Chapter 12
I Know What I Saw
Within less than half an hour, numerous police cars and two ambulances surrounded the city park. The lights of the sirens colored the walls of the buildings red and blue alternately. The entrance of the park was taped off with bright yellow tape; these were all the ingredients to attract curious bystanders, all trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was happening in the park. The small crowd of people had to part when the paramedics had to enter. One of the paramedics, a blonde young man in his early twenties, must have been a rookie for sure; just one glance at the mangled body of Miz was enough for him to make a run to the bushes and throw up his dinner.
Sitting on a bench nearby, Dolph let his upper body slightly hunch forward as he watched everything around him unfold. Miz's body was covered up with a blanket, which was immediately stained with blood as soon as it touched him, leaving hideous red spots on the fabric. Even until backup finally arrived, blood still continued to trickle out of his dead partner's broken body, increasing the red small lake more; he felt bad for the fellas who had to clean all of that up by tomorrow. The park would be closed down for sure, it would only be opened again if the forensic team had found enough evidence.
Damn it, he never needed a cigarette this badly in his entire life. He grabbed the pack of cigarettes out of his breast pocket, opened the lid and wanted to grab a cigarette before he suddenly hesitated. He felt like he was going to be disrespectful if he would take a puff, all those people around him were doing their jobs while he was just sitting here with a cigarette between his lips. No, he was not like Miz when he was alive, he was not going to be disrespectful around the dead. Yes, his partner was a real pain in the ass in life, but the detective shouldn't lower himself to his level and show a bit of respect at least. He put the cigarette back in the pack and put it away in his breast pocket.
Not far away from Miz's body, the paramedics were busy lifting the motionless body of the young woman on the stretcher. Dolph had no idea whether she was alive or dead, but somehow he was convinced that it was the latter. Whatever the hell those monsters (those 'men' were far from human, Dolph still couldn't believe that what had happened was for real) took out of that woman's body, it must have been important to them; important enough to kill somebody, apparently. And how the hell did that strange portal appear? Was it also the doing of those bastards? Did they perhaps go to another location, or... a different world? When he was a teen, Dolph loved reading books about the supernatural and sci-fi, his favorite writer by that time had to be Stephen King without a doubt. But after he entered college and went to the police academy afterwards, he had no time and lost interest in the books. But now it looked like his previous hobby had its revenge on him for forgetting about it... Okay, thinking like that was pretty stupid, this was serious.
Who were those freaks? What were they planning to do with whatever they took out of the victim? Where did they go? So many questions... God, this was so fucked up.
A car parked near the park and Dolph heard the sound of a car door slamming shut. But it were eventually the footsteps approaching him that made the blonde detective look up. It was Chief McMahon. He did notice Dolph in the corner of his eye, but didn't acknowledge him right away; he walked straight towards Miz's body and lifted the tip of the blood-stained blanket, taking a peek. The detective saw the face of the Chief turn into a mask of complete and utter shock. McMahon looked at Dolph, looked back at the mangled body, then again at the detective, once more at Miz's body and then let go of the blanket. He walked towards Dolph, his face still expressing sheer shock.
'Christ in a hand basket, Ziggler...' he said. 'What the hell happened here?!'
'With all due respect, Chief McMahon...' the blonde detective replied. 'You wouldn't believe a word if I told you.'
'You'd better tell me! Have you seen how Mizanin's goddamn body looks like?!'
'I do sir, I have seen it all. And I know damn well what I saw.'
'Then what happened? Tell me!'
'Alright then...' Dolph took a deep breath and breathed out. What he was about to say next could very well be career suicide, but he knew what he saw was real. Those bastards were real, whatever they took out of the woman's body was real, the way Miz was murdered was real, he was everything but crazy. But he couldn't refuse to tell the true story to his boss, he wouldn't hesitate to fire him right on the spot; McMahon was the kind of guy to do that.
He had no choice.
'We were heading towards our car when we heard a woman screaming.' He pointed at the woman, who was now being carried off on top of the stretcher by the paramedics. 'We got into the park and saw two men with black leather shoulder pads and face paint harassing her. I told them to get down to the ground, but when the men refused to do so, Miz fired a shot at one of them. That bullet didn't do anything to him, I swear to God I saw it ricochet right off his shoulder. Miz launched more shots, but that's when somehow he was lifted into the air, I don't know how the hell it happened, but it did. I think those men had something to do with that. They broke his bones, Chief McMahon. They broke every single bone in his body before they dropped him to the ground like he was nothing. The other man then grabbed something out of the body of the woman, it looked... humanoid and transparent. Then some sort of portal appeared right behind him and they escaped through that. I swear to God, Chief McMahon... I'm telling the truth here!'
His boss didn't spoke a word, he just kept staring at the detective... as if he had completely lost his mind. It was exactly what Dolph was afraid of. True, nobody with the right mind would believe a story like this, but it was the truth. McMahon's eyes slightly narrowed, turning his look of disbelief into a furious glare.
'Listen right here, Ziggler...' he hissed. 'I can take a lot of jokes, but this one is downright tasteless. Do you think I'm an idiot, Ziggler?! Do you honest to God believe I would believe a bullshit story like that?! A colleague, a hard-working man, your partner has just died, there could be no way in hell some fucking ghosts or some shit have something to do with his death! And that woman may very well be on the brink of death, show some damn respect! You'd better come up with a more reasonable story the next morning, or else you're fired! Got it?!'
Chief McMahon turned around and angrily walked away from him, seething with anger.
Dolph let out a frustrated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. Shit, this was just what he was afraid of, only even worse. The chance that he would be jobless tomorrow was huge. Then what was he supposed to do, lie about the whole thing? He wasn't joking, he wasn't lying; he knew exactly what he had seen.
All that he wanted to do right now was to go home and be with Kaitlyn. And who knows... maybe he could go look for Mr. Zayn tomorrow and apologize for not believing him at first.
He would believe him, Dolph was convinced of that.
The atmosphere in the ballroom was pleasant, nearly cozy even.
After a full hour of practicing, Bayley had managed to play 'Moonlight Sonata' without making any mistakes. And it was all thanks to the Undertaker.
She didn't feel any sadness or anxiety when she played the piano, it felt right, just like the time before her mother died. Undertaker had been surprisingly very patient with her when he taught her how to play again, he didn't lose his temper once. He even praised her a couple of times while he watched her play. Who knew that playing music would ever get these two a bit closer? Bayley had started to feel comfortable around him and for the first time during her stay in the Demon Realm, she had smiled.
And it was the demon who took her against her will who did that.
It was so strange... but on this moment, the ponytailed woman didn't resent Undertaker for one bit. It was like he had been instructing her for years, it felt so secure. He had been interested in her skills, it was because of him she managed to overcome a part of her grief. That was such a nice thing of him to do... Bayley would forever be grateful for that. Who knows, if she would ever be able to make it home again, she could buy a piano and practice every day.
'Well done, Bayley.' Undertaker said when she had reached the end of the song. 'How does it feel to be able to play again?'
'It feels... good, to be honest.' the ponytailed woman replied. 'I never thought I would be able to play piano again without remembering my mother... until now. Thank you for that, Undertaker.'
Suddenly, the demon clenched his eyes shut and grunted in pain, touching his left temple with his fingertips.
'Undertaker?' What was going on? Much to her surprise, Bayley was worried about him now. 'Are you in pain? What's the matter?'
It looked like a big headache had kicked in without warning, but it was more than just that. The Undertaker was sensing something.
Viktor and Konnor were back in the Demon Realm.
And they weren't too far away from the mansion.
