I pulled into the police station parking lot, sweating nervously. What could they need me for? I reminded myself that they hadn't asked for me, just an adult. This could be nothing at all, it could all be my imagination. I could not shove off the feeling, though, that something bad was going to happen. Maybe it was because I couldn't find my mom, and my friend couldn't be found either. Maybe it was because today was Friday the 13th. Maybe it was because of the dream I'd had last night.
Regardless of the reason, the effect was butterflies beating on my stomach and my clammy skin shiny with sweat.
I pulled open the door and I saw was the officers, talking quietly in the corner of the room. I could barely make out what they were saying.
"...and it's not just Seattle now!"
"Some are dead, some are..."
"No! Why are they so varied, then?"
I approached them and cleared my throat. The blonde one turned to me with a very sympathetic look on his face.
"Are you Erin Cole?"
I didn't trust myself to speak, so I nodded.
"We need you to identify a body."
"A body?" My voice was an octave higher than usual with fear and stress.
The man nodded.
He motioned for me to follow him through a set of doors and then through another door on a long hall. The second door led into a very small room with one thing in it- a table with something underneath a sheet. My breathing turned to hyperventilating.
The man looked concerned, but he had to do his job. He crossed the small room and pulled back the sheet. My heart stopped. There, on that cold table, looking whiter than paper and very dead, was my mother.
My mouth and my eyes both opened wide in shock. I fell to my knees. No, this could not be happening. I would wake up from this terrible nightmare to Staccato's feet on my nose. No, I refused to believe it. It could not be true, yet something, some small, grieving voice in the back of my head, told me that indeed it was.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. "I'm very sorry."
I looked up at him blankly, still willing myself to awake.
"I know that you're going through a lot at the moment, but I need to know. Is this Amanda Cole?"
I nodded.
"That's all we need for the moment," he told me quietly. "You can go now."
I nodded again and staggered robotically to my feet and out the door. I marched down the hallway and through the double doors and out of the station entirely. I unlocked my car and fell into the driver's seat and sat there for a very long time.
Eventually, I found it in myself to drive home numbly. I parked the car out front and unlocked the door, snapping it behind myself and finding that the house was much emptier than it had been a few hours ago.
I trudged woodenly up the stairs and into my bedroom, collapsing onto my bed at once. Staccato nuzzled me, but for once I ignored her. After a time, she gave up and trotted off.
Why me? I thought sadly. In the span of a day, my entire world had fallen upside down, upsetting everything and leaving nothing the same... Nothing ever would be the same again.
I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow. As soon as I felt the fabric against my eyelids, they got very wet and from there, I cried myself to sleep.
I did not know what time it was when I woke up. It was a little bit too dark to clearly see anything, so I rolled over, willing sleep to take me again.
It was not much later that I came to terms with the fact that I would not be getting any more sleep tonight. I sat up, rubbing my eyes. The dark lumps that were my furniture slowly came into focus, highlighting something that should have been frightening, terrifying even.
It was the man from my dream, standing as stock-still as he had before, but he was by the window this time. I felt a strong sense of deja vu, but I could not bring myself to fear the man. What could he do to me, after all, that would make any difference? My world was quite meaningless at the moment- I doubted that even my beloved flute could cheer me up in the least.
Just to check, though, I discreetly pinched my arm. It hurt.
The man took a deliberate step forward. I stood up to meet him. He looked quite mad at my lack of fear.
Then suddenly, and more quickly than I could comprehend, he was standing over me. I felt a sharp pain on my head and then I knew nothing.
I could not see anything. All was pitch-black around me. I wondered vaguely why.
I felt like my body was contorted into an odd position, but I couldn't be entirely sure, because I wasn't really focused on that.
No, what interested me more was the voices. Beautiful, soft, melodic voices that felt to my ears like morphine does to a dying body.
They were talking quite close to me, or so it sounded like.
"So," the female voice said critically. "This is what you brought me, Riley?"
A moment of silence met the question.
"She looks a little pathetic, don't you think?"
This time a male voice answered. "We've been watching her for days; she is much fiercer than she appears."
"How did she react when you killed her mother?"
Hesitation was clear in the man's soft voice. "Surprisingly. She went around somewhat normally for a few hours, then she cried herself to sleep."
"And what about her friend? What did she do about the girl's disappearance?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary, except to make a few phone calls."
There was a little bit more silence, then the male spoke again. "Is she suitable for your purposes, or do we need to kill her?"
Talk of that scared me a bit, but I felt something restricting my mouth, so I couldn't protest. Of course, what would I have been able to say in my defence anyway?
The female seemed to deliberate for a moment. "She'll do, but I want better next time, Riley."
"Of course."
A second later, there was a searing, burning pain in my arm.
The last thing I heard before I fell under was the woman's musical voice in my ear. "Welcome to Hell, human."
A/N-
Woot woot!! I updated twice in one day!! Don't expect it to happen more than this time, though, because I'm a busy person. -sigh- I wish it wasn't so.
I realize that this took quite a dark turn. It won't stay this dark, necessarily, but it was the only way I could think of to do this.
I hope that this chapter came out alright, because I wrote little snippets of it all day then connected it. If it's hated, though, please don't shout. It hurts my ears.
Signing out,
Beth (Physically Inflated)
