What is Reality? Is It what we perceive? Can we actually trust what we see. And if we cant are we denying our reality?
Reality is the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them.
The idea that spirits exist is unexplainable. There is no real science to it or any evidence. Theres just people who believe in the afterlife and people who don't. Saying this I do believe every man, woman and child posess a soul. There isn't any clear evidence of this. It's just something I choose to believe. I'd rather that belief than a reality where we as the human race simply cease to exist after death.
My name is Drake Porter. I'm 27 years of age. I am a detective currently employed at the Old Seyuta City Police Department. And what I just witnessed here with my brothers is what you'd call the unexplainable.
"What the hell was that?" I spoke up after what I assume is another one of Cal's childish jokes. Then again after what we just witnessed...he could've shit himself.
"You got more bullets in that thing right?" Son walks over placing a hand on what looks like a bruised shoulder.
"Rounds? Yeah. " I began. "Bit I gotta document every time I pull this trigger." Thankfully Aiden, my police chief was just here. He saw what I saw. So that should clear it up a little. On the other hand what he did was very strange in of itself. It looked as it he...fought with spirits. Native American spirits I mean. And now hes gone after it. So many questions and I dont anticipate a reasonable answer coming from either of them.
Ryan closes the front door. And we stay awake in the living room for a bit. Or rather they do. Me on the other hand. I rest. I got a lot of work to do tomorrow.
I meet my new partner the next day. His name Is Carson Martyr and he's a chipper one. Talks almost as much as Son does. Honestly I dont mind. I needed something to take my mind off of a small thing called fear and to keep me on the mystery. He did that.
He spoke about what happened this morning. He says the Chief claimed an intruder broke in. A cover story. For some reason he doesn't want me or others to know what happened. Though I wonder why Aiden was at our home to begin with. That's not a beat he takes. Actually I dont thi k he take beats. When I met him yesterday he said he tended to be very busy and had his lieutenant pick up some of his slack.
Though it's like when he came there he was on some mission. Like he knew something could possibly happen.
Try to ask him about it but he simply dodges the question.
A good week goes by. My brothers and I haven't exactly experienced anything else like that again. Though we have been seeing things in remote parts of town. Including someone I'm choosing to call Me.Mine He just stares at me off from the same distance every time. I wonder if my other brothers have seen him.
Of course I ask the Chief constantly about the incident last week but he keep brushing me off. I dont quit and I can see that brothers him. Just a little more and he'll either crack or he'll fire me.
Onto other strange things..I also hear rumors about an exorcism that took place a few days ago. Cal speaks about how joyous this small town is but I can see the residents are restless and the police force is tired. And i seem to be apart of that stress. My whole family apparently.
Speaking of Cal he seems to be having a hard time with a friend he made. Ya'no I think. Her name means Wolf in keetoowan. Actually his other friends Yona and Tsula translate to Bear and Fox in keetoowan as well. It's really the only reason I remembered them. He always seem to collect a lot of female friends. Saying that, I'm surprised he's also hanging with a few guys. Luca being one of them.
Luca's Aiden's younger brother. Hes going into the same line of work as his brother. He already went through the police Academy. Though he seems reluctant. Actually I heard hes already been a cop here.
I ask around about but the other officers tell me to just skip that story. Apparently it's better left alone.
Carson and I get a case from Aiden. We're to look into a cold case about twelve missing children that disappeared around ten years back. No one ever found them. But Aiden is sure Carson and I have what it takes to crack it.
Let's talk about Carson Martyr. Hes a 29 year old Caucasian with dirty blinde hair. He loves coffee. He's carefree, likable, and knows his way around a gun. Military maybe? But he's just as new to this town as I am and he sometimes has problems reading the room. To which his crude sarcasm makes worse. Saying this I have a feeling he's not all who he claims to be. Yet another mystery. I'll get to that later.
We look into all the children who were kidnapped. Each were pure blooded Cherokee. Their families all came from the village, Each of the childrens' fathers were prominent hunters here as well and it says their mothers were "War Women"? Both parents of the children survive to this day. Carson and I look into it but it's no good. They seem to be tight lipped about the matter though one couple did mention a girl around the same age as thechildren. According to them she'sthe only girl out of the group who didn't disappear. Her name is Leotie Peshlakai. Hmm. her name translates to flower of the prairie silver...or silver flower of the prairie. Interesting name. The couple said I can find her at the local high school.
Now at the school we see kids everywhere from 13 on up to 18. We go inside asking around bug no one pays us any mind. It takes a good ten to twenty minutes until a teacher tells us she's in detention. That's where we go.
She's a spicy young lady. Has a temper and clearly no one told her punching people normally lands you in trouble. She has short black hair, large blue eyes, wears a wolf hair clip in her hair and wears a short jean jacket, a black tanktop and blue jeggings. She looks like she belongs to some CW drama. She has s few scrapes on an otherwise perfectly shaped ,almond colored face. She actually reminds me of Cal's friend Ya'no.
Carson buys us some icecream as we sit outside the ISS (in school suspension) room. Though she seems quite cooperative. Especially when we ask her about the twelve missing children. She talks about how they were all friends and played together quite often at an old water mill around town by the river.
"If you want I can show you where it is." She just wants to get out of detention. I don't blame her though. ISS is probably the dumbest thing to be introduced into schools. It simply gets in the way of learning anything useful.
I smirk and instead ask her a question.
"Why are you in ISS?" As soon as the question leaves my lips she rolls her eyes and looks forward. Obviously whatever happened bothered her.
"Someone took something of mine. They wouldn't give it back." She tells it simply but it's easy to see she's leaving out something. And I don't mean the punching.
I just look at her until she budges. "They called me a killer." her eyes almost water. "Happy?"
"Why would they say something like that?" I ask her. Giving her time to vent. Just listening. Something I dont think others cared to do.
"your investigating it." she says as her voice cracks a little. "I was suppose to disappear with those children. But for some reason they didn't take me."
It hits me like a wave of surprise. So its known that someone took these kids? Abd at the old water mill? It's strange that she wasn't taken as well considering she was most likely a target but maybe the kidnappers couldn't get to her. An obstacle maybe. But why call her a killer?
"Why call you a killer though?" my question seems to make her emotional and she snaps at me.
"Because they can! I dont know." she stands up and as Carson walks up with the icecream she snatches one from him and walks back towards the room saying "good luck".
"Teenagers am I right" Carson walks toward me. "Did you get anything? "
"Yeah and I don't think we're the first one's to come across this information either."
I leave Carson feeling confused. But I am as well. Why is this a cold case? Why wasn't Leotie mentioned in the file. It seems intentional to me.
I fill Carson in on the way to the old water mill by the river. We didn't come here immediately after speaking to Leotie. We investigated other potential sources but in the end Leotie's information is the only one left to check out. Alm others came up cold.
"I see in you file you've got an eye for these things." Carson speaks up after a good minute of silence. I continue driving.
"So what if I do?" I ask playing coy. I've always had an "eye" for mysteries. This one was thrown into my lap to throw me off another. It infuriates me but it also confirms my suspicion that Chief Aiden doesn't want me knowing about what's really going on here. Carson seems to be in the dark as well. But I ca. tell he knows something. I've read his file too. it's too normal. They're small but I notice certain parts in his life where things are just too....perfect. I can't exactly explain it but I know he's hiding something.
"Hey." he looks at me. "I just wanna get to know the person I'm working with."
"Likewise. " I respond. "We'll talk about it later." I doubt we'll find twelve children out here. More likely the bones of twelve children.
I dont want to sound pessimistic but after a week or so it's best to assume someone whose missing is dead. Its been Ten years. At the very least we can give the family comfort.
But that's only if we catch the culprit..or culprits.
We arrive at the water mill and it's been invaded by plantlife of all kinds. Yeah it's old all right. I grab my flashlight. Carson and I walk towards the mill until we see a man sitting down. Hes shirtless with what looks to be red glowing tattoos lining his body. His skin is a rocky brown and when he opens his eyes they are black like coal.
"Oh shit!" Carson pulls his sidearm. "Shoot it Porter!" It? Shoot? But he hasn't done anything yet. And the look on Carson's face...he recognizes the man.
Pow!Pow! Gunshots echo as Carsin let's out a few rounds. But the rounds simply miss as the man moves to gran a large plank and throws it. The plank is sent flying like a blade and Carson and I jump out of the way dodging it.
At this point my gun is drawn and I fire shots at the "creature". Carson recovers does the same. Our bullets hit it but to no avail. It charges towards us and grabs me. Tossing me at the mill side and I slam into it. Head now ringing. Back aching. But I shake it off. This thing just threw me about 20 to 30 feet in the air. I'm definitely not staying here. I see Carson let loose more rounds while jumping and dodging its attacks like some superhero acrobat. But like before, to no avail. The creature throws him away from the vehicle and it roars sending rocky spikes from its sides at us. I just barely dodge a few coming my way. I see Carson is fine too.
"Hey" Carson calls over. "Distract this thing. I got something for it." He stated this while trying to circle around it. I fire my glock landing a bullet on the back of its head. It turn towards me and roars again. I run into the mill as a barrage of spikes come my way. It charges the mill and I run out the otherside. when I t uh run around I see the mill practically torn to pieces. My eyes widen in disbelief. If it really hits me I'll be pants on the ground somewhere. This realization nearly killed me in of itself.
Just then Carson comes out with a blue stone in his hand and threw it above the rock man. He then shoots it and it explodes into water. The water hits the rock man and the creature howl a deep guttural scream. It body disintegrates into mud and the rest crawls towards the lake. It falls in and drifts down stream.
Both Carson and I try to catch our breath. Once we do Carson breaks the ice.
"I don't think the children are here." He looks towards the now destroyed water mill.
"Yeah" came from my lips. I was tired but most importantly confused. Something unexplainable happened again. "I'm gonna need a drink."
My reality has changed. And further down the rabbit hole I go.