Victimology 101: my favorite class. Professor Riley, who we all call Dr. R, always makes things interesting.

"Today," he announces to the class, "we will learn about what exactly female murder victims go through, but first I will need some volunteers."

The girls, ready to earn good grades, eagerly raise their hands to volunteer. Professor picks five young women.

The first (Megan Williams, 21) is probably the most beautiful girl on campus. Her skinny, tall figure; well-toned, tanned legs; and long blonde hair that flows graciously around her shoulders as she makes her way to the front of the class all combine for supermodel-like visuals.

The second (Abby Reeves, 18) is a smaller girl. Still quite attractive, she has a more down to earth beauty. Her dark brown hair contrasts her pale, unblemished skin, and her think glasses give her a geeky charm.

The third girl (Jeanette O'Leary, 18) is an exchange student from Ireland. She has fiery red hair and her cheeks are covered with freckles. She is also exceptionally pretty.

The fourth (Akari Yagami, 17) is probably the cutest Japanese girl I had ever seen. Her beautiful features are framed by her jet black hair, and her petite frame is perfectly formed.

The fifth and final girl, (Ellie Bradshaw, 19) is the most stand-out to me. She is average build with short dirty blonde hair and deep blue eyes, but her features are exceptionally gorgeous. I have always had a thing for Ellie.

With all five girls standing on the small stage at the front of the class, Dr. R leads each of them to one of the chairs behind them. He straps each of them to her chair at the wrists and ankles before turning to the class, clapping his hands together, and saying, "We are ready to begin."

He begins with Megan. He unbuttons her shirt halfway down and pulls the collar away from her neck. There is stress on her face behind the excitement to participate in one of Dr. R's demonstrations. He walks over to a table with the various weapons that we learned about last class, and chooses and switchblade knife.

"The knife," He begins as he approaches Megan, "is a common instrument used in murders. This is understandable, as its applications are many. Easily concealed and often untraceable, the flash of cold steel is an excellent harbinger of death." He steps behind the girl, pulls back her head by her hair, and slashes her throat in one quick motion with the thin blade. Blood spurts from her neck and a drop of blood lands on my notebook paper (one of the many benefits of sitting in the front row).

"As you can see," he explains as the girl coughs and gurgles in front of him, "a slit throat is a messy ordeal. Right now, her body is going into shock. She can't feel the pain yet, just her hot blood pouring into her lungs with each beat of her straining heart." He pats her hair and twitches in her seat. "Bleeding out can be a long process, so we'll come back to her." Her head drops and her hair obscured her face as he walks back to the weapons table.

He wipes the switchblade clean and sets it back down. "Many murders happen in the victims home," He says as he picks of a large kitchen knife. "A kitchen knife is very lethal, but a little less graceful." Stepping up to Abby, he takes a second to admire her as she strains against the bonds that hold her in place. Then, he steps in close and punctures her belly twice. He raises his voice above her screams that echo through the large classroom. "It will only take a few seconds before her screams subside and her body weakens from the loss of blood." Sure enough, within a ten seconds the blood curdling screams taper off to a pitiful whimper. "Fear," He explains, "often clouds a victims judgement." He motions to the leather straps at her wrists and then pulls her hand out easily. "She was so overcome by fear, she didn't realize all she had to do was relax and pull her hands out." He places her hand back into the leather strap and tightens it down. Her steps away from her slumped body.

"Our next vic-, sorry, I mean volunteer, is lucky." He snickers as he picks up a 9mm pistol and screws on a silencer. "We don't want to disturb the other classes." He explains. Jeanette, seeing what happened to her other two classmates struggles for her life as Dr. R walks slowly toward her. "The pistol, when used properly, will quickly and effectively dispatch a victim, with little chance of survival." He places the gun to the side of her head, and angles it toward the floor, so as not to his the other volunteers. He pulls the trigger, and blood and brain matter blow out the other side, splattering on the floor. "As opposed to the others," he notes as her body twitches in her seat, "her body is still fighting even though her brain is gone. In Megan's case," he walks back over to the first girl and lifts her head, "for the most part, her body has succumbed to death, as you can see by the slow trickle of blood from her throat; however, inside, her brain is still fighting wildly to live." He walks back to the table to set down the pistol. "That's why Miss Jeanette was lucky."

Before proceeding to Akari, he stops in front of Abby and shines a flashlight in her eyes. "Still alive!" he announces. Her ragged breath rattles in the back of her throat and he adds, "But quickly on her way out" before moving on to the trembling Japanese girl. He walks once around her, and then stops behind her. "Another common method of murder, involves no accessories at all. The only weapon used is the killer's own body." Dr. R takes Akari's small head in his hands, one hand tightly over her mouth, and the other at the top. Her eyes are wide with terror for a second, and then in one rapid motion he twists her head around with a loud crack until it is nearly facing backwards. A muffled squeal is the only sound she makes as one violent spasm racks her fragile frame. "Damaging the spinal cord results in interesting muscular reflexes," he explains after her body falls still. He pulls her skirt up to her waist revealing urine soaked panties. "With nerve damage, the victim often looses continence and wets herself. Did you know," Dr. R adds as a side note, "that she can still be sexually stimulated for a few minutes after her spinal cord is severed?" He demonstrates by pulling her panties to her knees and vigorously stimulating her vulva. He slips his fingers inside and they return covered in sticky wet.

He wipes his hands clean and returns to Megan. He brushes her hair back to reveal her face, now pasty white. "Dead." He announces. The blood on her throat is now dark and congealed. He moves on to Abby. He places his fingers at her neck and feels for a pulse. "Another one dead. Now we move on to the final method of death that we are covering today," He picks up a thin cord from the table. "Which happens to be my favorite." Ellie is tense as he approaches her. "Now dear," he says as he wraps the cord around her neck," I want you to take a nice deep breath." She breaths in deeply as he instructs and just as she fills her lungs, the cord tightens. "We want to keep this going as long as possible." For a moment she sits in the chair concentrating on holding her breath. Then, after a few seconds, her mouth opens wide, but only a low choking sound comes out. Dr. R gets a better grip on the cord and pulls it tighter, silencing the girl completely. Her fingers grasp at the chair and her legs move against the bonds at her ankles. Her back arches out of the chair as her body fights for any way to take another breath. "Asphyxiation happens rather quickly." Explains Dr. R. "Right now her body is filling with adrenaline, making her much stronger than usual, but within seconds of losing access to air, there will be a sudden drop in her strength." Her motions begin to slow as he continues strangling her. "A few more seconds and her senses will begin fading. Right now, her lungs will be burning, and her head aching for oxygen that her body is unable to supply." Her mouth is moving, silently begging for air. "Within six seconds she is completely subdued. A few more seconds of oxygen deprivation and her brain begins to die." Her releases the cord but she is completely still. Her head falls back and her mouth hangs open. "Right now, she can hear, see, and feel nearly everything, but her body is unresponsive. Her throat is swollen shut and her heart has stopped. Her nerves are dying, beginning in her extremities, sending a sense of icy pain followed by numbness. It eventually spreads through her whole body." He motions everyone in the room to be quiet. In the erie silence, we can hear the remnants of her last breath making its way through her throat as her body relaxes. "Her brain, still active, is using up its last supply of the oxygen it desperately needs, until finally it too succumbs to a painful death." He lifts her head up to let everyone see as her lovely blue eyes widen ever so slightly, before becoming dull and vacant. "Dead." He declares after a few seconds, and lets her head drop.

"Alright, class time was nearly over." Dr. R steps over to his podium. "Remember, in lab tomorrow each of you will get some hands on experience with these girls and weapons-feel free to mix and match." As he talks, Megan, Abby, Jeanette, Akari, and Ellie walk out from a viewing room in the back. "And," He adds, "Thank you, young ladies for participating; your clones were a pleasure to work with." He turns back to the rest of the class, "Remember, we will have an all new set of young women next week when we demonstrate more murder scenarios, which you won't want to miss. As always, anyone who wants to, feel free to take our in-class projects home with you, a good body should never go to waste, but please remember to return the body bags next class. Don't forget to do your homework. You are all dismissed."

I quickly hop onto the stage and claim Ellie's body (the other advantage of sitting in the front row). I zip her up into the black bag and head back to my dorm, thinking of how much I am really looking forward to lab tomorrow.