9
Thanatophobia
Sable sighed heavily, scanning her eyes over her map of clues. Her current case had her stumped. The culprit was obviously targeting people's greatest fears, but...who was the next victim? There was a pattern, but even after searching known and common phobias she didn't know of any other people with intense fears. Heights, water, spiders, everything! Groaning, she let her head drop to the table.
It was strange; despite everything, no one had died yet. The fear most likely was worse than death, she assumed. So twisted a person must be to torture others with that kind of mentality….
As her thoughts connected to everything, an odd idea crossed her mind. Perhaps, this person feared death itself?
Picking up her previously made files of the other victims, she quickly sifted through them for any promising information. Each one held a diagnosed phobia. And each had been forced to endure it by an unknown assailant. It was a curious case to be sure; aside from a phobia the victims had nothing in common. The culprit never even left any sort of evidence for his motives either.
Back to skimming the internet, she stopped as an interesting definition caught her eye.
Thanatophobia: an abnormal fear of death.
“So it was a legitimate phobia, how interesting,” she thought. A crooked smirk twisted her lips up, inky black locks fell into her face as she chuckled. Clicking on an origin link, her lopsided smile widened.