Chapter 2 Hide-And-Seek
After you fell asleep cuddling Jack's hoodie for dear life yesterday, today's morning strangely found you full of energy and inspiration to get down to business. It was the very last day that you would be sitting around before the classes finally start tomorrow, so you pretty much decided to get your abilities to work and use all the remaining free time that you had to do some digging around. And that meant: field trip to the cave! Hooray...not. You did really like going on field trips, don't get you wrong, you enjoyed the serenity and peacefulness a forest or a nice walk inside a park gave to you, but this time, this wasn't just a trip for having fun. You were going to investigate a former murder scene. Who the hell knows what kind of trouble you might run into and taking someone else along with you, was absolutely out of the question. Still, hoping for the best, you entered your bathroom for a quick and refreshing morning shower.
Turning the tap on, you allowed the hot water to wake you up completely, energizing your body sweetly and making a small smile creep it's way on your face, a smile that was sincerely coming from your heart, which was something really rare for you this last four years, if not a rare sight to see at all. Grabbing your favorite gardenia scented bath foam you apply it on your skin lavishly, its sweet fragrance reaching deep down your lungs. It was a happy morning, a really rare happy morning. Before you even knew it, you were slowly mumbling some verses of a random song, before going out of the bathtub and wrapping a towel around your body, you walk back inside your room, reaching for you last box that you have left unpacked.
Grabbing it, you place it on your desk and open it. Within, you find all the evidence that you had gathered for Jack's case, carefully stuffed inside various labeled files, so that you would be able to find anything you were looking for right away. Information from the internet, newspaper, from the college's archives and also… from the police department as well. For that last part, you had gone beyond yourself and actually hacked into the police department's computer archives completely unnoticed, and copied all the files that were linked with Jack's case. Photos, forensic evidence, investigation material and pretty much anything you could get your hands on. For a police department, it was pretty easy to hack and go by unnoticed, even if you were using your gramp-puter at that time. It was though, all the evidence they had and you were going to use it to your advantage. So taking them out, you stuff them inside your small backpack, careful not to damage anything, as you throw a pen inside and go back to the bathroom to change into normal clothes.
Half an hour later, you find yourself carefully walking inside the forest line, moving the leaves of the bushes to the side as you make your way among them, constantly looking above your shoulder, to see if anyone was watching you from behind, only to be greeted by a completely empty yard behind you. It was rather strange; the time was already eleven o' clock and not a single student could be seen walking around the deserted yard, either talking on the phone or hanging out with his/her friends as they should. It was rather….strange…and a little bit of creepy. You always thought that colleges were always crowded or at least with a few people walking around, not being completely empty like here. Then again, it was a Sunday morning, so most of them should be sleeping in or being over at their families houses. So it was cool.
You turned your focus in front of you, holding on your hand one of the pictures you had stolen from the police, which portrayed a really narrow path that was leading on the cave where everything happened. Now, it appeared that the path was completely covered by the rich flora that spread all around like a tall green carpet, making you constantly try to push the bushes aside, desperately trying to locate it. If you had a knife along with you, you would totally be able to play Indiana Jones in here, but unfortunately for you, you had stuffed your pocket knife inside your backpack and you were currently really occupied by looking around to stop and search for it. As it stated in the police findings, the path was like that when they first found it, so they had to chop away most of the bushes to make it easier for them to look around, but after four years, it was only natural for it to have returned to its original state.
An exclamation of excitement left your lips when you eventually managed to locate it, smiling victoriously to yourself and throwing your fists in the air happily. It was almost invisible, but now that you had gotten it, you wouldn't lose it from your eyes, so you started following it closely. Students were no longer coming inside the forest, obeying to some unspoken treaty among themselves to not disturb anything around the forest again. Most of them strongly believed that there was something lurking inside of it since the day of the murders, but that was just superficial rumors, nothing else.
The sky towering well above the tall trees was covered with a faint layer of light grey clouds. They carried no water along with them, but their existence and only were enough to deny the luxurious rays of light coming from the biggest source of life to touch the cold, hard soil in the surface of the earth. It was a very peculiar kind of weather; the transition from the hot but humid summer to the cold embrace of the impending fall, that lacked the humidity and replaced the warmth with a haunting chill was enough to leave the weather somewhere in between for a few days. It was neither too warm, nor too cold. But it still left the scenery as breathtaking as the two different seasons.
The tall pine trees covered the whole place around you, reaching until your eye could see, in the distant horizon. Their branches were completely covered by a rich layer of deep green leaves allowing the light breeze that coursed between them to freshen up and be removed from any dust that it might carry along. Still, the waist-tall freesias and bushes that thrived here and there were giving the whole place a magnificent light green color, as they formed a breathtaking carpet that Mother Nature herself prepared for humans passing by them to enjoy, or even for the nymphs of the forest to dance among them when the bright moonlight would illuminate the hauntingly dark sky.
Among the deep forest, the song of the birds was sounding loud and clear, a nice hum for your ears as you walked in the path the forest naturally formed towards the cave. The cold ground was steady under your feet and looking around you, the silver mist of the previous night was still lurking inside the premises of the forest and under the trees, giving everything around you a fairytale-like feeling; or a horror one, you couldn't decide clearly. Yet, you were thrilled to be in there. Looking around you ecstatic, you were happy to see much of the forests fauna, as you continued down the path.
After a little while longer you saw the trees clear up a few meters in front of you and walking towards it, you reached a clearing indeed, with a large cave resting on the other side of the small space, it's entrance starting to be covered up by the plants that fell loosely from above it, but still visible. It could easily be a scene from a romance movie. Right in front of the cave was a clear space that could easily be used for a campfire and a hanging out spot, while on the right side, there was a small, bubbling brook. Fresh water streamed down, only adding to the nature sounds around you and making the place a perfect spot for late at night.
Walking carefully towards the cave, you withdraw your Iphone from your pocket and start taking pictures from the space surrounding you, more to be able to see what has changed over the years, rather than to capture anything. But first, you make sure that no one was inside the cave by giving it a brief look, deciding that it's better to take things slowly and first check the area that surrounds it for any clues and epiphanies, before moving forward inside. This way, things won't get messy with constantly trying to mix and match the evidence and plus, you will have more time to think things through. So tracing the small area around as well, just so that you knew how much space you had to cover, you find a nearby tree and leave your stuff there, plopping yourself next to your bag and upon opening it, start to pull all the things you were going to need out.
You settle them down one by one, and once you are done, you grab the file with the photos of the victims, walking towards the space in front of the cave.
'So let me see…' you mutter to yourself, shuffling among the photos and picking out a photo of a boy 'The first victim, was Fred Merses. Twenty years old, second year, coming from Oklahoma.' You pick his photo and looking around you, you place it on the exact same spot that the body was found, exactly as it was found 'He was found with his eyes taken out, as well as his intestines laying on the ground beside him due to a huge gash on his lower belly, caused by a sharp object that was unidentified. He was the only one to have a bite mark on the right side of his neck, probably made by an animal. His eyes and kidneys were removed after death, though, only his kidneys were not found. The bite mark was deep enough to reach his spine bone. He died within seconds from his first injury, which was…..the bite mark.' You take down a note on your small notepad.
This was kind of strange to you…what kind of animal would have that kind of power, to tear up a twenty-year-old man's neck? Looking to your left, you gaze upon the brook and the forest that dwelled beyond it. The bite mark was not long enough to belong to a wolf and a smaller one to belong to any mountain lions, if there were any in these woods. It left you kind of troubled, but you just noted it down, to do a search later on, moving on to the next victim.
Taking some steps to the right side from where Fred's body was found, you do exactly five steps, before you stop again and search through your file.
'Luna Cook. Nineteen years old, Canadian, first year and twin sister to Bobby Cook, one of the rest of the victims. She was found laying face-first to the ground, revealing that she tried to run when the first attack happened. She died from a blunt force trauma in the back of the head, which opened her skull almost in half. I guess this one tried to run as soon as sh!t hit the fan huh?' you murmur as you place her photo on the ground where she was found 'The rock that was found next to her head carried her blood, as well as pieces from her skull, so it was the murder weapon. Her back was slashed open and her kidneys were removed, as well as her eyes, always after death.'
Taking a last good look on the place she was found, you turn and take seven feet away from her, towards the brook, placing another photo on the ground.
You sigh heavily and look at your notes 'Sara O' Donovan. Twenty one, a third year scholar, coming from New Orleans. This one was the only one to fight back; she was found face up and with various bite marks along her neck and hands, always bone deep, until a huge slash, starting from her shoulder all the way down to her pelvis bone, allowed her organs to spill out. She was the only one alive at the moment her eyes were removed and many of her intestines were bitten and probably eaten, since her half eaten organs were found next to her. Hmmm, guess that animal had a good human snack that night. Her kidneys were no-where to be found.'
'Next one in the death line iiiiiiiisssss' you move back, almost next to Fred and place another picture a few meters away from the first male 'Our lucky guy Bobby Cook. Nineteen, Canadian and Luna's twin, he had his right leg smashed to smithereens, making him unable to run. The poor guy tried to crawl his way out, as the murderer dealt with Fred, Luna and Sara, before turning to him, tearing his head off without a weapon –oh, God, don't tell me the Hulk tore his head off-, took his eyes out and threw his head on the brook. Nice going murderer!' you note in sarcasm, being a little bit disgusted and a little bit amazed 'His organs were eaten as well and his kidneys were missing. Oh God what a surprise.' You mumble, writing down the findings.
'And the final victim of all was Jenny Smith.' You say and cross the small clearing, walking to the complete opposite side, a little bit further down from where you left your stuff 'First year, coming from Washington DC. The only survivor of this fatal encounter, she was beaten half to death, which caused a severe internal bleeding and a huge fracture on her head that nearly killed her. Only one of her kidneys was removed and she was found mumbling nonsense, having turned completely insane. She had no recollection of what happened and she was admitted to an asylum shortly after, before her traces went blank.' You look around you 'I think Jenny would be the one to enlighten me on this one. That of course, if she is able to speak.' You breathe out.
Walking around the small clearing, you leave down the rest of the photos as to where numerous other stuff were found, like a torn rope, a small pot with an unidentified black liquid inside, the place where the fire was and many more other things. After you were done, you go through the police reports once again, before you stand up and set your Iphone on the voice recording.
'So, this is (y/n) (y/l.n). It's thirteen forty-five at noon, and the date is (d)-(m)-(y). After the examination of the crime scene, I have come to the conclusion that there are many things the police did not notice or get wrong.' You say as you move in your first position, where Fred's body was found.
'The killer attacked the first victim with raw power, using either a medium sized dog or another animal to bite the neck off, cutting the carotid and allowing the victim to die within minutes from severe blood loss. Then, as the animal was attacking the first victim, he threw a rock to the fourth victim, injuring him on the leg, before he moved to the second female victim, catapulting a rock once again, injuring her in the back of her head, paralyzing her as the reports said and leaving her there to die. The next one to be targeted, was the second female victim Sara. Marks of a struggle are evident, so it was possible that she was carrying a weapon along with her, that the killer tried to remove. This time, he spent a good amount of time with her, since her injuries were done before she was dead. Then, he moved to the fourth victim, before he charged against the last one, Jenny.'
You gaze around, sighing once again and resting your left hand on your waist, as you continue to talk.
'Now, the findings: It was only one man. Only one, due to the fact that there was plenty of time between the killings, excluding more people being present. If he was related to a cult or not, this is not clear yet. The police were wrong to think that it was a middle aged man. The wounds and his method were indeed revealing a psychopathic frenzy, but, his movements were also in a mild state of control, revealing a huge scale of arrogance as well. He knew that no one would be able to escape him, so his movements were arrogant, revealing that he was probably around his early twenties. From the wounds on the victims' bodies that were before death, it is revealed that he used a lot of raw force, so he was definitely a male. The weapon he used, probably the one he took from victim number three, must be some kind of a small knife, or hunting knife, since the cuts were clean and precise. He knew where to strike them, so it wasn't his first time killing. Also, by the force he placed on his victims, it appears that he was enraged.'
As you talk about your findings on the recording, your mind can't help but play out the scene of the murder right before your eyes. You could almost see their surprised looks as the killer threw himself against them, injuring and killing them one after another, taking his sweet time in doing so.
'The fact that he wasn't done with them and returned to 'play' with them more, guttering them all and removing both their eyes and kidneys, reveals an extreme state of anger, almost like he wanted revenge. He wasn't done and satisfied with just killing them, so he returned to violate them more. Still, he allowed Jenny to live, something that I associate with either him being interrupted by something, or thinking that she was already dead. Also, by the gruesome scenery, I can only think that this must be a serial killer. He has killed before and he will kill again, if he hasn't killed already.' You say and walk towards your first spot, between the cave, the cut rope and Fred's body.
'What I don't understand though, was that if he indeed came out of the cave due to the fact of how the bodies were placed and found, ambushing the five friends, why none of them run in the first place? They had plenty of time; at least Sara and Jenny did. And also, why there was a rope?'
Realization hits you had in the face. Your mouth half opens as you manage to whisper 'Oh, God. They didn't have time to run because he didn't come out of the cave! He was the one tied down! But how was Jack related to all this?' you let that last question unanswered as you turn the recording off 'I still have a lot to do around here.'
And you sure did.
Sighing once again, you gather all the stuff that you had spread out, sitting under the tree that you had made your small spot and started organizing them back into their original files. It was one hell of a good idea to come and see the murder scene with your very own eyes, there were like a million things that the detectives and policemen got wrong and it kind of stroked you as peculiar that you were able to find them almost with little to no effort. Like, weren't you supposed to be the scholar or the civilian that knew nothing of these stuff and they should be the ones that were trained properly and devoted their lives in doing this thing? But no matter how hard you tried to justify them, one thing was clear. If you were looking for a teenager that was a murder suspect with a troubled past and a family that couldn't care less about him, it was only natural to drop all investigations and think that he might have gotten himself already killed inside this forest. Still, it was something much more than a fact that caused your anger to built up because you knew the truth. You knewthat Jack wasn't a waste of space and nor was he a murderer. And no matter what those fools believed, you were f*cking going to find him no matter what.
Then, the complete silence that surrounded you, broke the sound of a twig snapping.
As if someone had just kicked you, you immediately straighten your back, ready to jump on your feet at any given moment, as your (e/c) orbs scan the whole place around you, piercing through the lavishly green scenery, looking for the source of the sound, making no noise at all and being on edge. The tall trees around you though continue to hold on to their shadows and mysteries, betraying no sound of any intruder at all, making you wonder for a split second, if you had heard right, or it was just your imagination. I mean, who in their right minds would be out and deep inside the forest, yourself excluded. After a few more seconds, you decide to let the matter drop as a trick your imagination played to you. But right then, you hear heavy steps coming from somewhere behind the cave.
You held your breath, stretching your hearing abilities and trying to stay still to hear clearly, in case you needed to run or attack immediately.
The heavy steps still reverberate like gunshots in the complete silence of the forest, that seems to have grown still, but instead of coming closer to you, the footsteps only seem to distance themselves from where you were, going deeper and deeper inside the forest. In an adrenaline rush, you shove the rest of your things messily inside your bag, flinging it over your shoulder and carefully rising to your feet, you start to make your way as stealthily as possible towards the side of the cave near the brook, where a small path leads behind the cave. Your heart is pounding heavily in your chest and the adrenaline that courses through your veins only makes your breathing heavier by the passing second, as you carefully step on the slippery rocks of the bank of the brook, minding your steps the best you could. Finally, reaching the end of the brownish rock, you hide yourself in the corner and carefully peek from behind it.
You are pretty amazed to find that behind the cave, there is actually a naturally formed path, with the trees arching above it proudly, shedding their shadow above the narrow path. If you hadn't heard the noise, you wouldn't even know that this place existed and to be honest, you doubted that the policemen knew as well. Still, the path leads further down inside the forest, inviting its visitors to walk on it and discover its wonders. And boy, what a wonder that appeared walking on it, towards the haunting shadows of the forest.
You could barely believe your two own eyes as you gazed upon the narrow path, only to see a man walking in the opposite direction of where you were standing. He was tall and he was a man. It was pretty much obvious from his height that on a loose scale probably reached 5' 9' and the way he was walking, with his heavy steps landing hard against the hard soil underneath him. He was completely dressed in black, from tip to toe and from what you could guess, had his hands stuffed in the front pocket of his hoodie. His back was turned towards you as he walked, so it was impossible to see his face, or even be able to see it without getting noticed. Because somewhere deep inside of you, you knew that he meant trouble. It was strange enough to be inside the woods, particularly near a murder scene and not only that, but for a shady guy all dressed in black, it was totally not a coincidence. Something deep inside of you told you to be careful.
But then again, you just couldn't let go of the feeling that he had something to do with all of this. Probably at least. So ignoring all the alerts that had gone off inside your mind, you decide to follow him, just to satisfy your own curiosity in the end of the day.
Following him with your gaze, you allow him to place a big, but controllable distance between you, before you leave the protection of your hiding spot, walking carefully towards the trunk of a nearby tree and hiding behind it, you peek from behind, making sure not to lose him from your eyes. He it still there, walking further down, completely oblivious to your presence, that you try to conceal with all your might, being something more than just careful on where you stepped on, in case you made any twig snap and give away your position and presence to the complete stranger. He though, appeared to be more familiar than you with the forest around him, being completely loosened up, as well as looking towards the sky every once in a while, as if he was expecting the skies to open up any second now.
You silently mock the poor fella inside your mind as you continue to follow him close behind and hide, only to mentally curse yourself, when a loud thunder echoes high above you, making the ground shake under your feet. It was obvious that it was going to rain soon. How the hell did he know that?!
You continue to follow him, but he appears to do nothing to trigger your curiosity and make him pose as a threat. You even managed at some point to take a picture of him with your phone, just to be sure that if he turns out to brutally murder you, you would give the police at least one hint on who did it.
But it doesn't escape your attention that the longer you continue to follow him, the deeper you are going inside the forest. Now, you are no longer near the cave, the serene and lovely scenery of the bright green bushes had long ago left you but instead, you are walking on a steep part of the forest, that was way more dangerous than the one you walked before, since slippery slopes are threatening to devour you and possibly kill you, if you take one wrong step and fall on their deadly embrace. Large bushes full of menacing thorns and trees with bare branches were covering everything around the narrow path, giving the place a feeling straight from a nightmare. It was clear that this part of the forest was not visited, let alone inhabited, so where the absolute hell was this guy going? But without a moment's hesitation, the guy simply continued to follow the path only he could see, gently whistling to a song that strangely seemed familiar to you.
At some point, it even started to rain.
You cursed heavily under your breath, as you would be soaking wet in no time and the guy didn't even seem of importance now to you. Following him, you had arrived on a steep hill, where he continued to walk on mindlessly. From your point of view though, you started to struggle, since the water made the soil under your feet slippery. You stopped for a little while, hidden behind a tree near a slope to catch your breath. Panting quite heavily, you open your bottle of pills and pop come inside your mouth, before turning to see if the guy had done anything.
And to your complete surprise, he was gone! Puff! Vanished out of thin air!
Your eyes open wide with surprise, but alas, you where in for a bigger surprise.
Another thunder echoes and to your complete horror, strikes the tree right across from you, on the other side of the path. You gasp and take a step backwards, throwing your hand over your face to protect yourself, as you see the tall and dark tree be quick into catching fire. But you were reckless.
The ground under your feet gives away, as you stood right on the edge of the slope. Your scream is caught inside your throat, as the last thing you see, is the ground where you were standing, distancing itself from you, as you fell…