《Hiding In Plain Sight》 Arrival The plane landed in Montrose, Colorado on a Saturday. Evan stepped out of the plane, yawning. The flight¡¯s departure had been scheduled for 11 A.M. but his friends were anxious and had insisted upon getting to the airport three hours before the takeoff. They always poked fun at Evan, saying he was a ¡°bad luck charm¡± of sorts and they didn¡¯t want to miss this flight due to some unexplained phenomenon. Granted, the validity of that claim had a pretty strong backing to it. His friends once went hiking in Arizona without him and they had a great time. Beautiful views, wonderful memories, and a magical experience all around. Every time Evan would tag along, though, they would have fun until an unexplainable accident happened. There was the time someone rolled their ankle at the top of the trail, which caused a group effort to carry the wounded hiker down three miles of declining terrain. Then there was the great scorpion debacle. ¡°Who did that happen to again,¡± he asked himself as he subconsciously rubbed the stubble on his chin. ¡°Get the hell out of the way, dude.¡± Evan¡¯s eyes lit up again as he turned around and began to say, ¡°Do you have a problem?¡± He¡¯s pretty sure that his voice trailed off after the word ¡®have¡¯ and his short-term memory flooded back in. He was staring at his friend Tyrone. Tyrone¡¯s girlfriend soon poked her head out from behind his broad shoulders and briefly glanced at the two of them. ¡°What¡¯s the hold up, guys?¡± Her name was Jennifer. Evan began realizing he was partially clogging up the exit of the plane and started walking to the double doors that would lead him to the airport. Evan found himself slightly annoyed that Jennifer was here. It was nothing against her, just the idea of her. He realized that this rationalization felt quite a bit more offensive than he originally intended when the thought came to him. It¡¯s just that when he had proposed the idea of going to stay at his family¡¯s vacation home in Telluride, Colorado for spring break; he only thought of going with a couple of guy friends. Of course, his male friends all had girlfriends. This forced the two girls to be factored into the equation and much to his shock; his parents were fine with it. ¡°They¡¯d never let me have a girl over here without some supervision. They¡¯d probably install cameras in every room to make sure there was no fooling around going on.¡± Evan chuckled at this thought and then grimaced at how creepy of an idea that would be. He reached the airport entrance and turned around to make sure his friends were all accounted for; all four of them. Tyrone and Jennifer stopped next to him. Evan was taller than Tyrone, but lanky. He was an unimpressive brunette that was good enough to score a date with an attractive girl, but if he admitted to someone that he¡¯d been single for the past four years, it wouldn¡¯t particularly come as a shock. The group of friends were all seniors at Arizona State University. Tyrone had long locks that came down four inches past his shoulders. He was muscular and dark skinned with a few family-centric tattoos scattered across his body. He was actually a walk-on running back his freshman year until he realized that he wasn¡¯t great at multitasking and almost failed his first semester of school. His girlfriend Jennifer was the stereotypical psychology major who believed she was already a trained therapist, with a dash of psychic. She was short, around five feet and a quarter. That left two others. Evan turned to Tyrone and asked, ¡°Weren¡¯t Tony and Anne right behind you?¡± Tyrone shrugged, ¡°I dunno. When I left my seat they were still snoring. A flight attendant will probably throw them off eventually.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say thrown off, but thanks for not waking us up, dicks.¡± The low voice came from a chubby Korean guy with a flannel shirt on and shorts. Tony was a funny looking guy or at least that¡¯s what Evan thought. He always had on some type of flannel with sporting shorts. Not that Tony would ever even entertain the thought of playing a sport. He had glasses and some traces of acne, but he was smart. Not ¡°racist caricature of Asians¡± smart. Tony was out-of-this-world smart. Maybe that¡¯s what got him his girlfriend, Anne. She was Vietnamese American and smitten with Tony. She was about five feet and ten inches, which was enough to beat Tony by a couple. She was slender, a regular pretty girl and valedictorian of her high school class. She met Tony in college and became just a regular person. Maybe she liked feeling like a regular person. Tyrone replied to Tony, ¡°Hey man, ain¡¯t our fault you fell asleep on a short flight.¡± ¡°No, but it is your fault that we went to the airport so damn early. What are you, paranoid?¡± ¡°I¡¯m punctual. Some people find it a very attractive trait.¡± He gave Jennifer the side-eye look. Tony raised his eyebrow, ¡°Well unless you¡¯re trying to get your boss to fall in love with you, might want to find a new way to be punctual.¡± Evan intervened, ¡°Hey guys let¡¯s look for a guy holding a sign with my name. He should be driving us over to Telluride.¡± Anne¡¯s face lit up and asked, ¡°Ooooh, will he be chauffeuring us around the entire time?¡± Evan chuckled and shook his head, ¡°Sorry to disappoint, but we have a Jeep over at the house that we can use.¡± Jennifer asked, ¡°So are we gonna rent our skis and stuff today?¡± Tyrone snorted, ¡°Skis? You must have me confused, I¡¯m snowboarding.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Even replied, ¡°Tyrone, we know. Jen, yeah. We¡¯ll get them today but we¡¯ll probably just hang back at the house. Show you guys around, maybe drink a little.¡± Tony grinned and nodded, ¡°A little? You know Tony can only drink a lot.¡± Evan chuckled, ¡°Yeah and it¡¯s weird as hell that you refer to yourself in the third person so much. ¡° The group arrived at the front of their home for the next week. It was a two-story cabin with snow piles on either side of it, a few on the roof, and a small one taking shape at the front. The white enveloped the entire background and gave the cabin a sort of safe-haven type of feel to it. Jennifer asked, ¡°Is anyone else¡¯s service pretty spotty out here?¡± Tony responded, ¡°Yeah, plenty of natural interference around here. I¡¯m sure the undying devotees that follow you on IG can wait a little while to get updated, though.¡± Jennifer gave him a sarcastic grin and the group began getting out of the car. ¡°Damn, look at that,¡± Tyrone exclaimed, pointing towards the driveway of Evan¡¯s neighbor. A black Range Rover shimmered in its partially wet glory. The body of the vehicle didn¡¯t seem to have lost any luster. It looked brand new. ¡°It¡¯s nice, right?¡± The voice broke the group out of their trance and they looked to the front door of the neighboring house to see what created it. It was the neighbor, as if it would be anyone else. He was a tall, muscular man who had graying hairs on the side. He was probably in his lower forties, but in great shape. Evan called back (the houses were about forty yards from one another), ¡°Yes, sir! It¡¯s a beauty and it looks brand new!¡± ¡°You¡¯re right! That¡¯s because it is brand new! Drove her up here myself,¡± the man began walking towards them so that they could stop halfway shouting at one another, ¡°The name¡¯s Mel.¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m Evan. This is Tyrone, Jennifer, Tony, and Anne. So I guess this means that the Petersons moved out?¡± ¡°Ah, yes. They downsized, couldn¡¯t afford to keep this house on his salary and her bitchy attitude. Of course that¡¯s all speculation based on the arguing they did in front of me,¡± Mel noticed a collectively awkward eye shift to the ground by the group and smiled warmly, ¡°seeing as we¡¯re neighbors now, I feel like we should be comfortable enough to share little updates, y¡¯know?¡± He continued to smile. It was a big smile with teeth that crinkled his eyes. Evan laughed hesitantly at this. ¡°Yeah, uh, I¡¯ve definitely heard them go at it before. It gets pretty heated. Did you just move in? I haven¡¯t been here in a couple of years so I might have missed out on a bit.¡± ¡°Moved in a little over a year ago. That makes sense; I¡¯ve never seen anyone at this house until now. So what¡¯s the deal here? Young entrepreneur who¡¯s made some money? Maybe that¡¯s too high of a standard to set on someone. Parents¡¯ vacation home?¡± ¡°Ha, yes sir. Parents¡¯ that is. It¡¯s a beautiful place.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bet it is. Well, it¡¯s been good meeting you kids, but I¡¯ve got a nice friend that I need to meet for a late lunch,¡± at this moment Mel bunched up his eyebrows and stole a quick glance to the bottom of his sleeve on his black long sleeved shirt, ¡°take it easy now.¡± ¡°You too, sir.¡± Evan admired his broad back as he walked away. He wasn¡¯t staring in an attracted sense, more of a ¡®wow this guy could kick my ass¡¯ sense. Tony whined, ¡°I¡¯m gonna freeze my little nipples off out here, man. Can we go inside now?¡± Evan smiled and nodded. He produced the key from his pocket and inserted it into the keyhole. The doors opened. The interior was nice. Wood finishes on the walls and the floors. There were deer heads scattered on the walls. A few stuffed foxes positioned on shelves as well. The house wasn¡¯t particularly wide, but it did have plenty of rooms and two stories. The vacation home screamed, ¡°Hi! Rich white people live here!¡± They journeyed down to the bottom floor (the upstairs was technically floor level, as the house was on a slope that extended lower) and Evan distributed rooms to the couples. He went into his room and shouted, ¡°Hey let¡¯s meet upstairs in a few minutes! We¡¯ll go out to town and get some lunch.¡± He was answered by various ¡°ok¡¯s¡± and ¡°alright¡¯s¡±. He was excited for what the week had in store for them, although something was bothering him. His neighbor seemed nice enough, but he was strange. Definitely someone who Evan didn¡¯t want to run into any more times than he had to. Unless he was in the mood for another awkward conversation full of details that were probably best left unsaid. ¡°Hey Mr. Mel! I swung by in case you wanted to tell me about the time you lost your virginity! Spare no detail, I want to hear it all.¡± Evan chuckled at this thought. He laughed at a lot of things that went on in his head. Still, there was something odd about Mel. He was obviously wealthy, he made that much clear by flaunting his new car and highlighting the fact that Mr. Peterson had to sell the place because he could no longer afford it. He was single. He had no wedding ring, he had to meet someone for a late lunch (possibly a date), and he mentioned Mrs. Peterson¡¯s constant ¡°bitchy attitude¡±. Evan was hoping to go into FBI work when he graduated so he constantly overanalyzed things. He felt he could solve any mystery the same way Jennifer felt like she could solve all her friends¡¯ emotional and mental problems. ¡°Still.¡± This word kept on popping up in his mind as if trying to escape from his head so he finally let it. ¡°Still,¡± this time Evan was back inside of his head, ¡°he was wearing a black long sleeved shirt. It looked nice, pricey, but it had a hole in it. Right around his wrist. It would have had to have been recent because a man like that wouldn¡¯t be wearing a torn shirt in front of people he had never met. Especially someone who puts such an emphasis on money. At least that¡¯s how he came off to me. Then, when he talked about his friend he immediately reached his hand for the tear, but he acted surprised when he felt that it was torn. What could it mean?¡± Tyrone popped his head into Evan¡¯s room, ¡°Hey, we¡¯re ready man. We¡¯ll be up top.¡± Evan raised his hand in a gesture that meant, ¡°Yeah I¡¯ll be right up.¡± ¡°Still,¡± Evan was back in his thoughts, ¡°it¡¯s probably nothing. I¡¯ve analyzed what feels like hundreds of people since freshman year and no one has turned out to be a killer. Nobody¡¯s been a threat. Maybe I¡¯m just itching for some adventure. Although there was that lady down the street back home who turned out to be stealing silverware from us whenever she came by. How the hell did she even get to the kitchen? And that couldn¡¯t really be put up to my intuition. You could hear the spoons in her pocket a mile away.¡± Evan snapped out of that rabbit hole and began thinking again, ¡°But this guy is probably just some dude. You¡¯re just bored is all.¡± Settling In The five were walking into the small town of Telluride where they could rent their equipment. Tony had his arm around Anne, Tyrone was holding hands with Jennifer, and Evan had his hands stuffed into his jean¡¯s pockets. He decided to break his silence and asked, ¡°Did any of you guys get a weird vibe from Mel?¡± Tyrone lifted his eyebrow inquisitively and responded, ¡°Mel? Who the hell is that?¡± Jennifer tapped his chest, ¡°He¡¯s the older guy who lives next to Evan. But what kind of vibe are you talking about, Evan?¡± Evan bunched up his eyebrows and began rubbing his chin as he would so often do when he got lost in his thoughts, ¡°I can¡¯t really explain it. He kind of just freaked me out. Like, just the way he talked about stuff. I was watching Criminal Minds one day and¡­¡± Tony interjected, ¡°Look, Encyclopedia Brown, you have to chill out with that shit. You always analyze people way too much. You want the chance to profile someone dangerous so badly; this is why you¡¯re still single. A cute girl can waltz up to you and be desperate for a little grind time and you¡¯d be too busy trying to figure out if she has all the ticks of an average serial killer. Maybe she¡¯s into white-collar crimes. Maybe she¡¯s actually a man who changed genders just to track you down and kill you. You need to get out of your own head, man. That shit is going to leave you lonely. Makes you super distrustful too.¡± ¡°Tones, are you still mad at me cause I assumed you ate my burrito a couple of weeks ago?¡± ¡°No, but now that you mention it, that was a little fucked up on your part. The fat man doesn¡¯t always steal the food. So quit profiling. At least for this trip, alright? Just like Jennifer promised she¡¯d stop trying to figure out which Uncle molested us and why we really only emulate our mothers, or something.¡± Jennifer spoke out, slightly offended, ¡°You do realize I¡¯m going to grad school in Boston, right? Besides, Freudian schools of thought have been outdated for like half a century at this point.¡± Tony shrugged, ¡°Ok, differing schools of psychological thought aside. You need that Master¡¯s. You¡¯ll get to be the therapist for fellow McDonald¡¯s workers on your lunch break if you try going out in the real world with that Psych Bachelor¡¯s. And you know I¡¯m right.¡± Tyrone chuckled, ¡°Damn baby, dude is on a tirade right now. Evan, you know Tony¡¯s right, though. You want to solve all these puzzles and mysteries even when there aren¡¯t any. We¡¯re out of school for a week. Our professors somehow managed to find their humanity and not bury us in work. Enjoy it. Hell, if anyone should be a little weirded out here, it should be me. I haven¡¯t seen a brother since we got to Colorado. I don¡¯t know where all the black dudes were escaping the South to, cause this place got more white than the snow around us.¡± The group laughed at this as they entered the rental shop. They all went about their business and before long were carrying their equipment back to the two story vacation home. Evan spoke, ¡°You know, we¡¯ll probably just eat at home tonight. We¡¯ve got enough stuff to get a good meal going. We¡¯ll start eating out and blowing our money tomorrow. We¡¯ll have fun tonight.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As they began to enter the home, a familiar neighbor came out of his house and called out, ¡°Hey kids, want to eat out tonight? It¡¯d be nice to get to know you guys!¡± Evan smiled weakly, remembering the plans they had made minutes ago. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Tony spoke softly to Evan, ¡°Hey, I think Anne and I are going to go inside. This is kind of awkward so we¡¯ll let you deal with that guy.¡± The two scooted off. Tyrone rubbed the back of his head, ¡°Yeah man, I think Jen and I are going to let you handle this one. Maybe it¡¯ll get those uneasy thoughts out of your mental. We¡¯ll take your stuff inside with us, though.¡± Evan sighed and walked over to Mel¡¯s property. Mel flashed a big smile at Evan, ¡°So what do you say, neighbor? Dinner for six in the town square? I read about this great place where a lot of celebrities go at night. I think just that would be worth the price that they¡¯re probably charging.¡± Evan took a breath inward, let out a small hesitant vocal croak, cleared his throat, and then tried again, ¡°Actually, my friends and I are all kind of wiped out from the decently early flight here and just getting accustomed to the altitude and whatnot.¡± ¡°Early flight? You kids made it in town at 2, right?¡± This irritated Evan. Who was he to keep track of them? Who was HE to push the matter so far as to question what they wanted to do? Evan bunched his eyebrows and looked up but then immediately remembered why he was so intimidated by this man. Still, though, he had to stand his ground. Evan gave a fake, albeit convincing, smile, ¡°Well my friends like to get to the airport early. It¡¯s a long and boring story, but they¡¯re odd like that. It¡¯s just a lot of money and I think we were going to just lay low for the night. Start being irresponsible with our cash tomorrow.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s money that¡¯s the problem, I don¡¯t mind paying for this one.¡± ¡°Oh no, really, that¡¯s very generous but you don¡¯t have to do that.¡± ¡°No, I insist. I have a lot of money to spend, haha.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve already picked up on that fact, Mel.¡± The words came out as a snap. Evan didn¡¯t think before he said it, but he knew it came off as aggravated and uninviting. Mel narrowed his gaze, ¡°Is there a problem¡­. oh this is embarrassing. What¡¯s your name, son? You seem to have a better memory than I do.¡± Evan bit his lip at this condescending remark, but remained calm, ¡°Evan. My name is Evan, sir. We¡¯re just really tired and we won¡¯t be much fun if we went out tonight. We¡¯ll be here for another six days, though. Maybe we¡¯ll get together one of those nights.¡± ¡°Sure. Maybe we will.¡± Evan gave him a soft smile and turned around back to the house. He steadied his breath. He thought to himself, ¡°Holy shit. I thought I was about to get choke slammed by that guy. Where the hell does he get off being so pushy like that?¡± Evan stopped once he was a few feet from the front door and turned back around to Mel¡¯s home. Their eyes met. Evan took in a small nasal gasp. Mel¡¯s eyes were angry. His arms were folded and his mouth was closed, but it was moving as if he was shifting his lower jaw around. The way a fighter moves their mandible around before he gets ready to start swinging. Then his pupils enlarged a tad and he shook his head, as if signifying that he was simply in a trance. He gave Evan a big smile and waved at him as he walked inside. Evan stepped inside of his own home, locked every lock, and let out a soft sentiment, ¡°Fuckin¡¯ creep.¡± He journeyed downstairs and was met by Anne. She smiled and asked, ¡°How did it go with that guy?¡± Evan shook his head and chuckled, ¡°Well we aren¡¯t going to be eating dinner with him and I still don¡¯t like him.¡± ¡°Well, maybe he just gives off a weird vibe. Maybe-¡± Jennifer came up behind Anne, ¡°Maybe he¡¯s intimidated.¡± Evan raised his eyebrow in a quizzical fashion, ¡°Intimidated? The guy¡¯s three times my width and like six and a half feet tall.¡± Anne raised her index finger, ¡°Actually he¡¯s probably only about six-four. He¡¯s around an inch taller than you. He is big, though. Muscular.¡± Jennifer smiled, ¡°You¡¯re obviously not physically imposing to him, no offense, but maybe financially you are. I mean it¡¯s you with a bunch of friends hanging out at an expensive skiing vacation home. Your parent¡¯s vacation home. I bet you that he doesn¡¯t think too highly of any of us. Maybe he feels like he needs to compete.¡± Evan responded, ¡°You know, he does bring up his money a lot. I was thinking maybe he¡¯s just arrogant. I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m sure we won¡¯t see him too much as long as we¡¯re lucky enough to be here whenever he isn¡¯t around.¡± Jennifer gave him a thumbs up, ¡°This is a big place. I¡¯m sure we won¡¯t be seeing too much of him. Unless he¡¯s watching us.¡± The three let out chuckles as they went to their respective rooms. Complication It was 7:30 A.M. Evan was upstairs in the kitchen drinking a cup of cold water. He was in shorts and a long sleeve shirt that had some braggadocious quote that was only made fashionable by the fact that it had a Nike ¡°Check¡± on it. There was snow all over the ground outside, but the truth was that the temperature was somewhat warm. The skiing trip was only made possible because a snowstorm had swept into Colorado unexpectedly at the beginning of March and it brought this new comforter of snow with it. Evan took another swig of water. He was preparing to go for a run. There was a small TV on one of the counters that he wasn¡¯t paying attention to. It was something about a missing person, but he didn¡¯t care. ¡°Probably some bear got her while she was skiing late.¡± He chuckled for a second and then stopped, internally scolding himself for laughing at something that morbid. Then he had the horrifying thought, ¡°Oh shit, what if there are bears here?¡± Evan quickly whipped out his smartphone and went to Google. He was relieved to find out there were no reports of bear activity. As he closed the Internet browser on his phone he noticed that he had no signal. It was frustrating, but at least the Wi-Fi enabled him to use his social media apps. He put his phone back in his pocket and gave out a small yawn. He shook his head around in a futile attempt to further wake himself and slowly dragged his feet outside. The light penetrated his eyes like two knives digging into his corneas. He rubbed his eyes to try to ease them into this brightness. After blinking a few times he raised his head back up high, smiled, and took in a big breath of air. He took a large stride to signal the beginning of his run, but when he reached the edge of the roof that covered a few yards in front of the house, a large slew of snow dropped onto his head. He stopped, slightly irritated, and then began to chuckle at the situation. He took a handful of snow that was still on his head and looked at it. His eyebrows lowered as he analyzed this snow. It was almost all red. He dropped it in disgust and gagged at the half-water-half-blood mixture that now covered his palm. He looked up at the roof and saw a hand dangling over the edge. There were now multiple police cars in front of Evan¡¯s parents¡¯ vacation home. Men on ladders were on the roof gathering and inspecting the evidence. Evan was being questioned by a detective who went by the name of Detective Davie as his four friends watched. Davie asked, ¡°So you come out a little after 7:30 and the arm is just dangling off the roof?¡± ¡°Uh, well, it was really just the hand. Like most of the back of the hand was exposed.¡± ¡°Right, right. We¡¯ll probably have to ask your friends some questions, make sure you¡¯re not shacking up with any murderers.¡± Evan chuckled at this, ¡°Oh you can have my word, they¡¯re the nicest people you could meet.¡± Detective Davie¡¯s face was stern, ¡°Is that funny? I¡¯m sure if we based all of our arrests and convictions based on how swell people are, we¡¯d catch ¡®em all.¡± ¡°Oh, not that was just me talking them up. I mean they¡¯re my friends.¡± ¡°Talking up? Why do they need talking up?¡± ¡°No, not at all I was just¡­ being a friend, you know? I¡¯m a Sociology and Criminology major. I totally knew that you couldn¡¯t just take my word for that.¡± ¡°You may need to rethink that major, son.¡± ¡°Ok, ok, sorry about the jokes. I have to ask, and this may come off kind of callous, but do we have to find a different place to stay cause of this? I realize that there are bigger problems at hand¡­¡± ¡°At hand? You trying to be funny again?¡± ¡°Oh, no not at all sir.¡± ¡°Hmm, too bad. That¡¯s a hell of a pun.¡± Evan raised his eyebrow, ¡°Riiiiight. So what¡¯s the living situation like for my friends and I?¡± ¡°Well if you or one of your friends did it, hell if you all did it, it¡¯ll be a jail cell for you guys and my house for me.¡± ¡°So¡­. that means we¡¯re homeless?¡± ¡°Calm down, this is a crime scene, but there won¡¯t be much to do here. The arm was the only thing on that roof. We¡¯ll be here for a while, but if you and your friends check out, we¡¯ll be gone by tonight. Seeing as this is an investigation for homicide, we¡¯ll need access to your home to make sure there aren¡¯t any other things we need to look out for. Go skiing till they close at 4. Go eat. Go explore. Or come back and watch us, do whatever you want. You¡¯ll have your home back by tonight, though.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Thank you sir.¡± ¡°But, I want to talk to all of you again today at 5. If even one of you isn¡¯t here at that time, that person becomes suspect number one. You kids don¡¯t look like killers, but not everyone has to fit the bill. So 5 P.M. If you¡¯re late or if you¡¯re a no-show, your ass is gonna have a statewide search going on for you.¡± The detective went off to speak to the other four when a woman came through the ranks of policemen, bawling her eyes out. ¡°WHERE¡¯S MY SISTER!?¡± Davie turned around and sighed. ¡°Who the hell let her through? Ma¡¯am you need to stay outside of the tape and answer the questions from one of the officers. We¡¯re doing all we can.¡± ¡°BUT THAT IS MY SISTER! I NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING!!!¡± ¡°Ma¡¯am, please...¡± Evan piped in, ¡°What does she mean that¡¯s her sister?¡± Davie sighed, ¡°Probably that that¡¯s her damn sister, son. She was a missing person from last night. I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t hear about it. Her body was slid onto a nearby lake. It¡¯s a damn miracle the ice didn¡¯t break even before we got there. Regardless, we were able to identify her and when we found her, she was missing an arm. And before you ask, no we do not know why. Unless Peyton Manning is coming around looking for severed arms to throw, we don¡¯t know why it¡¯s here or even why it¡¯s on the roof. This calm and collected lady is simply putting two and two together.¡± The sister yelled, ¡°YOU DON¡¯T UNDERSTAND! SHE¡¯S MY SISTER!¡± ¡°Shit, I heard you. Now please talk to an officer who isn¡¯t already interviewing someone. You will help a lot more by being compliant and helping us piece her day and night together than you¡¯ll help by screaming in our damn ears.¡± Evan asked, ¡°Are you supposed to talk to people like that?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you a suspect in a murder? Get your ass over to your friends so I can make sure all of your stories match up.¡± -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The group was seated inside the house on a couch in the living room. Detective Davie was pacing around, looking at them. ¡°Alright, so Tyrone and Jennifer were asleep by ten. Evan, you were asleep by ten-thirty and Tony and Anne were passed out by eleven. Do I have this right?¡± They all nodded. Davie cleared his throat, ¡°Well that¡¯s good but do any of you have an alibi that someone else could confirm? This woman was reportedly eating dinner at Tomboy Tavern with someone at ten last night. That¡¯s a ten-minute walk from this house. The sister caught a glance of the man as he met with her sister before they headed off to eat. She said he was probably white, it was night and he was somewhat hidden in the dark, and probably around thirty to forty years old. We have officers questioning the restaurant owner to see if they have any video and employees if they can remember the man.¡± Tony asked, ¡°Sorry to ask, but why not ask any of the restaurant customers? Maybe they remember?¡± ¡°Well, uh, Tony, that¡¯s a stellar question. Unfortunately, white people get scared too easily and the great ¡®powers that be¡¯ in Telluride would rather not worry the breathing moneybags about a possible killer. Granted, there is always a possibility that wildlife got her, but that¡¯s an incredibly low chance. Unless a coyote got her and an eagle ripped off her arm and decided to drop it on this roof, a good few miles away from the body, homicide isn¡¯t a far off thought. It¡¯s a shitty thing to lie to these people, but they can do the lying. I¡¯ll be honest with anyone who asks me. To be honest, there hasn¡¯t been a homicide in so long that I almost feel like we¡¯ve all forgotten how to handle it. So, alibis?¡± Jennifer piped up, ¡°Well, Tyrone and I were face-timing with my mom right before we fell asleep. I added a photo on Instagram right before sleeping and there was no other activity after ten on either of our phones.¡± ¡°Of course. Look, I don¡¯t suspect you kids of doing anything, but as it stands you are all persons of interest without a proper alibi.¡± Evan spoke up, ¡°Well, there is one person here that I¡¯ve had a weird vibe from.¡± Tyrone turned to Evan with a raised eyebrow, ¡°Come on man, you can¡¯t be serious.¡± Tony chimed in as well, ¡°Yeah, bro, you can¡¯t just throw a dude¡¯s name out because he¡¯s been weird to us.¡± Davie hushed them, ¡°Look, kid, if you¡¯re ready to throw someone¡¯s name into the mix as a murderer and you¡¯re ok with that, that¡¯s on you. If you genuinely think that it could help us find our man, though, then don¡¯t withhold this information. ¡° Evan cleared his throat, ¡°Well, it may be nothing. The guy next door is just a strange character and I know he wanted to go out last night and he had a date for lunch yesterday. Maybe he was romantic with someone and they decided to go out tonight as well since he didn¡¯t have anyone else to go with. His name is Mel.¡± Davie shook his head, ¡°Well alright kid. Looks like I¡¯ll have to go question him.¡± ¡°Could you maybe not tell him that I was the one who told you to question him?¡± ¡°Look son, we were going to have to ask the neighbors if they had seen some things anyway. Now we just so happen to have someone that might have a reason to throw an arm on your roof if you two don¡¯t like each other. Ok, well, remember. I want to see each and every one of you here at five. You¡¯re not here, you¡¯re getting cuffed and dragged to the station for more questions.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The group was walking with their gear to one of the simpler slopes. Tyrone asked Evan, ¡°Are you sure you feel good about throwing that dude¡¯s name in the mix. Seems kind of fucked up to just say someone might be a killer because you don¡¯t like them.¡± Evan nodded, ¡°Yeah I felt kind of bad after I said it, but I really just can¡¯t shake this feeling.¡± ¡°Well let¡¯s hope that man doesn¡¯t find out you dropped his name cause he looks like the one to not mess with.¡± Mel Davie strolled over to Mel¡¯s house as he thought of questions to ask the man. He heard a high pitch whine piercing his ear but he couldn¡¯t quite make out what it was. He could probably pinpoint the problem if he paid attention to where it was coming from, but as he crossed the yellow tape, he couldn¡¯t find a damn to give. That was, until the sister of the victim broke through his thoughts and grabbed his shirt. ¡°WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!¡± Davie thought of how Evan had commented on how he had answered this woman earlier and sighed, ¡°Look, Ms. Stephens, this is still a brand new case. There isn¡¯t enough evidence to form any conclusions or point any fingers. I understand how hard this is to hear and I can¡¯t imagine how hard this is to be going through, but¡­¡± ¡°But nothing! I need answers now!¡± ¡°But nothing? But shut your fucking mouth before I start questioning your ass as a damn suspect. You want me to find your sister? Give me time and stop sticking your nose up my asshole. I can¡¯t do my job with your crazy ass always popping up in front of my face. Now leave and get some rest. We¡¯ll have cops swing by your home in shifts to check up on you.¡± Davie moved past her and grunted. The department hadn¡¯t had a case more serious than finding shoplifters in years. They all needed a little help getting into a mindset to find this killer. He turned into the driveway and knocked on the door. It opened. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The group of five friends was standing on top of the easiest hill in their skiing apparel. Evan turned to Tony and Anne, ¡°Ok you two, just start going slow. Pizza and French fry your way down like I told you. I¡¯ll stay hovered around you two to make sure that you¡¯re ok.¡± He then turned to Jennifer and Tyrone, ¡°Ok Jen, same as I told them. Nice and slow. Tyrone, just remember-¡° Tyrone interrupted, ¡°Evan. I got this shit. Hell, look at Tony and Anne.¡± Evan turned and noticed that those two had already started down the hill. They were steady. Fast learners. Evan smiled and said, ¡°Well, just be careful, dude.¡± Tyrone darted down the hill for all of ten seconds before he lost his balance and fell down with a grunt. Jennifer yelled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry babe! I¡¯m comin¡¯ for you!¡± She began inching her way down with her skis pointed inward in the ¡°pizza¡± position. Evan chuckled and made his way down the hill. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mel poked his head out and smiled at his visitor, ¡°Hey there. What can I do ya for?¡± Davie took a large breath, ¡°Well, as you¡¯ve probably noticed, it seems that there¡¯s been an incident involving someone in the area. We found a limb around your neighbor¡¯s home and we¡¯re just asking some questions.¡± ¡°Oh, well I can assure you, officer¡­.¡± ¡°Call me Davie.¡± ¡°Davie. Hi I¡¯m Mel. Anyway, those kids don¡¯t seem like the kind who would do anything to anyone. They¡¯ve kept quiet and have been nothing but friendly to me.¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t doubt it. The thing is, I¡¯m here to question you. The same questions I asked those kids.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, am I a suspect here?¡± ¡°Just doing my due diligence, sir.¡± ¡°Maybe I don¡¯t like being put under this kind of microscope.¡± Davie shot him a glance, ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll shoot to the top of our list if you decide that answering questions puts you in a bad position. Maybe it doesn¡¯t give you a good look, at all.¡± ¡°Fine. Go ahead and do your due diligence.¡± ¡°Can I ask you what your day was like, yesterday? I want to know what you did.¡± ¡°You¡¯re obviously under the impression that I am a suspect.¡± ¡°Just answer these questions. You-¡° ¡°Would you like to know a story about me?¡± ¡°Would you just answer my damn questions before I slap some cuffs on your ass for obstructing possible evidence.¡± Mel frowned and grimly stated, ¡°Don¡¯t hit me with your bullshit. You listen to what I say and you¡¯ll get all the answers you need. I don¡¯t need to divulge a damn thing that I don¡¯t want to.¡± This sudden grit and anger in Mel¡¯s voice surprised Davie. His instinct was to reach for his gun, but he knew that was just an overreaction. An overreaction caused by years of laziness that had caused him and his fellow colleagues to get soft and unprepared. Davie sighed, ¡°Well, alright Mel. Can I at least go inside and grab a fuckin¡¯ seat?¡± ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The group had finished maneuvering down the beginner slope enough times to where they felt they had earned a brief intermission from the action. They undid their apparel and waddled in their ski boots over to a nearby table. Tony moaned in pleasure once he took off the boots, ¡°Holy mother of Vishnu. My feet feel like they¡¯re being crushed together by Goku¡¯s buttcheeks.¡± Evan squinted at Tony in bewilderment as Tyrone interjected, ¡°Yeah I¡¯m not sure why Goku would be crushing my feet with his butt muscles. Then again I¡¯m not sure why my feet would even be in close proximity to his butt, so close in fact, that he would have the chance to crush them. That being said, I think I finally realize why there are no other black people here. This is some white people shit.¡± Jennifer added, ¡°He¡¯s just a little frustrated that he hasn¡¯t caught onto snowboarding as quickly as he would¡¯ve hoped. We¡¯re having a blast.¡± Anne also piped in, ¡°Yeah this has been awesome. Tony and I were pretty surprised at how easily we caught on. It¡¯s pretty cool.¡± Evan cracked a smile, ¡°It¡¯s about to be lunch time. Let¡¯s go somewhere and grab a bite to eat. What do y¡¯all think is happening back at the house?¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Davie and Mel were sitting in the latter¡¯s living room. It was cold inside. Mel was on the couch as Davie was situated on a chair about fifteen feet away. Davie cleared his throat, ¡°Alright, Mel, let¡¯s hop to this. I unfortunately don¡¯t have the most time on my hands.¡± ¡°Of course of course. You see, I was raised in the South.¡± ¡°What the hell does this have to do with my question? If you¡¯re going to sit here and¡­. and¡­. and filibuster to waste my time you got another thing coming. Don¡¯t waste my damn time.¡± ¡°Relax. I told you that I¡¯d explain why I¡¯m not a suspect here. I grew up in the South. Born and raised in North Mississippi to be exact. A place called Philadelphia. Horrid place. It was full of a bunch of queer-harassing, African American hating, white supremacist assholes. I went to church every Sunday. I¡¯d frequent bible study on most Wednesdays as well. It was always fun. They were very inclusive and friendly. Obviously they wouldn¡¯t have approved of my company if they knew that I didn¡¯t hate homosexuals. If they knew I was attracted to black women. I hated living there almost as much as I hated living. I was different from the others. There were a few dreamers littered here and there. Most of the popular kids were dreamers. They wanted to go to good universities and get good jobs that paid enough for tropical vacations and whatnot. I mean, they were all idiots. The school sucked because it was a small place and the teachers only taught there because it was the only opening for them. So it was unmotivated idiots for teachers who taught unmotivated idiots for students. But hell, at least the popular kids had dreams. Sometimes an idiot with a dream is worth admiring because he had enough ambition to dream. Now, I have always had trouble with my heart. I couldn¡¯t play sports. I couldn¡¯t work out. I couldn¡¯t look the way I wanted due to these problems. I was a large kid. Large kids aren¡¯t popular. Large kids are picked on because their parents are too poor to afford healthy foods. Large kids aren¡¯t politely called ¡®large¡¯. They¡¯re called fat and they aren¡¯t worth anyone¡¯s time. It messed with me, mentally. It messed with me that I had all the ambition in the world to excel at everything I wanted to, but I had limitations placed on me before I could even push myself.¡± Davie cleared his throat; ¡°I¡¯m going to have to give you a ten minute time limit on this. I¡¯m not free all day.¡± Mel shot an angry glance at him, but his gaze softened as he continued, ¡°One day I went up to a girl named Amanda and asked her to go to prom with me. I was awkward and it was the most nerve-racking experience I had ever had at that point in my life. See, Amanda wasn¡¯t the most popular or well-known girl in school. She was sweet. She was nice. She was-¡° Davie interrupted, ¡°An Angel. I get it.¡± Mel chuckled, ¡°Oh quite the contrary. She was easy. As far as I knew, she had slept with more guys than I could count on four hands. In high school she had done that. In high school in 1997 nonetheless! There were probably bigger sluts I didn¡¯t know about. A girl or boy fooling around with that many people is probably average nowadays., but I had never seen a girl so loose be so innocent looking. I had heard some of the stories too. She didn¡¯t mind heavy guys. She didn¡¯t mind guys who were even heavier than I was! This was literally my only shot to be publicly seen with a beautiful girl and maybe even lose my virginity. My senior year was practically the setting for a crappy ¡®coming-of-age¡¯ comedy movie. Anyway, the bitch says no. She isn¡¯t going or something like that. It hurt. I could feel my heart aching in my chest. I hadn¡¯t felt that much pain since I tried to jog. Her rejection wounded my pride and it physically brought me pain. I grew a very deep and burning hatred for her. I had never felt this kind of animosity towards anyone else before. It was kind of scary. She lived fairly close to me, about three miles away. So one day I drove by her house after school. She¡¯s already there and she¡¯s on her porch, reading a book, petting her cat. I drive by this place everyday for two weeks. If she was outside, she was with her cat. So I got this idea in my head. It had been two weeks since this whore shot me down. I still hated her after fourteen days. This wasn¡¯t some dent in my pride that I would get over like every other insult hurled my way. She was my last chance at creating a good memory in high school. Obviously she didn¡¯t know this. Maybe if I had told her she would have said yes. Maybe if I had told her, she would¡¯ve thought it was pathetic and told half of our class. Who knows? For the next week I swing by the house at nighttime, roughly around 9 P.M. No one was outside, but there was always this fifty-fifty chance that the cat was indeed out there. I saw it roaming around the porch or making its way across the street towards a fence for another house. One day it jumped over, the other two days it simply strolled along the fence. So one night, I¡¯m driving by and I see the cat outside. I put on a black hoodie. I put on these gloves that I had found outside. They were leather gloves used for outdoor work. I pulled out a knife that¡¯s way too big for the job, but I thought this really deserved me going all out.¡± Davie adjusted himself in his seat and added, ¡°This isn¡¯t painting a picture of innocence.¡± Mel could see the discomfort in Davie as he smiled and proceeded, ¡°Well, maybe if you would wait till the end you could find out what happened. So I got out to kill the cat. I brought this off brand cat food to try and lure it close to me. I wanted my revenge, but I was still a cheap little shit. The cat heard me calling and it smelled the food. It was a cute little thing. It was so cute that it actually reminded me of Amanda. I thought of how fitting it was that she would own an animal that was just as nice to look at as she was. Too bad for the cat, I didn¡¯t want any reminders of her cute face. I took out the knife, grabbed the cat by the waist and shoved my knife straight through its neck. It bled. The blood was coming all the way down my left glove and making its way down my arm as I kept stabbing it. I stabbed it to the point that it was just a mangled pelt. The head toppled off and I threw it in Amanda¡¯s front lawn. I threw the body over the fence to that other home. That throw actually caused a quick pain to shoot through me, but screw it. I was too happy. I was absolutely giddy at this point. Now, Davie, I know you¡¯re probably pretty sure you¡¯ve found a psychopath. I mean, animal abuse is a very common sign that it could transform into a bloodlust for humans later on. Animal abusers usually don¡¯t stick to abusing only animals. I know what you¡¯re thinking. I know what you¡¯re thinking because I¡¯m a behavioral psychologist whose focus is on criminal psychology and behavior. I get it. I¡¯m a very high profile doctor. You can look me up. I¡¯d give you all the details, but I¡¯m sure you¡¯re not going to be interested in that. Hell, I feel like we can really trust each other right now, because I haven¡¯t told anyone that story until now. If you feel the need to catch up on your reading, grab one of my books. It was never a best seller, but it did sell. That¡¯s why I can afford this house. I¡¯m an amazing doctor, but I¡¯m an even more interesting author. I guess I was blessed with a few talents.¡± Davie was annoyed by this confidence Mel was oozing and asked, ¡°Is there going to be a point to all of this? I¡¯ll tell you right now, if your book is anything like your story telling, I¡¯m not interested.¡± Mel¡¯s teeth began to grind behind his closed lips but then he continued, ¡°Yes, Davie, there is a point. After I killed that cat I was so ecstatic that my heart couldn¡¯t take this sudden activity. As I drove home, I had a bit of an episode and my heart began acting up. I crashed into a tree. I woke up in the hospital. The doctor came in and explained to me what happened. My family wasn¡¯t there. I knew all of our insurance information however and asked if there was any way to help me. Fast forward, I had a pacemaker put in me.¡± At this point Mel took off his shirt and showed Davie the scar located on his upper chest. Davie admired Mel¡¯s body. He wasn¡¯t the fittest human alive, but he was muscular and strong. There was fat on him but it was mostly located on his abdominal area and there wasn¡¯t much. There was a slight sag to his skin however, wear and tear from his age and from being fat in his childhood. Davie commented, ¡°You¡¯re pretty in shape for a fat kid with a pacemaker.¡± Mel smiled, ¡°Yes, well, the pacemaker was most likely the best thing to happen to me. I was finally able to do physical activity. Granted I was still limited, but I could walk far now. I could jog and run and lift weights and I was normal now. I became healthier and happier. Now why does this mean I¡¯m innocent? Well, if this had happened a few months back, I could definitely see why I would be under suspicion. However in the past few weeks my pacemaker has been malfunctioning a bit and it delivers a certain wave of pain to me if I do anything too strenuous. I¡¯ll be getting a new one installed soon, but for now I¡¯m just relaxing. So no, I didn¡¯t kill whoever died. Unless you fully expect me to be Jason Voorhees who walks towards his victims, I can¡¯t. I saw you all getting that arm off the roof. I can¡¯t even throw a tennis ball right now without getting some sort of pain. I don¡¯t think I threw that arm onto the roof.¡± Davie inquired, ¡°If you can¡¯t do a damn thing, why the hell are you here? You can¡¯t ski. You can¡¯t do much of anything around here.¡± Mel chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. I can enjoy myself. I also live here. That is until I can get this darn thing replaced. Then I might move somewhere a little warmer, but until then, I like this place. I like the cold. I like Colorado. It¡¯s a beautiful place with plenty of room. So are we done here?¡± Davie sat up from his chair and began to walk out, ¡°For now.¡± He walked out of the door and shut it. Change In Plans The sun was beginning to lose its radiance as the light was waning. It was much hotter than the snow would lead an observer to believe, so seeing the sun begin to dip was somewhat of a relief. The group of five was sitting around a table outside of a coffee shop. They had finished their lunches and had been lounging around in their seats for the better half of an hour. The day had proven to be a bit more strenuous than anticipated. No reason to overexert themselves on the first day. They were silent, soaking in the atmosphere of their temporary home. Taking in the surroundings was more of a pseudo-sensation, though. There was an unspoken level of concern between the friends that no one had the courage to bring up. Then Evan spit it out, ¡°Look guys, I talked to my parents today. To put it lightly, they aren¡¯t so happy about us being around what¡¯s happening.¡± Tyrone nodded, ¡°Yeah, I can see why they wouldn¡¯t be. Look, man, I¡¯ve enjoyed all of our time here, short as it may be. At the end of the day, though, a little skiing or snowboarding really isn¡¯t worth the risk of getting hurt by someone.¡± Tony interjected, ¡°That¡¯s a lot of money down the drain, though.¡± Anne put her head on Tony¡¯s shoulder and spoke, ¡°Yeah, it is, but this is out of our control. I know none of us did anything, but we have a detective who has us under a microscope right now and a murder investigation happening around us. It¡¯s not such a great situation to be in.¡± Evan nodded in agreement, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not super happy about leaving either, but this could be trouble. I mean, hell, maybe Mel isn¡¯t to blame. Maybe he¡¯s an angel who delivers gifts to sick kids in hospital wards. Maybe he¡¯s just a guy. Maybe he¡¯s not. I don¡¯t like what I see when it comes to him. He¡¯s just-¡± ¡°He¡¯s nothing, dude,¡± Tony spoke up, ¡°I looked him up. He checks out. He¡¯s a well-known psychiatrist who deals with the criminally insane. He has a book. He owns the house next to us. I looked this motherfucker up, and he¡¯s¡­. I mean what the hell else do you want from him? I get it, Evan, you¡¯re gonna catch bad guys and you¡¯re gonna lock them up and you¡¯re gonna be on Criminal Minds and all that good stuff. You¡¯re gonna be awesome. You¡¯re also wrong, this time. I¡¯m sorry, dude, but you threw this guy under the bus before we even looked his ass up. If he wasn¡¯t a killer before, he¡¯s probably gonna kill us for trying to throw his name into the fucking mix as a fucking murderer. Let¡¯s just use some common sense here.¡± The group went silent for a moment. It was an awkward kind of silence where everyone wanted to say their piece, but none of them were certain if it was their place to join in. Jennifer spoke up, however, ¡°Tony¡¯s right.¡± Tyrone shot her a look of concern, but she continued. ¡°I think Tony¡¯s right. This was a lot of money. Evan, I also think you¡¯re wrong about this guy. All that said, however, we have to look at this from a different angle. Maybe we weren¡¯t the targets here. Maybe, by some freak accident or some sick joke, someone threw an arm onto our roof. Granted, none of that makes sense. The reality of the situation looks like this: someone threw that arm on our roof. Someone threw an arm on Evan¡¯s family¡¯s Colorado getaway home¡¯s roof. Maybe the killer just happened to pick our place at random, but regardless, that house isn¡¯t just a random house anymore. That killer knows our house. That killer is going to see these cops around our house. That person is going to see this story on the news. That monster, he¡¯s familiar with it now.¡± Tony looked down for a moment, but then rose up his pointer finger to ask a question. Jennifer glanced at him, giving him the silent ¡®okay¡¯ to inquire. He cleared his throat and then proceeded, ¡°But what does this have to do with us? If it was an accident then we¡¯re not a part of anything bigger. We just got unlucky. Plus, why would this person even come back, knowing that the police will probably watch our place like hawks.¡± Jennifer shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I just know that he knows all about us now. There¡¯s no reason for him to come back, but what if he does. Yesterday, the only people who knew we existed in this state were our families and some old guy that gave us a weird vibe. Now? Well, now we have the entire police force, half of Colorado, probably, and a killer. And the fact that we¡¯re even in the mind of a murderer, much less the fact that we¡¯re probably in the same five-mile-vicinity as a killer, has me freaking out a little. The only reason I¡¯m ok with staying here for a little bit longer, to gather our stuff, is because we have cops watching our asses for the foreseeable future.¡± Evan nodded in agreement, ¡°Tony, we get what you¡¯re saying here, but it just doesn¡¯t seem safe. My parents just want us back. They said they could get us a flight out of here tomorrow afternoon. That was the earliest they could find, but I think we could do that.¡± Anne rubbed Tony¡¯s arm while she spoke, ¡°I think that might be the best idea for us all. How do you guys feel about going back a little early and just getting this interview with the detective out of the way? I don¡¯t think I¡¯m up to ski any more today. I think I¡¯d rather just relax together as a group.¡± There were collective groans of agreement as the group began to stand up and waddle their way back to their temporary home. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The group of five was sitting on the same couch that they had previously been questioned on. Detective Davie was sitting on a chair directly in front of them. There was an apprehensive silence that filled the room as Davie found his words and the group was anxious to hear them. Davie adjusted his collar and then spoke up, ¡°You kids are cleared.¡± These words brought out a collective sigh from the friends, even if they already knew they were innocent. He continued, ¡°Background checks show that you five haven¡¯t gotten more than a traffic ticket before. Your itineraries match up. There just doesn¡¯t seem to be a way for you kids to have gotten here and then immediately gone on to kill some random woman. The times don¡¯t match up. You¡¯re good, in my eyes. We¡¯ll have someone patrol your house every hour, just in case. Every twelve hours, someone will check up on you kids. That means they¡¯ll come up, knock on the door, and see how you¡¯re doing. Starting at 8 AM tomorrow and then again at 8 PM. This will continue for as long as you kids are here. We don¡¯t expect any further activity to come from here, but it¡¯s better to be safe than sorry. Plus, we don¡¯t want anything to happen that could¡¯ve been avoided. It¡¯s been a while since we¡¯ve dealt with something like this, but I can promise you that I¡¯ll do everything to fix this as soon as I can.¡± Evan smiled, ¡°Thank you, Detective. I have some good news for you though, you won¡¯t need to spend too much of your manpower. My parents are getting tickets for us to get out of here tomorrow at 4. We¡¯ll be out of here by noon to make sure we make it to the airport and then we¡¯ll be out of your hair. I know we probably should¡¯ve waited until we were clear to get the tickets, but I guess we got a little overconfident, being innocent and all. Not that we¡¯re trying to look overly innocent or anything.¡± Davie cocked his head and raised his eyebrow, ¡°Son what the hell are you saying right now?¡± ¡°Shit, I¡¯m not sure why you make me so darn scared. Not that you¡¯re scary, but-¡± Tyrone stepped into the conversation, ¡°I think Evan¡¯s just voicing his gratitude and letting you know we¡¯ll be gone before you know it. Not that we¡¯re trying to get away fast. Well, I guess we are trying to get away fast, because we¡¯re a little scared, but¡­. Well hell Evan I see what you¡¯re talking about now. This dude is nerve-racking.¡± Davie shook his head, ¡°Look, that¡¯s not what I meant. You kids won¡¯t be able to leave tomorrow. There¡¯s a snowstorm coming in. The airports are going to be shut down. The road won¡¯t be clear for another day after that. You kids are looking at being here, maybe another two or three days at least.¡± Evan opened his mouth to voice his objection to this statement, as if he had a say in the matter. However, he was at a loss for words. They were stuck in this town for an extra two days at the least. Two days in a small town with a killer whose identity could easily be the Grinch¡¯s for all the authorities knew. He finally found the courage to say, ¡°Oh¡­ shit.¡± Davie frowned the kind of frown one makes when they feel like they¡¯ve disappointed someone, ¡°Also, I went and talked to your neighbor today. He¡¯s not the most pleasant man around, but he¡¯s no killer. I haven¡¯t met many, but he doesn¡¯t fit the-¡± Kksksssshhhhksshhksshkk Davie jumped a little in his seat as he reached for his walkie-talkie. He pressed the button and spoke with a commanding voice, ¡°Yes? This is Davie. Talk up! I can¡¯t hear a damn thing you¡¯re saying.¡± ¡°Sorry¡­kssshhshhhskkk¡­.. it¡¯s pretty windy out here¡­kskshhkkkshsk¡­. we found another body¡­..kssshhhskksshhhh¡­.¡± Davie¡¯s eyes widened and began to cough a little. He wheezed out, ¡°Wait. Hold on, give me a minute to get out of this room and you can tell me more. Just¡­ just wait a damn minute!¡± Davie gave a weak smile to the group of friends and speed-walked out of the house. Evan turned to the others and then hopped up. He ran quietly to the front door and put his ear to it. After a few moments the group heard a car peel out and slowly drive away until there was nothing but silence. Evan dragged his feet as he reentered the room. Tony spoke up, ¡°You alright, dude? You hear anything?¡± Evan licked his lips and weakly said, ¡°Yeah. I heard the word ¡®sister¡¯. I heard that word a lot.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Well, apparently the lady who got killed had a sister. I saw her a few times today. She was pretty torn up. I mean¡­. I guess that only makes sense.¡± ¡°Ok? And? What¡¯s that have to do with us? Was she the other body?¡± ¡° I think so. The only other thing I could make out was, well¡­¡± ¡°Dude, just spit it out.¡± ¡°They kept saying they found her body, but she¡¯s missing her arm just like her sister.¡± BAM!!! A loud thud was heard as something hit Evan¡¯s front door. The group jumped as they all looked at the door with curious fear. Evan began to inch his way towards the entrance. He opened the door and shut it immediately and locked every lock the door had as he rushed back into the living room. His face was red as he barked out orders, ¡°Take someone with you and check every room in this house. Make sure there are no doors or windows open. Make sure that no window is left without blinds covering it. Make sure there¡¯s no fucking way someone gets in or out of this house.¡± Tyrone asked with his voice shaking, ¡°Uhh what the fuck is happening?¡± Evan pulled at his hair as he tried to calm down and said, ¡°Davie left. We need to call 911 and get a cop here as fast as we can. There¡¯s a fucking arm outside the door.¡± Aftermath Tony¡¯s breath began to shorten as he tried to remain calm. Anne was whispering in his ear as she tried to calm him down. Tyrone and Jessica both shot up and the latter blurted out, ¡°Why is there an arm outside?¡± She immediately winced at the stupidity of the question after the inquiry had left her lips. Evan¡¯s temper flared internally until he caught the wince and took the moment to breathe. ¡°We have to do this quickly. Tyrone, Jessica; you guys head downstairs and just make sure there¡¯s no easy access to this place. Check each of the bedrooms for doors or windows to the outside and lock them, if they have no shades to them, block them out somehow. There¡¯s also a door that leads to the deck with the hot tub back there. That door is basically all glass, aside from the frame; but it has blinds. Make sure to shut those blinds and lock that door. Anne, stay here and keep Tony nice and stable. Close the blinds to the windows we have in this living room and lock the door to the upper deck. I know we had a hell of a view before, but we¡¯re going to need to black this place out. I¡¯ll go to the other rooms on this floor and make sure there aren¡¯t any ways to get inside. When we¡¯re done, meet back in here and let¡¯s regroup.¡± Tyrone and Jessica sped down the stairs and Evan ran to the only bedroom on this floor, the master bedroom where his parents would stay. Anne kissed Tony on the cheek and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry and catch your breath. Everything is going to be fine.¡± She left Tony lying down on the couch that was in the center of the living room, facing the television and the mounted heads of large wild game. Anne turned on the lights in the living room and closed the shutters to the windows that were a few yards to the left of the couch. The windows looked out upon miles of snow and trees. It really was a hell of a view. She quickly stepped to the door to the outside deck on this floor. The door had a wooden frame with glass taking up the rest of the interior. Opened blinds that were now being shut covered the glass on the door. Evan passed the front door, internally fighting with himself about whether or not he should check to see if there was still a severed arm outside of it. ¡°Don¡¯t be a dumbass, of course it¡¯s still out there,¡± he audibly grumbled. His parents¡¯ bedroom was located down a short hallway that was directly to the right if someone were to come through the front door. Evan opened the door. It was incredibly dark in this room. He fumbled around as his hands moved around the walls; attempting to find the light switch for the room was like a blind person trying to read braille. He shuffled further into the room. It wasn¡¯t on the wall to his right, perhaps to his left. Evan shuffled his weight to the left side. He placed his left hand on the wall and moved a few inches when something pierced his forearm. ¡°Fuck!¡± Evan found the lights just as his forearm had been jabbed by something incredibly sharp. He looked in front of him and was face to face with the fairly large skull of a buck. He glanced at his arm and saw a small cut where his arm had run into one of the antlers. Evan mumbled angrily, ¡°Guess dad wanted to scare the hell out of me if I ever came in here without permission as a kid. Dick move, pops.¡± He looked around the master bedroom for any openings. There were small windows above the master bed, but nothing that could be opened without blunt force to shatter them. He looked inside the walk-in closet, just in case. He turned on the lights and was met with winter clothing that had barely been worn. He ran his finger on the top shelf of the closet, hoping to feel a gun. He did not. Evan sighed with disappointment, ¡°Probably a good move, though. Don¡¯t need a gun in a house full of drunk college kids. Unless there¡¯s a deranged murderer on the loose, but hey, hindsight is twenty-twenty.¡± He peered inside the restroom, but there were no openings to be found. He exited the master bedroom and scurried past the front door again. Still arguing with himself about whether or not to double check. ¡°What if you just imagined it,¡± the thought crossed his mind but he shook his head, ¡°quit being stupid. We heard the bang on the door. You saw an arm. That¡¯s not a typical daydream or hallucination to have. Quit second-guessing yourself.¡± Directly to the left of the front door was the living room and if one were to take another left after, they would be in the kitchen. Anne was in the kitchen getting some water for Tony, who was now sitting up on the couch. He looked up to Evan and asked, ¡°Is there anything I can do, man? I¡¯m super sorry about all that shit I said early. I love your Law and Order brain.¡± Evan smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry Tony, you¡¯re completely fine. Just like we¡¯ll all be. Just get that breathing under control.¡± Evan continued on straight. There was a short hallway that had one room on the left at the end of it. Evan walked into it and turned on the lights. It was only the laundry room, no doors or windows. No worries. He turned around as was facing a door across the hall. It was another door to the outside deck. The deck was sizable and reached around the outside as a large semi-circle. The door was wooden with a small foot-by-foot square to look outside with. ¡°Don¡¯t want to forget about you,¡± Evan thought as he locked the door. He went back to the living room and saw Tony and Anne cuddled up next to one another. ¡°Hey you two, I¡¯m gonna be right back. I¡¯ma go downstairs and check on Tyrone and Jessica.¡± The stairs were roughly ten yards directly in front of the front door. Evan descended them and looked around as he reached the bottom. To the right of the stairs was a small lounge area with a television that he remembered watching movies with his family and more distant relatives whenever they would vacation here. To the left was a wall with access to the three other rooms and the outside deck. Tyrone and Jessica emerged from the outside deck and locked the door. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Evan inquired, ¡°Was there something out there?¡± Tyrone shook his head, ¡°Naw, just felt like looking at that view one more time before we shut all these blinds.¡± The trio went back up the stairs to meet with Tony and Anne. The five friends sat relatively close to each other. Each having the irrational fear that if they were more than a few feet away from the group, they would be next in line to get attacked by the killer. Perhaps that line of thinking was not so irrational, given the circumstances. Tony broke the silence, his voice wavering and audibly shaken, ¡°So, this is probably a stupid question to ask, but what the fuck do we do now?¡± Jessica put her phone to her ear and began chewing on her thumbnail, ¡°I¡¯m getting some cops here right now.¡± Anne nodded, ¡°Yeah, probably a good idea. How did that take so long to cross our minds?¡± No one answered. Jessica began speaking with an operator and explaining the situation. She stood up and went to the kitchen to speak. The living room and the kitchen were all together in an open room so the group watched her as she paced and held herself together to speak. She returned to the living room and plopped down next to Tyrone. He asked, ¡°So, uuuuhhhh, what¡¯s the move?¡± ¡°She told me that they¡¯re already sending squad cars. Apparently someone called it in.¡± ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The police had been speaking to the group and looking around the premises for thirty minutes by the time Davie returned. He got the five together and began speaking, ¡°I¡¯m sure the other officers have pretty much gotten you to tell everything, but just to ask again, are you kids ok?¡± Evan shrugged, ¡°We¡¯re fine. Just confused now. Why the hell return and target us when he knows that cops are around?¡± ¡°Well, this is the part of the investigation where I have to ask you kids about the people you know. Anyone who dislikes you enough to do this? The behavior of this person isn¡¯t making a lot of sense. They removed the arms of these women with some degree of precision and minimal mess. They¡¯re smart enough to not leave tracks or prints. However, they¡¯re just launching arms at your place? They¡¯re risking getting caught. I¡¯m not sure if this person is all-knowing or just damn lucky. Maybe they¡¯re just patient. They had to realize we would find the other body and that you kids would be alone long enough to do this. Is there anyone, anyone at all, who would try this? This place is pretty nice. Lots of expensive stuff, right? Do your parents have any enemies? Someone who would want to hurt them by hurting you?¡± Evan surveyed the room, anticipating a response from any member of their group, but no answer came. The others simply shook their heads and Evan repeated that action and shrugged. Davie sighed, ¡°Look, we¡¯ll have you kids under surveillance every hour of every day. If they¡¯ve taken advantage of lapses in our surveillance then they won¡¯t bother trying anything now. And if they still have the spine to try and harass you kids again, we¡¯ll catch them in the act.¡± The answer wasn¡¯t the most reassuring, but the police presence was welcome. Davie began heading towards the door, but turned his head to leave the group with some parting words, ¡°If you need anything, two officers will be here at all times. They¡¯ll be taking shifts, there will always be at least one officer in the vehicle out front, and every hour one of them will scan the surrounding area. We¡¯re gonna find out who¡¯s doing this.¡± The door shut. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thirty minutes had passed and a majority of the group remained stationary in the same positions. Evan had locked the door after Davie left and had plopped himself on top of one of the kitchen counters. The silence was deafening. The group felt defeated, bullied. It was a collective feeling of not only hopelessness, but also disappointment in themselves. The fact that they were a group of five individuals, but were still too weak to combat one harasser. A small grumble broke the silence. They all looked up and glanced at Tony. He produced a sheepish smile and stated, ¡°I know that we¡¯re super depressed right now, but could maybe be depressed with some food? Your boy is kind of hungry.¡± Jennifer piped in, ¡°Depression and comfort food do generally go hand-in-hand.¡± Evan chuckled, ¡°Alright, Dr. Phyllis. What sounds good?¡± Anne clung onto Tony¡¯s arm as she chimed in, ¡°I¡¯m hungry, but I¡¯m not sure if I could even eat. If that makes sense.¡± Tony smiled and produced a small vacuum-sealed bag filled with kush, ¡°Well thank goodness I have just the remedy for that kind of problem.¡± Tyrone winced, ¡°Bro I¡¯m not sure about that. We got a killer lurking for us and you want to get us high?¡± Tony shook his head, ¡°Nah man you¡¯re looking at it all wrong. We got a killer lurking, sure, but we got the cops right out there. And I don¡¯t think those dudes are gonna be worrying about a little smoke when they¡¯re worried about Leatherface out there.¡± Anne tightened her grip on Tony and said, ¡°Babe, poor taste.¡± Evan piped up, ¡°Yeah and are you telling me you brought that shit on the plane?¡± Tony shrugged, ¡°Vacuum sealed, bro. No one could smell it or find it in my bags. I mean, we¡¯re here aren¡¯t we? Don¡¯t worry about what never happened. All I¡¯m saying is we¡¯re on edge, we¡¯re depressed, we need a pick-me-up. We got all this weed and we got hella drinks in the kitchen. We got protection. I just had a panic attack and I¡¯m not gonna mope around here anymore wasting this vacation being on guard when we got two trained professionals out there ready to murk whoever is trying to fuck with us.¡± Jennifer scanned the room and let out a small chuckle, ¡°He makes a good point. I say we just go for it. Fuck a killer, I¡¯m here with my best friends and that motherfucker isn¡¯t dictating my life or my time with all of you.¡± Group Therapy The quintet of friends were in various parts of the kitchen. None of them wanted to stray too far from their nucleus. It was futile reassurance, much like how a person may feel at ease in bed as long as their feet are covered with a blanket. For some reason, a demon or ghoul would find it unbecoming to grab a covered limb. They must only grab the exposed limbs. A silly train of thought that must have influence over just about every person; considering how popular those kinds of rationalizations are. If a killer were to break into this house, and attack them right out, they had knives to defend themselves. They had numbers to defend themselves. That gave them a level of comfort. Maybe someone would get injured, but surely not killed. Not with everyone present. Or maybe the killer knew some kind of martial arts that made them an incredibly formidable foe. Even against five people. Is that better or worse than a zombie-like murderer who could take a hundred bullets to the head and still get back up? ¡°A zombie or a ninja?¡± These words came out of Evan¡¯s mouth in a mumbled fashion. Tyrone, sorting through the proper ingredients for a pi?a colada, turned to Evan, ¡°What was that buddy?¡± Evan snapped out of his trance and responded, ¡°Nothing, man. How many steaks did you guys want? We¡¯ve got seven of them, but they¡¯re not huge so we could probably eat all of them.¡± Tony sprinkled some grinded weed into a joint and then held up two fingers, ¡°You know Tony needs his nutrients to be a big strong man when he grows up.¡± Anne was preparing some baked potatoes and smiled, ¡°I¡¯ll probably be fine with one.¡± Jennifer, scanning for some music to play, ¡°Might as well cook them all, we¡¯ve got hella food in that fridge and pantry.¡± Evan slapped the steaks on top of various pans on the stove. He couldn¡¯t help but think about who might be watching from the outside. Who might be smelling the fumes of this food that was being prepared? The kush smoke would be lingering in the air, seeping outside the cracks under the doors for someone incredibly close to catch the scent. They would have to be close to smell it. They would have to be right outside the door. Their ear pressed to the wood, their fingers tapping, caressing the door. Close enough to hear the words that they speak¡­. ¡°Who the fuck¡­.¡± Evan¡¯s voice trailed off. He was outside, barefoot, and was staring at the police vehicle outside of his house. The air was bitterly cold. Much colder than it had been during the day. The officer lowered the driver¡¯s seat window, ¡°Everything ok, son?¡± Evan offered a weak smile, ¡°Yes sir. Sorry, I guess I was just checking to see how the weather felt. You have a good night, officer.¡± Evan closed the door, turned and walked into a stiff body. Evan blinked out of surprise and was met with Tyrone¡¯s face. ¡°You good man? Kind of just opened the easiest access point in the house without saying anything when you left the kitchen.¡± Evan was a little bothered by the question, until he remembered the others probably felt more at ease when they were all together. It was understandable. Evan put his hand on Tyrone¡¯s shoulder and nodded. They reached the kitchen to find Tony holding up two lit joints. ¡°It¡¯s time to mellow the fuck out, ladies and gentlemen.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The second officer entered the patrol vehicle and joined her colleague. ¡°Nothing, as expected.¡± ¡°Does Davie expect our force to donate a pair of us to these kids and their house every single day? I get the kids need some help, but shit. That storm is gonna be here tomorrow. I¡¯m not sure how he expects a car to drive out here in that kind of weather. Hell, even afterwards it¡¯s gonna take a little time. Can¡¯t expect a car to be out here in that storm either. Someone¡¯s gonna freeze to death.¡± ¡°Carl, calm down. It won¡¯t be one of us. We¡¯re off the clock after tonight.¡± ¡°I get it, Janet, but still. I¡¯m not just worried about one of our own. If this storm leaves an opening, it might not be good news for those kids.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The group was sufficiently high and eating the meal they had prepared. Anne, her eyes red as someone who hadn¡¯t slept in days, laughing like a middle schooler after hearing something that sounds vaguely sexual, proclaimed, ¡°I tell you what Tyrone, these pi?a coladas are some good ass shit!¡± Tyrone with a wide grin raised his glass, ¡°I¡¯ll drink to that gyot damn it!¡± Evan glanced over at Tony, ¡°You¡¯ve been awfully quiet Tony-boy. You ok, y¡¯know, given the circumstances?¡± Tony gave a very soft chuckle, ¡°Honestly? I¡¯m terrified. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve been this scared since my childhood, and even then, this might be worse.¡± Jennifer inquired, ¡°What do you mean? What happened as a kid? Totally asking from a caring place, I¡¯m putting aside my psychiatry major brain.¡± Evan nodded, ¡°Yeah, to be honest buddy, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve really ever talked about how we grew up. I mean you guys know some about my family, I know some of yours. I dunno, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve ever really delved that deep into each other. It makes sense, of course. I¡¯m not sure how often childhood trauma and experiences really fit into our general conversations.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Evan let out a light chortle. A faint laugh intermixed with a brief fit of coughs spurred on by the smoking. No one spoke for several seconds. Tyrone broke through the silence with a gentle inquiry, ¡°Well, I guess since these worms have been de-canned and all¡­ want to share?¡± Tony shrugged softly, ¡°Well, I grew up in a pretty rough part of China. My parents were born in South Korea, but we moved to China when I was like a year old. I couldn¡¯t tell you why we moved. But my parents were Christians, and in our neck of the woods, that didn¡¯t fly. Most of my childhood was spent dodging folks due to our religion. We would worship in secret. A lot of my friends were Christians. I think I¡¯m the only one that saw the age of 10. Don''t get me wrong, it¡¯s not like they died gangbanging for Christ or anything. Plenty of things in plenty of places that make it difficult to see your teen years.¡± Tyrone interjected, ¡°Jesus. I never pegged you as religious, Tony.¡± Tony gave a surprisingly large smile, ¡°I¡¯m not. At least not anymore. I struggled with my faith a lot as a kid. You know, why are we practicing this religion, praying to this God? We¡¯re the ones getting imprisoned and shit on, y¡¯know? Certain folks might gun you down like a dog for it. Shit didn¡¯t make sense to me. So, my parents managed to get me involved in one of those foreign exchange programs. I was with a nice enough family. It was easy to be a Christian here. We lived in a pretty decent part of Detroit. I had friends who got gunned down, but it was for drugs, not religion. My faith grew a lot that year, cause we lived well. We had a good life. I hated the idea of going back home. But I did miss my family. Then the family I lived with got news that their child died. So did my parents. Not some anti-religious slaying or anything. Car crash. Easy as that. I was able to claim asylum here in the States. I¡¯m not sure why, but the family I had been living with during the program took me in. Unfortunately, the family hated me. They never told me, but I know they did. Never took me to church again. It was like they were trying to get me exiled from heaven by not taking me to church. Guess it worked. I renounced my faith. I focused on learning everything else. Graduated a year early to get out of that situation. Full ride scholarship so that I wouldn¡¯t need to rely on them for anything and we could just go our separate ways, no questions asked.¡± The room was silent. No one had anything to say to him. None of them would have guessed even an inkling of this story. Tony continued, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m a big boy haha. I was skin and bones back in China. I felt like taking any kind of surplus food at my newly adoptive parents¡¯ home was just robbing them, since I had already robbed them of their child. So after I graduated I ate like a motherfucker, because I earned that. Some people are gunned down for no reason. They live their lives in shit situations and just barely scrape by. They live to be 80, suffering their entire lives, or they live to be 13, still only knowing suffering. Fuck that. If I died of a heart attack at 35, then so be it. I lived a happy existence while I could and I¡¯ll happily let food kill me before I let someone else do it to me. But now I¡¯m scared like I¡¯ve never been scared before. Back in China, they were killing all of us, not just me. So I had a chance to slip through the cracks. And hell, even if I died, what was I losing out on? Another few years of eating scraps and dodging everyone that might turn me in? Naw, it¡¯d suck to die but it¡¯d probably be the best thing in the long run. But now I¡¯ve got happiness. I¡¯ve got things I¡¯m scared to lose out on¡­. I don¡¯t control my own destiny anymore. Once again, someone else has me in their hand, and I hate it. I don¡¯t want to die.¡± Evan shook his head, ¡°You¡¯re not going to die, man.¡± Tony offered Evan a thankful look, but stated, ¡°You don¡¯t know that. Neither do I. Shit sucks, but it is what it is. So¡­ anybody else got fun stories to tell?¡± Evan looked around and shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t have anything like that to share, but I¡¯ll offer something so you¡¯re not on an island. I¡¯m scared too. I¡¯m scared, because my mom has been dealing with manic depression for years now. She¡¯s tried to kill herself twice in the last five years. The first time, she claimed, was an accident. I know it wasn¡¯t. The second time she didn¡¯t even deny it. They thought about locking her up in a¡­¡± Evan¡¯s voice trailed off and wavered slightly. He swallowed and continued, ¡° But my dad didn¡¯t think that would be best. I didn¡¯t either. It¡¯s been about two years since then, but I¡¯ve heard her talk to herself. She fights herself every day. She wants to end her life so badly, but she¡¯s seen what it¡¯s done to my dad and me now. Twice. She doesn¡¯t want to hurt us like that again. But I know it¡¯s a struggle for her to not go ahead and end it all. She hates herself, but she loves us. I¡¯m scared that if I die, she¡¯s not going to have one of her main inhibitions and she¡¯ll do it again. Then it¡¯ll just be my dad and I¡¯m not sure how he¡¯s going to cope. If I die, I think that there¡¯s a good chance that my mom does too and who knows¡­ maybe even my dad. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m going to end up being why they hurt themselves if I can¡¯t stay alive. Fuck, how the hell am I supposed to be in the FBI if I can¡¯t survive this. I¡¯m scared as hell, though.¡± More silence followed this. The friends gave Evan sympathetic looks. They all seemed to have an understanding that these confessions didn¡¯t require feedback. Jennifer cleared her throat and spoke softly, ¡°Growing up, my family was incredibly racist. Tyrone knows that I don¡¯t have the best relationship with them. They were awful human beings. I went into psychology, because I wanted to understand just why someone could be so hateful to others, for something as trivial as race. I always thought that once I figured out how to be the best psychiatrist I could be; I could figure out what¡¯s wrong with them. I could help. I¡¯m not just scared of dying; I¡¯m scared I¡¯ll die before I get to help any of them. I¡¯m scared I¡¯ll die before I can fix them and they¡¯ll just continue on living their shitty, hateful existence.¡± Tyrone rubbed her back with his left hand as he began to speak, ¡°Back in Baltimore, my family lives in the hood. Like, dangerous-die-any-day kind of hood. Even as a kid, I was more worried about my family members dying. For whatever reason, I knew I wouldn¡¯t die. I knew I had a higher purpose and if I got the opportunity to get out of Baltimore, well, that would all but assure me that I was meant for more. I didn¡¯t get any scholarships for football, but I got that scholarship for engineering. Bullets got shot every day and every night around where my family stayed at. Every day I was worried my family wouldn¡¯t make it back home, but they did. Once I get a job, a good paying job, I can move my family out of that shit and into safety. Close to me. This is the first time I¡¯ve ever been scared about my own safety, if I¡¯m being honest. Kind of like Tony said. Motherfuckers were dying every day around me, and any day I could¡¯ve been one of those bodies, but I wasn¡¯t. I wasn¡¯t the target. Now I feel like I am. I¡¯m scared for myself, but I¡¯m also scared that if I die, my family¡¯s got no shot at a future where they can be safe.¡± Tony interjected, ¡°I don¡¯t know, Tyrone, sounds like your family wouldn¡¯t be too safe if you married into the Klan with Jessica.¡± There was a small bout of laughter. It felt nice. Tyrone raised his gaze to Anne, ¡°How about you, Anne? Anything you want to get off your chest?¡± Anne shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ve lived a relatively fortunate life. I could always tell that my father would have rather had a son, but he never loved me any less. My family always supported me in all my endeavors. I¡¯ve been blessed for most of my life. Honestly, I¡¯m just scared. I don¡¯t have the reasons you guys have and I feel shitty about that. Like, if someone here has to go, it should be me. You guys have more on the line¡­¡± Tony tightened his embrace on her. ¡°Babe don¡¯t ever say that. No one here is going to die and no one here deserves any kind of fate. I don¡¯t want to hear you talk like that.¡± Evan chimed in, ¡°He¡¯s right Anne. This isn¡¯t a competition of who deserves to die first. Mostly, because I can tell you with utmost certainty that none of us are dying here. And just because you¡¯ve had a good life, doesn¡¯t mean you don¡¯t deserve to be just as scared as the rest of us. Don¡¯t think you haven¡¯t earned the right to be terrified. We all are. But we¡¯re also all going to be ok.¡± The Body A few hours had passed since darkness claimed its rightful place in the sky with clouds loitering over Telluride. Wind began gaining strength as it infrequently rushed through the streets. It was nothing more than a faint howl from a dying animal. At least, that¡¯s all it could muster when one paid heed to it from inside their homes. The sound of brown water filling up a small mug was louder, inside those walls. Mel gazed outside, like a conqueror gazed upon his spoils. The spoils were the rolling mountains that transformed into looming, jutting silhouettes in the dark. The spoils were what those inanimate behemoths symbolized. While he had neither purchased those mountains, nor had he even stepped upon a single precipice; he had worked hard enough throughout his life that he was able to witness this view. He had put in enough effort to earn this relief, this freedom. He smiled faintly as he rubbed the scar on his chest, feeling the oblong grooves and rise in his skin that reminded him of his past. A feminine, excitable voice called out from his bedroom. His gaze shifted from the landscape to the neighboring house. Light spewed from every window in the building. He chuckled and picked up the two mugs filled with coffee. Before returning to his bedroom, he gave one last glance to the landscape. He did not notice the eyes staring back at him through the outdoor vegetation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony and Anne were snoring together on the couch, comatose after filling their stomachs and their lungs. Jessica was on the verge of falling completely asleep where she sat. Tyrone and Evan sat in silence, both sufficiently under the influence. The joys and drawbacks of cannabis were present. The two felt the joy of being high. They both shared a similar sense of humor that would cause the occasional chuckle to rise. Neither could know what the other found amusing, however they did not mind. They both knew that they could exchange words, but that conversation would ultimately lead back to one topic. A topic they wished to ignore for at least tonight. Then there were the negatives of the substance. They both felt an ominous fear that permeated in the back of their minds. Anxieties had taken up residence and a slight hint of paranoia soon followed. Evan shuffled uncomfortably in his chair. Tyrone turned to him and asked, ¡°We¡¯re gonna be ok, right? Like, ok look I¡¯m a little high so bear with me for a second. Like, what if this is something else? Why the fuck is a serial killer targeting us? Why would he be? This has to be something else, like still bad, but different.¡± Evan was trying to decipher Tyrone¡¯s sentiment but ultimately found himself confused, ¡°What the hell are you talking about bro?¡± Tyrone shook his head, eyes fixated on the floor, ¡°Those arms, I mean I didn¡¯t get a look at the first one, but I saw that second one. I don¡¯t care what that cop says, these aren¡¯t clean-cut limbs, bro. This shit is kinda mangled, ya know? Those arms didn¡¯t look like some dude surgically removed them off of whoever. That shit looked torn off.¡± Evan began understanding, but prodded further, ¡°So what are you saying?¡± Tyrone shrugged, ¡°What if what did these things isn¡¯t human?¡± ¡°Not human? I just don¡¯t really know if a mountain lion could behave like this. Intentionally and specifically leaving arms at this house.¡± ¡°Naw bro, like something inhuman. What if this is like some demon. What if we did something wrong and this is how we get dealt with? Some kind of divine retribution. Someone tore those fucking arms off bro, and I¡¯m not sure I know how.¡± Evan was silent for a moment, but softly replied, ¡°I mean, the unclean severance of one of the arms doesn¡¯t necessarily mean someone had to barbarically rip them off. A lot of cuts can be messy, unclean. If the killer has practiced a lot, done this a lot, then yeah the cut would be cleaner. But messy cuts generally mean that someone worrying about precision doesn¡¯t make them. I hadn¡¯t thought of it before, but that actually gives me some confidence.¡± Tyrone looked up and the two met eyes, ¡°What do you mean?¡± Evan produced a soft smile, ¡°I think if the cuts were cleaner, that would mean we¡¯re dealing with someone that knows what they¡¯re doing, at least somewhat. It would mean this person has experience. We¡¯d be going up against an expert at this shit. I think that¡¯s scarier. So far all signs point towards someone who¡¯s pretty new to this, less organized. Even with the level of police here, that should be enough to stop whoever is doing this.¡± Tyrone pursed his lips and nodded, ¡°You might be right, bro. Sorry about all that other talk, I¡¯m still pretty high right now so I think I let it take over a little. What time is it?¡± Evan¡¯s eyes popped a little, ¡°Oh shit, it¡¯s a little past 2 AM right now. Probably time to crash.¡± Tyrone nodded in agreement. As the two began waking up the others to see if they wanted to sleep in beds, police lights began flashing outside the windows. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The two officers, who had been outside the home of the five undergrads, were making their way through the blinding darkness. Lights were somewhat obscured by the snow and sheer density of the darkness. Carl sighed, ¡°So now the rich fella is calling the cops, just our luck.¡± Janet shrugged, ¡°Hey, dispatch said he was hiding in his room. The man is built like a linebacker, whatever has him locked in his room has got to be serious.¡± Carl interjected, ¡°Talking about serious, do you smell the crazy amount of weed I¡¯m smelling? Those damn kids are having the time of their lives, Janet.¡± She cracked a smile, ¡°Hey now Carl, let them live. Not every day that you find yourself in a horror movie.¡± The two officers were outside Mel¡¯s door now. Janet barked, ¡°Police! Open the door! If you don¡¯t respond in five seconds I¡¯m opening this door forcefully!¡± The five seconds passed with silence and Janet kicked the door with all of her strength, forcing it open. The two beams of light produced by the officers¡¯ flashlights converged in the middle of the room. There was nothing there. Carl called out, ¡°Sir, are you here? Are you hurt? Is there an intruder still in the house?¡± A loud yell came from the bedroom located in the back right of the abode, ¡°The kitchen! I can¡¯t look at it myself, please! In the kitchen!¡± Carl shot Janet a look, ¡°That can¡¯t be good.¡± The two officers made their way through the house. They walked towards the middle of the living room, shining their lights throughout the entire room to ensure there were no eyes staring at them from a corner. Janet motioned to Carl that the entrance into the kitchen was on their left. There was an enormous chill that filled that room. It contained an eerie atmosphere that was accompanied by the freezing temperatures outside. They walked through the opening and glanced to their left. There was a dinner table that looked more like decoration than something that was actually used. The two officers turned to their right when they saw it. It was a woman¡¯s body in a bent, but upright, position. Her back was to the officers, but her head was facing upward, mouth agape. The window on the upper portion of a door to the outside was broken. The back of her shirt was significantly torn. Carl let out a queasy groan as Janet stepped forward to get a better look. Carl called out, in a semi-whisper, ¡°You sure you wanna do that?¡± Janet waved him away, ¡°Just watch my back and watch the living room.¡± She continued her steps until she was finally upon the body and her stomach climbed to her throat. The skin on the woman¡¯s neck was stretched and tense as it seemed her head had been forced into facing the other direction, breaking it. The back of her head had been penetrated by a large shard of broken glass that was connected to the bottom part of the window on the door¡¯s upper portion. One of her bottom teeth was on the floor and three of her upper front teeth were almost completely buried deep inside of her gums. Her nose was stuck upwards like when someone attempts to make a pig face. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Janet turned to Carl, her face drained of color, ¡°Yeah this is really bad.¡± --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrol cars and an ambulance made their way outside of Mel¡¯s house. The five friends looked from their home, onto the lights piercing the night sky. They were like stage lights illuminating and accentuating this play¡¯s tragedy. The five spotted Davie outside, speaking to the two officers who had discovered the scene. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Davie asked, ¡°So what happened here?¡± Janet replied, ¡°Breaking and entering, we¡¯re questioning the-¡° Davie interrupted, ¡°I saw the damn body and I know what happened. I¡¯m asking, what do you think happened? Give me a hypothesis.¡± Janet nodded, ¡°Owner of the home was scared out of his mind and locked in his room when we arrived. The victim, a Lindsey Calhoun, her body was pretty abused. I guess that¡¯s an understatement. Her shirt was torn in the back and her head looked like someone broke her neck and rotated her head 180 degrees after. She had lost a tooth, but three of her front teeth were damn near pushed inside her gums. Her nose was completely shattered and in an upward position. She also seems to have some bruises now forming around her head. If I had to guess, someone a lot bigger than her ambushed her. Someone she wasn¡¯t expecting. Owner says he was asleep and didn¡¯t hear anything and from speculation of his hands and body, doesn¡¯t seem like he was involved. No blood, no scratched knuckles, no nothing. So, as I see it, someone surprises her and before she can say anything they knock her around a few times. Powerful hits, likely. She probably got groggy and started to get a little dizzy from the blunt force. Maybe she tried to run away and got her shirt ripped from getting pulled on. Next, I¡¯d imagine she gets hit with a really nasty uppercut. So hard that three teeth got lodged up inside her gums and her nose got hit too, breaking it and jutting it upwards. She¡¯s probably about to go unconscious at this point, so the killer can easily get their hands on her and they don¡¯t just break her neck, they absolutely turn her entire head around. Then, I¡¯m not sure. I guess he just impaled her head on the broken glass on the door.¡± Davie shook his head, ¡°Wait a damn minute just how the hell did all this happen? You guys were right outside!¡± Carl and Janet looked down in unison, but Janet continued, ¡°It seems there was forced entry towards the back. There was a door in the kitchen that leads to an outside deck, I assume that¡¯s how he came in.¡± Davie asked, ¡°The glass didn¡¯t break from her head getting smashed through it?¡± Janet shook her head in disagreement, ¡°No sir, all the glass from the window can be found inside of the kitchen. If her head had been what broke the window, the glass would be outside, most likely. I think the killer broke into the house by breaking the glass and opening the door by reaching through.¡± Davie squinted, inquisitively, ¡°Then why didn¡¯t Mel check it out?¡± Carl interjected this time, ¡°He¡¯s a little older and the woman was probably a solid fifteen to twenty years younger. Clearly they were intimate. Honestly I just chalk it up to him getting laid and how he¡¯s knocking on fifty¡¯s door. She probably had more energy and was less sleepy so she¡¯s the one who got up to investigate.¡± Davie nodded slowly, ¡°I can understand that. But why wouldn¡¯t she wake him up? Have him around for extra protection? I¡¯ve known plenty of women who wouldn¡¯t think twice about staying put if they didn¡¯t have someone with them.¡± Carl shrugged, ¡°I can¡¯t answer that. I¡¯m not sure. Judging from her physique, she was in good shape. Decent muscle definition and density. Her abs are apparent. If I had to guess, she felt like she could handle herself. It¡¯s a reach, but it¡¯s all I can really think of right now.¡± Davie scratched the back of his head, ¡°That¡¯s fair. We¡¯ll have to make sure we understand who this young lady was. Overall what¡¯s your opinion: coincidence or is this the same guy?¡± Janet let out a huff of air, ¡°Tough to say. There was no arm missing so it doesn¡¯t match up with the other two. At the same time, though, it¡¯s hard to believe that there would be two brutal murderers on the loose. The method behind this kill was definitely different, but thinking of two separate killers on the loose is a hard pill to swallow.¡± The Detective shook his head in slow disbelief, ¡°Damn good work, I¡¯m gonna go check the scene again and see if I can gain some more insight. You two have done enough, you can head home when you like.¡± Davie peered past one of the officers and caught sight of the five college students. He patted them on the shoulder; ¡°I¡¯ve got to talk to those kids real quick. Have a better rest of the night.¡± Davie made his way to the group of five and was immediately met with a barrage of questions. He held his hand to stop them and spoke, ¡°Look, something real rough happened in there. Mel is fine, but I still need to do some questioning. I¡¯m also going to have to talk to all six of you together after I¡¯m done with him individually. We¡¯re thinking of getting you guys somewhere else, somewhere safer, before this storm comes rolling in. I¡¯ll have those details for y¡¯all a little later. I¡¯ve got to head back over there, just sit tight and keep your wits about you.¡± ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Davie walked through the kitchen, examining everything. Everything he saw was consistent with Janet¡¯s interpretation of the events. The body was truly haunting to look at. It broke his heart to have this reaction, but he was genuinely disgusted by her appearance. She was surely a vibrant, attractive young lady when she was alive. She likely was a fun person to be around for her friends. However, it doesn¡¯t matter now. Davie wasn¡¯t her friend and he certainly had no memories attached to her. Now, she was a contorted carcass that he strongly wished would just be thrown out of the house already. His gaze dropped to the ground in order to save himself from the nausea rising within him. There he saw three distinctive clusters of glass shards. Two clusters sprinkled with blood on top of them, droplets fully splattered on glass with other individual droplets separating into spots partly on the glass and partly on the floor. The third cluster was relatively clean, closer together than the others. A little dirtier as well with small bits of what appeared to be dirt and tiny pools of water formed between the lightly scattered shards. Davie exhaled deeply. A voice broke the silence, ¡°Davie, owner of the house is ready to talk to you.¡± Davie slightly jumped from the noise, then turned around to see an officer and replied, ¡°Perfect, I¡¯ll be right with him.¡± Davie gave one last reluctant look at the carnage and its setting before walking towards the room where Mel was located. Once Davie entered the room, he was met with a feeling of guilt. Mel was not sitting upright, postured, and composed. He was not spouting overconfident anecdotes and offering condescending tidbits of information. He was seated, bent over with his head in his hands, looking lost. He was still a large man, but he resembled an old warrior who had finally been internally defeated; fighting spirit crushed. Davie sighed, ¡°Hey, Mel.¡± Mel looked up and his eyes met with Davie¡¯s. Davie couldn¡¯t hide his confusion and surprise. Mel did look defeated, lost, but he also looked furious. Mel sat upright, ¡°Long time no see, detective.¡± Davie leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets, ¡°What the hell happened here? Did you see anything? Did you hear anything distinctive?¡± Mel shook his head, ¡°I have no idea what happened. All I saw was her body and that¡¯s when I shot back inside of my room, locked the door, and called you guys. I didn¡¯t hear anything. I¡¯m afraid I only caught the aftermath.¡± ¡°How? It¡¯s looking like the killer broke in here by breaking a window. Then they brutalized that young lady. How does that go unheard?¡± Mel¡¯s voice rose with anger, ¡°Am I under fucking investigation again here, Davie?¡± Davie put up his hands, ¡°No, Mel. You just have to wonder what we¡¯re thinking. Especially since the killer let you off without so much as a scratch, despite you being asleep.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think I understand how it looks? Isn¡¯t it clear what¡¯s happening or do I have to do your job for you?¡± Davie¡¯s eyes lit up with rage and his eyebrows rose rapidly before both came back down, ¡°Well this tragedy certainly hasn¡¯t made you any more approachable.¡± Mel said, with anger in his voice, ¡°It¡¯s the same goddamn killer! The one messing with those fucking kids over there!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that, Mel. Method of killing is way different. This has a crime of passion feel to it.¡± ¡°Method may have been different, but the ¡®MO¡¯ is the SAME! Who knows why they kept cutting arms off? Shit, all that psycho would do with the arms was hurl them at the kids¡¯ place! The arms don¡¯t matter! In the end the targets are the same!! Women! This killer is targeting WOMEN! Why else would he leave me alone? If it were a different killer, they would¡¯ve killed her and me. If it were a burglary gone wrong I¡¯d be dead, again, and they would¡¯ve robbed me of half of my shit. This is no coincidence, he¡¯s targeting women and for whatever fucking reason he likes this stretch of land here!¡± Davie bit his lip, ¡°We¡¯re going to be looking at this from all angles. We¡¯re going to work diligently and we¡¯re going to catch this animal.¡± Mel shot up and got in Davie¡¯s face, ¡°You better work overtime, because this storm is rolling in. If you and your band of merry men are worth anything, you¡¯ll understand that someone else is going to get hurt when that storm hits. Do BETTER.¡± Davie reached in his pocket and pulled out a mint, ¡°Your breath smells like the inside of a biker bar. Maybe less of the nicotine. We¡¯re gonna catch this person, and then you and I don¡¯t have to be around each other anymore. It¡¯s a win-win. Now, unfortunately, we just have a little bit more time before that. I¡¯m gonna have you come with me for a bit. We¡¯re going next door. I want to get you and them out of here, so I¡¯m going to get all of you together and tell y¡¯all the plan. Let¡¯s head over.¡± Only Up From Here The knocks on the front door startled the five inside at first. The first thought that crossed Evan¡¯s mind was - did it happen? Did the killer just get done slaughtering the police and stroll up to their door to politely ask for a few more blood samples? The knock was immediately followed by Davie identifying himself to the temporary residents. Seeing Davie was a pleasant surprise, given the chaos of the situation. The closer Davie was to them, the further away death by some anonymous slasher would likely be. Seeing Mel trail in after Davie was a less pleasant surprise for the undergraduates. His face was solemn, however. Their gazes met his, seemingly devoid of energy after what must have been a huge burst of adrenaline. The five friends piled closely on the couch in the middle of the room. Mel occupied a chair off to the side, sinking into the cushions. Davie paced slowly, distractedly. He finally looked up from analyzing the floor. Once his eyes met those of the others¡¯, he jerked slightly as if surprised at the discovery of their existence. ¡°So,¡± Davie began before slightly trailing off, ¡°seems we find ourselves with a¡­ shift in this situation. We found a body next door and it doesn¡¯t quite resemble what we¡¯ve seen up to this point.¡± ¡°Really now?¡± Six pairs of eyes turned to Mel. He was looking at his own feet. This less energized demeanor made him look meeker than usual. Despite his weaker status at this time, his words still had a bite to them like a wounded dog bearing its teeth at potential irritants. Davie gave him a quick glance but it returned to the younger individuals. ¡°You kids don¡¯t need to get filled in on the details. To be blunt, I¡¯m not convinced that anyone in this vicinity is safe anymore. Before it looked like someone was just taunting you kids, but now¡­ this? It¡¯s erratic and it doesn¡¯t make a whole lot of sense yet, but there is one thing that should be obvious to us all. We have got to get you six out of here. I¡¯ve been informed that we¡¯ve managed to contact a hotel. It¡¯s about fifteen minutes away. That should provide some cushion from all of this, especially if what¡¯s going on is isolated to the immediate area. The bad news is that the rooms won¡¯t be available until later in the morning. It¡¯s 4 AM right now and we¡¯re going to have to wait until about 8. Some visitors to our fair town are going to have to be ousted from their rooms, but they¡¯ll be fine. You guys can drive in your respective cars with a police escort whenever we head out or you can be taken by one of our squad cars. Either works. Until then, I¡¯ll have a couple of officers here to wait out the time with you.¡± The, now, group of six looked around at each other and began to subtly nod in agreement with this course of action. Evan raised his hand, an action that, in tandem with his lack of control over this entire situation, made him feel smaller than he had in years. Davie gave him an approving look. ¡°So,¡± Evan produced a small grunt to clear his voice, ¡°there¡¯s a reason why we¡¯re still here in Colorado. You mentioned a while back the snowstorm that¡¯s coming. When is that supposed to happen?¡± Davie flatly replied, ¡°It¡¯s looking like 11 is when things will get rough. This won¡¯t be the strongest storm in the world, but it is still bringing some power with it. Things will be rough from anywhere between 12 and 24 hours.¡± Evan picked at his lower lip with his teeth for a moment. ¡°Ok, so¡­ a day of blizzards in a hotel. I don¡¯t think I feel comfortable with that.¡± This response was like a shot of adrenaline to his friends. Confusion was smeared all over their faces. Mel spoke up before anyone else could interject, ¡°What makes you uneasy about it?¡± Evan wanted to shoot him a glance of animosity, but by the time his eyes focused on the man, his gaze had softened. ¡°I can¡¯t really place my finger on it. I get it, it¡¯s stupid to stay here. It feels like whoever is doing this is winning. It feels like we¡¯re being driven out by a singular fucking person. There are seven of us in here contemplating how to outwit and outman one¡­ ONE person.¡± Davie raised an eyebrow to this, ¡°I get your frustration with the situation. I¡¯m not going to lie to you and say that I¡¯m not irate myself. But we have to work with the hand we¡¯re dealt.¡± Evan shrugged his shoulders. He was halfway into an anxiety attack and halfway into a surge of aggressive energy. ¡°I¡¯m not fucking leaving.¡± Tyrone put his hand on Evan¡¯s forearm, ¡°Evan, think ab-¡± Evan jerked his arm from under Tyrone¡¯s hand, ¡°NO. No. I¡¯m not going. We¡¯re just running and running. And guess what? I¡¯m betting whoever is doing this is already three steps ahead. They¡¯ve been ahead this entire time. They¡¯re so fucking far ahead that you and I talked about the idea of it being a godamn cryptic, Ty. We don¡¯t have a clue what his motive is and how he¡¯s coming at us.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Mel spoke up, masculine abrasiveness slowly resurfacing, ¡°If you hadn¡¯t noticed I¡¯m the only one here that¡¯s been specifically targeted. Maybe you¡¯re not the center of attention here, kid. None of you kids are. You just happened to be around. Go to the hotel. Be safe and go back home where people give a shit about you guys. For better and for worse.¡± Evan looked at him flatly, ¡°I¡¯m not going. If he doesn¡¯t give a shit about us, then I¡¯m fine here. I just happen to be around. If he is targeting us, then my ass thinks the hotel is just a grave with more rooms. I¡¯ll stay here, where my body will at least be easier to find.¡± Jessica was quiet this whole time, a small pile of fingernails on the ground increasing in size. Anne seemed to be in a daze. Her eyes transfixed on the ground as her head leaned on Tony¡¯s shoulders. Tony was fully engaged, eyes darting back and forth between Mel, Davie, and Evan. His eyes moved from person to person, regardless if they were speaking at the time. Tyrone had nothing else to contribute at the time. Davie had grown irritated as Evan spoke, but the words he now expressed were softer than he had ever spoken to the group, ¡°Evan, I can¡¯t stay here with you. I have a wife at home, I need to be with her during this storm. I can¡¯t guarantee your safety and the force is stretched thinner than it has in a long time. It¡¯s an unnecessary risk.¡± Tyrone looked at Jessica with concern. She nodded and spoke up, ¡°Tyrone and I can stay here. Three on one is still a pretty competitive advantage, huh?¡± As she spoke two new figures appeared from the front door. ¡°Davie!¡± The detective jolted and turned around to see Janet and Carl standing there, ¡°How did you guys get in??¡± Janet replied, ¡°Front door comes in handy when it¡¯s unlocked.¡± Carl added, ¡°Handy for us and anyone else. We locked it back up.¡± The detective spoke over the two, ¡°Why are you here?¡± Carl replied, ¡°Well, we were eavesdropping outside for a couple of minutes and found an opening. We can stay here to watch the kids.¡± Janet interjected with a solemn smile, ¡°After seeing¡­ well, I¡¯m not sure if the kids know so let¡¯s just say what was next door. After that, I can¡¯t let these kids fend for themselves.¡± Carl added, ¡°I don¡¯t think I could go home and actually sleep after tonight. Things kinda got recontextualized. If that makes sense¡­¡± Evan let out a genuine smile while hearing this. However, a surprising voice spoke dissent into the air. ¡°I want to be at the hotel.¡± The room collectively brought its attention to Tony. He was confident in his demeanor. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be here. Too much has happened here for me to feel safe. For Anne to feel safe. Keeping our distance so close that this person is constantly grazing us tells me that if we stay put then eventually those grazes are going to turn into cuts. I¡¯m not going to wait around for that to happen.¡± Evan weakly raised his voice, ¡°Tony c¡¯mon are you serious?¡± ¡°Absolutely. I don¡¯t think you¡¯re wrong for wanting to stay, Evan. You¡¯re smart. This is your wheelhouse, despite your lack of real world experience. I respect your opinion on this, but I believe differently. I don¡¯t think this person is playing chess with us, I think he¡¯s an animal. I think he¡¯s smart, but he¡¯s not a genius. I think staying here is just keeping you in his crosshairs.¡± Davie sighed and then followed up Tony¡¯s tangent, ¡°Like I said, our forces are thin. Lots of different pieces trying to accomplish our goal of finding this bastard and putting him away. We can¡¯t dedicate four officers to protect both of your groups split like this.¡± Carl once again spoke up, ¡°I can go to the hotel with them. I can take the car, stay at the hotel, watch over things until the storm dies down. Janet?¡± She replied confidently, ¡°One hundred percent. I can stay here. I¡¯m assuming this mansion has an unused room, right kid?¡± Evan nodded. Mel stood up in his seat, ¡°So it looks like it¡¯s four of us at the hotel and four of you here. What now?¡± Davie stood up himself, ¡°Now we wait. I¡¯m not done with your house, Mel. Janet and Carl will stay here. Maybe catch a couple hours of a nap before some of you head off to the hotel.¡± ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7:45 AM Tony, Anne, Mel, and Carl began to load up the vehicle. Carl naturally got behind the wheel and, almost as naturally, Mel assumed the position of front passenger. Tony and Anne were by the back seats, doors unopened. Evan, Tyrone, and Jessica stood closely by after the rash of hugs ended. Tyrone spoke, ¡°Please be careful you two.¡± Tony chuckled, ¡°Be careful? You guys are staying at ground zero, if anyone needs to be careful it¡¯s you three. You¡¯re sure this is the right thing for you guys?¡± Evan weakly smiled, ¡°No. I¡¯m not sure that either is the real right answer.¡± Tony smiled in return, genuinely and largely, ¡°That makes zero fucking sense. Do your best to relax, man. We¡¯re going to see each other whenever this storm passes. We¡¯re gonna get on that plane home and we¡¯re gonna find a hike to get blasted on. It¡¯s quite literally only up from here.¡± Jessica chimed in with a grin, ¡°I like that right now. It¡¯s only up from here.¡± Anne spoke up as well, wanting to contribute to the conversation in a positive way, ¡°Only up from here.¡± The two lovebirds climbed aboard the squad car and held hands tightly. Anne turned to Tony, ¡°Are you sure?¡± Tony cocked his head, ¡°What do you mean? The hotel?¡± She shook her head, ¡°No, I mean¡­ only up from here?¡± He subtly nodded, one that came across as dubious, ¡°I hope.¡± Calm Before The Storm The squad car was humming down the road as it progressed towards its destination. Snow was listlessly descending from the sky at this point. Tony and Anne looked through their respective windows, heads cocked upwards to watch the lazy bits of ice causing microscopic crashes into the ground. ¡°First time seeing snowfall?¡± The voice came from Carl. Anne smiled and shook her head, ¡°No, but certainly not a regular occurrence. I do like it, though. Snow feels peaceful.¡± Mel quietly snorted, sarcasm imbued within it, ¡°A lot of peace it¡¯s given us huh?¡± Tony interjected, ¡°I agree with her. It¡¯s soft. Even ¡®snow storm¡¯ has its charms. It¡¯s like ¡®Oh no here comes to barrage of pillows to smother us.¡¯¡± Carl replied, ¡°Well, actually, they get pretty-¡± ¡°Ok what about a blizzard?¡± Mel¡¯s voice cut through Carl¡¯s like a hot knife through butter. Tony inquired, ¡°Yeah? What about a blizzard?¡± Mel stated, matter-of-factly, ¡°Blizzard equates to snow storm. Blizzard doesn¡¯t sound warm and cuddly. So why would that give you any semblance of peace?¡± ¡°I guess how I see it is: blizzard is a harsher word, but it''s used somewhat interchangeably with snow storm. So, if it''s interchangeable and means the same, why should it be any scarier?¡± ¡°Oh? And what if I told you that you had a somnambulism?¡± Tony shrugged, ¡°Well, then I know I¡¯m ok because that¡¯s just sleepwalking. A word with more syllables doesn¡¯t make things any more intimidating unless you¡¯re stupid and insecure, y¡¯know? Besides, I can find a DQ somewhere and make love to a blizzard, so I¡¯m not sure if it''s really that bad.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re arguing that ice cream being called the same as a storm makes the storm less intimidating?¡± Tony shook his head, ¡°No, I¡¯m just saying that being called something else doesn¡¯t make it any more intimidating than it originally was. You¡¯re arguing semantics, Mr. Mel.¡± ¡°Oh, and you¡¯re not?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m arguing with a sarcastic douchebag that felt the need to be snarky to my girlfriend.¡± The car continued on to their destination in awkward silence. ¡ª------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Janet was on the outdoor deck behind the home, looking out on the view as the snowfall was beginning its gradual quickening of pace. She had lived in the area for most of her life, but these views were foreign to her. Maybe she had experienced this place too often. Maybe she had grown accustomed to the mountains and the way the terrain made her feel inconsequential in comparison. Maybe she wasn¡¯t rich, because the view from that deck gave her a sensation she rarely felt. Awe. The sight was so comforting to her. To know that despite her lack of financial wealth, this terrain existed like this for anyone to see. This land didn¡¯t care if she could afford a house like this, it would still exist in its glory until the end of days. Unending beauty, the kind no human could achieve. Unending beauty, unlike¡­. Janet shuddered violently at her thoughts. Beautiful women. Contorted. Bent in whatever direction would cause the most pain, the most suffering. Teeth lodged deeply within gums. Blood freely flowing from any opening it could find. ¡°Pull yourself together. The job was never meant to be as easy as it has been.¡± ¡°Hey, officer?¡± Janet turned to see Jessica standing behind her. Jessica looked exhausted. The kind of exhaustion felt by those under fire, waiting to be hit next. Janet put her back to the view, arms bent and rested on the railing behind her. ¡°What¡¯s up? Your name is Jessica, right?¡± Jessica nodded with a soft smile. ¡°Yes it is. I have a question about last night.¡± The officer pursed her lips with curiosity. ¡°Oh really? I get the feeling it¡¯s going to be a rough one, then.¡± Jessica squinted her eyes like one might do when confronted with an awkward situation that they want to visually obscure as much as possible. ¡°Yeah, I mean I guess¡­ maybe. Probably not, you¡¯ve been a cop for how long?¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°If that¡¯s it, only rough part would be talking about my age haha. I¡¯ve been a cop for about six years now. I joined when I was 26.¡± ¡°Oh sorry, that wasn¡¯t the question. It was actually about what happened at Mel¡¯s. You guys didn¡¯t get into detail with us, which is completely fine of course. That being said, I¡¯d like to know why.¡± Janet¡¯s eye twitched involuntarily. Immediately the image of the young lady they found a handful of hours prior flooded back into her memory. She never wanted to think about that face again; or the unnatural twists in her body and neck; or the unfairness of what this young woman must have felt. A thought came to her mind, a stupid saying that would reappear on social media in the form of memes from time to time. It sounded a little like, ¡°If a little girl asks you to talk on her pretend phone, you talk on the pretend phone.¡± If a scared young lady needs you to be a tough cop, you act like the tough cop. If she needs you to be something that grounds her, helps her feel more confident about the situation befallen to her and her friends; you need to be that stable ground. Still, Janet could feel her breath wavering in her trachea. She could feel her emotions rising as the image of that body imprinted itself in her mind. She¡¯ll have to see that body for the rest of life. Janet managed to breathe in steadily, ¡°It¡¯s pretty brutal. We found the body of someone who didn¡¯t look too dissimilar from me. Young lady. Pretty. Sorry, that¡¯s more detail than you need. I know the idea of ¡®shielding¡¯ you from the specifics seems like I¡¯m infantilizing you. I don¡¯t want you to feel disrespected. I just know how fucking nosey everybody is nowadays that if someone doesn¡¯t get told everything about fucking everything, we tend to take it as a slight against us. Not saying you, I think everyone tends to be like that occasionally, and that¡¯s ok. This time, though, I just want to make sure I make it clear. The details of what I saw are not details you need to hear. As a matter of fact, you shouldn¡¯t hear them.¡± Jessica nodded understandingly, ¡°I can respect that. If you wanted to say it, I could handle it, but I understand why you might not want to.¡± Janet chuckled, ¡°No offense, Jessica, but this isn¡¯t really about protecting you from some nasty thoughts. First, I don¡¯t think this woman deserves to be remembered by her remains. The less people know of how she was found, the better. I¡¯m sure she deserved at least that much. She sure as hell didn¡¯t deserve what happened to her. Probably¡­. well, likely. Anyway, the second reason is for me. I don¡¯t want to talk about her too much for myself.¡± Jessica jerked her head back slightly, ¡°Are you ok?¡± Janet smiled again, to her surprise, ¡°That¡¯s sweet, kid, but that¡¯s not it. I¡¯m not ok, but the issue isn¡¯t that I¡¯m not ok. It¡¯s that I¡¯m disappointed.¡± Jessica interjected, ¡°Well it can¡¯t be easy to see the things you see.¡± The smile was gone from the officer¡¯s face now. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen much. It¡¯s been six years and yeah we get the occasional domestic battery. We get a few overdoses and suicides. Hell I could probably count on, eh, three hands? Three hands. That¡¯s about as much as I¡¯ve seen, in terms of somewhat rough situations. Myself? Haven¡¯t seen a dead body, not in person. Things like this don¡¯t really happen around here very often.¡± Jessica stepped closer, ¡°You can¡¯t control where you police, y¡¯know? Can¡¯t blame yourself for not being prepared for this situation.¡± Janet shook her head, ¡°No, I¡¯m not mad that I¡¯m unprepared. I¡¯m mad that I¡¯m disappointed. I¡¯m disappointed that this job, where the hours and pay are shit but the work is easy; I¡¯m disappointed that it¡¯s not that easy anymore. That, for the first time, I have to earn this paycheck. I know, this probably makes you feel less safe than ever. Having a lazy asshole cop being your supposed protection. Just know I won¡¯t let anything happen to you guys. This whole shitshow has helped me realize who I am as a person. Maybe I can change that before it¡¯s too late.¡± ¡ª---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tyrone and Evan were downstairs where most of the bedrooms in the house were located. The duo had been checking each room in the house to ensure no undue surprises as the day went on. After searching the last room they both plopped onto a bed. Tyrone looked at Evan, ¡°You think Tony and Anne are gonna be ok?¡± ¡°I think so. Tony is smart enough to avoid a bad situation when needed. He also doesn¡¯t play when it comes to Anne, so I¡¯m sure his guard is going to be up the whole time. I know we¡¯re still keeping up with each other on the groupchat, but I don¡¯t like that we split up. Maybe I was letting my pride get in the way of rationality.¡± Tyrone cocked his head from side to side as he mulled over the thoughts in his head until he landed on, ¡°No. You¡¯re one of the most humble dudes I¡¯ve met. You get in your own little world for sure, but you give a shit about all of us. I think if you really thought that Tony and Anne were making a huge mistake, you would¡¯ve emphasized that. You probably would¡¯ve argued till they had no choice but to stay.¡± Evan sighed, ¡°But doesn¡¯t that mean that I think they made a good choice? Does that mean that I designated us as the targets? You and Jessica¡­ you guys could¡¯ve been safe and I just fucked us if what you¡¯re saying is true.¡± Tyrone shook his head, ¡°No I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case, either. You don¡¯t hold this house in some little special place in your heart. You said yourself that you don¡¯t really come here often. I don¡¯t think you would¡¯ve taken a stand here for the sake of holding this place down. I also don¡¯t think you would¡¯ve let me and Jessica stick around if you really thought this was the most dangerous place to be.¡± ¡°Look Ty, I appreciate you hyping me up, but I think you lost me. You¡¯re saying I don¡¯t think that any of us are in danger? I don¡¯t know about that, I¡¯m pretty anxious about all of this.¡± ¡°I¡¯m saying that you weighed the options, man. Be honest, what do you think the odds are, between here and the hotel?¡± Evan shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know, I guess about fifty-fifty.¡± Tyrone nodded, ¡°And there you go. You made a gut call. So did Tony, as he has the right to. Tony¡¯s pretty hard-headed too, especially about having the autonomy to dictate his own life decisions. Regardless, though, it¡¯s not that you don¡¯t think there¡¯s any danger. It¡¯s just that there might be so much it¡¯s impossible to predict. Could be here, could be the hotel. ¡± Evan gave a small chuckle, ¡°Well that¡¯s awful then haha. There¡¯s no winning, huh?¡± ¡°Sure there is. When our asses are back in Arizona.¡± Getting Settled The squad car slid between the lines of the parking space in front of the hotel. It wouldn¡¯t be long before the snow¡¯s half-hearted descent would quicken into a flurry. Tony and Anne stepped out of the car and looked at their immediate surroundings. Mel began to ask the officer a question but the door shut before more than a few words were spoken. There weren¡¯t many cars parked outside and the hotel was rather humble in appearance. Anne cocked her head to place it on Tony¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Well stud, looks like it¡¯ll be a hotel room for today. Want a little S&S?¡± Tony turned his head downward to her, ¡°Snacking and snugging? Sleeping and snoring?¡± Tony could feel Anne¡¯s head moving up and down while on his shoulder. He added, ¡°Maybe some Switch and sex?¡± Anne¡¯s voice came out softly, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be a classic horror movie blunder?¡± Tony chuckled softly, ¡°Too soon to joke about this? Ah well, those were old rules. Horror has gone so meta and back to non-meta and back again so much this past decade that, if you ask me, rules don¡¯t exist anymore in horror. It¡¯s kinda just, do whatever-the-fuck and include societal subtext.¡± Anne lifted her head and shrugged, ¡°Yeah that¡¯s fair. Let¡¯s see what the heck these two are talking about before we become victims of media commentary.¡± As the final words left her lips, Mel and the officer exited the vehicle. Tony smiled at them, ¡°A little pillow talk?¡± Mel¡¯s face scrunched in anger, ¡°What in the fuck are¡­.¡± Carl interjected with a chuckle, ¡°Woah there bud, a little cavalier talking to an officer, huh?¡± Tony put his hands up slightly, ¡°Didn¡¯t mean to disrespect! Sorry, I guess this situation has me feeling like the scales have been shifted a little. It¡¯s like we¡¯re all on the run. You know how in a zombie apocalypse you¡¯ll have a group of rag-tag individuals with different occupations pre-zombie-hellscape? But nobody is out there like ¡®Hello officer! I hope you don¡¯t catch me smoking a joint and throw me in apocalypse jail. Get it?¡± The puzzled faces on both men answered that question. Anne cut in, ¡°Well, actually Tones, doctors still get called and treated like doctors in the apocalypse.¡± Tony swayed his head from side-to-side as he was mulled over a decision, ¡°Yeah ok that¡¯s a fair point. I guess there¡¯s levels to the shit. Anyway, sorry officer, I guess this situation made it feel like we were on equal footing.¡± Carl gave a soft smile, ¡°Well just remember, I¡¯m here to protect you guys. Now, to answer your somewhat disrespectful question, Mel was just wondering about our layout.¡± Mel joined, ¡°Yeah jackass. I was willing to room with him; give you kids some privacy. We¡¯ve all got our own rooms though, Carl¡¯s will be right in the middle of ours. Gives him access to my room, but he¡¯ll have a keycard to yours as well. Makes me feel more at ease.¡± Tony nodded in agreement with this plan. ____________________________________________________________________________ Janet and Jessica stared at the mountainous view. Janet turned to Jessica, ¡°How long have we spent looking out at this so far?¡± Jessica, without breaking eye contact with the perfect scenery, spoke as if in a trance, ¡°I¡­. imagine it¡¯s been a few minutes.¡± She broke out from her hypnosis and looked down and chuckled, ¡°I know it¡¯s been long enough that my fingers don¡¯t feel like they¡¯re attached to my hands.¡± ¡°Where are you kids from?¡± Jessica sighed with nostalgia, ¡°Arizona. Well, that¡¯s where we¡¯re at for college.¡± The officer looked back out to the view, ¡°That¡¯s not too far at all. Ever been to Colorado before?¡± Jessica shook her head, ¡°First time for me and my boyfriend. It¡¯s been great aside from the death and fear and all that good stuff.¡± A chuckle wedged its way out of Janet¡¯s mouth, ¡°Yeah that¡¯s about right. If those fingers are about to snap off, we can head inside.¡± The young student shrugged, ¡°Eh, been cooped up in that house for what feels like weeks. I don¡¯t mind the cold right now.¡± Neither minded the silence. Small sounds could intermittently be heard from the surroundings. Jessica had anticipated that these noises would put her on edge, but in actuality she didn¡¯t pay them much attention. She felt safe out here with Janet. A leaf being stepped on was likely an animal. The movements that reached her ears were likely the wind in its pursuit to pick up speed. The older voice asked her, ¡°Have you kept up with your friends who¡¯re with Carl?¡± Jessica turned to her again, ¡°Yes. Group chat. They¡¯re ok, they seem to be handling things pretty well. I think we¡¯re all doing a little more decently than we thought we¡¯d be. Is that weird?¡± Janet smiled softly, ¡°No, it just means you¡¯re brave. You¡¯re all brave.¡± ¡°Are we though? What if this is all circumstance? What if things have just happened to go down while we¡¯re here? Are we those folks that hear about a disaster in a place we lived at a year ago and decide we want attention?¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Janet raised an eyebrow, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m following.¡± Jessica looked down at her feet, arms still propped up on the railing of the porch, ¡°Just¡­ you know those folks that talk about some tragedy and are like, ¡®Oh it could¡¯ve been me! If I had just been where I was a year ago. If I had just been standing three miles to the left!¡¯ Are we just narcissists who think this is happening to us? These bodies that have nothing to do with us. ¡°These deaths have probably destroyed someone¡¯s parents somewhere. Someone¡¯s brother or sister. But since a couple arms landed in our vicinity, we¡¯ve made it all about ourselves.¡± Janet let out a weaker chuckle than the last time, but a genuine one nonetheless. ¡°You¡¯re a good kid at heart. You all are, if that¡¯s how you¡¯re handling this. It¡¯s ok to admit that horrible things happening to someone else have also led to horrible moments for you. It¡¯s also ok to admit that it¡¯s ok to be scared and worried. You don¡¯t have to feel selfish for caring about what this violence could mean for you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re probably right. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m equipped to listen to that advice right now, but I¡¯m at least able to admit that you bring up a good point. Thanks. I don¡¯t want validation, but it still does feel nice to hear it.¡± ¡°Yeah, for sure.¡± Janet¡¯s voice wavered a bit as her body showed small traces of tremors. It was the kind of night that would remind a poet of lost love or being spurned by the object of their affections. It was beautiful outside, but very cold. Before looking back to the mountains, Jessica smiled and said, ¡°A lot of good that puffy jacket is doing you. Heck, a lot of good living here has done, huh? You¡¯re shivering like crazy.¡± Janet feigned a smile, but her face slowly turned into sternness as she nodded in agreement. ____________________________________________________________________________ ¡°You talked to your folks any?¡± Tyrone picked his head up; a trance broken in which he was transfixed on the wood floors. ¡°Yeah, I gave them a little ring earlier this morning. They¡¯re worried, but I think they¡¯re more worried about the storm.¡± ¡°That makes sense. I mean, we¡¯re still in this state of limbo. Not quite victims, not quite bystanders.¡± Tyrone exhaled as a breathy snicker escaped him. ¡°You been working on that line delivery?¡± ¡°Was it dramatic enough?¡± ¡°It was perfect, my guy. What about you?¡± Evan took a swig from the cup of water he had been filling in the kitchen. He rubbed the remaining droplets from his lower lip and nodded, ¡°Yeah. My dad had something he wanted to ask me but my mom distracted him with something. Been a little while now, though.¡± BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Evan checked his phone to see who was calling and raised his eyebrow while bobbing his head, ¡°Speak of the devil and he appears! ¡°Hey dad, you wanted to talk about something?¡± Tyrone watched Evan pace as he spoke with his father. ¡°Ye- wait really?¡± The paces continued for a moment longer and then he stood still. ¡°You¡¯re sure it¡¯s still there?¡± Evan turned to Tyrone with a giddy smile. He hopped over to his parent¡¯s room. Tyrone got up to follow his friend and see why he had this strange happiness take over him. Evan¡¯s voice was faint from the room but the volume rose as Tyrone walked closer. ¡°You know that decapitated head you have here in the room almost gored me¡­¡± the muffled voice was becoming more defined, dictation clearer. Tyrone walked into the room and saw Evan searching under the bed, his parents¡¯ drawers already open with their contents jostled. ¡°I don¡¯t see it dad, you¡¯re sure it¡¯s here? One¡­ one second, give me a second dad. A second. One second? Have you heard of a second? A SECOND FATHER OK THANK YOU.¡± Evan put the phone on mute and chuckled to Tyrone, ¡°Ok so good news and bad news. ¡°The good news is that my dad has a gun here. The bad news is that he doesn¡¯t know how to let me interject in a conversation. Oh and he forgot where he put it, so could you check the other rooms and their drawers just in case he put it in another bedroom?¡± Tyrone pursed his lips, ¡°He forgot what room? Your dad playing dangerous games here haha.¡± Evan nodded and then unmuted his phone, ¡°Ok dad what¡¯s up we can continue this conversation.¡± Tyrone had turned around and was exiting the bedroom when Evan called out, ¡°Wait wait wait,¡± Evan muted the phone again and looked at his friend, ¡°this jackass is fucking with me. He was playing dumb, this guy clearly does not realize how stressed we¡¯ve been hahaha.¡± Evan got back onto the phone, halfway to exasperated, ¡°Ok dad enough of the stand-up routine. Where the heck is the gun? Yes dad I¡¯m aware of gun safety. Yes dad it¡¯s not a toy. Yes dad I understand that I shouldn¡¯t be looking to utilize this because ultimately the act of taking a life will leave a life-long mark on my psyche and conscience that I may never be able to get over. Yes. Ok thank you where is it?¡± Tyrone was beaming due to this exchange. He enjoyed this respite from his anxieties. He shook his head, took a brief glance at the ¡°decapitated head¡± that Evan had run into earlier in the trip, and turned back to him. This time, however, Evan wasn¡¯t smiling. ¡°No dad, it¡¯s not there. It¡¯s not- it¡¯s not because I already checked your closet. The first morning we spent here I checked that closet because that¡¯s when this shit started. Sorry, sorry dad I¡¯m on edge I didn¡¯t mean to swear. There¡¯s nowhere else?¡± Tyrone¡¯s eyes kept darting from Evan¡¯s face to the random spots in the background. It was as if he was trying to analyze the room and see where the hidden artifact was; a game of iSpy. Unfortunately there was nothing to find. ¡°Dad, there has to be another place. Ok¡­ ok I understand¡­¡­. That¡¯s a good idea, I¡¯ll do that. Where¡¯s it at? Top left? Ty, can you check the top left corner of my folks¡¯ closet? The bullet box is there.¡± Tyrone nodded in confirmation and briskly walked to the closet. His hands shuffled through clothing and pushed aside a few smaller boxes filled with stale air. He turned to Evan, ¡°I can¡¯t find anything here dude.¡± Evan stood up, hand still holding his phone but now next to his thigh, ¡°What the fuck? My dad forgetting something small is one thing, he does that. But he wouldn¡¯t forget about a gun. He¡¯s only adamant about things when he¡¯s certain and he was adamant about where he put his gun.¡± Tyrone scrambled for a solution, ¡°Look at these dead ass animals bro he probably took that rifle out, blasted one, came back and did whatever that shit is that they do to animals after getting hunted.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll call you back dad,¡± Evan hung up and looked back towards Tyrone, ¡°Dude the most traditionally manly shit my dad does is wear mid-shin high socks and mow the lawn in thirty dollar sneakers.¡± Tyrone¡¯s face showed confusion and Evan continued, ¡°My dad doesn¡¯t hunt. This is just rich people shit. Adds atmosphere or whatever the hell my dad said about it. My dad owns a handgun, it¡¯s just a glock. He¡¯s not hunting shit. But that means he¡¯s had this gun for years and he¡¯s never had to use it. So he¡¯s never had to move it.¡± Tyrone understood what this meant, ¡°So you think this gun might be on the move now, huh?¡± ¡°I do. But who fucking took it?¡± Realizations Jessica and Janet¡¯s appreciation of the vista had gone on longer than either had expected. A thought that popped up in both of their minds almost simultaneously. The shared emotions due to their circumstances had been established and their foremost thoughts had been voiced. Now it was just two strangers on a deck with close to nothing to talk about. Jessica had experienced a brief moment of dopamine when she and the officer next to her were confiding in one another. The feeling that two small children would have when going to school, socializing with other children their age, and realizing, ¡°Wow they¡¯re just like me!¡± The literal thought of wow we might become best friends after this is all said and done had genuinely crossed her mind shortly after the two had concluded talking. She wondered why. Everyone was lacking sleep and the sleep they had been able to get was of diminished quality. Jessica continued to ponder this concept. ¡°That¡¯s kinda lame, isn¡¯t it?¡± This sentence jostled itself in her skull for a few seconds. Another thought popped up afterwards. ¡°Why am I fixating on this?¡± Jessica¡¯s brow bunched together as she tried to work through this line of thought. Why would she feel like she had connected on a deep level to this woman? It¡¯s an experience unique to anyone who hasn¡¯t been in the vicinity of severed limbs and murders. Maybe connecting with someone who can understand a situation that is so wildly rare caused this rush of positive emotions. Maybe the lack of sleep had dulled her mind and exhausted her negative emotions. She cracked a wide smile. ¡°Something good?¡± Janet¡¯s voice called out from Jessica¡¯s side. ¡°Just making myself laugh thinking about something.¡± Jessica was happy to have been able to dive deeper in thought. Since the discovery of that first severed arm, her thoughts had been curt, shallow. Thoughts of survival. Scenarios. Death. Nothing abstract, strictly survival, actions, and reactions to those actions. She was tired of thinking in verbs. She was happy to remember her thought processes from before the trip. An analytical mind prompted by a reservoir of curiosity. She had prided herself on how deeply she would allow herself to be engulfed in educational literature. She missed the permeating thoughts that connected to her future as a professional and as Tyrone¡¯s partner. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad. Keeps you grounded in moments of stress.¡± Jessica turned to Janet. The woman was by the wood-framed glass door that acted as the only access point to the outside deck. This prompted a jolt in Jessica. When did Janet move? How long had she been there? How did she, herself, not notice? Was Janet¡¯s voice further away this whole time and she just didn¡¯t register this fact? Jessica became frustrated. Frustrated at herself for her lack of awareness and a general feeling of frustration due to the fact that it was proof that her longer thoughts had to be stifled. She had no time to wander around in her own mind. If she lost focus, she could lose more. What a bunch of bullshit. ¡°Where do you think those other two went?¡± This time the jolt was much more physically evident. Jessica scurried to the door and quickly scanned the living room where Tyrone and Evan had been preoccupying. She quickly grabbed the handle and burst through the door. ¡°Ty?? Ty where are you?!¡± ¡ª---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tyrone sprinted back to the living room, Evan trailing behind by a couple of seconds. ¡°Jess what is it?!¡± She clutched at her heart when she saw him and began to regulate her breathing. Janet walked in at this point after surveying the deck and shut the door behind her. ¡°You two up to anything? Your, I¡¯m assuming, girlfriend had a pretty good scare when we realized you two were out of sight.¡± Tyrone spoke with the attitude of a guilty party, ¡°No, we went looking around the house some.¡± He shot a quick glance towards Evan after speaking. Janet caught that. ¡°And?¡± Evan chimed in, ¡°We were looking for my dad¡¯s gun. He has a glock and it¡¯s been in his closet for a while, until recently.¡± ¡°Ok, judging by your tone, it¡¯s our anonymous suspect. Hmm¡­..¡± ¡°You don¡¯t seem to be as freaked out about this as Tyrone and I were. Makes sense, I guess, you¡¯re the professional here. Probably would¡¯ve felt worse if you reacted differently. Can I ask why you¡¯re not freaking out more, though? Cause I¡¯m freaking out really badly and I think my heart might actually crawl its way out of my throat in a few seconds if I¡¯m not told that this is ok somehow.¡± Janet remained quiet, unphased by Evan¡¯s speedily-expressed rambling. Evan wasn¡¯t sure she had even heard him. He thought of attempting to repeat his worries, but he was convinced that he would paint the floor with vomit if he opened his mouth again. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Jessica and Tyrone¡¯s eyes both darted between the other two. Evan appeared on the verge of an anxiety attack while Janet seemed entirely indifferent. The silence continued for what felt like minutes, but was broken after about twenty seconds. Janet got up, ventured to the deck, and called to speak to someone. Her body language read as calm, but frustrated. A light bewilderment. Evan was still trying to contain his anxiety induced nausea. Jessica looked at her boyfriend and asked, ¡°What do you think she¡¯s saying?¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell you, Jess. If I had to guess, maybe she¡¯s warning her people about getting shot at when they find the dude.¡± ¡°Dude, huh?¡± This comment brought a genuine smile to Tyrone¡¯s face. Jessica had that effect on him. She kept his head firmly on his shoulders during times of struggle. ¡°We¡¯re not doing this Scream-level-conversation shit right now haha.¡± Evan could sense his heart rate slowing and his face regaining its color. He wanted to speak but before he could Janet came back into the house. ¡°Ok,¡± she began before letting out a sigh, ¡°We¡¯ve searched this house from top to bottom. There are no spots with easy access. If someone were to get in here, we¡¯d hear it. All this to say, we should still be ok here.¡± Tyrone nodded slightly, ¡°That¡¯s good, then. But-¡± ¡°But what about the gun? That¡¯s an issue for me. Not necessarily due to the fact that it¡¯s a runaway gun, although that¡¯s never a good sign. My issue with this situation stems from how weird it is that it¡¯s gone.¡± Evan interjected, ¡°None of us-¡± Janet once again cut through a speaking voice, ¡°I¡¯m not trying to say one of you kids is up to no good. It¡¯s that I don¡¯t understand why this individual would even take a gun.¡± Evan cocked his head, ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem too far-fetched for someone trying to kill folks to collect weapons for killing.¡± His tone was more sarcastic than he intended. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t mean to come across like an asshole.¡± Janet let out a short chuckle that looked more like a sharp exhale as her face was still quite serious. ¡°It doesn¡¯t match up. This person hasn¡¯t used a gun yet. The previous bodies have been found with zero traces of gunplay. No wounds, no smells, no nothing. Why would they take a weapon that they have no intention of using?¡± Tyrone¡¯s voice answered, ¡°I was thinking maybe it¡¯s a last resort. Shoot at the cops on his tail. Shoot himself before he gets caught, ya know?¡± Janet shook her head, ¡°No I don¡¯t think so. This person is confident that they aren¡¯t getting caught. They wouldn¡¯t use the gun to kill another victim, because with everything we¡¯ve seen they should be able to overpower most women they come across. The winter temps here aren¡¯t very kind to wandering vagrants, so that means the person killing these women is likely someone with money. Doesn¡¯t have to be a lot, but with prices around here, they have to make a decent living. They can afford a gun if they really want one.¡± It was now Evan¡¯s turn to speculate, ¡°Guns can be traced back to owners. Maybe they were trying to avoid that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a bad point. But there¡¯s only been a few people in and out of this house. Almost every single one of them has been a cop, too. I¡¯m biased in saying this, but I don¡¯t see a single one of my colleagues being responsible for any of this. Which is why I called in to see how Carl¡¯s doing. And to warn him.¡± ¡°Warn him?¡± ¡°About your neighbor,¡± after this Janet let out a smile that exposed her pleasure at this deduction, ¡°he¡¯s the only one who¡¯s been in here. I don¡¯t know how and I don¡¯t know when, but now he¡¯s conveniently isolated with two of your friends and Carl. I love Carl to death, but he¡¯s a little slower to catch on to things.¡± Janet surveyed the smile on Jessica¡¯s face, then moved onto Tyrone¡¯s puzzled look. This unsettled her. Her eyes progressed to Evan. He was frowning. This unsettled her more. ¡°I¡¯m sorry officer, but that doesn¡¯t track. Mel had been here after the gun was gone.¡± Janet shuddered subtly before replying to Evan, ¡°What? How do you know this?¡± ¡°My dad just let me know where he usually keeps his gun when we were talking on the phone. But¡­ I had already checked it the first morning we were here. The morning after that first arm landed on our roof.¡± ¡°So then¡­¡± Janet¡¯s voice trailed off as she slid back into a state of contemplation. The whole room was quiet. Jessica and Tyrone were silent, giving the appearance of deep thought. However, neither of them had any clue what this information meant. A small spark of understanding ignited in Evan. ¡°No one was in this house that night when we first arrived.¡± ¡°Not that you know of.¡± Janet stated this plainly, her face growing darker as if anger was beginning to overtake her. ¡°Fuck. Yeah, not that we know of. But regardless of if someone was¡­¡± ¡°Regardless, someone got into this house. Whether it was that night or it was the night before or, shit, it could¡¯ve been months back.¡± Jessica cut in, ¡°Wait, so you¡¯re saying someone might have been in this house the first night we slept?¡± Janet shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m not convinced of that. If they were, I don¡¯t know why they wouldn¡¯t have taken some action here.¡± Tyrone spoke, ¡°You¡¯re saying this person goes after women. Every woman in this house would¡¯ve been asleep next to their boyfriend. A gun would make killing us some light work, but you just said that that¡¯s not this person¡¯s style.¡± ¡°Right. I think we¡¯re getting lost in the weeds here, though. This isn¡¯t about the fact that someone might have been here that night. It¡¯s the larger picture.¡± Evan voiced the conclusion, ¡°Someone was able to get in and out of this house. They¡¯ve been able to.¡± Another wave of silence washed over the group. Jessica softly passed through the wall of quietness like a ghost. Her voice was almost a whisper, as if someone might be listening, ¡°So¡­ there isn¡¯t a single secure door in this entire house¡­¡± No one responded. Janet began walking around the house, looking into rooms on the floor they occupied. The trio of students were looking out the windows that faced the back deck. Snow was already beginning to fall rapidly and it was starting to form small piles. Evan looked at each of his friends, ¡°Well, we¡¯re in it for the long haul now.¡± Hotel 9:45 AM Tony and Anne were lying on their hotel bed, her right hand running over his chest. They had been lying down for a little while now. When they had first gotten to their rooms they had noticed how lackluster the interior of the hotel was. Lights in the hallway would occasionally flicker, a variety of colored stains were splotched on random spots every couple of yards, and the floors looked like they hadn¡¯t been vacuumed in weeks. From the outside the hotel had looked like a nice, boutique stay. Tony, in one of his sarcastic jabs, had said, ¡°This is really the Regina George of hotels, huh?¡± Neither Carl nor Mel had found this crack to be humorous. The air smelled old in their room. It was as if these exact same molecules of air had gone unchanged for the past few patrons. As if air circulation wasn¡¯t yet a feature of this hotel. Anne yawned and then tapped Tony on his right pectoral. He looked down at her as she spoke, ¡°Tony¡­ I don¡¯t know why but I feel like we made a mistake.¡± ¡°I mean, this hotel does kinda smell like ass. Pretty ugly here too.¡± ¡°No, Tones. I don¡¯t mean that we picked the least appealing place. I mean that something feels wrong here. I can¡¯t quite place my finger on it.¡± ¡°Is it being around Mel? I like that guy less and less with every single interaction. Not that there was much to like from the jump.¡± ¡°No¡­ I mean yes. But no? I¡¯m not sure.¡± ¡°Is it the cop? He is a little, how can I put this? Weenie-ish?¡± ¡°Maybe. I just don¡¯t feel safe. This place feels rickety and it feels like an afterthought.¡± ¡°Do you think Davie fucked us? Like he¡¯s in cahoots?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not that either. It doesn¡¯t feel like we¡¯ve been put in this hotel like rats in a maze. It feels like we¡¯re stuck here on our own accord. It feels like a decrepit building with decrepit infrastructure with an officer who lacks the spine to do his job as well as we might need him to. With an older man who¡¯s technically a victim in the same way we are too; which means he¡¯s not able to put up a fight against this guy either. And¡­ I mean yeah.¡± Tony¡¯s mouth moved to the left side of his face. A goofy face he involuntarily makes when he¡¯s contemplating something. ¡°And what?¡± Anne shrugged, lightly poking her shoulder into his side, ¡°Nothing, just worried is all.¡± ¡°C¡¯mon babygirl, what else? You¡¯re avoiding telling me more. That means you¡¯re trying to spare my feelings.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just really worried we made the wrong choice.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think I can protect you, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it at all!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think I can protect you.¡± Tony¡¯s voice was becoming softer, more hurt. ¡°Tony. Stop. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t think you can. It¡¯s that I don¡¯t think anyone can. Not in this situation, at least.¡± ¡°Babe-¡± ¡°Tony, listen to me. I¡¯m usually the one hearing you out on a lot of things, and that¡¯s because I always trust you. But right now I just really need you to hear me out.¡± Anne looked into his eyes, lovingly but stern. Tony pushed his hurt feelings as far down as he could manage and his gaze met hers with understanding. He nodded for her to proceed. ¡°Look, it just feels different. This whole thing. We¡¯re all in this situation together. But it¡¯s not really the same for you and me. It¡¯s not even the same for Tyrone and Jessica. Or Evan for that matter. Whoever is doing this, is doing this to women. If this person had the option between you and me, it¡¯d be me. I understand we¡¯re all stressed, but it feels like a deeper dread to me. It feels like an actual possibility to me. Not that it wouldn¡¯t be for you, but it just seems realer to me. And if Mel really is on the run with us, then that means he can¡¯t fight him either. And I LOVE you, but you¡¯re not a fighter, Tones. You¡¯re a wonderful person and you have an incredible mind, but this is so far from a reasonable situation where you can just defend me. I also know you¡¯d do everything you could for me. I¡¯m also sure that your incredible mind could find a way to keep me safe, I¡¯m just worried.¡± ¡°I love you too, Anne. So much. No matter what, we¡¯re getting out of this. We just need to make it a little while longer and we¡¯ll have some incredible stories to tell our kids. So if you feel like this is the wrong place to be, do you have any idea what might make you feel better?¡± ¡°Going back.¡± ¡°Ok, that¡¯s definitely an answer. Not sure it¡¯s an option at this point though.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I know this is inconvenient, but I want to be with our friends. I want to be somewhere familiar. At least as familiar as we can be.¡± ¡°I completely understand. I¡¯m not dismissing the idea and it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to go and make you feel better. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s not up to us. It¡¯s up to the cop and it¡¯s up to the weather.¡± ¡°Tony, we still have an hour until the storm really ramps up. It¡¯s not a long drive. I think we can manage it. They¡¯ll be ok.¡± He let out an expressive sigh and finally smiled the sheepish smile one makes when crossing by someone in an awkward situation. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll go over and ask.¡± Carl and Mel¡¯s room was right next to theirs so Tony knocked on the door that connected the two rooms. Carl answered. ¡°Yeah what¡¯s up, bud?¡± A yawn fought its way out of him midway through the sentence. He looked tired, but also on edge. ¡°I know it¡¯s not the best time, but do you think it would be possible for us to go back to the house? Anne¡­ well both of us were feeling a little skeezed out and we think we might have messed up by not sticking together with the rest of our group. It¡¯d give you and Mel some space too; which I imagine would elevate your stay to about a three-out-of-ten, y¡¯know.?¡± Carl was visibly not keeping up, ¡°Hey, kid, I¡¯m sorry but you talk like a sitcom character. You¡¯re saying you want to head back now? What time is it?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got about an hour until things get dicey and icy.¡± ¡°Right. Well, let me tell the old timer about this and if we can hit the road in ten, we should be fine.¡± ¡°Sweet, Anne and I will wait downstairs.¡± Carl shook his head to this response, ¡°No, Mel went downstairs already. Said he wanted to find a drink. I told him it was a little early in the morning for all that. He didn¡¯t really care. Let me go down to tell him and I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Tony glanced into the room behind Carl and noticed the room was relatively disheveled. ¡°Lose something in there, boss?¡± Carl checked behind him and blushed, ¡°Haha, no I thought I had brought something with me. Had to make sure.¡± ¡°Did you find it?¡± ¡°No, thank goodness.¡± ¡°Thank goodness?¡± ¡°Right, yeah, it was just an expensive watch, is all. Gift from a friend, glad I didn¡¯t bring it with me. Just in case.¡± Tony gave Carl a deadpan look. One mixed with suspicion but also disinterest. ¡°Carl, you a killer?¡± The officer appeared hurt by this comment. This hurt was followed with, what appeared to Tony, genuine surprise at the remark. ¡°No, son. I¡¯m not here to hurt you. I swear I was just looking around.¡± Tony gave him a soft smile. Carl looked like a nice guy. Tony wanted to believe him, but he just didn¡¯t know anymore. For now, he¡¯ll give this man his trust. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back, Tony. It¡¯s Tony, right?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t wear it out, my man. I appreciate you accommodating us.¡± Carl let a lightly gleeful smile appear. He closed the door. The sound of him leaving his room to venture down was mildly audible from Tony¡¯s position across the door. Tony strolled back to Anne and flashed her a thumbs-up. He could see how relieved she was by this. ¡°He wants us to stay in our room for now. He¡¯s going downstairs to let the old man know we¡¯re heading out.¡± ¡°Do you think Mel will join us back to the house? If he did, Carl would probably come with us too. Gives us some great numbers.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, I think Mel would rather cut his toes off and tip toe in a lake of lemon juice than be around us.¡± Anne produced a brief, but visceral, facial reaction to this imagery. Nothing new from Tony¡¯s mouth, but his hyperbole still found ways to surprise her. Tony continued, ¡°I¡¯m sorry we¡¯re here. I know we both agreed to come here, but I feel like I probably pressed it more than I should have. Maybe you¡¯d still have agreed, but maybe not. I hate that I put you in this kind of position. I should do a better job of listening to you, Anne. You¡¯re worth listening to more than I let you feel.¡± Anne smiled widely, ¡°You make it sound like you¡¯re an abusive asshole.¡± This brought a grin out of Tony, ¡°Still, I can always do better. Let¡¯s get pac-¡± POP Anne jumped upright and Tony swiftly twisted his head around towards the door. POP ¡°Tony, Tony?? What was that??¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t memorized gunshots, but I¡¯m willing to bet my fucking life that someone¡¯s shooting shit right now.¡± ¡°What do we do???¡± Tony¡¯s breath was quickening at a dangerous rate. He wanted to speak, but nothing came out. His tongue felt larger than his mouth. Larger than his throat. Air wasn¡¯t able to pass through his tightening throat. Anne lunged at him and began slapping his back with one hand and rubbing his chest with the other. After four hard slaps Tony released bile onto the carpet. ¡°Tony??¡± He was in a fit of coughs and wheezing to catch his breath. Swirling in his head were a myriad of thoughts. Would he catch his breath? Was he going to choke? If he¡¯s fine, what was going to happen with those shots? Who was shooting in the first place? All of these worries and anxieties were crashing on him simultaneously. However, one thought pervaded. He was worthless and he couldn¡¯t protect Anne. His first response to this crisis was to choke and vomit and cry. ¡°You have to do better. You have to be better for her. You¡¯re a weak piece of shit. Get a fucking grip and protect her, you worthless pussy!!¡± These words rang loudly in his skull as he mentally screamed at himself. He looked up to the love of his life, ¡°Anne, we need to¡­¡± His voice trailed off as a noise made itself known to himself. A door aggressively opened. He spun around to the room¡¯s entrance. It was still closed, locked. The door that connected the next room to theirs was also still closed. But someone was in that other room and was making their presence known. Items were being jostled, infrequently tossed. Muffled slams on the ground and the occasional object hitting the connecting wall. Tony and Anne stared at one another. He was clearly trying to stifle the resurging panic filling him. Anne sighed and mouthed, ¡°We have to leave. NOW.¡± Hotel Pt. 2 Tony and Anne were walking as gently as they could manage to the room¡¯s door. They had only brought a few items with them. Chargers, phones, a change of clothes, and their identification. The clothing and chargers were left behind by both. Tony¡¯s phone was on the nightstand next to the bed. Neither of them noticed. Their minds were racing and incredibly loud. They were desperate to get to safety, however they continuously doubted their internal conclusions of what ¡°safety¡± was defined as for them. Was this room the safest? Was running the safest? Would danger come from the room next door? Would it come from the door to the hallway? Was Carl ok? Was Mel? They reached the door and Tony clasped the handle. Before moving it, the duo listened intently for noises outside of their security. No sounds were coming from the next room nor the hallway. Tony looked through the peephole to ensure nothing was waiting for him on the other side. However, nothing could be seen through the hole. It was completely black. Tony grumbled internally, ¡°This dirty fucking hotel and its dirty fucking doors.¡± His arm tensed up, forearm flexed, as he began to gradually turn the handle. Anne¡¯s arm shot out to grab Tony¡¯s. He managed to stifle the gasp that wanted to tear out of his mouth. He looked at Anne, bewildered. Anne looked at him like she was trying to swallow a scream of her own. She mouthed, ¡°Wait.¡± Tony was perplexed until he heard it. It sounded like heavy breathing. He looked through the hole again. Still pitch black. Right before he peeled his head back, the blackness of the view began to move. A torso moved back and exposed a large, muscular body hidden by a long-sleeved jacket. The neck was thick, but the head was not in frame. Tony shuddered. Anne could read what his body language meant. Whoever that was, had been listening. The body turned and walked away. Apparently the couple had been quiet enough to avoid suspicion. They both got their breathing under control. A few minutes had passed with nothing of note taking place. The two had stayed in place, statuesque. Neither of them dared to move a muscle until they were able to convince themselves that the outside presence was no longer in their vicinity. Anne whispered to Tony, ¡°Let¡¯s move away from the door. Whoever was outside has a gun, they could shoot through this.¡± She gestured towards the room¡¯s main exit when she said this. Tony gritted his teeth. He felt incredibly dim for neglecting to remember this fact. The word ¡°worthless¡± continued to bounce inside of his psyche like the logo of an early 2000s DVD player¡¯s screensaver. Once in the middle of the room, Anne continued whispering, ¡°Who was that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, babe. I couldn¡¯t see his face, even after he backed up. That man has to be closer to seven foot than six if that¡¯s the case. But they didn¡¯t try getting in either¡­ so maybe it was just some dude?¡± Anne mulled this possibility over and then responded, ¡°That just doesn¡¯t make sense to me. Why would he be outside our door? Why would he be next door if he didn¡¯t know who was staying here?¡± ¡°If he¡¯s just a dude, maybe he heard the gunshots? Maybe he was checking in on rooms to see if folks left? Maybe a thief? Wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Carl left his room open, the dumbass¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure that tracks for me. Have we heard anyone leave their rooms?¡± ¡°If I¡¯m honest, I haven¡¯t been paying attention. If folks left after the shots, I didn¡¯t hear. But I also wasn¡¯t really listening, y¡¯know?¡± ¡°Yeah, me neither. So either this is the guy, and he really is after us. Or it¡¯s just a guy. Some dude trying to check in on who else is in the hotel, or trying to steal, or¡­ even worse. Someone who came here to shoot this place up and rob it while the storm hits.¡± Tony forcefully closed his eyes, a headache brewing inside of him. What was the correct course of action? So many variables to think about and Tony¡¯s brain was rejecting most due to their complicated intricacies. Too many options to think about. He was beginning to feel lightheaded again, but smothered the feelings down as low as they could be pushed. ¡°Ok,¡± Tony began, ¡°if Carl left his room¡¯s door open maybe he left this side door open. Whoever was in their room didn¡¯t try to open the door. So there¡¯s a good chance he didn¡¯t think of this. Makes me feel a little better, because if he was after us he would¡¯ve taken the chance to get into our room.¡± ¡°The last place he was, was the hallway. So it¡¯s probably ok to assume that he¡¯s around other rooms, if we¡¯re quiet, he won¡¯t hear us. So we stay put.¡± ¡°I agree. That¡¯s a good idea, babygirl. I¡¯m going to check and see if I can get into the next room. If the door¡¯s open then that shouldn¡¯t be a problem. I¡¯d like to see if Carl brought anything that might help us protect ourselves. Maybe you can put the clamp back on the door to make it a little more secure.¡± Anne smiled at Tony, ¡°Look at you taking charge.¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Tony gave an embarrassed chuckle, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that. I just want to do right by you.¡± He stepped to the door and gripped the handle. It began to twist and shake. Someone was on the other side trying to get in. Tony instinctually stepped back, hands in the air. His head jerked to look at Anne. Her eyes were wide in horror. The silver lining for the two was that the door separating the rooms was indeed locked. Tony began softly walking towards Anne. He jumped as the sound of a shoulder banged against the door. It was followed by two swift, consecutive slams. Anne was twisting the top lock as quickly as she could without making blatant noises. The side door¡¯s handle began moving around sporadically again as the unseen force jerked it from side to side. Anne opened the front door successfully and poked her head out. The door to the next room was closed right now. Whoever was inside that room wouldn¡¯t know they had left. Tony followed her outside and began slowly closing the door. He peeked inside and his stomach dropped. The door handle was no longer twisting back and forth. It was turning to one side. It continued twisting further than a locked handle should. Had the person inside been messing with them? Was the door open and he was just trying to funnel them into the hallway? The door handle jutted out. It had indeed been twisted beyond its capacity and tore off its screws. The knob dropped to the floor as the door flew open. The figure entered the room quickly, but not desperately. He surveyed the room. He looked to the door. It was closed. The figure began throwing blankets off the bed and slinging open every door he came across. He made it to the hallway door. The door was unlocked. Whoever had been in here, had fled. ____________________________________________________________________________ Tony and Anne had made it to the stairwell and were descending them rapidly. Through heavy breaths Tony spoke up, ¡°So we need to find Carl and tell him to get the fuck out of dodge with us.¡± Anne prompted, ¡°Mel?¡± ¡°Fuck, forgot about him. Look, if he¡¯s there then he¡¯s there. If he¡¯s not, then it is what it is. This guy is officially after us. He¡¯s killed someone around Mel, but not Mel himself. That tells me he doesn¡¯t give a shit about that dude. As much as I hate to admit it, I can relate. Right now, it¡¯s about us. It¡¯s about you.¡± ¡°Tony, we can¡¯t leave him. If he¡¯s there, we need to make sure he comes with us.¡± Tony gritted his teeth. He didn¡¯t like how selfish he was being so openly exposed, but he didn¡¯t regret saying what he said. In this moment, that was his truth. The two emerged from the stairwell and analyzed their surroundings. To their left was the hallway that led to a handful of rooms. To their right was the lobby and reception desk. The two jogged to the lobby and then froze. They saw an arm on the ground poking out just behind a couch, from the left side. As they approached the furniture, the atmosphere seemed to shift. They saw a bullet hole through a window yards behind the couch that concealed this unknown individual. As they continued getting closer, they saw another bullet hole in the ceiling. Whoever was in the room above was likely given a panic attack from the chaos. A stench was in the early stages of permeating in the area they were walking towards. Both of them knew what this probably meant. Whoever was behind the couch might not be alive. Anne stopped just short of the couch. Her mind was curious, but her body would not allow her to step forward. If the sight was what she imagined it would be, it would be an image that would stay with her for the rest of her life. However long or short it may be. Tony looked at her and reassured her, ¡°Don¡¯t look. I¡¯m gonna check who this is and then we need to get out of here. Carl and Mel have to be around here somewhere. Carl wouldn¡¯t leave us. I know he wouldn¡¯t. Check outside and see if you can find them in the parking lot. We don¡¯t have a lot of time until that guy gets down here.¡± Anne was reluctant to leave Tony, but she had to remind herself that he would be outside in the next minute or less. He¡¯d be back, so she ran outside to do her part. Tony breathed in, his heart pounding and his air intake wavering with nerves. He stepped forward and looked behind the couch. Carl was seated upright. His eyes glazed over, one eye looking forward and the other lazily staring at the ceiling. As if he was trying to look at the two bullet holes simultaneously. However, there were no bullet wounds on him. His gun was inches away from his outstretched right hand. Still there. Carl shot these bullets. He was defending himself. Tony was on the verge of tears. Carl¡¯s throat was ripped. Not completely out of his body, but blood was lazily seeping out. His trachea crunched together, poking out ever so slightly. His tongue was out, reaching just above the tear in his throat. His lower mandible where his tongue would generally lie, was left a few feet beyond his shoes. His lower jaw was clearly torn off. He didn¡¯t deserve this. Tony¡¯s voice continued to waver as he uttered to himself, ¡°Who the fuck are we dealing with right now?¡± ____________________________________________________________________________ Anne had looked over the entire parking lot. There were about twenty rooms in the hotel and the lot was looking emptier. It wasn¡¯t necessarily full to begin with, but there had been enough folks to constitute a busy day for this hotel. She wondered why more hadn¡¯t stayed and called the police. Why hadn¡¯t they called anyone? Perhaps they had. In this instance she remembered she was equipped with her phone. 10:47 AM. The snow was coming down heavier than it had been for days. The storm was very near. The police were probably sending someone, if anybody had called. There were still cars in the lot, so not everyone had left. Scared individuals staying in their rooms. Regardless, plenty had left in response to the commotion. It had been enough time and Anne was growing anxious. Where was Tony? She started walking to the hotel. A few steps in and she heard the sound of a siren. A police cruiser was coming from the horizon. Help. She was safe. Tony was safe. Then it dawned on her. Where was Carl¡¯s vehicle? Hotel Pt. 3 Anne was at a loss for words. Could the cop approaching the lot be Carl and Mel? Maybe they had forgotten about her and Tony in all the chaos. They left, then they swung back around to get the couple. A frustrating proposition but a relief nonetheless. Except the officer who stepped out of the car wasn¡¯t Carl. It was Davie. ¡°What happened here??¡± Anne wasn¡¯t quite sure what even happened in the lobby and unfortunately she had no helpful information outside of, ¡°Someone started shooting in the hotel and someone¡¯s dead in there. Tony¡¯s inside checking out who it is.¡± Davie looked at her incredulously, ¡°Why is he in there alone with a body?¡± Anne¡¯s gaze went to her shoes, ¡°I¡­ he told me to look for Carl.¡± Davie softened his eyes; realizing he was likely glowering at her. He opened the back door to his vehicle. ¡°I¡¯ll be back with your not-so-better half before you know it. Stay here, no one will be able to get in. I¡¯ll get you both back to the house before things get worse out here. I¡¯ll get my hands on Carl and chew his ass out for leaving you two on your own. I¡¯m grateful someone called this in while they were leaving.¡± ____________________________________________________________________________ Davie walked into the hotel with his weapon drawn. He looked to his right and then his left. His eyes landed on Tony, who did not look well. His mouth was agape and his eyes looked lost. Davie continued towards him and spoke with a soft tone, ¡°Tony? Your little girlfriend is pretty worried about you. Let¡¯s get out of here and¡­¡± His voice trailed away. Most of the thoughts that were racing in his head slowed to a crawl and seeped out of him. The brutality of the image was more than he was prepared to witness. He still had difficulty compartmentalizing the scene of the last corpse. The woman¡¯s body had been ravaged, but contorted in an almost artistic way. It was brutalization with intention. What Davie was looking at right now was savagery only. ¡°Tony, I¡¯m going to need you to muster up the strength to high-tail it out of here with me in the next few seconds. Can you do that for me?¡± Davie¡¯s voice was rising, unintentionally. His rough way of interacting with others had always been a weakness of his. He always wanted to be kinder, to be more compassionate to those he swore to protect. Years of ritualistic servitude that ultimately boiled down to waking up early for not enough pay. He was unhappy with his place in life and this displeasure would frequently manifest itself in how he spoke to others. Tony wasn¡¯t responding. His thoughts were once again louder than his surroundings. His eyes were slowly darting around, but he wasn¡¯t truly seeing anything. His attention was squarely latched onto Carl¡¯s carcass and the detached mandible carelessly thrown away from it. He could hear Davie¡¯s voice trying to break through his ears, but it was muffled. It was easy to believe whatever the detective was saying would be something important. Regardless of this knowledge, Tony could not eschew what his mind was fixated on. Davie¡¯s blood was starting to boil. He understood how jarring this must be for the young man, but that didn¡¯t take away from the importance of immediate action. He stomped over to Tony and grabbed his shirt by the areas draped over his shoulders. Davie attempted to lift him up, but realized how heavy Tony was; how weak he himself had become in his older age. Davie attempted to hoist the student up a second time to no avail. Tony was essentially deadweight at this point. He was clearly in shock. However, Tony was starting to regain his senses to an impaired level of normalcy. He still wasn¡¯t aware of what was going on. He couldn¡¯t completely digest the words being spoken to him, but he was able to understand Davie¡¯s eyes. There was anger and concern bursting from both. Tony was beginning to absorb these emotions and feel them himself. Anger at the fact that he was, again, useless. He was a prisoner to his anxieties. Concern over the fact that they were in the crosshairs of some anonymous murderer. Concern over where his sweet Anne was. Tony closed his eyes tightly. He was ready to start being a boone to those around him instead of staying as this constant, additional obstacle. His legs weren¡¯t quite ready to operate on their own but whenever Davie attempts to lift him again, he¡¯d be able to stand on his own two feet. He¡¯d help those around him. He¡¯d be the kind of man that Anne could feel safe with. He felt Davie lifting him again only to drop him after a second of effort. A yell. He opened his eyes Davie was turned around and fired off a shot. The clang of the bullet¡¯s impact on a background object alerted Tony to the fact that he missed. Not even two seconds after the shot was fired, a large body came upon Davie like a shark onto a school of fish. The imposing body shrouded in black clothing sent a fist into Davie¡¯s ribs. The heft of the impact was felt by Tony. Likely a broken rib. In a split second, the assailant¡¯s fist rammed into Davie¡¯s neck. A cough. A gag. Another cough. Another impact. This time both fists, clasped together and swung at the detective¡¯s head. This hit sent Davie stumbling to the nearby wall. His gun skating off a couple of feet away. Tony hadn¡¯t noticed, but his body was moving on its own. He was scooting away from the violent scene, his eyes transfixed on the assault. His feet propelled him backwards while his bottom remained planted to the floor. There was nowhere to run if he went backwards, but his body seemed to only know one direction at this point in time. The figure Tony had seen in the peephole was walking towards him. His face was covered by a ski mask and a hood attached to the burley jacket worn by the individual. This behemoth of a man was dressed in black from head to toe. His eyes were hungry, but unfamiliar to Tony. A gun was cocked. Within a second, the man lunged at Davie. He ripped the detective¡¯s left hand away from the gun and slammed it against the wall. Davie was trying to aim the gun towards the man as the man was fighting to force the detective¡¯s right arm skyward. Davie let out a shot, but the gun was shaking and improperly aimed. Davie grunted like a scream in an attempt to correct his shot. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The assailant took away an arm dedicated to fighting Davie¡¯s adrenaline-fueled surge. He struck the detective¡¯s throat again with an open palm. Davie¡¯s eyes bulged and his desperate strength waned. The assailant grabbed Davie¡¯s right arm with both of his hands and snapped his ulna and radius just below the wrist. Davie let out a howl of pain as his right hand dangled from twisted flesh pierced by one of the broken bones. He had never been in this position before. His life was not flashing before his eyes, only his wife. Only the idea that she¡¯ll be left alone. The detective peered up, hopeless. The stranger in black pulled a hunting knife from a sheath on his lower back. ¡°AAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!¡± Davie turned to his left and saw Tony hurtling towards the stranger. The young man¡¯s shoulder slammed into the assailant¡¯s stomach. The force of the hit was immense. The stranger stumbled back and almost immediately began gagging as he fought off the vomit that was close to being released. Tony yelped, ¡°FUCK!¡± His shoulder popped out of socket. He had slipped once making impact and landed to Davie¡¯s right. His eyes met with the detective¡¯s. Both had tears in their eyes. Davie grabbed Tony by his pocket and weakly pulled him towards the direction of the front door. In a fit of coughs he managed to wheeze out, ¡°Go.¡± Tony¡¯s mouth wavered as he attempted to stave off the tears. Tony inhaled a large swath of air in an attempt to fight off the dread filling his mind. He slid the gun to Davie¡¯s good hand and stumbled up as he tried to sprint to the opening. The stranger in black was up and ready to grab Tony¡¯s collar. ¡°Duck, fatass.¡± Tony lunged to the ground and started to crawl. The stranger reached for him when a bullet shot out and shredded two fingers off the assailant¡¯s hand. He roared in pain. Three more bullets planted themselves in the man¡¯s chest. Davie¡¯s breath was labored, ¡°Son, I have two favors to ask. One of them is horrible, but it has to be done.¡± Tony was shaking and he felt like he could pass out at any given moment. However, he meant to stick by the words he spoke to himself during the turmoil. ¡°What can I do?¡± ¡°Take my phone and call Janet. Let her know what¡¯s happening and where the emergency personnel can find me.¡± ¡°Absolutely, I can do that.¡± ¡°Before that, though, I need you to take this gun. Take it and dump every last round into that man¡¯s head.¡± Tony had no idea how to respond to this request. ¡°But¡­ you already-¡± ¡°Tony, look at his body. What¡¯s missing?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean, what are-¡± ¡°Tony, take the fucking gun right now and kill this man! There¡¯s no blood around him. I shot him three times, he should be clearly bleeding. You have to do it NOW!¡± Tony reached for the gun and placed it in his hands. He was shaking heavily. Would this burden be too great for him? Before he could begin to think about using it, his ears registered footsteps. The stranger threw his hunting knife and it buried itself in Tony¡¯s shoulder. A difficult feat for anyone to accomplish, but this man in black did so effortlessly. Tony let off two shots in response. They were wild and inaccurate. One bullet hit yards away, while the other managed to graze the man¡¯s thigh. The man did not seem to notice. ¡°TONY, THE GUN! GET IT TO ME AND RUN!¡± Tony found the courage to toss the gun back to Davie. An irresponsible action, but worth the risk. Davie caught the weapon and aimed it. Too late. The assailant kicked Davie¡¯s hand up, grasped his wrist and swung the arm backwards. It bounced off the wall and the man in black grabbed it again. This time he slung his leg over it, his rear in Davie¡¯s face. The man yanked back and snapped Davie¡¯s arm at the elbow. The detective let out another pained howl. Tony was conflicted. He was running out of the hotel, desperate for safety. He listened to Davie, but should he have? He heard the noises behind him, but they were horrible to hear. Should he ignore them as best he could or would that be an insult to Davie¡¯s sacrifice? Tony felt worthless and horrified. He was overwhelmed with emotions and those emotions evoked deeper emotions he hadn¡¯t felt in some time. ¡°I wish I had my mom and dad¡­¡± These were the only words that seemed to be able to find their way from his lips. He didn¡¯t know why he felt this way. Maybe the last time he felt this kind of duress was when he was¡­ ¡°What the?¡± Tony¡¯s eyebrow raised as he dug into his pocket while he ran. It was the weight and jangle of keys. Davie¡¯s keys. He had placed them in Tony¡¯s pocket when he pulled the young man towards him to advise retreat. Davie knew what the outcome of this altercation would be. Tony knew he had to honor this attempt to save him. Before Tony realized it, he was in front of the police car. He was looking at Anne. Her eyes of horror as she stared at her boyfriend, pierced by a knife in his shoulder. Blood consistently flowing from the opening. Tony finally felt how weak he was; how drained of blood his body seemed to be. Tony opened Anne¡¯s door and gave her the keys. ¡°Babe, can you drive? I don¡¯t think I¡¯m cognizant enough.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you?? You¡¯re bleeding! You¡¯re hurt! Where¡¯s Davie??¡± All of the remarks were warranted and each one deserved a satisfactory answer. Tony had none for her right now. Anne could read this on his face and quickly fled to the driver¡¯s seat and turned the car on. She looked to her right and shouted, ¡°TONY get IN!¡± He had lost a large amount of blood. He was slower in reaction time. He felt only partially present. He knew he wanted to keep Anne safe. He finally could. She was yelling, but he couldn¡¯t hear her. He could only hear the crunch of snow beneath the feet of the large man in black sprinting behind him. It was only at the last moment that Anne realized there was another shape behind Tony. A large hand grabbed the knife¡¯s handle as it dragged the blade backwards, carving through Tony''s shoulder. Another hand grabbed Tony¡¯s hair and jerked his head back, exposing his neck. The hunting knife sliced through it like deli meat. Anne shrieked. The stranger slammed Tony¡¯s lifeless head against the passenger window, attempting to shatter the protective barrier. Anne did nothing. She could do nothing. Until her foot reacted alone, slamming onto the pedal. She drove off into the worsening snow. There remained the gradually shrinking silhouette behind her. The silhouette of a man holding the head of her lifeless soulmate. The silhouette of a bag of fluid, flesh, and bones loosely compiled; someone so important now reduced to bloating pieces. Anne drove and drove. She wailed. She swore. Her eyes bulged until it felt as if every blood vessel in her face would explode. She drove and drove until the car had traveled for some minutes. Then the car stopped. The snow was unpassable in this vehicle. She would have to walk the rest of the way to where her friends were if she wanted to see them again.