The Face#14 - The Ties that Bind
Things don't always occur how you want them to. I've learned that. Everyday I lived with that fact. I hadn't been in action for a while now... ever since, the incident.
I had him. I had the case in the bag. The blood-stained rag, the bat. But he still got away. And I stood there and knelt. There wasn't anything I could do at that point. I watched her slowly slip away. If only I had had a shred of knowledge of what to do in a situation like that... she might have survived. No, I didn't know her. But to let someone go like that just wasn't... it wasn't right.
I had stood there. It was raining. It was dark. I took off my mask. It was getting more difficult to breath. When I did, a cold chill ran across my face. It was far from relieving. I couldn't leave. But I had to, there was nothing I could do. As the sirens approached, I slowly made my exit. She was gone.
Months passed.
"Well, there was nothing you could do," Hussane said.
"You're right. There was nothing I could do, but that's because I... I didn't know what to do," I said shamefully. "But you don't understand... I almost couldn't even bear the sight."
"Well, I wouldn't have been able to bear that sight either. You know how I get around blood," he explained.
"But you're becoming a doctor, arent't you?" I wondered in puzzlement.
"Well, yeah..." He answered hesitantly. "But, I'm practicing medicine, not surgical studies. Hopefully, I'll be fine, and I can still help others when they need it."
"That's just it," I answered. "If I had the training that you had... even a shred of it, I may have been able to help that girl."
"But you've got to understand that it's not your fault. You didn't know it would have happened."
"I think I'm in over my head in this crime business. I'm just a journalist... why did I ever cross this path in the first place?"
"Well, it was to save a life, and to help a friend."
"A life that didn't need saving."
"But in turn, other lives were saved."
"I think I'm gonna change a few things in my life. I need to be able to actually help people in a different way. One that I know can make a difference. I've got to be able to do things like help someone I know I can help. That thug... that criminal... he slipped away, and wasn't even sentenced. He went free."
I paused, and began again.
"I think I'm gonna study medicine too... so I can actually help people survive out there... like how I survived."
"You mean you're quitting your job?" Hussane asked.
"No... I'm gonna need some money. I'll just go part-time... a little more than before."
The next morning I arrived at the Daily Times News Office. Samantha was there to greet me.
"So you're really leaving your job?" She asked.
"Not any time soon, that's for sure. I've got to keep the income going to pay off the college loans," I answered.
"That's too bad. Who am I gonna compete against now for the top news stories? Definitely not Tim Higher," she lightly joked.
"Tim'll step up his game... one day," I said back.
Many weeks passed, and I had enrolled in a new Human Studies course. It was the afternoon, and our small-sized class had ventured into the depths of the local morgue to visit the friendly cadavers. Fortunately, the smell of decay was not present, for the use of alcohol had drowned out the smell. However, there still was an unpleasant odor present.
"And here you see visible is the duodenum, the initial first strand of the small intestine of the digestive tract..." the instructor said in a nasally, high-pitched voice, while pointing to a thin, coiled, and slimy membrane that reached far into the depths of the preserved human abdominal cavity.
As usual, my mind ran like a roaming bull through a pasture of thought and contemplation. Flashes of memory began to creep from the back of my mind and into the proximity of my vision. The girl appeared. It was the girl who lay on the street under the rain that night.
I shook my head free from the trance. The class was gone. I looked behind me and no one was to be found. I shook my head.
"Gee, you'd think they'd tell me when we were done with the cadavers," I said.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of a rusty, metal door banging shut, or perhaps swinging open, I wasn't sure.
"Hello?" I called out, while slowly walking to the front of the now darkened morgue. The lights had been dimmed, and it was nearing sundown.
I walked through the vast, yellow halls of the facility and stopped dead in my tracks. Someone lay ahead on the floor just a few yards ahead of me. I rushed to see what the problem was.
I looked down at the body. It was the keeper. There didn't seem to be any open wounds, but I checked the pulse anyway. There was none. I observed the neck, and discovered some obvious signs of strangulation. To be thorough, I turned the body over just in case. Taped upon the victim's back was a yellow note. I read it warily.
"Hello there. I've noticed you. Noticed you more than you might think. I've noticed what you do, who you are, and what you've tried to do. You've tried to convict me, get me into prison. I know that. But you failed. And I'm glad you did, because now, I get to torture you. Be careful, if you come after me, you will regret it. Remember, I know who you are, and I know who you'll come after me as. And don't worry about yourself, I won't come after you first. But very soon you will be seeing everyone you know, all your friends, and close acquaintances here, disappearing into the ground one... by... one... by... one... by... one. But maybe we can make a deal. But don't worry, you needn't not call me. I'll call you. And by the way..." I read.
"I left the girl on the street that night." My eyes widened. I read on.
"Yeah, it was me. But you don't get it. I didn't mean to do it. It just... happened. But still, you came after me. Even though I tried to explain. You happened. Well, now you'll get what's coming to you."
Still, there was more. It was a long letter with small handwriting.
"And one more thing, you were the last one at the scene of the crime... and I just had to do my duty to notify the authorities. Hopefully now you'll understand the situation I was in until I was acquitted. Have a nice day..."
It dawned on me. The person who wrote this note must have been part of the small group that observed the cadavers earlier. I was mortified, and a feeling of sinking darkness came across my chest. Someone knew me like the back of their hand.
At that moment, I heard the sound of familiar sirens approaching the front of the building where I resided... with the fallen body. I fled the other way towards the back exit.
This person, whoever he was, didn't seem like any normal criminal or common thug.
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