The Butcher and the Wren

Jeremy watches Emily take notes in the biology lecture auditorium, noting how the anatomical heart shaped charm on her silver bracelet jingles as she writes. He feels excited that he knows what will soon happen to her, though no one else does. After three hours of class, he hasn’t taken a single note, as he is too fixated on watching Emily. As they leave, he says hi to Emily, who calls him Cal. He adopted the alias and registered for school under a fake name. He walks with Emily out of the building and towards the parking lot. As Emily offers to study with him over the weekend, he pokes a hole with his thumb ring in the plastic vial of chloroform in his pocket and subtly soaks the cloth he’s also stored in his pocket with the leaking substance. A horror paperback falls out of his bag and Emily picks it up for him. Emily gets to her car, but before she can leave, Jeremy grabs her by the ponytail and knees her in the back of the leg before shoving the chloroformed rag in her face. She falls unconscious, and he quickly loads her into the trunk of her own car.