CHAPTER 27
Maria opened the file that was sent from the coroners office. She pulled out the contents of the file, laying the papers one by one on her desk. She stared at them intently, recalling what Oliver had told her. He had briefed her on everything he discussed with coroner Louise. Gazing at the grotesque corpses made Maria feel uncomfortable but at the same time, she felt a creeping fear at the thought of the creature that caused such injuries. Maria shook her head as she tried to forget about the monster's disturbing features. she began packing up the documents when Oliver walked into the office. He had a small white box in his right hand and two coffee cups in his left hand. Maria's eyes lit up when she got a whiff of the aroma coming from the small box Oliver had with him.
"Are those donuts?" Maria asked in a very excited tone.
Oliver was surprised on how she was able to identify the pastry from how it smelled.
"Yeah, apparently the coffee shop I went to had a different section for desserts. I saw some donuts and decided to buy some." He replied as he placed the small white box and a cup of coffee on Maria's desk. Her excitement slowly changed to confusion as she tore her gaze away from the box and looked at Oliver. "Why would you buy donuts though? I thought you didn't like sweet things?"
Oliver rubbed the back of his neck as he averted his gaze from hers.
"Well….. I remembered you told me how much you love sweet pastries. I thought long and hard about which pastry to get you." Oliver said recalling how he stood in from of the pastries, unable to choose which one Maria would like more.
He ended choosing donuts last minute due to the impatient people waiting at the back of the line.
"So, this is for you." He said as he pushed the box forward slightly until it was directly in front of her. Maria flushed a little as she slowly removed opened the small box. Her eyes gleamed at the sight of the colourful and scrumptious looking donuts.
"Thanks, Oliver." She said, flashing him a wide smile. Oliver nodded, completely satisfied that she loved the donuts. He strolled to his seat, coffee in hand and plopped down on his chair. Maria's hand hovered over the donuts. She decided to pick up the donut which was in a chocolate glazing and took a large bite out of it. The taste of the soft bread, the crunchy glazing and the chocolate filling sent sparks all over the taste buds on her tongue. 'Chocolate is definitely the best.' She thought as she munched on the dessert. Maria brushed her fingers against the box. The fact that Oliver thought about her, enough to remember what she likes and actually buy it for her made her heart flutter. She had noticed a recent change in Oliver's Behaviour towards her, ever since their little tryst. He acted a lot more nicer and intimate than he usually was to her. Oliver would perform small tasks like helping her open the car door to assisting her with carrying the grocery bags. 'Perhaps Oliver had some significant amount of feelings for me? There's a possibility but I can't get my hopes up.' Maria thought. She was desperately hoping that Oliver would give her a green light, so she could confess her feelings without the fear of getting turned down. Oliver couldn't help but chuckle silently as he looked at Maria chomping on the donuts absent mindedly. 'her cheeks look like a squirrel's. Oliver thought. He diverted his attention from her to the documents lying on his desk. He picked up some of the documents and raked his hands through his hair.
"The number of Unsolved cases we have now are more than we've ever had."
Maria nodded.
"We've never even had an unsolved case." Oliver said. Maria wiped her mouth with a serviette that came with the donuts and drank her coffee.
"That's because our past cases have been normal homicide cases."
Oliver cocked his eyebrow at her.
"And how is this any different?"
Maria pursed her lips together, no wanting to further the conversation.
"I hope you don't still think that this whole thing is caused by a monster."
Maria crossed her arms and gave him a serious look. Oliver sighed.
"Come on, monsters don't exist Maria, this isn't some science fiction movie."
Maria closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Let's just get to work Oliver."
Oliver was surprised at how Maria had ended the conversation abruptly but brushed it off and began focusing on the pile of papers on his desk.
"Miss Brooks."
Kenna blinked and turned her sore neck towards the direction of the voice. A man in a white lab coat which she assumed was a doctor stood close to her bed with a clip board in his hand.
"You've been awake for a while now, but you weren't responding when I called out to you. How are you feeling?"
Kenna tried to move but her body was sore all over. "Who…. Brought me here?" Kenna asked.
Her throat felt dry, so her voice was very raspy.
"A detective brought you here days ago. You've been asleep since then."
Kenna looked down at her hands which had drips fixed to them. She could clearly remember the night she had encountered Maria. She gritted her teeth, remembering how angry she was.
"Your body was in a very bad shape when she brought here. You were malnourished and sleep deprived."
The doctor said as he looked at the clip board in his hand.
"You'll be fine as long as you get some re-"
"When can I leave?" Kenna said, interrupting the doctor.
She stared at him with a blank expression on her face. "You can't leave until you've fully recovered."
"How long will that take?"
The doctor sighed.
"About a week or more. No leaving till then. We've gotten in touch with your parents to notify them about your situation. Now, I'll leave you to get some rest." The doctor breezed through the door, leaving Kenna by herself. Kenna could feel the anger rising up within her. Remembering Maria's face further increased it. 'I need to leave this place and get rid of that girl. How dare she steal my Oliver from me.' Kenna thought as she bit on her finger nails. She was supposed to get married to Oliver and they would live by the beach side with two adorable children, at least that was how it played out in Kenna's head. She wasn't about to give up on it. 'Oliver, Oliver, Oliver's mine. He's mine, he's mine. HE'S MINE!" Kenna held her head with both hands as an ache spread across her head.
"I….. Need…. To...see….Oliver."
The desire to completely monopolize Oliver grew stronger within her. Kenna could feel her body becoming very light as she blacked out on the hospital bed.
"Well, this is bad." Oliver said, looking at the engine of his car.
"You can't get it to work now?" Maria asked.
Oliver shook his head.
"I'll have to get it repaired tomorrow."
Maria sighed. Her car was back at her house. Since Oliver started staying over, they always took his car to work, but now it wasn't coming on.
"I guess we'll have to walk all the way home."
Oliver cringed.
"Isn't it kinda far?"
Maria giggled.
"Come on, a little exercise wouldn't kill you."
Oliver gave her a small smile.
"Yeah, you're right. The air feels nice too."
Maria nodded in agreement. They both left the parking lot and proceeded down the street. The air was indeed nice. Maria and Oliver walked in silence, but it was a comfortable one. The starts were out in the sky. They looked like tiny gems, fixed on the dark blue night sky. It was a pretty sight to behold. Maria looked up at the starry night, he faced filled with curiosity and wonder. "Hey, you need to watch where you're going." Oliver said as he wrapped a hand around Maria's waist, pulling her away from a pole, stopping her from colliding into it.
"Oh, thanks."
"What are you looking at?"
"The stars." Maria said as she pointed a finger at the sky.
"It's your first time seeing them?"
Maria shook her head.
"It's not. I've never really had time to look at them closely. They're actually very pretty."
Oliver looked up to the sky and understood what she was saying.
"Just watch where you're going."
Maria nodded.
"Hey, I was thinking…..why don't we take another route home? I don't think I want to end this stroll now."
Maria looked at the street and saw that they were almost home.
"Yeah, let's take the other route."
Oliver took Maria's hand and walked towards the opposite direction of their original route. They walked hand in hand which made the butterflies dance around in Maria's belly. She was enjoying every minute of it. 'It looks like we're a couple'. She thought. The couple made Maria remember Kenna. She looked at Oliver, unsure of whether or not she could tell Oliver about their meeting. She sighed. Maria felt like she definitely had to tell him.
"Hey, Oliver. There's something I need to tell you." Oliver looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "Sure, go ahead."
"I met Kenna a few days ago."
Oliver's expression grew flat.
"Um, how was she?"
"She….. didn't look very good. It seemed like she wasn't eating or sleeping at all"
Maria could see a slight hint of hurt in Oliver's face. The fact that she still had an effect on him, made Maria really sad.
"She collapsed, so I took her to the hospital."
Maria was very cautious enough to omit the part where she was screaming frantically like an insane person. Oliver let out a sigh of relief.
"At least she's Okay." He said.
Maria frowned. It was clear that Oliver still had feelings for Kenna. All the green lights that he was sending her had suddenly become red. Maria sighed and withdrew her hand from his.
"O…li…ver."
His eyes shot wide open.
"Did you hear that?" he asked Maria who had the same expression on her face.
She nodded. They stopped walking and looked around their surroundings. The low cracked voice calling out to Oliver was heard again. Oliver turned back and saw Kenna standing behind them.
"Kenna…."
Oliver's voice trailed off. He didn't know what to say to her.
"Oliver, I missed you."
Kenna said, her lips distorted into the widest smile Maria had ever seen. Oliver noticed that she was putting on a hospital gown.
"Did you leave the hospital?"
Kenna looked down at herself and looked back at Oliver.
"Yes, I really wanted to see you but the doctor said I can't leave the hospital till after a week and I couldn't wait that long so I slipped out through the window." Maria cringed as she remembered how Kenna had behaved towards her. Kenna expression morphed into a twisted frown when she looked at Maria. She could feel the hair at the back of her neck standing.
"I told you we're through, I don't expect you to come looking for me." Oliver said in a stern tone.
" but I love you Oliver, you can't say we're through. Think about how I'll feel about it."
"Did you care about how I would feel when you went around, having sex with other men?"
Oliver snapped at her. So that's what's happened. Maria thought. She tugged at the hem of Oliver's clothing.
"Oliver, there's no use prolonging this conversation. It's late and we need to go home."
Oliver looked at Maria and sighed.
"alright, let's go."
They both faced forward and started walking away from Kenna, when she let out a loud shriek. Oliver and Maria twitched and turned to look at Kenna. She held her stomach with both hands and fell to the ground as she began throwing up violently.
"Kenna!"
Oliver was about to run towards her when Maria held him back and shook her head.
"Don't go over there, I have a bad feeling about her."