The Rookie

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

Chapter 8 (The Phantoms)

The jewelry store was fairly typical; a small square shop with a door in the back. Just before the door were two displays full of various necklaces, rings and other jewels. Similar rectangular displays lined the side walls, while in the center were a couple mannequins displaying some of these jewels.

Beck recalled those days he found himself in a shop not so different from this, obsessing over the perfect ring that Jade would have adored. Granted, he wanted to do something fancy, where he was almost certain Jade preferred something simple or nothing at all. She would've been happy just knowing he where he stood.

Unfortunately, there was little time for lamenting as he had a job to do. Standing opposite him on the other side of one display was a tall, slender man with grey hair combed over and a pencil moustache. "Renee was a good worker, I always thought." The man folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes. "Hard working, diligent, she always paid attention to what the customers were saying and was quick to recommend the best item for them."

"You said you thought she was stealing from your store?"

"Yes." The man's eyes opened partially and his lips fell into a deep frown. "I wasn't sure, and I'm still not; but I did let her know that some items did go missing when she was closing up shop recently and the cameras didn't pick up anyone else in the vicinity."

Beck raised a pen from his notepad, giving a thoughtful hum. "But you say you're not sure it was her?"

"There are plenty of employees working for me that know where the camera angles are, and some are diligent enough to be able to walk through the entire store without showing up on camera; but the real reason I never believed it was her was because I didn't think she was the type to steal from me. In fact, I was considering promoting her. She got real fired up when I told her, though, said she was going to find out who it was and make sure I knew it wasn't her…" The man raised a hand to his forehead and groaned. "I just wish she knew it wasn't necessary. Maybe I was a tad harsh in my wording, but I never thought she would launch a full scale investigation."

While it wasn't their job to investigate the theft of the store's merchandice, it would certainly be helpful to get in touch with the loss prevention specialist to know how that process was going. "Do you suspect she discovered who was responsible?" The man dropped his hands and shrugged.

"If she did, she didn't let me know. I would have discouraged her from doing anything other than letting the police handle things."

"Is there anyone that you can think of that might try to take something from the store that would want to hurt Miss Jacoby?" The manager curled a finger over his chin, his gaze narrowing and lips pursing.

"I can only think of Todd."

"Todd?"

"Todd Williams. He's our regular nighttime cashier, a little quirky. He's definitely shown a keen interest in Renee, flirting with her and acting like he was trying to impress her; but I don't think the feeling was reciprocated." Beck raised his eyebrows, quickly jotting down the information.

"Do you know where we can reach Mr. Williams?"

"Yes. I'll give you his number too if you need it."

After making his way to the patrol car, he looked over at Trina, who had been silent nearly the entire time. "I'm surprised you didn't say anything." Trina looked over, shrugging in reply.

"I said you were taking the lead on this. Seemed like you were doing well enough that I didn't need to interrupt for anything. I say we pay Mr. Williams a visit." Before she reached the passenger side door, her cell phone started to ring. This was a surprise, since she often kept her phone off; and Trina seemed startled by the ringtone as well. "I forgot to shut my phone off. Excuse me, let me check real quickly."

The woman's expression fell when she checked the call screen, she flashed Beck a look and turned away as she pushed the phone to her ear. "Yes? This isn't the best time." The woman paced to the right a bit. Beck leaned against the car, frowning as he watched Trina, hoping it wasn't anything serious judging by her annoyed tone. "What? When did that happen?" Trina shuffled her fingers through her hair, closing her eyes and emitting a heavy sigh. "Okay. Keep an eye out, I'll look around too. Thanks for calling."

Beck leaned his head to the right as Trina returned to the car, visibly shaken. "Is everything okay?" The woman's gaze shifted to him and she shook her head slowly.

"That was my Vet calling. Apparently my dog got loose from the kennel, the techs didn't catch it. So, my dog's apparently missing."

He frowned and slowly opened the car door. "Do you need any help looking? I'm sure if we comb the area we can find him."

"No, it's fine. I doubt he's gotten far from the clinic, and the techs are out combing the area. Our shift's about over, I'll join the search then."

"I'm happy to help."

"I got this."

With a sigh, he entered the car. It didn't seem there was any getting through to Trina, even when it came to simply offering up help. An unfortunate situation; but he wasn't going to press the matter.

The rest of the day passed without any activity, Beck was concerned if Trina had any luck finding her dog but as much as he wanted to give her a call and find out how the search was going, he wound up going to bed without bothering. After all, she was likely to ignore any type of phone call outside of work, and he was far too exhausted to hear a lecture from her about calling coworkers on personal time.

Where Beck found himself now was not his bed, but rather hard ground with grass beneath his feet. Looking around, he saw the night sky with dark clouds blotting out the moon. Holding his breath, he raised a hand to his chest and glanced around again when a feeling of uncertainty started to overtake him.

The scene unfolding before him was painfully familiar as he walked through a wooded area. Many times before, he would try to wake himself and fight the unfolding horror.

Before him lay his best friend, head leaning sideways and a vicious gash coursing across his shoulderblade. Andre's eyes shot open and Beck stumbled back one step, groaning softly at the vision. The boy's hand moved ever so slightly across the soft grass, as though motioning to something.

Lighting flashed through the sky as Beck followed the gesture, he felt his heartbeat start to race as the sound of wolves howling and barking echoed from somewhere in the woods that surrounded him.

Just as swiftly as the woods appeared, they vanished away with Andre's ragged corpse. Still Beck's heart pounded and his body trembled as before him he watched two small headstones appear to rise from the ground. The one on the right was that of Andre's while the other beckoned him closer.

The wind started to pick up, leaves buffeted his body as he took small steps towards the stone. Wolves started to howl once more, closer now as if they were within a hundred yards.

Droplets of rain soaked his hair as he begin to kneel before the second headstone. Glancing past it for a moment, he saw what looked to be a murky swamp, though darkened by some mysterious substance.

His chest began to tighten as he looked down to the headstone once more, the grass and leaves covering it were blown away, revealing the lettering. To his utmost horror, he read the name: Catherine Valentine.

Opening his lips as if to scream, he rose to his feet when a noise from the swamp startled him. It sounded as though someone were groaning, and the groan began to turn into a wail.

Wanting to run, Beck turned but found himself frozen. Closing his eyes, he prayed to somehow force himself to any place other than this. His breathing grew rapid as he opened his eyes, only to see a bulge forming in the nearby swamp.

The bulge drew his gaze, forced him to watch as it started propelling itself forward. His eyes widened as a humanoid fixture soon crawled out of the bulge, like that of the ghoul from the old Grudge movie. Unlike that movie, this figure had a mass of bright red hair enshrouding its head and dragging along the now bloodsoaked grass. The figure's bony figure twisted and cracked as it crawled, like that of a cat of prey, towards him.

Beck whimpered as the figure drew nearer, groaning more violently as the wolves in the distance barked louder. Emitting a silent scream, he was sure of his impending doom.

Just as the figure came face to face with him, screaming into his face, the scene dissipated. He caught his breath and threw his hand to his throat, looking around to see himself in the midst of a new location.

This time, it was a cemetery. The sky was still dark, the storm growing more out of control as beams of lightning stretched furiously across the night. The rain pelted him now with such force he thought he was standing in the middle of a hurricane.

Raising an arm over his face he willed himself to move forward, groaning when he saw a statue. This statue was of a martial artist, standing proudly in a fighting stance. In front of it was a grave much taller than the two before, appearing like that of a tower reaching to pierce the skies.

A strange man stood before the grave, his shoulders sunken and trembling hands clenched at his sides. Beck saw the man had a long beard and a balding head; but where the skin in the center of the back of the head was meant to be was a gaping hole. Freezing, he cupped a hand over his mouth; but he couldn't conceal the whimper when lightning lit up the man to reveal a rush of blood pouring like a waterfall from the hole and down the man's back.

The man slowly turned and Beck found himself face to face with his teacher. Rather than the gentle, almost comedic expression was one that instilled a greater horror in him than that of the revenant he just encountered.

The moment Mr. Sikowitz's gaze fell upon him, it twisted into that of pure malice. The teacher's eyebrows shot high into his forehead and his mouth opened to release the most violent yell as the lightning storm intensified and the hurricane winds started to throw Beck backwards.

The instructor flew towards him, hands outstretched and fingers pointed towards him like claws. The man's face was wild with rage, his clothes and hair flying with the same level of fury.

The moment the phantom reached Beck, however, he found himself jolted awake. His eyes zipped about his bedroom and his hand found its way to his chest as relief started to sink in. His body, like his bedsheets, were soaked in blood.

Part of him wanted to grab his sleeping pills, but another part of him was terrified to even try to go back to sleep. No, this was worse, there would be no sleeping tonight.

Rather, he reached for the cellphone on his nightstand and dialed a newly entered number. Beck focused on the ringing to steady himself, still clutching his blankets to his chest. Soon, Dr. Lane Alexander's voice answered. "Beck, is everything okay?"

"I know it's late, I'm sorry. You told me to call if something happened." He was still out of breath, his gaze still scanning the room as though he expected some phantom or revenant to jump out at him at any moment. "Those dreams? The nightmares I told you about?"

"Did you have another one?"

He nodded, his body trembling. "I did, but not a normal one." He heard his therapist hum. "They're getting worse."

Well, I'll say I'm deriving some inspiration from paranormal mystery novels though I will say this isn't a paranormal mystery but with an implication that shan't ever be confirmed. Still, an intense night terror right there, and probably the first time he's seen Cat in one of them. What do you think of everything that happened in this chapter?