Wassup! Every now and then inspiration comes back, so here's another chapter!
It's a bit of a bridge, sorry about that, I got the whole thing planned in my head...just need to write it down :)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and blablabla.
As usual, reviews and critiques are much much much appreciated :)
Enjoy :D
"Will, I need you here. We have another case. Looks like our friend has kept himself busy."
Will scrubbed his eyes tiredly with the hand that wasn't currently clutching the phone to his ear while Jack was telling him the location, and barely opened them to look at his alarm clock: 6.15 in the morning. What a way to start a Sunday.
"Yeah, ok. I'll be there in 20" he said, his voice still groggy from sleep. As the familiar click from the disconnected call reached his ears, Will let the phone fall on the bed beside his head, his hands moving to scrub away the drowsiness from his eyes and face. He had purposefully stayed up almost all night, reading the book Hannibal had previously lent him. He had hoped that the exhaustion would finally let him fall in a restful sleep, one without dreams… or memories. This method gave the wished results, but that meant that he had barely slept. He sure didn't expect to be called for duty so early.
Fighting his own heavy eyelids to keep them open, Will rose in a sitting position, throwing the legs on the side of the bed. He spared a glance towards the living room where his dogs were still sleeping soundly, having them stayed awake with him for most of the night, and stood up, getting ready and grabbing a few sips of coffee before refilling the bowls and stepping out of the house in the chilly morning air, barely a lick of light noticeable over the otherwise dark horizon.
As soon as to the crime scene came into view, he noticed from the distance that there were more people than usual. Frowning, Will put the car in park next to Beverly's, and got off. The frozen ground crunched under his boots as he slowly made his way over, spotting Jack almost immediately in the dim light of the morning.
"Hey, Jack."
Jack barely turned to him, and motioned him over.
"This is new" Will commented as he stepped next to him, and realized what all the commotion was about: they were standing close to a lake, on the rocky shore. The overabundance of people he had noticed were from the scuba team, all almost already geared up.
"Is it in the lake?"
"Hmm" Jack hummed, nodding.
"A guy was fishing on the frozen lake, almost had a heart attack when he pulled up some hair on his hook." Beverly pulled a disgusted face as she joined them, giving a slight nod in greeting. "Think you can pull your magic thing looking through the ice?"
At that question Will turned to Jack, eyebrows raised.
"You haven't pulled him out yet?"
"I'd rather have you gather your impression exactly as the killer left him to be found. If you need us to break more ice to get a clearer view, we'll to do that. But I didn't want to risk tampering with the scene."
Will nodded, turning back to look over the vast expanse of ice. It made sense.
"Stay where the ice is thicker!" he heard Beverly say to him as he advanced on the shore, a joking tone in her voice. Will smirked to himself, then stepped on the ice. The sound of it gave him the chills.
"I was kidding, it's safe!" came from further behind him, a moment later.
Will hadn't noticed he had stopped. The feeling of the frozen water under his foot, the sound of his step on its surface had resounded in him, stirring buried memories. He closed his eyes and shook his head, pushing them away, and moved forward.
Carefully making his way on the thick layer of ice, Will reached the round hole, the one the fisherman has made. He crouched next to it, then laid down on his stoma, and peeked in it, hands cupping on the side of his face to shield his vision from the morning light. In that position, it took him some time to actually see and realize what he was seeing.
A light form stood in contrast to the darkness of the depth of the lake. The ghostly pale face was looking up at him from deep beneath the water and ice, the hollow sockets of the now missing eyes holding something shiny that Will couldn't make out from where he was, the mouth hanging slightly open. Partly naked, the bloated body exhibited dark patterns on its skin, and from the chest protruded thin wooden branches. The corpse's gut was cut open in what resembled a grisly smile, the intestines tied to its ankles along with what looked like strips of something hairy, maybe fur, and were attached to some sort of weight, keeping the body floating at half-depth. A light halo of long blond hair swayed hauntingly around the head, looking like a crown.
Will closed his eyes and took in a slow breath, in and out, in and out, until the pendulum stilled. As he opened them again, he came face to face with its pale face, now impossibly close, just a hair away from breaking the surface of the water. He was staring right into its empty eye sockets, its open mouth forming an "O" in a silent scream, a macabre portrait of what once was a man.
"I see you" Will whispered.
The body started sinking slowly, the sight of the pale face becoming more and more blurred as it sank deeper and deeper, its arms coming up towards the hole, hands stretched towards him as if they were trying to reach him. Will could almost hear the whistling echo of the makeshift arrows as they quickly flew over his shoulders and into the hole, striking the body in the chest, jolting it. After a moment, the corpse resumed its slow plunging, pulled by its ankles, the paper-thin skin tearing into those dark patterns. After a long descent, it finally settled in the depth of the lake, resuming the stance and placing he was found in.
"This is not my design."
As Will blinked, the connection severed, like a power plug being pulled from its socket. He slowly stood up and took a step back, pulling in a trembling breath, hands frozen, a chill shaking him from his core. There was something in this work that called him, that felt eerily familiar, but still far from what the Chesapeake Ripper could do. This horrid display looked, at most, like a bad copy, like a cheated-off essay.
He clenched and unclenched his hands a couple times, before turning and walking back to the shore, approaching the dark man waiting for him.
"It's not him, Jack."
Being objected to his firm gaze, Will held it, while a tired "Oh, great" was said next to them, Beverly turning to walk away.
"Are you sure?" the Guru asked after a beat.
"Yes. It may be inspired by the Ripper, but it's not him."
"A copycat, then?" the man suggested, his expression betraying exactly what where his feelings on the matter.
No, that didn't feel right. "No, it's more like a braid-pulling show. It's not like the Ripper's work, but the patterns on the body recall the ones on the "bow". He wants to get his attention."
"Jesus Christ" Jack said, a hand coming to cover his mouth. "Another psychopath courting the Ripper, just what we needed."
After a few moments of shared contemplative silence, the Guru moved away, dispensing orders and calling for the scuba team to go and retrieve the body.
"A macabre courtship indeed" Will muttered to himself.
He observed the technicians approach the lake with saws and axes. Predicting what they were about to do, he turned and moved to go back to his car. After a few steps, the unmistakable sound of axes hitting the ice reached him, the distant echo of a screamed name filling his ears, making his heart skip a beat.
Will couldn't move. He turned abruptly, eyes wide and mouth agape, realizing what felt so familiar about it all.
A frozen lake.
Arrow-like branches stuck in the chest.
Long hair floating in the water, under the ice, belonging to a dead man.
"It can't be.."
Fuzzy memories of enemies falling from the pieces of broken ice into the freezing water, screams and whistles of arrows filling the air, long hair and furs stained by blood. The blue lips and empty eyes of what was once a friend, the thin strings of wood stuck in his chest. It couldn't be a coincidence.
His legs gave out, and Will fell on his knees, trembling.
Suddenly, it all felt too real.