The Zodiac Killer.
They say even after thirty-three years he's still out there—still active, still unfound. Some whisper he's a Signature holder. His Apothem Signature? The power to stop time.
I've been following his trail since I was a child. My obsession began the day my father died, when I was nine. The psychiatrists dismissed it as a coping mechanism, a way to process grief. Maybe they were right. But I know better. I know it was him.
That day, we were playing hide and seek. I checked the watch my father had given me for my birthday—and noticed the hands had stopped. I thought the battery had died, so I went to his room to find a replacement.
That's when I saw him.
A man—if you could even call him that. No skin, only raw muscle and sinew, rummaging through a pile of clothes. His lips peeled back into an eerie smile that made my stomach twist. I hid. Somehow, he didn't see me.
I ran to find my father. He was in the bathroom—still, unmoving. No breath, no pulse. Not even the cold weight of death… only absence. He was frozen mid-motion, hands under the faucet. Yet the water wasn't flowing. It wasn't frozen either. It simply… wasn't.
The silence was suffocating. No drip of water, no shuffle of fabric, no sound but my own panicked breathing and the thunder of my heart.
Then I felt him behind me. The skinned man, now dressed in my father's clothes. A knife glinted in his right hand; in his left, a bagua mirror. He drifted toward my father, slow and deliberate. Terrified, I tried to block him. But he passed straight through me—like I wasn't even there.
And then he began.
He cut into my father from behind, opening him up like livestock, carving with mechanical precision. I can't—won't—replay the rest. It's too much.
But I know this: he never saw me. Never felt me. He walked through me as though I was a ghost. That's when I realized. I had my own Apothem Signature.
I call it In/Spectre. Whenever reality shifts, my consciousness detaches. I project outward, unseen, untouchable—able to observe without being perceived. My physical body vanishes in the process. In that state, I cannot be killed.
From what I've read, Apothem Signatures evolve in seven stages. I'm only at the Initiation Phase—stage two. I can manifest my ability, but it's limited. The Zodiac Killer, though? I'd say his Time Stop is at stage five—I think I'm the only one aware what his signature truly is. He can halt time itself, though I'm not entirely sure on its mechanics.
Someday, I'll catch him. And when I do, I'll—
"Senior, wake up from your nap!"
A voice pulled me back. One of the juniors from my club, standing in the doorway. A girl.
I rubbed my eyes and sat up on the couch. "Thanks for waking me."
"No problem. I'll get going now—meeting some friends."
"Don't be late for the ceremony," I told her.
She smiled, already halfway out the door. "Okay. Thanks, bye!"
"And… stay safe," I added, softer than I meant to.
She left. The room was quiet again.
I guess I should get going too. Better not be late.