Chapter Twenty-One

Focus

Jason didn't know how much time had passed in the library. He had gotten in depth with his research on the DSI and found a few interesting tidbits in the depths of the internet. There was an intriguing forum thread that had been shut down. Using a website that let you see old version of webpages, he found that it only had two posts. The first had peculiar contents:

You'll never believe what happened to me today! I had a vision, just like the ones we were talking about. I saw it all, clearly. It was absolutely incredible. Like I was taking drugs or something, man. I don't wanna post the deets on here, so PM me for them.

The next response was short and concise:

If you're not careful, the DSI will be on your ass. I'd shut this thread down quick before they see.

Jason also found that online newspaper archives were a good resource on finding a rare mention of the DSI. It had taken a while for his laptop to load up the results but he found a brief mention that described 'Men in dark suits who weren't the police. Perhaps they were the DSI?' Another article back in the early 2000's had a section that read:

The Myth of the DSI.

It's three letters that you don't hear particularly often. Because of this mystery, narrow-minded folks have decided to spread rumours that the DSI is some kind of secret organization. I have it on good faith that this is absolutely false. There is no hidden group puppeteering behind the scenes. I would suggest you give these foolish rumour-mongers no more fuel to light their fire with. The DSI are fiction and that's all you need to worry about.

He stretched and sat back in his chair. Strangely enough, all this research was relaxing. It was nice to have some kind of goal, even if that goal wasn't showing many answers. The DSI was some kind of group, Jason knew that much. They worked in the shadows. They had hardly any mention online. Jason cracked his knuckles and started tapping away back in the search engine. He had been trying out different phrases, trying to find any connections that he hadn't thought about.

It took him a few moments to realise that a shadow had fallen over his screen. He glanced up to see a woman standing tall in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest. She wore a navy suit; the top four buttons of the jacket were undone revealing a pale blue shirt. Instead of a skirt she wore a long pair of suit trousers with a pair of shiny shoes to complete the ensemble. Her long auburn hair was brushed into curls that made her look very retro.

"You seem to be doing some intense research," the woman said with a voice that exuded strength and confidence.

Jason wasn't exactly sure how to reply to this smart-looking woman. "It's for… school."

"School?" Her white teeth showed under those bright red lips of hers. "It's a strange school to have the DSI as a subject, don't you think?"

He froze. Had she been looking over his shoulder or something? No, he would have noticed that. How could she know that he had been researching the DSI? The thread came to mind, with the message warning that the DSI might find out about the forum post. Could this be the same thing?

"I'm impressed how much you found out. It always was hard to scrub all the information. Some things tend to slip through the cracks." The woman gently put her hand on the top of his laptop and pressed it down. Her aura seemed to push Jason into his chair, stopping him from moving. She hooked the laptop and hoisted it in her arm. "I'll be taking this."

Jason gulped and took a look around the room as if searching for help. He noticed that the people in the room had switched from the ones who had been in the room previously. None of them made eye contact.

"Sweetie, they aren't going to help you," the woman smiled. "They've been my eyes ever since you first typed those three letters. We get an alert if anyone searches for those letters. I sent out my eyes to see if it is a false alarm or perhaps something a little bit more serious. As it is, I believe that we need to talk." She offered her hand towards Jason. "Come with me. We'll have a little chat, okay?"

"…N-No." It took a surprising amount of effort just to say those words. Jason took a breath and repeated the word, more firmly. "No. You have no right to do that."

"Jason Ryan." The words rang across the woman's lips like some kind of musical note. "We can do as we please. You will either come with me willingly or I will force you. Either way, we'll have a talk. I'd suggest you take the easy option, yes?"

Jason forced his body to move and stood up. He stood his full height, trying to use his size advantage to perhaps make the woman a little bit nervous. He had no clue whether the DSI were good or bad but if Eugene Hawk and Harold Kelly were any indication, they weren't good news. "Why do you keep to the shadows like this?"

"We'll talk elsewhere, Jason. The walls have ears."

"How do you know my name, anyway?"

"We know a whole lot. Jason Ryan. Born 1995. A Canadian citizen who had a girlfriend named Maylene Delroy. A girlfriend who, so you claimed, killed herself."

"Claimed?" This struck an angry chord with Jason that seemed to come from nowhere.

"We know the truth, don't bother getting all upset about it." The woman put her hands out. "But once more, we'll talk elsewhere. I'll answer all your questions and you'll answer all of mine. Deal?"

"I don't want to go with you."

"Ha..." The woman sighed, clicking her tongue lightly. "You don't seem to understand how this works. I—" The woman's words were suddenly lost as she closed her mouth, narrowing her eyes. She put a finger to her ear and Jason caught sight of some kind of cord running down under her hair to disappear under her collar. "The Oracle has spoken? Are you sure it's him? Well that's just dandy. How soon?" Whatever the woman heard on the other side made her eyes widen. She took a glance at her watch that was hidden under her left sleeve. "Why did you wait this—"

There was a sudden crash and a yell of pain from above Jason on the balcony. He looked up and could see the man who had been washing the windows still on his ladder, though was flailing his arms wildly. The ladder tilted backwards and the man grabbed the top of the bookcase under the window he was cleaning. However, the momentum of both the ladder and the man caused the bookshelf to tilt.

"Shit, shit, shit!" The man managed to leap off the ladder to the side as the bookcase came crashing down onto the balcony's rail. Books were thrown all across the floor, some of them sliding under the railing and dropping down by Jason and the woman's feet. For a moment there was silence as the large bookcase rested on the railing, which seemed to be struggling against the weight of it.

Then the railing lost the fight and it bent outwards, spilling the bookcase down – directly towards Jason. Jason could only watch in shock, his body frozen. It had all happened within a couple of seconds.

"Move, you idiot!" The woman's voice rang out, her hand grabbing his collar. She pulled hard and Jason found himself tugged forwards off the chair. The bookcase came down hard and Jason cried out in pain, tumbling to the floor. A white hot sting ran up his leg but Jason had his eyes closed, unwilling to take a look at what had just happened. If the pain was any indication, it wasn't good. "Jesus Christ… Get someone down here!" The woman called off somewhere before Jason felt her hands on his shoulders. Her grip was surprisingly strong. "Jason. Open your eyes for me, okay? Don't panic."

The woman's voice was calm but firm. Something about it made Jason want to listen. He gently opened his eyes to find himself face to face with the woman. Then he glanced down to his leg and almost found himself wanting to throw up. The bookcase had crushed his knee and he could see his foot pointed the completely wrong direction poking out of the bookcase's corner. Seeing his foot twisted this way made the pain seem to multiply by ten.

"Hey!" The woman suddenly slapped Jason, causing him to blink wildly. "You let that pain get to you and you are going to lose consciousness, which is not what you want. I need you to focus on me."

Jason felt something warm under his leg and he watched as a small pool of blood started spreading from somewhere under the bookcase's corner.

"You did this! You killed me!"

"It wasn't my fault!"

The words flashed through Jason's brain and he immediately clutched at his head, gritting his teeth. Flashes of Maylene's corpse hanging from the roof pierced him.

"…Jason?! What are you doing!?"

Then something different, something Jason hadn't seen before. It was Maylene lying underneath him, her eyes bulging outwards. And… and his hands were holding onto a sheet tied into a rope, wrapping tight around her neck. She was croaking, making a horrible sound. But Jason only pulled the makeshift rope tighter, feeling his face transform in disgust.

"…You whore! You slut! You want to cheat on me? Huh?!"

The voice was his but also wasn't his. Jason had never heard himself sound like that.

"You want to cut me!?"

He could feel the warm gash on his cheek dripping blood and saw the bright droplets splash next to Maylene's twisted face.

"No, no, no, no, no…" Jason could feel himself back in the library as well as back in his room with Maylene. He couldn't feel the pain in his leg anymore but he still clutched at his head. "It wasn't me… it was you… you killed yourself, I didn't do it!"

"Jason! Snap out of it!"

"I didn't want to! You made me!"

"Listen to me Jason. Focus!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"JASON!" Another sharp slap across the face caused Jason to open his eyes wide, focusing on the woman. "Good. I told you not to panic. Do not think about anything other than me, okay?" The woman's face still held that calm expression. It was relaxing just to look at. The events of Maylene seemed miles away. "Good. I need you to stay awake until we can get you some help."

"…Help. You don't deserve help." Jason heard that voice and felt his skin crawl. He looked past the woman's shoulders to see Maylene standing there. Her face was one of disgust. "You don't deserve to live, Jason. Not for what you did to me."

"Ignore her, Jason!" The woman said, hitting Jason with a third sharp slap. "Don't look at Maylene. Focus on me." Jason kept glancing at Maylene but the woman finally grasped his jaw with her slim fingers and forced him to look at her. "That's it. That's it, don't look at her. Keep control. Keep control!"

"I'm not keeping anything from Ruby, not anymore."

On the outskirts of the construction site, Eugene Hawk and Harold Kelly sat in an inconspicuous brown van, listening to crackling audio. Eugene had a small grin playing on his face while Harold was as quiet as usual save for the faint chewing of his gum.

"Oh?" They heard a sharp laugh. "Want to know something funny? You're not the only one who had these 'visions'."

"She's doing a good job," Eugene said as they listened to Meagan confront Sabrina. "Sabrina is nearly there."

"You think she'll admit it?" Harold questioned his partner.

"She'll get close enough. Once I get that audio, I can prove that whatever happens to her is well deserved."

"Even now… Even now you're content to put your life in front of others."

"…Is that true?"

"She's right." Eugene perked up at these words, leaning in closer to the speakers. His grin was turning into something wild. "There was no point in telling you, Ruby. I know – I know you don't want to hear that but…"

"Go on! Say it! I already know what you were up here to do. It's obvious, really."

"Come on, come on," Eugene said as the voices continued to speak through the van. "Nearly there, nearly there."

"She was going to kill you! How can you just accept that?! That vision I saw, I don't know who it was for. But I don't see any books around here, do you? I don't see any windows. My vision at Epsilon ended in darkness and noises. Even… even then… even within that… Trent saved me…" There was a sniffle.

"Yes… yes, coax it out her," Eugene urged her on.

"…But I didn't see anything after that! You know what happened in that vision, don't you!? You know whose next!"

"…The only one of us who isn't here…" Something that seemed like relief passed over Eugene's face. "…I suspect that he's already dead. After all, he doesn't know a thing about any of this. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose."

"That's it…" Eugene breathed. "That's it… Hahaha… Sabrina… I finally heard you say it. Finally. Abigail, I did it! I got her confession!" Eugene was laughing now, leaning back in his chair. "She's done now! I won't let that killer get away for what she did to you. Abigail…" There were actually tears in the corners of Eugene's eyes as he smiled victoriously. "…We did it."

BANG!

The sound over the radio caused Eugene to look at the speakers. It was clearly a gunshot. He quickly turned the speakers off and stood up. "That's all I needed. We're done here, Harold."

"We're done?" Harold raised an eyebrow. "What about them?"

"What about them!? I haven't a care in the world for them. Sabrina's dead. That's all I need to know. Let Death deal with them now." Eugene opened the back of the van and stood out in the breeze. "We need to get going if we want to avoid the DSI. I don't need Lisa coming after me." He looked over the construction site and looked to the very top. He could imagine Sabrina lying flat on her back, blood oozing out from under her, and it pleased him. "You can drive."

"…Hawk." The deep voice of Harold seemed slightly different. Eugene glanced at him.

"What's wrong?"

Harold just nodded towards the large yellow crane extending above the construction site. It seemed to be at a slightly different angle than it had been when the two of them had arrived, following the bug they had given Meagan.

Then they heard it.

A low moaning that seemed to float across the wind. Then the crane tilted further. Eugene and Harold could see the supports at the bottom of the crane slowly pulling themselves up off the floor.

Eugene grinned. "See? Death will have its way."

The crane finally snapped free of its moorings, plunging directly towards the walls of the construction site.