Two weeks later...
I sat there in my uniform, looking at the casket being lowered into the ground. A black band over my badge, I sat there. The line of officers shooting into the air left, I just sat there. Jane was a good friend. The ground was filled and the people left. I just sat there. This wasn't my fault. I looked down at the grass and I saw an ant climbing up my pants. I picked it up and I pulled it in front of my face. I stared at it as it tried to bite me into releasing him. It was futile. He died, and yellow insect blood stained my fingers.
"Luna?" I heard Captain Anderson's voice coming from the left. I looked at him and I stood up slowly, my hand clutching my crutch. "No, no, don't stand up," He said, so I sat back down. He sat down on the chair beside me. "Jane was a good officer, a good friend too," Minus the fact that sometimes she eats donuts in the car and leaves the sprinkles on her seat. "I know your probation period was supposed to end that day, but the town council is putting pressure on the department to extend your probation period. I'm sorry Luna,"
"I understand."
"You're really hard to argue with eh?" He smiled. "Keep up the good work," He patted me on the back.
"I'll try, sir,"
Two months after the shooting...
I sat there in the patrol car, waiting for Greg. My body still felt sore, but I didn't care. I sat there in the car as I waited for Greg to finish pissing at the gas station. Greg came back in. He started the car and we continued the stroll. "You killed three of those robbers and you don't even feel anything?" He suddenly asked. It's my first day back to work, Captain Anderson assigned me to Officer Greg Adams.
"Should I feel something?" I asked him.
"No, they deserved it," Greg said. "I don't really like Jane because she always took my lunch, but she didn't deserve to die like that, you did good,"
"Thank you,"
"It's not a problem," Greg replied. "I know your probation was supposed to end that day, but after being hospitalized for a while, the Captain just wanted to make sure that you're still alright for the job. It's just a formality, I'm making you pass no matter what," He gave me a thumbs up. I already know of this. "Just don't murder anyone or pop a round off into the crowd." He said. I nodded. "So what made you want this job in the first place?"
"I wanted to protect the people I love,"
"Noble cause,"
"Practical mostly,"
"I forgot the Captain called you a freak, no offense,"
"None taken,"
"You're chill," Greg said. "I like that, wanna get some drinks after work?"
"I don't drink,"
"Now you're less chill, no offense,"
"None taken,"
"I take it back,"
As always, we were patrolling when suddenly we got a call from dispatch to go to a house on Hunter Avenue, number 1728 for a welfare check. We parked the car in front of the house and we got out. We got up on his porch, I noticed a faint rotting smell and Greg knocked on the door. I looked around, there were a lot of dried leaves and lots of unclaimed parcels. This man is dead. I patted Greg's back and I pointed at my nose. He nodded. "We're coming in, police!" He said as he kicked the door open. The smell became stronger but not strong enough to be noticed from the outside. I had my gun out, Greg too. Greg went upstairs and I checked the ground floor. No one in the living room and kitchen. The storage room was too small, and no one was there. I went back to the living room and I saw something peculiar. The carpet in front of the TV was a bit crooked as if someone had moved it a bit. I rolled the carpet up and I saw a 4 by 4 piece of wood, unparallel to the oak flooring. There's a hole in the middle of the wooden bit, and I inserted my hand in it. I pulled it up and it detached, pungent rotting smell leaked out and I gagged. I turned the gun flashlight on and I shined it into the hole, revealing a wooden staircase leading down. It was dark inside.
I took a deep breath and I got inside. The smell was unbearable, but I didn't care. I slowly made myself downstairs and I saw a shadow of a woman hung to the ceiling by her wrists. I aimed the flashlight at the shadow, and I saw the bloody beaten rotting corpse of a naked woman. "8182, reporting a corpse at 1728 Hunter Avenue, requesting backup over," I said into the receiver on my vest. I looked at the corpse again and I saw that her hands were tied in a way that would be impossible for it to be something self-inflicted. "Possible homicide. Over."
I think Greg heard the radio transmission because I heard him calling my name from upstairs. "Luna, what the hell did you find?" He came and he gagged. He shined his torch at me and he shined at the corpse I'm shining. He gagged a bit more. "What kind of sick fuck would do this?"
"You've never seen things like this before?" I asked him as I circled the corpse.
"No," Greg replied. "We live in fucking Royal Woods, not Detroit,"
"I suppose," I said. Her back was missing skin the shape of a star. I put my gun down and I took my flashlight out. The basement was sterile apart from the bloody corpse with the missing skin. I went back to the front and I shined the light into her face. There was no skin on her face, just her grey dead eyes and exposed teeth, smiling at me. I shined the light into her mouth and I saw something inside from the gaps in her teeth. "There's something in her mouth. Looks like paper."
"Do what you have to do, I'm gonna get some air," Greg said. I took my glove out of my back pocket and I shoved it on. Slowly, I opened her mouth, there's a piece of paper, it looked like it came from a book. Some blood had stained it, but it was readable;
"The box in question was, as I say, oblong. It was about six feet in length by two and a half in breadth; - I observed it attentively and like to be precise. Now this shape was peculiar, and no sooner had I seen it,"
It's Poe.
I sat on the porch steps, forensics were all over the place, and they had already taken the corpse to the morgue. It's 2 O'clock. I already gave the paper to forensics, and I told them it was from The Oblong Box. I sat there looking at Greg as he talked to the sergeant. He walked up to me and he patted my back. "Cap wants you at the station, he noted that you recognized where the transcript came from so he wanted you to give some insights," He said as he reached his hand out to me, I grabbed it and he pulled me up. I got in the car and we drove to the station. "Fucking hell, how are you not even the slightest bit disturbed?"
"I don't know," I said.