Student
She was new in the city, she was 19, she wanted to change everything, everything that bothered her in her hometown. There, all the people knew you, at least knew your face, so the life seemed already predicted. She wanted more, she wanted something unusual and unpredictable, something that only a big city could give to a country girl.
She happened to be not very popular with boys at home. She was pretty, so it was due to some other reasons, which she would describe as some bad coincidence. She didn't like the locals, as there was hardly anyone among them who wouldn't try to go necking with her right on their first date. All of her friends had gone through that, and she was perfectly aware of what always happened next - news spread quickly in a small town. Speaking of the military officers from the department, they usually arrived with their young wives, so the chance of meeting someone there was also very vague. She thought that everything would be different in the city. This drove her to the idea of entering an uni or a college. Not that she wanted to do it very much, but she just saw no other way of staying there.
She was lucky at the exams. She knew she'd pass, and this made her glow with happiness. The day when the results of the exams were announced, she was flying across the street instead of walking. She liked the passersby, and the cars and buses seemed more clean after the summer rain. She liked the center of the city, especially the main street, which had lately been made pedestrian. She decided to make a little holiday for herself.
In the hostel where she lived together with many other candidates, was not crowded anymore. Nobody interrupted her getting ready. First, she took a shower. "There's no hot water in summer, but cold will do on such occasion," she thought, shivering under the cold stream running from the rusty pipe. Her make-up was very cheap, probably the cheapest one, but she knew how to use it. She learned to do it herself, when a child, reading old fashion magazines in German. She was secretly proud of this skill of hers, and the reflection in the mirror seemed very attractive to her: the fair curly hair, the delicate neck which would look better with a diamond necklace on it... Alas, she had no expensive jewelry, only some cheap Polish bijouterie. One of them resembled a necklace, and with it were connected the last minutes of her life. But she had not the slightest idea of it yet, brushing her hair and looking at her reflection in the mirror. "I look good," she thought.
It was very easy to make a holiday. On the main street, stood the building which was originally a German kirche, but was turned into a cinema by the Soviet and into a youth club by the Perestroika. She danced fairly well even compared with the local people, which was, in fact, quite news to her. She looked great that day.
Time went by, it was already past midnight, the city transport was no longer going. She felt suspicious when two guys offered to take her to the hostel. But they looked very respectfully, not drunk, in contrast to many, not impudent, decently dressed. She said yes, for the prospect of walking alone at night through the unknown city seemed more dangerous to her.
The car was a Gigue v.6, hunter green. Sitting next to the driver, she looked at the road and didn't recognize it. "Everything looks different at night," she said to herself and calmed down. The street lamps disappeared and she saw bushes growing at the sides of the road. "Where are we -" she asked, and then the guy sitting behind her wrapped a belt around her neck. It was a common car seat belt. She had no time to get frightened, she was simply surprised, and that was why she didn't move for the first several seconds.
At last she realized that she was in some serious trouble, but she still couldn't understand how exactly serious this trouble was. The car stopped, but the belt squeezed her neck even stronger. She tried to catch the one sitting behind her, but it was in vain. The driver attentively watched her trying to get away. She noticed a stupid smile curve his lips. "That is the way to be rapes, I had no idea this would happed to me," she thought, when she couldn't already see anything, but some pink blanket. She was trying to breath but she couldn't. Her lips were catching air. Her hands were making chaotic movements to loosen the belt. The driver pulled up her skirt to take a look at her beautiful legs in white stilettos which were fashionable at that time. She wiggled twice or thrice more and then was quiet. "Enough," said the driver. The belt was drawn away, and the helpless body of the girl fell to his side. She was still alive, her heart was beating weakly. "C'mon."
She woke up in the same car, but the seat was lowered. She immediately felt cold, for she was stark naked. Her head seemed to be filled with cotton wool, she didn't understand where she was and how she had got there. There was darkness and bushes in the moonlight outside the car. She tried to move, but she couldn't, her body didn't obey her. "Look, she's waking up," said the driver. "The bitch isn't going to let us get away with it I think," said the other guy.
The driver took a coil of copper wire out of his sack and gave it to his friend. She heard a door open and felt she was pulled out of the car. The touch of the cold grass covered with dew helped her. She tried to move and managed to sit. She felt dizzy. The two were quietly watching the scene. "Maybe she won't tell anyone?" said the driver, but the other guy shook his head. He knelt behind her back and helped her sit firmly, then quickly wrapped the wire twice around her neck and accurately twisted the ends. She didn't resist, she didn't care anymore. She fell back, helplessly clutching the ground. Her mouth opened, tears spurt out of her eyes. Her chest was trembling, trying to breathe. About a minute passed before she gave a strange sound, as though a gurgle, and began convulsing in agony. She bent her legs and then they spread again. Her face grew dark red, but this didn't spoil it. Her lips became bloodshot, which corrected her natural weak spot which she had always corrected with makeup.
They stood near until she shook one last time and was quiet. Legs stretched, arms fallen from the neck and spread aside, eyes stiffened. The end she never expected so early, on that wonderful day. The only thing on her was the Polish bujou resembling a necklace.
She was found by two retired people who were gathering mushrooms four hours later, 50 meters from the Tambov highway. It happened on August, 24, 1988.
PS. All the dates are real. The author added some imaginary information in the ideas and feelings, but the facts remain almost untouched. This event shook the society very much. The guys were arrested. One was imprisoned for 12 years, the other, for 8 years.
Original Author: Strangler (1999).