It was a boring day to Reed Winston, who was a high school student. Reed went to Bronx high school of science in New York. He was a smart student who knew a lot about technology and codes.
One morning as he was surfing through the internet he found out something that many had chosen to ignore, a murder but not the ordinary kind but rather a murder with a signature. It was the murder of Karen Paige. There was a weird signature at the scene which the police had just ignored even though it was written with the victim's blood, assuming that the victim might have written it, but from the way the victim was poised it would be absurd to make such an assumption. Anyhow, Reed seemed to be the only person to notice this but what interested him wasn't the fact that there was a signature at the scene but rather the symbol itself. It was a Greek symbol Θ which represents death. For once Reed seemed to have found someone smart, someone who could be challenging, so Reed kept looking for similar killings on the internet. It was quiet for sometime but then there was another body which was found with the similar signature. Now Reed was sure that this was a serial killer and he really needed to find him. Not many things can affect Reed, its same when it comes to people but Reed was genuinely intrigued by the killer. He had a purpose in life now, a mission to find out who this Θ is. He first started by searching the internet if there was any other mention of this killer but to no luck. Reed tried to form a connection between the victims to see if there was a reason why this killer was killing them but again hit a dead end. Frustrated with his failure, Reed decided to go out one afternoon to cool his head off. As he was walking aimlessly he stumbled upon a cafe, Choco n' Mocha. He decided to check out the place so he went in and ordered a cappuccino and took a seat by the window. After a few minutes a waiter approached with his beverage and as Reed was about to thank him, he was stopped midway with a feeling of immense fear, his hands were shaking, he got goosebumps and beads of sweat trickled down his forehead. This was pure fear, something Reed had never felt in his entire life. It was a kind of an instinctive response. Reed tried to see why he was feeling this and that's when he looked at the waiter who's name tag said, "Shaun Frost". Reed could have sworn that he practically jumped out of his skin when he had realized that this, this waiter who is standing in front of him, was none other than "Θ". Reed couldn't believe that he had found him this way. Feeling really happy, Reed hurried home. His father had died 3 years ago and his mom had remarried. When Reed entered the house, *BAM*, his step father hit him in the head with a stick. "Where the hell were you? You little shit!! Who's gonna do the chores? ME??", Reed was trying to get back to his feet but his step dad kept kicking him down. After a heart full beating, his step dad finally went back to the living room to watch the game. Reed, all battered up, got himself up and went to his room. He felt anger, hatred, disgust but not toward his step dad but rather himself, for he hated feeling powerless, and that's what he was for 3 years. He lay there, feeling void while looking at his laptop screen. There was one picture floating around, Θ. Reed realized that if he wanted to get the attention of Mr.Θ, that's what he decided to call him, he had to first enter the same world as him. The thought of making someone feel pure fear, like Θ had made him feel today was very exciting for Reed. So after three days, Reed followed his step dad to work, who worked in construction. He was nervous but surprisingly the feeling that Reed felt very strongly was excitement. His dad headed toward the changing room to change into his working gear. Reed followed him, his initial plan was to push his step dad off the roof or drop something on him, but now that wouldn't work. He needed to find a way that would strike fear in his step dads heart. So he got a nail gun and headed towards the changing room. Once he entered, his step dad turned around with surprise, just as Reed shoved a piece of cloth into his mouth to stop from screaming and shot a nail through his right palm into the wall. His step dad cried in agony while Reed shot another nail into his left palm restraining him completely. Now Reed was trying to figure out what to do with his step dad. Killing him normally didn't seem fair compared to the pain he had gone through himself for 3 years. Just then a farm truck carrying carrots pulled over across the street. Peering through the window Reed could see the logo on the truck which was an eye holding a carrot. That's when he got the idea, and he took the nail gun, walked over to his step dad who was now breathing heavily trying to bear the pain. "Hello father, you see I have been patient all this while as you beat me around, but today is the day where you get it all back. Whenever you beat me I always hated your eyes, filled with satisfaction and power, so today I shall start there", saying this Reed shot 3-4 nails into his step-dad's eyes. Just like that he was dead.
Reed returned home, all riled up and scared, while killing his step dad was exciting, accomplishing that feat was really stressful. He ran to his room and lay down on the bed, still feeling a knot in his stomach. He realised that even though he had made up his mind to enter this side of the world, he hadn't really thought through on how he will deal with it once he actually did. After what felt like a few minutes, the phone rang and Reed rushed to pick up, "Hello? Who is this?? ", he was trying his best not to sound nervous, "Good day to you sir, I'm afraid I'm calling bearing bad news. We found one Mr. Rick murdered at a construction site and this number seemed to be named as home. Do you know the person?", Reed didn't think, he had to act cool, "Yes, it's my step dad, may I know what happened!? ", the police told him the details, excluding the part about how he was killed. Reed was asked to go down to the station to ID the body, which he agreed to. Just as Reed was heading out, his mother came in from work, "Hi dear, where are you going? ", Reed looked up, trying to make a sad expression, "Police just called, they said a body was found which seemed to be of Rick", hearing this his mother collapsed, "No! ", she was reliving her nightmare, her husband dying again. Reed comforted her a little, made her lie down and headed to the station. On the way to the station he kept remembering the scene to figure out if he had left any kind of evidence. On reaching the station, he was welcomed by police sergeant Mason, "Thank you for coming, I take it you are Reed Winston?", Reed nodded and he was led to the morgue where his step dad was kept. "I need you to understand Mr. Reed that what you may see might be very disturbing but you will have to go through it nonetheless ", Reed nodded slowly and mouthed the words, "I understand". As they reached the morgue, Reed's heartbeat seemed to increase ten fold, his breathing became short and quick, at first he thought he was scared but in reality he was excited, enjoying the thrill, it took everything in his power to stop himself from smiling. Reed was shown the body and he quickly closed his eyes, it was partly because he realized he couldn't fake sadness that perfectly and also because he was kind of angry that his 'art' was ruined as they had removed the nails from the eyes. "Y-Yes, it's my step dad alright, now may we go outside? ", Mason, after being convinced nodded at the coroner and then guided Reed back to the station. "Mr. Reed, do you know anybody who would want to hurt your step dad? ", Reed looked up at Mason with a plain expression, "Not really, but I won't be surprised if a lot of people wanted to hurt him. As a step dad, he was very abusive towards me and mum. It has been three years since my mum married him and he would beat the crap outta me almost everyday till this date". Mason noted down this, "I must ask this for formality, where were you today between 10am to 12pm?", Reed closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Patching myself after getting beaten this morning", saying this he pulled up his shirt to show numerous bruises and discolored skin near his liver and ribs ". Mason looked away with guilt, "I'm sorry Mr. Reed, you may go". Apparently Reed could never be strong enough to hold down Rick with those bruises but we all know how much of that was true. Reed took a cab back to his house, entering he called out to his mom who was asleep, "Mum, would you like something to eat? ", his Mom woke up and slowly walked towards him, "Did you see him? How did he die?? ", Reed let out a sigh and then said, "They shot nails into his eyes", his mother broke down, sobbing really hard. Reed shook his head and then walked his mom to her room, "I'm gonna make some soup for you".
The stage had been set, the deed was done now all that remained was to get the attention of Mr. Θ. Reed sat on his bed, staring at nothing, he obviously needed a code name and that's when it hit him. Next day Reed got a tattoo of an eye, the symbol of an Egyptian god. HORUS.