Maria stood in front of the porch in disbelief. 'Maybe this is the wrong house. It has to be. There's no way it is.' She thought. Maria stood completely still, ignoring the Police men that walked by her. Moments after staring blankly at the house, Maria felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned to her right to see Oliver giving her a confused look.
"You've been spacing out for a while now. What's the matter? What are you just standing there for, we need to go in and investigate the house."
Oliver's word's seemed to bring Maria back to reality. She blinked and nodded.
"Right, let's go in."
Although Maria was very hesitant, she had no choice but to go in to the house. A sense of familiarity hit Maria as soon as she stepped into the house. The moment they walked into the living room it finally clicked. Although the room was in shambles, the layout and structure was undeniable. Deep down Maria didn't want to believe it, but this was the house of the people that saved her from the creature the other day. Maria strolled around the room slowly. She left Oliver to handle the examination of the body and decided to look around the house. Maria was too scared to look at the old man's dead body. She could feel the tears welling up. Blinking back the tears from her eyes, Maria continued analyzing the room. As her eyes scanned the surroundings, Maria spotted a rifle and bent over to examine it. 'This must have belonged to the old man' She thought. The rifle looked old and worn out. The old man must have had it for a long time.
"Maria!" Oliver yelled.
Maria looked towards Oliver's direction.
"You really need to come see this."
Maria cocked her eyebrow as she walked over to where Oliver was crouched. The body of the old man filled Maria's vision.
"Look at the body's stomach."
Maria's eyes traveled down the body, to the belly. The stomach was torn open, exposing the entrails. Something in Maria's head clicked.
"All the other bodies had their stomach torn out." Maria said.
Oliver nodded.
"Exactly."
Oliver stood to his feet and dusted his pants.
"That means the culprit is the same person."
Maria swallowed hard.
"Detective Oliver, there's another body in the master bedroom."
Oliver nodded at the police officer and breezed out of his room. Maria followed behind him slowly, reluctant to see the corpse because she knew exactly who it belonged to. Oliver stood over the body, looking at it with great intensity. Stepping over the broken door which lay on the ground, Maria walked over to where he stood and followed his gaze. She could feel her stomach churn as her eyes fell on the corpse. The head of the corpse has been smashed to bits until it was unrecognizable. The stomach was in the same condition as the one they found in the living room. Maria could see the pattern. Her thought was why exactly would the creature would leave this exact same injury on all the bodies. The injuries were monotonous, so there definitely had to be a reason for the monster's actions. 'What if the creature is capable of reasoning?' the thought sent shivers all over Maria's body. She didn't want to imagine a case scenario where that was possible. It was equivalent to giving a chicken intelligence. If that happened, then humans would be the new items on the KFC menu. She glanced over at Oliver who was still carefully examining the body. Maria felt bad for keeping Oliver in the dark, but what could she do? She bit lip in frustration. It was tiring having to keep this to herself. She clenched her fists and decided to speak up. "Oliver there's something I need to tell yo-"
Maria's words were cut short by the sound of the sound of a feminine voice.
"Detective Oliver, the man who found the bodies is on the front porch. I'm sure you would like to ask her some questions?"
the petite brunette said. Maria recognized her. She was part of the police officers that were at the last house they investigated. 'Is she new? I've never seen her before.' Maria thought. Oliver glanced at Maria. "I'll handle things here."
Oliver nodded and followed the brunette out of the room. Maria sighed and looked at the body. Even though she didn't know them too well, they had helped her out. It made her sad to see them in this state. 'And she was so young too.' Maria thought. Her face was filled with a deep sadness. Maria made up her mind to get to the bottom of these homicides. She had a dreadful feeling that this was way bigger than she thought it was.
"Mmmmm this tastes sooo good." Maria said as she devoured her meal.
She was astounded at the fact that she could eat after examining corpses. Usually Maria was unable to even look at her food after an investigation. Maybe she was finally getting used to the job.
"you must really like waffles." Oliver said as he chuckled.
Maria chewed thoroughly and swallowed.
"I prefer pancakes FYI. I'm just very famished. I skipped dinner last night."
'last night….' The word lingered in Oliver's head as new memories resurfaced. He stabbed his pasta and twirled his fork around. Memories of last night crowded his memory. The feel of Maria's hair, her smell. Everything came back to him. 'I'm such an idiot. Why did I do something like that?' He thought as he let out a small breath.
"What's wrong?" Maria said.
"Hm. I have a question."
"Sure, shoot."
Oliver adjusted himself on the seat.
"Did anything happen last time while I was drunk." Maria paused. Oliver could see the change in her facial expression and her demeanor.
"Nothing happen. Why are you asking?" she replied as she drizzled maple syrup on her last piece of waffle. "No reason in particular. I just hope I didn't cause you any trouble."
"Except from the fact that I had to carry you all the way to the room, you didn't cause trouble."
Oliver chuckled. He had gotten the answer he needed. Everything he remembered did actually happen but Maria was hiding it. Oliver could understand why she didn't want to tell him about it. Things would get weird for the both of them, so it best to not bring it up, ever. Oliver picked up his latte and took a sip.
" There is something else I want to talk about."
Maria wiped her mouth and looked at Oliver.
"What's up?"
"I thought about what you said. About me staying at your house until I can look for an apartment."
Maria's eyes lip up. She didn't think he would make up his mind so fast.
"I've been thinking about it and I've made up my mind. If you'd have me, I would like to stay at your apartment."
Maria tried to hide how elated she was but the smile creeping up her lips could not be stopped.
" Of course you can stay at my apartment for a while." Maria replied, grinning from ear to ear. Oliver was satisfied. Staying with Maria was a good decision. Maria was his coworker and partner, so nothing could happen between them. Maria was a very attractive, but with Oliver's low sex drive he was confident that staying with her would be completely fine. After looking at the menu, Maria signaled for a waiter. Oliver tilted his head at her.
"You're still hungry after eating that huge stack of waffles?"
"Of course I am."
Oliver chuckled. He dug into his meaty pasta, relishing the delectable taste with each bite. Maria's second order had been served and she began munching into it without reluctance. They both finished up their meals and made their way out of the café.
"That was really good, I'll come here more often." "See? I told you their food was top tier." Maria said feeling proud of herself.
"Yeah, I'll listen to you more from now on."
Maria giggled. Her attention was drawn away from Oliver when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. She made a sharp turn. Maria was already on the defense. "Hey, hey, calm down. It's just me."
Maria's body relaxed when she saw who had grabbed her hand. It was Trevor. He stood there, giving her a wide smile.
"Trevor, you startled me. What are you doing here?" Trevor glanced over at Oliver and then returned his gaze back to Maria.
"I came here to grab lunch. I saw you walked out of the restaurant and decided to say hi."
"Oh, that's nice."
Oliver cleared his throat which made Maria remember that Oliver was standing right beside her.
"Oh yeah! Trevor, this is Oliver, my coworker and Oliver this is Trevor, my friend."
Oliver extended his hand out to Trevor.
Trevor hesitated but eventually took his hand.
"Where are you heading now?" Trevor said as he switched his attention back to Maria.
Oliver had a feeling that Trevor didn't like him. It didn't bother. What bothered Oliver was the relationship between Maria and Trevor.
"Oh, we're heading back to the office, there's a lot of work that needs to be done."
Trevor nodded. He reached out to Maria and whispered in her ear.
"I'll text you." He said softly.
Maria felt the heat build up in her face as she flushed. Oliver could feel a very familiar emotion welling up deep within him. He clenched his jaw tightly, trying to suppress it. Trevor winked at her and walked away. They both made their way towards the car and drove off.
"Who was that guy?" Oliver asked, not breaking his eyes away from the road.
He couldn't hold of the questions he wanted to ask any longer. They had been eating at his brain, begging to be asked.
"He's a friend, we've known each other for a while now?"
"Where did you meet him?"
Maria was silent for a moment.
"I met him at a bar, we bonded really quickly and exchanged phone numbers."
"Was he the one you had an appointment with the other day?"
"Um, yeah. It was him."
Maria looked a Oliver.
"Why are you asking me all these questions? Am I a suspect for a crime or something?"
Oliver chuckled softly.
"I was just curious about your friend nothing else. "Oh, I see." Maria said and returned her gaze back to the scenery outside the window. The rest of the drive back to the office was dead quiet.
Maria had never imagined in her wildest dreams that she would come back from work with Oliver. The feeling was new and thrilling. Maria unlocked the front door and saw momo walking towards her.
"Aw, look who missed me." Maria said as she picked her up.
Momo nestled her head on Maria's shoulder.
"I wonder if she remembers me." Oliver said as he stroked her fur.
She meowed softly, enjoying Oliver's touch.
"Looks like she does." Maria said.
"There's a small room beside the kitchen. I usually use it as a storage room, so there's a lot of stuff in there." "That's fine, I can sleep on the sofa today and then we'll deal with the room tomorrow."
Maria put momo down and turned to Oliver.
"you're okay with sleeping on the sofa just for tonight?"
Oliver nodded.
"It's just for a night, so I'll be fine."
"Alright then."
Oliver nodded. Maria made her way to her bedroom. She was exhausted, but at the same time she was feeling very queasy. 'Oliver's in my house. He's staying in my house.' Maria was finding a hard time believing it. She took of every item of clothing she had and hopped into the shower. The water felt nice on Maria's skin. It felt like all her stuff muscles were beginning to relax. She placed a hand on her chest and felt her heartbeat. It was beating fast. She couldn't believe how much Oliver had an effect on her. She let out a sharp breath, trying to calm herself down. Oliver was in her house and she was about to make the best of it.