(Liza)

I run, run, run. I don’t remember where I am, I only see trees, bushes, branches, rocks, a blur of green, yellow, orange, brown, passing me by. I continue to run, my legs burning, my lungs inflamed. 

I can’t let it get me, I can’t let it get me, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t-

I trip, the impact so hard and unexpected  that I feel my air leave my lungs and my face hit the ground. I lay there, feeling something somewhat sticky and wet go down my face, and my leg.

I eventually sit up, all my muscles aching from every small movement.

My leg is bleeding, so is my nose. 

I wipe my blood on my blue hoodie, covering it with red, giving it a purple color.

For a moment I feel like staying there, letting the monster find me and tear me to shreds.

But I know I can’t. If I’m ever found by someone, and I’m still alive, don’t I owe it to them to warn them? To protect them? From this terrifying monster that hides in the shadows and terrorizes and hunts and kills humans? I should.

And I will.

So I get up, grunting and biting my lip as I try to stand up. I feel my lip bleed. I use most of my strength into my left leg to try and stand up, but it hurts, so I have to use a tree nearby for some support. When I think I’m ready to stand by myself, I let go of the tree, and, gently, start limping. 

I heave my leg up with each step I take, grunting through the pain, willing myself to get through, tough it out, stop whining.

I limp about a few steps in, and I immediately fall down, scraping my other leg and both my elbows. 

I start crawling, slowly, using all of my strength, trying not to use my (possibly) broken leg. 

But my (possibly) broken leg drags on the floor, dragging on multiple tiny pebbles and rocks, and it hurts.

I’m crying, the pain becoming more and more unbearable the more I crawl, the more I move, the more I breathe. 

Eventually, I decide to stop for a second, lay there, and I watch as the bright orange sky slowly turns a deep blue, purple color.

Before I know it, I’m falling asleep, dreaming the most horrific nightmare.

I remember what had happened. 

I’m in the woods, walking down the same path the woman in front of me is walking.

Suddenly she stops, hearing something move in the bushes, and I stop as well.

Then the woman screams, running away as the monster comes out, grabbing her and ripping her to shreds.

I scream, trying to move but can’t. 

The monster hears me, and comes after me next.

I wake up, sweat seeping from my hoodie, my pants.

I lay for a few minutes, trying to process what had happened.

Willing myself to wake up from this nightmare. 

Eventually, I try to sit up, but my back hurts. 

I roll around, gently, (though it still hurts), and start crawling.

I crawl, and crawl, and crawl, for what seems like hours, but I know it hasn’t been that long because the pretty yellow and blue sky hasn’t changed at all.

I lost my phone sometime when I started running away, but if I have to guess, I’d say it is probably 10:00 AM. 

My back aches, my leg burns, my lip hurts, my elbows feel numb, and I have a massive headache.

I struggle to breathe at moments, so I have to stop and take a deep breath, then continue to move.

I’ve gotten tired of seeing the same trees over and over again, almost mocking me, tormenting me. You’ll never leave, you’ll die in here, the monster will find you and kill you, just like that woman. 

Eventually I collapsed. And cry. I just lay there and cry, crying till my eyes burn. 

I won’t get out of here.

(Ria)

LIZA BURGMAN: MISSING. THIRTEEN YEARS OLD, WAS LAST SEEN WEARING A BLUE HOODIE AND WHITE JEANS. IF ANYONE HAS ANY INFORMATION, CALL-

It’s 3:00 p.m. I walked home, thinking about the missing persons poster, over and over again.

Liza Burgman.

She went to the same school as me, though we never talked.

She was… weird.

We were at an assembly, when she started whispering something.

“Are you OK?” I whispered.

“Yes,” She whispered, but she didn’t look okay.

“Do you need something? Do you need me to tell-”

“Don’t tell anyone!!” She started crying, looking at me dead in the eye.

Her eyes were red.

Then she ran out the door, running past the teacher when she said “Where are you going?”

Now, 2 weeks later, I stared at the poster of her.

Sighing, I picked up my backpack and started walking home.

I kicked a rock, which rolled into the woods.

I saw something in the woods. 

It looked pink. I stepped a little closer.

It’s a leg. 

A… human leg…

I jumped a little, running up to my house, calling 911.

“Hello?” the operator says.

“Help! I think I’ve found someone in the woods!” 

(Liza)

I woke up. 

At some point I fell asleep, dried tears streamed down my face. 

I try to get up, but I can’t.

Every. Single thing. Hurts.

My eyes hurt, my head hurts, my legs hurt, my arms hurt, my back hurts.

I want to scream, but I’m afraid that once I do, my voice will start hurting as well.

I want all this to stop. I don’t want to hurt anymore.

But I can’t, I can’t stop now.

I have to keep going.

I need to keep going.

I shakily try to get up, grabbing onto a tree branch for support.

My leg that has a huge gash hurts, the other shakes, trying to support all my weight.

I try heaving my leg with each step, willing myself to stay up.

I will not stop.

I will get out of here. I will survive.

(Ria)

I stood near the woods, waiting for the police to come.

I tried not to stand too close.

AAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! 

I heard screaming.

Liza!

I tried not to move, I didn’t want to-

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! NOOO!!!!

The screams were getting louder, I felt my heart sink.

AAAAAAAHHHHHH

I didn’t even think, I just ran. 

I ran into the woods, using Liza’s screams as a guide.

But I didn’t know if it was her.

I could’ve been going into a trap, or something I shouldn’t have been in.

It was a horrible mistake.

(LIza)

I scream, heaving my leg, almost collapsing.

I can’t breathe.

It hurts. So. Much.

“Liza!” I hear someone shout. 

It’s the monster, the monster found me.

I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead.

“Liza!!” It shouts again.

My ears hurt. 

I turn around, gritting my teeth.

It’s the monster, it finally found me.

It’s a shadow, vaguely resembling a girl.

My vision blurs, and my head aches trying to figure out what I’m looking at.

“Wh-who are you?” I say, stepping back, on my gashed leg, and collapse.

“It’s me, Ria! What happened?” It asks. It’s voice is distorted, and it makes my head hurt even worse.

(Ria)

I stood in shock, looking at Liza.

Her blue hoodie was coated in blood, making it almost purple.

She had a nasty gash on her leg, her white pants soaked in dark red.

She had dried blood smeared across her face, her hair, her hands.

She looked terrified, staring at me like she was seeing a ghost.

“Liza, it’s me!” I said, stepping closer.

“NO! GET BACK!” She shouted, scooting farther away.

“Liza, I called 911! They’ll find you! You’re gonna be safe-”

She pulled out a pocket knife.

“Liza!” I shouted, backing away. “Liza, where did-”

“I SAID GET BACK!! GET BACK, YOU MONSTER!” Liza shouted, trying to get up.

“LIza, you need help! Your leg is injured really badly!” 

“NO!!” Liza tried standing up, but she was shaking so much that she collapsed.

(Liza)

I remember what happened. My head hurts trying to remember, but I do.

I ran out of the school, running and running. 

I didn’t know where I was going, I just let my legs go.

Eventually I ended up in the woods, and then I tripped, falling on the ground, mud on my knees.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” A woman’s voice said.

I looked up, seeing a beautiful woman standing in front of me.

I said nothing, just staring at her.

“Do you need help?” she asked.

I just sat there, staring.

Eventually the woman started walking away.

I remember what happened.

There was a pocket knife on the ground.

I don’t know what I was thinking.

The woman was walking down the path, so was I.

“Ma’am,” I shouted.

The memories play in my mind, like a movie.

I’m not even in my body anymore. 

It’s just a movie it’s just a movie it’s just a-

“Hey, ma’am?” 

The woman turned around and looked at me.

“What?” She said, uneasily once she noticed the pocket knife in my hand.

I… did it.

I did it. I’m the monster.

I killed her, I killed her, I did it.

I try standing up shakily, pointing my knife at the monster.

But I’m not the monster.

What is in front of me right now is.

It’s the monster that’s going to kill me.

(Ria)

“Liza, put the knife down, please!” I pleaded, stepping back.

“No!” She said, then, lunged at me.

“AAH!” I shouted, trying to push her off of me, but she was surprisingly too strong.

She stabbed my arm with her already blood stained knife, digging into my arm, digging into my flesh.

I screamed, grabbing her arm and trying to push it away.

She stabbed my leg, pulling it out and pushing it back in.

“STOP!!” I shouted, crying.

She stabbed my torso, my thighs, my heart…

Everything turned black.

(Liza)

I stand there, wobbling on my somewhat stable leg.

I did it.

I killed her.

I killed Ria.

I killed her.

I did it i did it i did it i-

“DROP YOUR WEAPON!” A voice behind me shouts.

I slowly turn around, people standing behind me.

Cops. Citizens. Mayor Rossman.

“Liza..” My dad says, somewhat lowering his weapon.

He looks disgusted. Disgusted at me.

I took someone’s life.

“Put the knife down,” He says, bringing his gun back up, shaking his hands, fear and disgust and sadness in his eyes.

“Dad,” I say, and I feel tears stream my face.

He just stands there, his gun aimed at me, ready to shoot me if I were to do something irrational.

“I killed her..” I say, dropping my knife onto the ground. “I’m a murderer… I-” 

I drop to the ground, crying, sobbing. “I did it… I’m the monster… I’m a criminal!!”
I ball my hands into fists, gently punching the ground because I was too tired, too weak, too exhausted.

Mayor Rossman stares at Ria’s body, Mrs. Rossman sobbing into him.

“I’m sorry!!” I say, my entire body shaking. “I… I’m sorry…”

My dad takes out handcuffs, gently putting my limp arms into them.

The ambulance takes me to the hospital.

I lay in the hospital bed, listening as Mayor Rossman yells at my dad, Mrs. Rossman sobbing, crying out “My baby… my baby…”

I took her away from them.

I ruined their lives, forever. 

I can’t make it up to them, I’m the monster who killed their baby.

Everything that happens afterward is a blur.

(Liza)

The memories replay in my mind. 

My headaches get worse. I can only hear Ria’s screams, getting louder and louder each day.

No one understands. They give me medicine, they tell me it’s not real, but it is.

The screams haunt me. The memories won’t leave me.

I want it to end I want it to end I want it to end I-

(Gwen)

THE CASE OF LIZA BURGMAN

On September 22nd, 2006, a case that had shocked the small suburban town, and the most devastating, was brought into light. 

The town had seen many, many gruesome cases in their time, but none like the case of young Liza Burgman. 

Liza Burgman was a 13 year old girl who had been missing weeks prior to the murder of Ria Rossman.

Ria Rossman was believed to have been on her way to her house, when she saw the woman Burgman had killed before being reported missing.

Rossman had called 911, when she ran into the woods.

When Burgman was in trial, she had claimed that there had been a ‘monster’ that had killed the woman, and had taken the form of Ria, who she then killed soon after.

We still don’t know the identity of the first woman Liza had killed, and according to her, neither does she. If anyone knows the identity of the woman, please help forensics give her family clarity and call-

September 1st, 2009, two years after the death of Ria Rossman, Liza Burgman was found dead.

They believe she had taken her own life, though it’s not entirely clear what she used to have had it done.

They did find, however, a note that she had written prior to her death;

“I’m sorry to everyone. I had killed two innocent people, and I’m sorry. I’m a monster. I’m a monster who has destroyed two families. I’m so sorry.”