On the very first Monday of January 2023, the odd twins are parking outside of a building with various plaques on its front. One of them said: Amine Bennani psychiatre-neurologue-addictologue. It was after hours, the receptionist was about to see them off when Said informed her that they were here to see his brother. Mona was calling out to a small orange kitten.

- 'Pshpshpshpsh.'

- 'I see you've met Peanut Butter.' Said Amine . He was dressed just like a math teacher and smelled like sanitising gel and freshly ironed clothes.

- - 'You named him Peanut Butter?' Said Mona while she took it off her lap.

- 'It's a she, and no, I didn't name her. The kids who come here did, they were brainstorming for hours, and then they voted. Second to "Peanut Butter" was "Caramel".'

Said kept staring at the two of them and their very strange conversation.

- 'We're requiring your services.' Declared Said.

- 'Anything wrong?'

- 'I have an essay to write, an epistemological one, and I need some info.'

Amine seems quelque peu reluctant, the odd twins exchanged nervous looks. Amine lead them to his office, the décor was traditional Japanese wood, there was even a little bonsai on his desk, his library was stacked with ultra-thick books , a copy of the DSM-V caught Mona's attention. He gestured for the twins to take a seat on a comfortable divan, there laid a woollen rug.

- 'What is your essay about?'

- 'It's about suicide in pessimism, I'd like to compare Schopenhauer's and Leopardi's views to what psychiatry has to say about suicide.'

- 'I'm not sure what you mean. What is it that you want to know?'

- 'Here's the thing, I don't even know what I'm looking for.'Mona seems very much embarrassed and stares down at her shoes.

- 'I can recommend you some articles if you like. I'll email them to you.'

- 'We, hum, I'm actually afraid that I would misinterpret any research on the topic of suicide, that's precisely why I came to you.'

- 'You know what? I think you'll manage on your own, and if you're stuck, you know where to find me.'

- 'Thanks, Amine.'

Said was standing up, looking at the family picture on his brother's desk.'

- 'Is something wrong?' Amine said to a moping Said.

- 'I'm okay.' The latter answered.

- 'Right. You know, you seem quite grumpy for someone named Said.'

- 'Said, more like ka'eeb. Sorry, that was a bad joke, on top of being rude.' Added Mona

- 'Say goodbye to Peanut Butter.' Replied Said.

- 'Oh, you're leaving already? Need a ride?'

- 'No thank you, we drove here.'

- 'Alright, talk to you later.' Amine said with a tight smile. The receptionist had already left and now he was closing the door of his practice after checking that all of the kittens were in the yard and not hiding somewhere in a drawer like they usually do. Now, back to the twins.

- 'Well look at you, lying like une arracheuse de dents to my expert-at-reading-body-language brother.' Exclaimed Said.

- 'Who said anything about lying?' Mona puts on her soft woollen gloves, she had embroided her initials on them.

- 'That thing you said about Schoppi and what's his name...'

- 'All true. You seriously didn't think I was lying back there?'

She pointed to the door of the building they just exited.

- 'I'd never', she scoffs, 'not only does it go against everything we believe in, but it also makes you ugly.'

- 'Get in the car.' Said says cinically.'

- 'I'm for real. I saw the other day that apparently when someone lies, their nose becomes inflamed, it's what the story of Pinocchio comes from , so they say.'

- 'And what is your source?

- 'A series...'

They heard a door thudding, it was Amine, he had just finished locking up. Without noticing the twins, he got into his BMW. For your information, Said's car used to belong to Amine, the latter gave it away to his brother to make space for what is commonly considered the car of successful people. Anyway, back to the story.

- 'I reread this article about Habib, it says that they found oxycodone in his system. Do you know what that is?' Said Mona.

- 'Oxy? That's an opioid, a painkiller, the kind they use on cancer patients it's usually hard to find. Was Habib sick?' Replied Said

- 'No, that's what's puzzling me, I find myself in a lot of cul-de-sacs when it comes to those fake suicides.'

- 'Do you have a Facebook account?' Said suddenly says.

- 'I'm under 40 , so, no.'

- 'Doghmi's death occurred about ten years ago, he must have had a Facebook page where he could have shared pictures of his girlfriend, AKA, the killer.'

- 'Of course!'

- 'I'll create a fake account and we'll look into it then.'

###

A few moments later, Mona and Said are in her living room, Said's glasses were reflecting the navy blue of Facebook's interface.

- 'Karim Doghmi, Doghmi Karim. There's one with a profile picture that says "To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return" , it has to be this one.'

Mona clicked on the profile and, as expected, it was blank. Except for messages of condolences and photos of Doghmi where he was smiling, as well as childhood pictures.

- 'Check if he isn't tagged on any post. Oh, this one's at a party. Look at the comments.'

- 'Mmmh, nothing pertinent.'

- 'That's impossible. There should be something, somewhere, anything at all.' Said Knotted his brows.'

- 'I think Fleabag's playing with us.' Declares Mona.

- 'You found a nickname for the killer?'

- 'All serial killers have one, besides, this one is not particularly flattering or glorifying.'

- 'What does it even mean?'

- 'It refers to a woman who gets into fits of anger and violence instead of facing her problems with more...tact. It's a bit like an incel, if you like.'

- 'Can you believe that such a person still roams around our city, maybe they're in our neighbourhood, for all we know.'

- 'We wouldn't even recognise them if we met them. If they committed all of those crimes and are still committing them without getting caught, it means they're good at hiding who they really are.'

- 'Fleabag could be our baker, a bus driver, they could be anybody.'

- 'No matter how good you are at deduction, biases will still influence your judgement.'

- 'I'm having a headache.'

- 'There should be aspirin on the kitchen counter.'

On his way to the kitchen, Said ran into Oumayma.

- 'Is your head aching?' She asked.

- 'Yeah.' Said poured water over the aspirine, a soothing fizzing sound filled the atay glass he was holding in his right hand.'

- 'I see you two have been working pretty hard, lately. I understand you'd be burning out.'

- 'I'm always burnt out.'

- 'Student life?'

- 'Overachiever.'

- 'Yeah, well, perhaps a break would do you some good. I mean, if you don't want to get burned, don't stick your hand on the stove.'

- 'Sorry?'

- 'Drink up. Your aspirin's ready.'

Said came back to a foggy Mona, Tux was sleeping, his head resting on his paws.

- 'Sachenka!' she startled him, 'my brain is so foggy, I need something salty. Let's go to the konbini.'

- 'If that prevents you from rhyming...'

Mona and Said walked a couple blocks to the first and only Japanese convenience store of the city. She headed to the ramen aisle and picked the chicken noodle soup flavour. After adding hot water to her instant noodles, she put in there a fair amount of mozzarella sticks, just like those vloggers .

- 'You must be really hungry.' Says Said before biting into a Popsicle.

- 'I'm five foot ten, I work out six times a week and lift weights. Got to get those macros in.

- 'Six times! How do you find time for that?'

- 'I just do.'

- 'All I can ever work out are my hands.'

- 'Ew, seriously Said? And I'm eating, on top of that.' Said Mona with a grimace.

- 'No, no that's not what I meant. I have a gripper that I've been using pretty much every day, helps me manage my stress. They work for me so much better than those rubber anti-stress balls, I always deflate those.'

- 'I feel bad for them.'

- 'The rubber balls?'

- 'Fleabag. Maybe if someone could show them a bit of love, listen to them and don't view them as a monster, give them a chance, then they could lower their guard and finally put an end to this entire massacre.'

- 'You feel bad for the killer?'

- 'Of course I do. The reason they do this is because they feel angry, frustrated but are rejected by society, by their peers. If they can feel accepted... I'm just saying that hating on them would be so unhelpful.'

- 'The streets are getting empty, Masha. We better go , now.'

- 'Sure, I forgot the time. I'll just grab some peanut butter cups, that kitten's name gave me a craving.'

Said threw his Popsicle stick in a bin and they were both on their way home.

- 'Said, I must tell you to be honest that I don't exactly feel safe these days. I have a bad feeling about this.' She said with watery eyes.

- 'Hey, no, no, it's okay, nothing's going to happen to you.'

- 'I'm really scared, what's gotten into me?'

- 'Let's go home, I'll send Tux over to you, if you want.'

Mona was trembling all over, and Said, knowing her, believed that it was not without reason, that they had indeed something to be scared of.

When she got home, Mona spent a reasonable amount of time, unlike Said, reading articles, dissertations etc. that Amine had sent her, and it probably explains the nightmare she's about to have, at least partly.