Bonnie said, picking up Sarah's glass and the scattered ice cubes.  "Nobody likes him.  People who had his class ten years ago still have nightmares about the tests.  Somebody probably hacked into his home page to get revenge and play a little Halloween joke at the same time."

"Well, I don't  think it's funny," Sarah said.  "It almost gave me a heart attack and I don't have time for stupid jokes."  She began wiping spilled soda off the computer screen.  "Look what it made me do.  I hope it didn't hurt the computer."

"It might be a good thing if it did," Bonnie said.  "You spend way too much time studying and hardly have any fun."

"I'll have fun after I get accepted into medical school."

"Yeah, right.  Once you get into medical school you'll never have fun again.  If you don't get in, you can always go to nursing school with me."

Sarah smiled.  "They couldn't handle both of us in the same class.  Going to nursing school with you would be tons of fun but it has to be medical school.  I've wanted to be a doctor since I was five years old."

"Well, just don't study so hard that you make yourself sick.  You seem to be getting skinnier every day.  You aren't anorexic, are you?  Believe me, you don't want to do that to yourself."

Although tall, red haired Bonnie looked amazingly healthy now, she had suffered with an eating disorder in high school and nearly died before her parents forced her to get help.

"Don't worry, I'm not anorexic.  I've been so busy lately that I forget to eat sometimes.  I promise I won't study any harder than I have to.  That stupid picture scared me so bad I can't concentrate right now anyway.  I'm going to bed." 

After she brushed her teeth, Sarah looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.  "Bonnie's right," she thought.  "I do look anorexic."  Her brown eyes were too large for her thin face and her limp hair needed a trim.

She went to bed, trying to forget the bloody image on the computer. She had only seen it for a second, but it had burned into her memory like the afterimage of a bright light.  It was a woman's face with tangled blonde hair and blue eyes that rolled halfway back in their sockets.  Blood streamed down the face from a wound that nearly split the forehead in half.  For the first time since childhood, Sarah left her bedroom light on all night.

She awoke the next morning more tired than when she had gone to bed the night before.  Realizing sleep was no longer a possibility, she decided to catch up on homework that had been cut short by the gory vision on the computer screen.  Not quite trusting the Microbiology website, she began working on a paper for English Literature that she had been putting off.

She was studying her notes and attempting to put together a coherent sentence about the theme of  "Romeo and Juliet" when she was startled by a flash from the computer screen.  The nightmare face was back, dripping blood and screaming in silence. Sarah yelped and jumped back, tipping over her chair and falling backward.

"What the hell?"  Bonnie burst out of her bedroom dressed in a long white t-shirt.  Her auburn hair was tousled and her green eyes were heavy with sleep.  "My God, Sarah, what happened?"

Sarah threw herself into Bonnie's arms like a frightened child.  "I saw it again.  Th-the face...blood...Oh, God!"

'Honey, it's just a joke."  Bonnie guided her friend to the couch.  "Don't look at that website for a while if it bothers you."

"No, it wasn't that website.  I wasn't even on the Internet this time."

Bonnie thought for a minute.  "Maybe the computer has a virus.  If someone sent that picture as a virus it could pop up anywhere.  My cousin Tommy is a computer geek and I'm sure he can get rid of it for you.  Go take a shower and get some breakfast and we'll take the computer to the shop where he works."

An hour later, Tommy the computer geek was staring at Sarah's computer like a doctor examining a patient with an unknown disease.  "If it has a virus, I think I can find it, but it may take a while.  Do you mind leaving it here?"

Sarah sighed. "I guess I can do my homework at the university computer center.  Just find the virus please.  I never want to see that face again."

The girls left the shop and headed to the university.  Inside the student center, a large crowd had gathered around the wide screen TV in the corner of the lounge.  Their faces were serious and some were crying.

"What's going on?" Sarah asked the guy next to her.

"A student was killed last night," he whispered.  "They're talking about it on the news." 

A State University sophomore was found dead early this morning in the park north of the campus, the news reporter said.  The body of 20 year old Allison Baker was found near a jogging path by a citizen walking his dog.  Ms. Baker was last seen leaving a party at a fraternity house at approximately 2:00 AM.

A photo of a smiling blue eyed blonde appeared on the screen.  Sarah caught her breath and her hands trembled.  She did not know Allison Baker, but she recognized her face.  She had seen it twice on her computer screen, covered in blood.

Cause of death was a blow to the head with a sharp instrument, probably an ax or hatchet, the reporter continued. Police are questioning the victim's boyfriend, 20 year old Brian Anderson, also a student at the university.

"Bonnie," Sarah whispered, grabbing her friend's arm.  "The bloody face I saw.  It's her."

"What?"

Before Sarah could answer, their friend Carol Johnson joined them.  Carol's eyes were red and her face was puffy.  "Isn't this awful," she whispered.  "Poor Allie."

"You knew her?" Sarah asked.

Carol nodded.  "We've been friends since high school.  I was at the party where she was last night.  She and Brian got into a big fight and she ran out crying."

"The news report said the police were questioning the boyfriend," Bonnie said.  "Do you think he did it?"

"I don't know.  They've been together since high school and everyone assumed they'd get married someday, but they've been fighting a lot.  Allison thought he met someone else and she was terrified that he would break up with her.  I don't think he would hurt her but, he seemed so angry last night.  He left right after she did so he could have done it."  Carol began to cry again.  "I'm going home.  I can't stand to be here today."

After Carol left, Bonnie turned to Sarah.  "Okay, what did you say a minute ago?  You think the face on your computer was Allison Baker?"

"Bonnie, I'm sure it was her.  I won't forget that face, ever.  I think the killer took her picture and sent it out in a computer virus.  We should probably tell the police"

"Wait a minute.  It couldn't have been her.  The news report said that she was still alive at 2:00 AM.  You saw the face the first time before midnight."

"But, it looked so much like her.  I'm sure... Oh, I'm so tired and freaked out right now that I'm not sure of anything."

"That's just it, Sarah.  You work yourself to death studying, you never get enough sleep, someone plays this sick joke on you, and then a girl our age is murdered right down the road.  It's no wonder you're freaked out.  I'm sure that picture looked like lots of girls.  Besides, you saw it for what, two seconds?  Tommy will get rid of the virus for you and you can forget about it."

Sarah sighed and managed a weak smile.  It was hard to argue with Bonnie's logic.  "I guess I have been acting pretty silly," she said. "Thanks for putting up with me."

Bonnie gave her a hug.  "Just take care of yourself, okay?  I'm late for class, so I'll see you later."

Although Sarah tried to concentrate on her classes, she couldn't stop thinking of Allison Baker and the picture on the computer.  She kept telling herself that the picture was a Halloween prank, that it couldn't possibly be Allison, but she wasn't convinced. It didn't help that the murder was part of every conversation she heard. Half the students hadn't shown up at all, and many of those who did were talking about transferring to another school.

After her last class, her cell phone rang.  It was Tommy at the computer store.  "Sarah, I haven't been able to find anything wrong with your computer," he said.  "That picture you described hasn't shown up again and everything seems to be working just fine. If it has a virus, it's a new one, because none of the antiviral software can detect it.  That doesn't mean it doesn't have one, but it will take longer to find it.  Do you mind if I keep it a few days?"

Sarah groaned.  She had hoped to get the computer back that night, but she didn't want to use it until she was sure the picture wouldn't pop up again. "Thanks, Tommy," she said.  "Take as much time as you need."

Sarah hated the university computer center with its crowds of noisy students and slow computers.  After waiting fifteen minutes, she finally found an open machine that worked.  She was looking at a photo her sister had sent of her children dressed in their Halloween costumes when the screen went dark.

"Great," Sarah muttered.  "I picked the computer that was about to die."

Suddenly, the screen flickered back to life, but her sister's picture was gone.  Sarah put both hands to her mouth to keep from screaming.  Once again she beheld a face covered in blood, but it was not Allison Baker.  This woman had dark red hair and stared up at Sarah with dead green eyes.

"Bonnie!"  Sarah screamed and ran to the door, colliding with several people on the way out.  With shaking hands, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed her friend's number.

"Come on, Bonnie, please answer," Sarah begged, but after five rings, she heard, "This is Bonnie.  Leave a message."

The student apartment complex where the two girls lived was on the opposite side of the campus, but Sarah covered the distance in record time.  It took three tries before her trembling fingers managed to fit the key into the lock and open the door.  She burst into the apartment and gasped when she saw Bonnie lying on the couch with her hair covering her face.

"Oh my God, Bonnie!" Sarah cried  She ran to her friend's side and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"What the hell?"  Bonnie mumbled, sitting up and pushing her hair out of her face--her beautiful, unmarred face.

"I thought you were dead," Sarah sobbed.

"For God's sake, Sarah, I was only taking a nap."

"I saw your face on the computer...another bloody face...but this time it was you.  You didn't answer your phone and I thought..."

Bonnie pulled out her phone.  "I turned it off this afternoon when I was in the library.  I guess I forgot to turn it back on.  What do you mean, you saw my face on the computer?"

"I saw another bleeding face on a computer in the center, but it wasn't Allison Baker.  It was you, Bonnie."

Bonnie sighed.  "What are you talking about?  Obviously, I'm not dead, and I think I would remember posing for a picture covered with blood"

"I think they're more than pictures.  I think they're...I don't know, premonitions.  I saw Allison Baker dead and she was killed just like in the picture.  Now I saw you.  Bonnie, you have to get out of here."

"Sarah, this is getting ridiculous.  You expect me to run away because you had a hallucination?"

"It wasn't a hallucination.  I know what I saw."

"Okay, suppose I believe you.  What am I supposed to do, quit school?"

"No, just go away for a couple of days.  I saw Allison dead and she was killed that night.  If you're out of town for a few days, maybe it won't happen.  Please, Bonnie, I'm begging you.  Do it for me."

Bonnie rolled her eyes.  "There's nothing important happening in any of my classes right now.  I suppose I can stay with mom and dad for a few days.  Sarah, I don't believe for one minute that those pictures mean I'm in danger.  I think you're losing it, but I'll go home on one condition.  You see a counselor and get yourself straightened out."

"A counselor, Bonnie, I don't know..."

"I mean it Sarah.  Otherwise, I'm not going anywhere."  Bonnie pulled a business card from her purse and handed it to Sarah.  The card read:

Dr.  Jean Hammond, Ph.D.
Student Health Services

"Sarah, you know I was bulimic in high school," Bonnie said.  "I wanted everyone to think I was over it, but I'm not.  I still have ...problems sometimes.  I've been seeing Dr. Hammond since the beginning of the semester .  She's really good and I think she can help you.  If you call her right now and make an appointment, I'll leave."

Sarah dialed the number on the card thinking there would be no answer, since it was after five in the evening.  She was surprised when a secretary answered and told her she could see the doctor in ten minutes.

"Okay, Bonnie," Sarah said.  "I'm going to see her right now, so please go."

Sarah insisted on checking the back seat of Bonnie's car before her friend drove off.  "Please don't stop until you get to your parents' place," she said.

"Okay, I promise,"  Bonnie said.  "You just get over to Dr. Hammond's office and don't worry about me."

Sarah climbed into her own car and drove to Dr. Hammond's office wondering if Bonnie would find out if she did not keep the appointment.  She hated sharing anything personal with a stranger.

Dr. Hammond's office was a filled with books and decorated with paintings of mountains, horses, and deer. The doctor was a tall woman of about thirty-five with short, curly brown hair and warm brown eyes. Dressed in a tan cotton shirt, blue jeans, and boots, she looked as if she could have stepped out of one of the paintings on her wall.
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Seeing that the doctor's posted office hours were 8 AM--5 PM, Sarah said, "I'm sorry to keep you so late.  I could come back another time."

"That's quite all right," Dr. Hammond said.  "I stayed longer than usual today, because I figured people might want to talk about Allison Baker."

"That's kind of why I'm here. Look, my friend made me come and see you.  I'm really not comfortable with this.  If I talk to you, it won't go on my record, will it?  I'm applying for medical school next year."

"Sarah, anything you tell me will stay between the two of us," Dr. Hammond said.  "If you want to leave right now and tell your friend you kept the appointment, I won't give you away.  But if you do want to talk, I'm willing to listen."

The gentle encouragement in the doctor's voice and the kindness in her eyes were more than Sarah could stand and she suddenly found herself crying uncontrollably.  Between sobs, the story of the gruesome pictures, her fear for Bonnie's safety, and her worry over making it into medical school came tumbling out.

"I'm afraid to even look at a computer again," she wept.  "Maybe Bonnie is right.  Maybe I was hallucinating."

Dr. Hammond, who had done nothing except listen and provide tissues, finally spoke.  "Sarah, I don't think you were hallucinating.  I believe you saw those bloody faces."

Sarah looked up in surprise. "You do."

"Of course I do. I'm willing to bet that when you get your computer back, you'll find out the picture was sent in a virus just like you thought."

"But it looked just like Allison Baker and she died the next day.  Her face was hacked like the woman in the picture."

"Sarah, fear is a very powerful thing. You saw how empty the campus was today. The dean's office has been getting calls all day from worried parents. You aren't the only frightened person I've seen today.  I've talked to several people who were convinced they saw the killer lurking behind every tree.  Of course that picture freaked you out.  It was meant to.  When you heard about the way Allison Baker died, it was natural that you remembered the picture looking just like her.  I probably would have done the same thing."

"But I saw the second picture on a different computer.  And it didn't look like Allison.  It had red hair and green eyes just like Bonnie."

"I'm sure the person who sent out that virus sent it to as many computers as possible.  The whole university network is probably infected. And who says there is only one version?  They could have sent out hundreds of different pictures. Other people probably saw one with a black girl, and Asian girl, or even a guy. When you saw the picture of the redhead, you saw it as the redhead you know best, your roommate.  She's lucky to have such a caring friend.  The only problem I see is that you don't care for yourself in the same way."

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't take a degree in psychology to see that you haven't been getting enough sleep or eating properly.  If you keep driving yourself this hard, you won't make it into medical school.  You'll be too exhausted and burned out to even apply.  The only advice I have for you is to go home, have a good dinner, take a nice hot bath and watch TV for the rest of the night.  Get to bed early and sleep late tomorrow.  Don't even think about doing homework until you are totally rested."

Sarah's first instinct was to protest, but the exhaustion she felt in every cell of her body told her the doctor was right.  "I'll try," she said.  "Thank you for listening."

Dr. Hammond wrote a number on a slip of paper and handed it to Sarah. "This is my cell phone number.  Please call me any time if you need to talk."

An hour later, as Sarah sat in front of the TV, doing her best to take Dr. Hammond's advice, her phone rang.  It was Bonnie.  "Hi, Sarah, I just wanted to let you know I made it to mom and dad's.  How are you?"

"Not bad.  I went to see Dr. Hammond, even though I admit I thought about cancelling the appointment.  She made me face some things I've been avoiding.  You've been telling me I was working too hard for a long time and you were right.  I have to make some changes."

"Well, its about time," Bonnie cheered. "I'm sorry I was so hard on you before.  I was just as worried about you as you were about me.  Oh, guess what?  I heard on the radio that the police arrested Allison Baker's boyfriend. I guess that means I won't be the next victim."

"Bonnie, I'm sorry for the way I acted. Don't feel that you have to stay home because  I was being silly."

"Actually, I think I will stay here for a few days.  Mom and dad are thrilled to have me home and guess what else?  I stopped in the gas station in town and ran into my old boyfriend Kyle.  He asked me to go to a movie tomorrow night.  Your little hallucination may be the best thing that's happened to me in a long time."

"Oh Bonnie, that's great.  I want all the details when you get back."

"I promise. Glad you're feeling better.  I'll see you in a few days."

Sarah hung up the phone beginning to relax for the first time in weeks.  The killer was in jail, Bonnie was safe, and the bloody face was just a Halloween joke.  She decided that Dr. Hammond's suggestion of a hot bath was a good one. Before climbing into the bathtub, she looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.  Tomorrow, she would get her hair trimmed and maybe go for a walk.  It would be good to feel the October sun on her pale skin. 

Suddenly, her reflection seemed to shimmer and change shape.  Sarah watched in horror as an ugly red gash appeared on the forehead of her mirror image and rivulets of blood began running down the face. 

"No," she gasped as the room began spinning.  "This can't be real."  She shut her eyes tight and rubbed them.  "When I look again, it will be gone," she told herself, but when she looked at the mirror she saw her own bloody face and stared into her own dead eyes.  Fighting spasms of nausea, she ran from the bathroom, found her phone, and began dialing.
                                                 

~*~

Dr. Jean Hammond sat in her office listening to dry leaves blowing against the window.  This had been a long, exhausting day and she was looking forward to going home.  Murders were supposed to happen in places like New York or LA, not boring midwestern college towns like this one. The ringing of her cell phone interrupted her thoughts.

"This is Jean Hammond...Sarah, slow down. I can't understand you... Okay, just try and stay calm and I'll be right there."

Shaking her head, Dr. Hammond snapped the phone shut. Another desperate phone call from a frightened young girl.  Allison Baker had sounded just as desperate last night, when she begged the doctor to meet her at two in the morning.  Poor Allison was beautiful enough to get any man, but fear made her cling to a worthless jerk who wanted someone else. 

"Brian wants to break up," Allison had sobbed when Dr. Hammond met her in the park the night beofre.  "I'm so scared.  I can't even imagine living without him.  I-I want to die."

"Don't worry, Allison, I know just what you need," Dr. Hammond had said as she brought the hatchet down on Allison's forehead.  She had run out of patience with whiny, frightened girls who didn't know the meaning of real fear. 

Allison had been right when she said her pathetic life wasn't worth living.  Dr. Hammond had done her a favor.  She would do the same favor for Bonnie someday.  Bonnie annoyed the doctor more each time she saw her, moaning about gaining one pound when she had the body of a Miss Universe. Poor little Sarah thought she could protect Bonnie by sending her out of town for a few days.  Bonnie would return and the doctor would wait for the right moment, just as she had with Allison.  Getting rid of Sarah was more important right now anyway.  She regretted having to kill Sarah, because she found her prophetic visions fascinating, but those visions could mean trouble eventually. Sarah was too smart to believe they were a Halloween prank forever and someday she might see the killer as well as the victims. 

Dr. Hammond took the hatchet from her desk drawer, placed it in her bag, and walked out of the office.  Sarah would never have been much of a doctor anyway, she thought.  The silly girl went to pieces at the sight of a little blood.

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