University Murders

The University of Essex has often been a threatening place in my dreams, churning out such horrors as a pink lady ghost with hooves for feet, and a headless woman in a tree by the lakes. The most recent disturbing dream featuring campus as a backdrop took place during a bad thunderstorm and was inspired by the real university murders. It was a muggy, summer's evening and I was waiting outside the SU in square 3 for Li to leave her office.

 

Due to  the lateness of the hour, it was already dark, but there was still a large number of students around for clubbing. A blinding flash of white light lit up the squares, swiftly followed by a bone jarring peal of thunder. Forks of lightning speared the purple sky, like witch's fingernails clawing the atmosphere. I took shelter in the entrance of the SU, watching as students ran this way and that to escape the sudden downpour of rain.

 

By the time Li joined me, the squares were awash with puddles. We needed to get to the car park, so we held hands and made a run for it, lightning flashing overhead. A depression in the path near the lecture theatre had filled up with a muddy puddle, too far to jump over and impossible to circumvent. I was wearing my best two toned brogues and knew that wading through the mud would irreparably ruin them. Unfortunately, the other route to the car park was likewise blocked, so we were left with no choice.

 

I took a running jump and landed in the middle of the mire. The mud oozed up my thighs, deeper than I had imagined. After much heaving, I managed to pull myself out by clutching strands of grass on a nearby bank. I told Li to join me on the grassy slope, and paused beneath a tree to wait for her to catch up. As she struggled through the mud, I noticed a trainer dangling from the branches of the tree, then a foot, and the leg it was attached to.

 

Next thing I knew, a whole body had fallen on top of me from the tree, a woman. Her cold legs were wrapped around my neck, in a similar fashion to what happened to me on the rapids at Centre Parcs. Blood trickled onto my shirt, mingling with the mud. With a horrified squeal, I trashed about to untangle her and managed to throw her off her. She slumped onto the grass where she lay with marbled, shocked eyes - bleeding from multiple stab wounds.

 

Li caught up and I pointed out the body out to her, at which point we noticed other corpses in trees around the sports centre grounds. It appeared that there had been a massacre of students and the killer had clumsily attempted to hide them out of sight. The instinct of terror overcame us, and forgetting all about our ruined clothing, we made a mad dash for the car park, screaming all the way.