Alex MacNeil

The cold conference room has a wide wood desk with ten comfortable-looking office chairs surrounding it. Eight of the chairs are already occupied by kids roughly my age. Naturally, they all glance my way as I file into one of the two remaining chairs, trying to conceal the fact that I was just bounding up the stairs a minute ago feeling quite flustered about almost being late. I don’t even have time to get a good look at everyone, or realize that they’re all dressed in much more casual attire than me, before the girl seated next to me says, “Are you here for the internship program or the GQ photoshoot?” I hear a few snickers around the room as I take a millisecond to assess her appearance. She’s wearing a pink floral shirt tucked into maroon pants. She’s a bold-looking girl with dark, wavy hair, tan skin, and stunning blue eyes that almost take me by surprise. She may be attractive, but I can tell by her facetious smirk and willingness to poke fun at someone she hasn’t even met yet that she’s probably a walking headache. But I won’t let myself be intimidated by her. “Yeah, it’s right after the Ann Taylor fashion show.” She lets out a touché laugh. “This is actually from Target, but I’m glad you can’t tell the difference.” She extends her hand to me and I shake it. “I’m Vanessa.” “Hayden,” I exchange. “Is this your first internship?” she asks. “Yeah,” I admit, feeling like I somehow just exposed myself to everyone. “Yours?” Vanessa chuckles. “No. This is my second summer at Channel Nine. If all goes well I’ll be working full-time once I graduate next year,” she explains pridefully. “Where do you go to school?” “UPenn,” I say as casually as I can, because I’m quite sure I’m the only Ivy Leaguer here. “Ah, that explains the slick attire,” a boy to the left of Vanessa says. He pops his head around to make eye contact with me. “I’m Tim,” he introduces brightly. “News desk intern. What are you doing here this summer, Hayden?” I quickly try and remember the title Manny said my position was because, again, I was kind of tuning him out last month. And speaking of Manny, I suddenly wonder where he is and if he’s going to come find me today. “Um— I’m an operations intern,” I say rather tentatively, because that doesn’t sound as cool as Tim’s title. Vanessa snorts. “Operations? I don’t think we had an Operations Intern last summer. What does that even mean?” “Umm,” I stammer, because that’s a great question. I can feel the eyes of all eight interns stare through me as I struggle to answer such a simple question that I definitely should know. “I was just told I’d be helping out with everything this summer.” Vanessa laughs again. “Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh.” I suddenly can’t tell whether Vanessa is just an incredibly up-front-no-social-anxiety person or if she’s hard core judging me. “Is your dad the executive producer or something?” “What? No,” I say hastily because the last thing I want is for people to think nepotism was involved in my hiring. Well, Manny is basically the only reason I’m here. But that’s not nepotism, technically. “Just making sure,” Vanessa says with a fleeting chuckle. I look around at the other six interns who’ve been silent this whole time, and I quietly wish Vanessa could be more reserved like them. Tim’s head curls around Vanessa’s hair again to shoot me a friendly glance. “Well, I look forward to working with you this summer, Hayden. Not all of us are as off-putting as Vanessa.” He shoots an impish look at Vanessa who gets playfully defensive. “I was just asking him questions!” she innocently says, as I get the instinctive impression that Tim and Vanessa go way back.

Thursday, February 9th, 2023 6:12pm “Who are you? What are you doing?” Gabby’s voice breaks as that last word comes out. A large figure has just emerged from behind her car, parked some ten yards from where she’s currently standing frozen in her tracks. It’s past sunset and it’s impossible to make out who this person could be. But they don’t answer Gabby’s questions. The figure, which Gabby can now see is a man, is striding toward her. He’s wearing a baseball cap tugged low on his forehead and a black hoodie pulled over his head. Whatever he wants, it can’t be good. Gabby fumbles in her pocket for her keys, looking for the pepper spray that’s attached to her lanyard— something she never thought she’d have to seriously use. It’s just her and this man in the gravel parking lot. Behind her is the entrance to a running trail that extends infinitely in either direction along the Scioto river. A single orange, fluorescent light illuminates the trail bathroom across the lot. There’s a road that connects to the trail’s parking lot on Gabby’s right, but it’s not a popular road and used mainly by trail-goers. It’s completely silent besides the man’s feet crunching on the gravel. Gabby’s just finished her run for the evening: six miles. It’s become her staple run, and a run she does nearly every evening on this exact trail. Her mom had constantly expressed her uneasiness with Gabby going for runs at night. But at this time of year, the sun rises after Gabby starts school and sets before she finishes her homework for the evening. Besides, this is Dublin, Ohio, Gabby would say. Nothing bad happens around here. “Who are you?!” Gabby’s voice has returned with much more authority. Her palm is grasping the pepper spray with it already half-pulled from her running shorts. Her index finger switches the safety off. And when the man doesn’t answer her and continues stalking forward, she’s done asking questions. She whips the pink-nozzle pepper spray in front of her face with the assortment of keys jangling violently below it. “Don’t make me use it! STOP!” A lead pipe slides out from the man’s right sleeve and materializes in his palm. Which Gabby now sees is protected by a black leather glove. She sprays at the same time the man swipes the cold metal toward her outstretched arm. Barely any spray gets out as the lead cracks over her wrist and sends her pepper spray and keychain flying across the gravel. White hot pains shoots through Gabby’s wrist and up her forearm as she lets out an agonizing screech. But adrenaline surges through her and masks the pain momentarily. She swipes her leg and connects with the side of the man’s knee. He falters just enough to delay his next strike, which gives Gabby time to turn and make a run for it. “HELP!” she screams at the top of her lungs. Her feet carry her to the entrance of the trail before the man’s arms wrap around her neck and jerk her into his chest. Gabby screams again as her initial attempt to wiggle free is unsuccessful. He drags her backward and shoves an open palm over her mouth to muffle her next scream. “Shut up, bitch,” the man hisses as he struggles to get full control over the flailing Gabby. With his other hand, he throws a piece of rope around her neck. But before he can get it fully around, Gabby opens her mouth and bites down on his index finger, getting a taste of leather as she feels the material break beneath her bite. The man screech’s into the bitter night as he clutches his mangled finger. Gabby drops to her knees as her attacker stumbles backward in agony. Thinking fast, she donkey kicks him in the kneecap. He curses loudly and tumbles backward onto the ground with a thud. With the man on the ground, Gabby is faced with a sudden choice. She could run for the trail again to try and outrun him, or she could make a break for her pepper spray, lying next to a parking barrier. With no time to follow anything other than her gut, she scrambles to her feet and sprints for the pink pepper spray. “HELP!” she screech’s once more. She lunges for the lanyard and grabs it off the gravel. But before she can even stand back up, the man tackles her to the earth. Gabby lets out a helpless grunt as her face digs into the gravel, feeling the unmovable weight of the man compress her desperate body. He grunts as he pulls the rope around her neck, this time much more successfully. He squeezes it tighter and tighter until Gabby begins gagging. Her hands are pinned under her chest, and her desperate attempt to wiggle them out only drain her energy further. It’s in this moment, as she struggles for the air that won’t come, that she senses her fate. That this is it. And instead of worrying about how she’s going to get her pinched arm out, or about how she’ll reach her pepper spray, her mind wanders to all the things she’s leaving behind. That cute boy in her calculus class that she was hoping would take her to prom in a few months. One of her few friends, Sammy, who works at the coffee shop Gabby would hang out at, who would surely have Gabby’s staple iced vanilla latte ready for her tomorrow, only to find that Gabby would never be there again. Her mother, who’d been rightly stressed about all the fucked-upness of their life. Those college acceptance letters on the table that she needed to make a decision on (she was going to choose Michigan, she knew. She was just waiting for how she’d tell her mother, who wanted her to stay close to their new home in Columbus). Her younger sister, Emily, who was in the Children’s Hospital here in Columbus, whose leukemia had returned two years prior and whose condition had worsened drastically the past few months. Her father, who’d left Gabby’s mom during Emily’s first bout with leukemia and moved to Chicago, who had only just recently started to try to repair the relationship with Gabby. Her mind can’t compute that all these things will go on without her. What will her mother do? Will she be able to cope with losing one daughter now, and another one inevitably soon after? Will her father be able to live with the guilt? How long will Emily make it? Her next gag is more of a whimper. She feels a tear roll down her cheek. And as the darkness begins to close in, she feels her heart break for all the loose ends being left untied. Somehow she feels that this is her fault. Maybe if she’d just listened to her mother and found a treadmill to run on. Why did she have to be so stubborn? Why did she have to find any little opportunity to rebel when her mother was already so worried about Emily and making ends meet to pay for the cancer treatment bills? As her breath fails to come, in one last futile attempt, she prays to see the light. Prays to feel any ounce of peace. But no such feelings come. The world fades slowly at first, then all at once. And the last fleeting thought that crosses her mind before entering the darkness, was that none of it made sense.

How To Catch a Serial Killer Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Mystery Story Statement: Discover the killer behind the murders of Gabby Palermo and McKenzie Pruitt before they strike again while finding reason and purpose in his own life Antagonistic Force: Dr. David Weller is a licensed therapist by day and serial killer by hobby. His reemergence after a twenty year hiatus is what inadvertently drives Hayden into his existential crisis. By his sociopathic nature, Dr. Weller has no regard for others feelings and fuels his deviant desires through the strangling of women, particularly young women with their whole lives ahead of them. Without Dr. Weller’s murder of Gabby, and especially McKenzie, Hayden would not have had to face the complicated thoughts regarding people’s purpose, fulfillment, and whether things truly happen for a reason. Breakout Title: How to Catch a Serial Killer – Hayden is assigned a summer paper for a fall semester class, a “How To” paper regarding one’s summer job/internship responsibilities. When Everything Felt Okay – A play on a line in the book, focusing on the coming-of-age aspect of the novel. The Summer I Caught a Killer – A coming-of-age themed title with reference to the central mystery driving the novel and Hayden’s personal growth. Comparison Titles: Paper Towns by John Green – A classic coming-of-age story as 18-year-old Quentin attempts to find love interest Margo who inexplicably disappears after an unforgettable night together. One of the main themes of Green’s novel is friendship and how Quentin understands that human connection and authentic friendship is still possible despite everyone’s pitfalls. Friendship is a central theme in How to Catch a Serial Killer as well, however, mine focuses more on the necessary crumbling of Hayden’s ego-driven need for independence. The Summer of Everything by Julian Winters – A novel focusing on a recent high school graduate's transition to adulthood and how he confronts new adult issues like what he wants to do with his life and issues in his love life. My novel also hits a lot of these notes regarding Hayden’s purpose and identity, specifically after he realizes his dream career isn’t so dreamy after all and problems in his love life force him face difficult crossroads. Logline: In the midst of an existential crisis driven by a crappy summer internship, a young college student seeks to catch the murderer of two young women in order to stop the killer before their next victim and renew his crumbling sense of purpose and reason Conditions for Inner Conflict: Hayden’s turmoil stems from his loss of passion for his dream career whilst being confronted with his own mortality. This conjures hard questions about whether he has a real purpose in life, if death is truly random, and whether he will be able to do something great with his life before he dies. Primary Conflict: Trigger: Being assigned to assist in covering the story of a murdered college girl, seeing her body underneath the white sheet and later hearing of all the great plans she had for her life. Reaction: Spiraling into an existential crisis as he considers the fact that this girl, just like him, had grand plans to do awesome things in life and yet was taken seemingly too soon. This makes him confront questions regarding if there is such a thing as destiny, or fate, or if he could die at the drop of a hat and his life would amount to nothing. Secondary Conflict: Trigger: His bubbling feelings for Vanessa, while still being committed to his long distance situationship with Anna, exploding during a night at the lake with friends where he and Vanessa connect on a deeper level and share an intimate moment. Reaction: Panicking over who is right for him, whether Vanessa is “supposed” to be in his life (and vice versa with Anna), and if it’s all happening for a reason or if he’s just a shitty person who can’t restrain his feelings for a girl he can’t have. Setting Primary Setting: Columbus, OH. A lowkey, Midwest setting that allows for Hayden’s reluctance to return home to be understandable, while being able to mix-in both urban scenes and more scenic and outdoorsy vibes. Secondary setting: Channel Nine Station An office setting where we see Hayden underwhelmed at what his “dream career” actually looks like. It’s a place to create interesting, relatable scenes out of seemingly mundane tasks and responsibilities. It’s also a forum for personal growth for Hayden as he learns what actual work looks like and how to conduct himself around superiors and colleagues.