Catherine walked out of the restaurant after having her lunch. She felt so full that she grinned but then the thought of Liam came to her.
" I wonder what he will be doing right now", she said to herself," I wonder if he had his lunch already", she thought as she walked towards her car but then a black van pulled up beside her. She looked at it as a man looked out of the window,
" hey pretty",
She blushed and flaunted her hair, " what ?, how can I help you?", she asked stylishly,
" Sure I am Liam's friend, he wants me to bring you to apologize for what happened at his company the other time",
" yes I knew it, that bastard security man", she cursed, " Okay", she said excitedly and entered the van without a second thought.
Liam finished his work earlier so he could go home and have a nice sleep since he lacked a good night's rest for a couple of days now making him exhausted easily. He headed home after buying a bagel and Lax for dinner. He dropped the food in the kitchen and headed to the bedroom. He started pulling off his coat right from the sitting room as he couldn't wait to have a shower but he then got startled immediately after he got to the bedroom.
"hey!!", he shouted. He could tell there was a figure on his bed but it seemed the darkness was pulling some trick on him. He quickly switched on the light only to receive the shock of his life. On his four foster bed is the corpse of Catherine with bruises all over her body and a knife pierced into her stomach. His knees grew weak, he could feel the sweat gathering up on his face and chest.
" wh.. what's this? a...are...you acting?", he asked her but no response, her body wasn't even moving an inch. He draws himself closer to confirm the prank his eyes are pulling on him. He checked her pulse, and he was right, his eyes weren't pulling any trick, she was dead and her corpse was on his bed. His hand grew weak, his mind was disturbed and confused. He couldn't comprehend what was happening yet but his mind had begun to imagine and think of different things. He was lost in a daze as a similar event ran through his mind. Not again. Not a human.
' if this gets out? I'm doomed, the police wouldn't believe this is an implication, no one would believe I'm not the murderer ', he kept repeating in mind.
" hey snap out of it!", he slapped himself, " if the cops should find out about her death, it shouldn't be in my house", he said to himself and stood up from the floor.
" the person that did this surely is looking for my downfall but that's not what matters now, maybe I can get him from the CCTV, ....ho c'mon Liam, the killer would have made sure he wasn't captured on the CCTV, he wouldn't be that stupid", he reasoned, " I will also have to do mine without getting caught on CCTV".
Liam drove past an isolated area, he needed to dump the corpse where the corps would find it but wouldn't be caught on the CCTV. Though he couldn't stop thinking about who was after him that he or she had to go to the length of killing a celebrity and dumping her on his bed, is this a warning or direct downfall? He couldn't think straight and the only place he knew there wouldn't be CCTV cameras because of their privacy was the beach.
Amelia couldn't sleep, the sounds of the crickets, the sea waves, and her busy mind kept her awake.
' why exactly am I still alive, why exactly am I still living, not like I can ever go back to my world, I have no one to care for me, I have no one to look after or look for me, no one to love and neither does anyone love me, the last person is dead and I even failed...I failed to fight for justice for him ', she said in mind and sobbed, ' the human world isn't as expected, it's so strange and dangerous, I have no reason to live<>I have no reason to be alive, I have never felt so deserted but it will be better to grace it by dying at least...', her thought got interrupted by the roughening sound of the bush like someone is approaching. She got scared thinking it was those cruel boys and quickly hid behind a tree. She peeped to see who it was and saw a man dropping down something and unzipping whatever it was slowly. She gasped immediately after she got sight of what was inside. She made to run when the man who turned to leave seemed like he was coming towards her. He ran after her and grabbed her arm when he saw a figure running away.
" hey hey!", he tried to calm her down as she began to struggle with him. Liam couldn't explain how he was feeling cause he didn't want to admit he felt so scared at that moment,
"Hey! it's not what you think", he tried persuading her but she seemed so shocked that he had no choice but to drag her away. She kept struggling with him, she saw him as a monster, a killer, a demon who harbors evil but she felt too weak to fight back. She started screaming and crying when she saw him taking her to the similar thing that killed a kid coldly but Liam covered her mouth and pushed her into the car. She struggled and cried till she became too weak to jump out of the car. Liam pulled over a few meters from his house.
" hey lady I need you to hear me out", he turned to her but she moved away as much so he wouldn't touch her.
" I need you to, believe me, I didn't kill that woman",
" Liar. Demon",
" wh...what?",
" liar", she yelled, " you are a demon",
" hey!!", he yelled back at her, he couldn't believe he was just called a demon," Hey madam watch what you say, I said it wasn't me who killed that woman, it... it's complicated but I need you to remain silent till it is investigated and the killer is caught",
" investigated?",
" Yeah",
" I don't believe you, you just killed a human like you",
'Ash, it wouldn't be easy ', he said in his mind and drove to his house. He dragged her into his house and locked the door.
" what are you doing?", she yelled angrily, " are you going to kill me too?". She was angry and scared,
" I'm not a killer", he yelled back, " I told you to watch what you say", he said angrily. His deep authoritative voice makes her feel something creeping through her veins. She suddenly kept quiet and took some steps back. She has never felt so defenseless just by the tone not even when his Majesty gave his judgment.
" you see, I am not kidnapping you I just want to keep you close so you won't tell on me and that just till the real killer is exposed",
" Are you saying you didn't kill that human?",
" Exactly",
" Why did you then dump her instead of reporting it to the king?",
" Kin...king?", he asked looking more confused, " I don't know what area you are from but monarchy is not practiced here, the authority is with the government",
"Why then don't you report to them?", she said even though she didn't know what he meant by the ' government '.
"Are you stupid? I will be accused of being the killer, and even though the truth might later get exposed, my image will be ruined already, I can't risk that, and there's no assurance the killer would ever be caught or justified knowing how corruption is practiced in this country".
Once again, she didn't understand all he said but she could understand well of his fears.
That makes her remember how she was accused of being the killer of whom she knows nothing about her death so she knew how it feels looking at him, he looks disturbed and she could see the trail of sadness in his eyes. He looks so tired also.
" so you can call your family that you won't be around for some time till the killer is caught, I don't trust you",
" I don't have anyone", she replied sadly,
Liam looked at her, she looked so unkempt and her dirty face told that she was probably one of the street people.
' he possibly didn't truly kill that human, if truly he did he could have just killed me to cover up instead since I am a witness but instead, he looks so scared and disturbed trying to explain himself, and also, this may be my only chance of finding a place to stay, I will at least pretend to believe he's the killer while having his home as shelter ', she thought in mind,
" that just makes it better", he said and looked away,
" I still don't believe you",
" I don't care if you believe me or not, you are staying here, within my sight, and don't even think of doing anything stupid",
" if you promise me something",
" What?", he looked surprised, he wasn't expecting her to strike a deal or something, he thought he would have to keep a close watch so she wouldn't try escaping thinking he might hurt her, but what she said next even shock him more,
" you'll promise to give me food", she said. That's what she needed the most at the moment, a roof over her head and food, she has only been surviving on water.
" food?",
" yes".
She indeed belongs to the street, that explains why she thought of food of all things but he couldn't help it as he kept finding her suspicious, he gave her a room and locked every other door in the house so she wouldn't escape. He couldn't sleep peacefully as he didn't trust her and his mind kept racing like the cops might knock on his door anytime. His mind kept wandering around till he thought of what happened when he was just 8 years old, four months after his mum died. A dead dog was found with him, he happened to find the dead dog and brought it out from the corner of the house where it died without his corpse being noticed but his stepmom accused him of killing the dog and maltreated him.
" killing your mum isn't enough, now it's time to be killing the animals?", she accused,
His father also beat him till he couldn't sit on his butt but what hurt him most was the look that his grandpa had.
" We are taking you to the orphanage, I can't be a father to a murderer", his Dad said angrily,
" you shouldn't do that", Papa Graeme said,
" can't you what he did Papa, he killed a dog",
" I'm sure he wouldn't do that again",
" so are you saying I should ignore this",
" let it go".
His Dad was so pissed off, " I will but the day you'll murder someone or an animal, just know you are not from this household",
" I support that", Papa Graeme said, the one that shows him love and cares apart from his mum in the household is him. Papa Graeme's looks break his heart. His look screams disappointment and warning making the poor boy run away having no courage to speak or look him in the eyes.
Liam remembered the only thing he wished never to see again was the same look on Papa Graeme's face that day.