~
Mrs Jackson parked in front of the church and got down from her car. She had been wanting to see the priest for a while now, but it was the busy days in Sleepy Hollow when tourists were all over the place and she needed to always be at her convenience store in town.
"I should go in early to see him before I have to wait in line." She thought out loud.
She walked into the church and went straight to his office but found it locked. She knocked endlessly but no one answered. She walked away from his office and decided to check the reconciliation room since he wasn't the type to not be in church early.
She walked towards the reconciliation room but stopped when she saw blood dripping from the open booth and rolling down the floor. She walked slowly towards the booth with her heart pounding loudly in her ears. She got to the door of the booth and screamed at the sight that greeted her eyes.
********************************************
Josh and Kol stood over the body on the road while forensics took pictures and let the agents from the coroner's office work on wrapping the body. The body was freakishly white with a big hole in the chest area and slice marks on the face that made it look like the dead body was smiling wildly. A teenager that was jogging this morning had found it and immediately called the cops. He had thrown up more than twice before they got here.
"A murder in the middle of a freaking road, can people just be more civilized." Kol said rolling his eyes.
"Is it me, or this pattern seems very familiar." Josh said, still assessing the body with his eyes.
" Yeah, it looks pretty much the same with the one at the Alley, the only difference here is the body is freakishly white." Kol replied.
Josh and Kol stepped aside for the undertakers to carry the body. They put the body in an ambulance and zoomed off. Josh was about to get into his car when Kol got a call from a patrol officer that a body was found in the church this morning.
"Another one?" Kol said and sighed.
" What is going on?" Josh asked and got into his car with Kol tagging along.
They drove to the church and met another team there already parked outside with officers already inside the church. Kol walked up to them and asked them what happened, they told him what the caller had said and pointed to a woman sitting in the corner shaking physically with two paramedics attending to her.
"How long has the body been in there?." Kol asked one of them.
"Since last night." The officer replied and walked away.
Kol walked towards Josh who was standing in front of the booth and filled him in on what he had gotten so far.
"Two bloody and gruesome murder in one night, that means the locals whispers are not just rumours." Josh said.
"I don't believe in supernatural things Josh." Kol said tapping his shoulders.
"You think a human did this?" Josh asked, turning to face him.
"And the one on the road too?" He added.
Josh took a close look at the body. It couldn't even be called a body because it was all just in shreds, one part to one side and another to another side. It'd take a while to even put the pieces together for a funeral. The priest could barely be recognized except for his garment.
Josh gave way for the forensics and undertakers to work as he continued to watch the body in complete horror.
Reporters had started to swamp the entire scene with their cameras and vehicles, asking every officer they could find about the case. The officers continued to ignore them and went about their duties.
Josh came out from the church with Kol following behind him, the reporters immediately gathered around them with their cameras and microphones, asking questions.
"What can you say about the recent murders in town?" One asked
"Is it really true that there are inhumane things lurking at night in town?" Another asked.
"All these things have not been verified, but the authorities are working diligently on it." Kol replied before walking away.
The reporters continued to throw questions at Josh who just followed Kol to the car and drove off
*********************************************
Riya turned off the TV and looked at the others who had also joined her to watch the morning news.
"It's happening." She said.
" Adonis is warming up for Armageddon." Voleth Meir said with a sigh.
"This guy is real brutal." Rick commented, feeling nauseous.
Voleth Meir stood up and started to wear her jacket, pulling her hair into a ponytail and picking up her bag.
"I should try to get pictures of the bodies." She said.
"I'll be back shortly." She added.
She left the house with Riya still deep in thoughts and Elijah just sitting there casually like he wasn't present or hadn't seen the news.
******************************************
Chief Anthony sat in his office watching the news with tears rolling down his cheeks. He never thought he'd lose his dad this way. The man sure had made mistakes but he didn't deserve to die like that. He turned off the TV and leaned backwards on his sit with his eyes closed.
He remembered the little times his Dad had tried to reach out to him by sending letters through his homeschool teacher or little toy cars. He smiled remembering how happy he used to be then and how less complicated life was then.
He reached out to the phone beside him, placing it to his ear and clicked the intercom.
"Send in detective Marshal and sergeant Bents when they check in." He said and dropped the phone.
He looked out the window at the street and its activities and the people running around in their heavy jackets in the cold morning and sighed.
*******************************************
Josh stopped the car not too far from the church with Kol sitting beside him. He tapped his steering repeatedly and finally sighed when his phone rang. He picked it up and put it on speaker when he heard who was speaking.
"Sergeant Josh, I have something you might be interested in seeing concerning the case we spoke about last time." Mr Cooks said over the phone.
"Something like what." Josh asked.
"A vision, drawn out in paper." He replied and ended the call.
Josh looked at Kol who just sat there in nonchalance without reacting. Josh shook his head and started the car before driving off towards Mr Cooks apartment.
After driving for close to an hour, Josh packed outside the old building and turned off the car. He sat for a while and closed his eyes before taking a deep breath and stepping out of the car with Kol following suit.
They walked to the front door and pushed the glass door open before entering the reception slowly. Josh looked around while he walked through the hallway and to the elevator but as usual, the place was empty, dirty and deserted. Josh kept looking around, hoping to see Mr Robertson pop out of a corner like last time.
" I don't have good memories of this elevator." Kol said as they came to stand in front of the elevator.
"Me neither." Josh said, covering his nose in advance as he pressed the elevator button.
They walked into the elevator, stepping on dirt and food stains that were worse than last time. Josh sighed and clicked the 5th floor button before the elevator started moving. After awhile, the elevator dinged and stopped. They walked out of the elevator and turned left, heading to Mr Cooks' apartment.
They walked through the hallway till they got to his door and knocked. There wasn't any response for some minutes until the door suddenly opened with Mr Cooks standing there in his pajamas and wet hair.
"What a horrid sight." Kol muttered as they stepped into the house with Mr Cooks closing the door.
Mr Cooks excused himself while they sat down. Josh scanned the apartment again and saw that nothing had changed with two sofas, an average size TV set, weird paintings hanging on the wall, black painted walls and four doors that probably led to rooms and a kitchen.
Josh looked around and saw a table in the far corner, close to the dining area with lots of drawings. He got up and picked one that seemed quite familiar but he just couldn't place his hands on it. The girl in the painting was wearing a black long dress, she had pure white and pale skin and her hair, long and flowing down her shoulders to her waist was white. The most prominent feature she had was silver eyes.
It hit him then right in the face, and by the time he turned around, his eyes were wide as saucers. He knew why the painting looked familiar now, the painting looked like Riya Sindell in her new look.