Hey, so I know I said I was going to write some more horror stories, but I had the idea for this at about four in the morning so I figured I'd just go with it. So, concidering I planned my entire story line at that time also, hopefully it makes sense. Sorry if the begining is a little confusing, it'll be less so in later chapters when everythings explained. So…review and let me know what you think?
Natara Williams
It's early. Too early. I lean back against the seat in Mal's car, closing my eyes briefly. Neither one of us had gotten much sleep lately, we've been worked to the bone all week and it's been taking its toll. Ever since the media got ahold of our latest case, the whole city's been in panic, mainly college students. I don't blame them, it doesn't seem like anywhere's safe anymore.
It all started last week with a murder of a collage girl who was killed in her home. I knew there were several things wrong with the picture the moment I laid eyes on the scene. There was a black bird in flight painted on the window, which created the shadow of the same bird, projected across the wall in the room the victim was found. The girl had been shot, execution style, in the head. It was almost like her killer didn't want to cause her any pain. Of course, no one really thought anything of it until there was another victim. That's when things got out of hand, and before we knew it the death toll was up to five people. The only connection was every victim lived and was killed in their own apartments, each one was a college student studying art, and each one had the same bird painted on their window. So far we've only had one suspect, a man named Matthew Clark, but not enough evidence to convict him. In fact, the only reason we suspect him is because he was a former teacher of the art school the first victim went to before he was laid off a few years back.
Since this is the only evidence we have, we can't make an arrest yet. For the past few days we've been watching him, but we haven't seen any suspicious behavior from him. I'm just about to suggest we head back to the station when a scream sounds. Seeing as I was minutes from dozing off, Mal's quicker than me and is out of the car in a flash, leaving me to grapple with the door handle for a moment. I wanted to slap myself for being so stupid. Who almost falls asleep on a stakeout? I'm several feet behind him as we run across the street to the old wreck of a house where the mans scream came from, and as I run I instinctually draw my gun. Mal reaches the door first, shoulder-checking the rickety and rotting front door. I catch up, following closly behind him into the silent house. It's way too hot in here, since obviously this man doesn't have air conditioning, and the air is thick and muggy as none of the windows are open.
"Check upstairs, I'll stay down here!" Mal says, and with I nod I creep up the stairs. The house is still deathly quiet, amplifying each creek I made as I ascend the rotting stairs. As I near the top I hear a creak, and I know it's not from me. It's coming from a door very close to the staircase, and as I reach the top I press myself flat against the wall and listen. After a moment of silence I turn the corner, pointing my gun and ready to fire at any threat. But all I see is the same man we've been watching, his hands already held up in surrender. He looks panicked, his eyes wide and sweat trickling down his face. He's looking at something behind me, and I quickly turn around to try and find out what. But I can't see anything, and it's possible it's an act.
"Get down" I tell him.
"You don't understand!" he argues "I can't—".
"Get down!" I say a little too sharply, still pointing my gun at him. The heat in here's getting to me, and the smell of rotting wood is overwhelming.
He starts to argue again, but he's speaking so quickly that I can barely understand him. He's gesturing wildly, and it's putting me on edge. He could easily whip out a weapon and I would even see it coming.
"Get down, now!" I yell, losing my patience. He's still arguing, but he's suddenly cut off by the sound of rapid gunfire. I instinctually dive to the ground, expecting I'm being shot at. But the bullets weren't for me, and when I look up I see Matthew has collapsed. He's fallen forwards, but I can see from here that he's dead. As I get up, for a moment I think that maybe I unintentionally shot him. But I never felt my gun kick back as I fired, and I dismiss this thought immediately. A second later I hear Mal's footsteps on the stairs, and the next thing I know he's standing in the doorway, gaping at me like a fish. I know what this must look like to him.
It looks like I just shot an unarmed man.
It's a few minutes later when backup comes, but we didn't call it in. Apparently the neighbors did, hearing the gunshots, and the next thing I know the whole building's surrounded by cop cars. As soon as they show up people fire questions at me, mainly 'Why'd you shoot an unarmed man?' and 'What were you thinking? He was out main suspect!'. But I ignore them all. I wait with Mal until Captain Yeong arrives, fearing if I speak to anyone else my story could be twisted if anyone but me tells her what happened. Mal doesn't talk to me as we wait, and I suspect this is because he doesn't know what to think. Oh well, he'll hear it when I explain it to Captain Yeong. I can already see news vans and camera man being warded off by other officers, but I don't pay them any mind. After a few minutes of waiting I'm worried that Captain Yeong won't come, but after a moment I can see her talking to several officers as she arrives. Of course she has to be here, everyone thinks someone under her watch just killed someone in cold blood. Eventually she makes her way over to me, a conflicted look on her face.
"It wasn't me" I say quickly, not caring how guilty this sounds "someone else shot him. Maybe someone outside—".
"There were no broken or open windows" she says, cutting me off "there's no way anyone could have shot him from outside".
"Then there must have been someone behind me!" I argue "or even in the room with me!".
"Did you see anyone?".
"No, but—". I glance quickly beside me at Mal, expecting him to back me up. But he either thinks I did it, or has nothing to say, because he stays silent. I'm hoping for the latter, because I don't think I could handle it if he didn't believe me.
"Look—" I say, taking my gun out of my holster and opening up the cylinder, showing her that it's still full of bullets. "It's full, I couldn't have shot anyone".
She doesn't look me in the eyes as she says "I don't think that'll hold up in court, you could have reloaded at any time. I don't think I have any other choice but to arrest you. I'm sorry…but you're under arrest".