There was a stillness to the air. It had been winter for a few weeks now, but it had only recently started to feel like winter. The first snowfall had come just three weeks earlier, on the 21st of December; unseasonably late for most regions of the midwest, but especially late for Minnesota. The light of the recently risen sun was reflecting off of the snow, creating a glow to the air that illuminated the window of Damon's apartment. It was still an hour before classes started and nearly all of campus was still asleep. There was silence.
Today was the first day of the spring semester. Most students returned to campus on Friday after having spent the past 2 weeks with their families, although some of the stragglers did not return until Saturday or Sunday. The silence when there are people around is different than the silence when the town is abandoned. Somehow, it is both more peaceful and more eerie at the same time.
Damon had been on the campus of Clear Lake College for all of winter break. He visited his folks for the holidays, yes, but for the most part, he stayed in his apartment preparing for the new semester. He was a recent graduate of this small Minnesota college and was now studying to earn his Master's degree while working as a TA.
Damon arose from bed and made himself coffee and toast. He looked out of the window of his apartment at the snow-covered campus. It was beautiful. The snow had accumulated over the past few weeks and there were few students around to leave their footprints, giving the campus a very natural feel.
He put on his heavy jacket and scarf, poured his coffee, and grabbed his briefcase that he had prepared the night before. He left his apartment to walk to class.
Even outside, there was a special silence to the air. He passed by students walking across campus, but none of them were talking. Many of the students had solemn expressions on their faces, most likely due to the semester starting.
As Damon turned onto the street that led to his building, he saw a group of people in the distance. It was a group of about 30 students who were bunched together in a field outside of the library. As Damon walked closer to the group, he could see that they were gathered around a section of the field that was fenced off with yellow tape that read "CRIME SCENE - DO NOT CROSS." Inside of the taped off area, there were two police officers standing and an officer on one knee. One of the standing officers had his arms folded across his chest, while the other had his hand covering the lower half of his face.
The group of students obstructed Damon's view of the crime scene, so he was not able to see what everybody was looking at. As he was walking by, he could hear the low mumbling of the group of students, but could not really make out what any of them were saying. Some of the students looked worried, others looked upset. He could see at least two girls in the group crying into their friends' arms.
Damon slowed down his pace as he walked by this group in an attempt to catch a glimpse of what was behind the tape, but was unable. He continued to walk to his building. He would hear about what happened later in the day, or at the very least, read about this in the paper the next day. Damon had a feeling of sickness as he walked to class. Something bad had happened.
After teaching a philosophy class populated with less than half of the students on the roster (most likely the students that had not heard about the event that had occurred earlier on campus), Damon finally heard about the news from an e-mail sent out from the college's president:
Dear Clear Lake College students and faculty,
It is with great sorrow that I send this message to you about a tragedy that occurred on campus earlier this morning. The body of CLC student Abbie Baker was found dead early this morning outside of Grainger Library. Abbie was a junior studying to earn a bachelor's degree in Biology. She was a member of the CLC chorus and participated in a number of volunteer organizations on campus. She was a beloved member of our CLC family and she will be dearly missed. She truly did embody what it means to be a Clear Lake College student.
With regard to her cause of death, it is still undetermined; it is being investigated as we speak. If anybody has any information about Ms. Baker's death or spoke with her within the last 24 hours, please notify the Clear Lake police or myself as soon as possible. Your help is greatly appreciated.
It is never easy to deal with death, especially when the person is so young. However, it is important that we be resilient. Classes will still be in session as scheduled. If any students are in need of additional assistance in emotionally dealing with this tragedy, please do not hesitate to take advantage of the free counseling sessions offered at the CLC student health center.
Funeral arrangements and any other further updates will be sent as soon as they become available.
God bless,
Theodore Willman
President - Clear Lake College
This e-mail left out some information about Abbie's death.
The student who first found Abbie's body, John Carmichael, was a member of the cross country team. Despite the snow and freezing temperature, he was out for a 6 mile early morning run. Sow flakes gently fell from the sky as he jogged across the campus in his winter gear, It was in the middle of this run that he found Abbie's body lying outside of the library in the center of campus. The body had caught his eye when he saw Abbie's blood spilled into the snow.
The sun had not risen yet when John was on his run, but the moon and snow provided enough light to make his run visible. At first glance, John believed that it was a dead deer that was laying outside of the library. Somebody had probably hit the deer with a car and then dragged it off of the road. At second glance, he knew that it was not a deer.
John approached the body carefully. He was awe-stricken by the scene that he witnessed. He found Abbie lying in the snow face up with her arms flailed to the side; one arm pointing above her head and the other pointing toward her feet. Her legs were straight and relaxed. She was wearing a puffy white jacket, blue jeans, a grey scarf and pink earmuffs. Her shining blue eyes were still open when he found her and her long blond hair was shining in the moonlight. She looked beautiful.
There were only two visible wounds on the corpse. One thin slice across her neck, and a gaping hole, perhaps two inches wide, above her waist.
Her white jacket was stained red just below her abdomen. It was a symmetrical blood stain that spilled out from the center of her body and down her sides. The color red started dark and became lighter as it spread further from her center. The snow was dyed bright red to the left and to the right of her motionless body. The bright red was in perfect contrast to her white jacket and the white snow that she rested upon.
Abbie's intestines lied in a messy pile three feet to her left. They were no longer connected to her body; they had been cut off before being placed on the ground, but not before somebody had pulled about 15 feet from out of her belly.
The cut from her neck created a small pool of blood below he, upon which her head rested. Strands of her blond hair were stained red, almost as if the blood was intentionally used as highlights. Her face was untouched.
Upon seeing the corpse, John immediately ran away, as he had been doing before, and went directly to his home to call the police. Snowflakes continued to softly land on the face of the dead body.
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