I'm trying to improve my writing skills so hopefully you can notice some positive changes.
No more stalling, so without further ado, enjoy reading Chapter 22: CASE CLOSED.
Detective Evans pushed through the crowd of students, It was a turbulent environment. Teenagers were flocking to the crime scene like birds and officers had a hard time restricting the area. The woman reached the center of the crowd, her eyes landed on the male who was discussing something with a co-worker, his stringent posture was evident by the up prompt shoulders, the linear of his neck, and the position of his footing. Yet there were cracks of worry and vulnerability.
The woman strode toward the man "What's the situation?" The sheriff jolted before hastily dismissing the subordinate he was talking to and turned around to regard the expecting Detective. He cleared his throat, putting his hands behind his back in a professional stance. "Detective Evans." The h/c haired woman bowed her head in a polite greeting. "the situation, Avery Emmons escaped the hospital around four pm this afternoon and snuck into the school building, walking all the way up to the roof, where she proceeded to jump off." Sheriff Whitelock paused his analogy for a second. "Two casualties occurred, your son got attacked, as I've heard." The woman tensed up at the reminder.
The man continued, "And a nurse got hurt, While Avery was leaving the hospital, a nurse tried to stop her, and the woman in turn got her face clawed off." The sentence turned the air around heavy as the sheriff let the words sink in. "What?" The female's voice was breathless. "Avery clawed a nurse's face off?" The sheriff nodded, reaching a hand into the inner pocket of his vest, taking out his mobile device, it turned on and the man leaned the electronic toward the Detective while displaying the contents.
"They sent me the footage the security cameras caught up during 4:14 and 4:20 pm-- the time that Avery assaulted the nurse and left the building." The woman's eyes glossed over the screen as it showed Avery Emmons staggering out of her room to the polished hospital halls, she had her hand in her pocket, securely clasping an unseen object in her possession. She stumbled through the halls in a droopy way, her mouth was moving slowly, indicating she was mumbling to herself. The camera flicked to another point of view, now showing a nurse walking out of another patient room further down the hall. The paramedic noticed Avery and tenderly tried communicating with the young teen. Avery moved past the worker not sparing her a glance. but stopped when the nurse put a hand on the blonde's shoulder.
Avery dropped her arms, letting her hands sway to her sides in a slumped manner. She was still mumbling incoherent words to herself. Strands of her gold blond hair clung to her face and her expression was inanimate, as though she wasn't quite there. The nurse moved her lips once more to try and get through to the motionless girl. And that was when a shift happened. Avery's face contorted into fury, The nurse was unaware of the girl's wrathful expression and let out a shrill as the blonde girl pivoted on her heels to lunge straightforwardly for the woman. Avery's nails shot up the elder's face and she dragged her sharp nails deep into the nurse's skin, peeling off the first layer of skin in claw marks, blood seeped through the wounds as the woman screamed out in pain. Avery stopped once deep marks were left scarred on the nurse's skin.
Avery stood over the woman, who was gripping her bloody face. The blonde stared on with an unadorned expression before she turned around to proceed walking out of the hospital building, the last piece of footage the security cameras could pick up before her form vanished into the rainy afternoon. The recording came to a stop and the sheriff pocketed his phone. "The nurse was found a few minutes later and she was rushed to the emergency room, where she got treated for her injuries." The man clarified. The detective stood motionless in her position pondering over what she had just seen.
"So, Avery was likely mentally unstable at this moment, am I correct?" She uttered, glancing up at the redhead "Yes, it's a high possibility, presumably the torture she said to endured during her captivity, could have played a role in the loss of a stable mind." The detective stayed quiet for a short while. "Do you know who could have held Avery captive for five months?" The woman questioned-- or more stated, they both had a clear idea of who could have orchestrated something like this. "Runswick killer, that's our closest guess." The redhead wetted his lips and shifted his eyes around, preparing himself mentally for the news he was about to bestow on the woman, trying to find a fitting gap in the conversation. "That's why...That's why I have decided that the case on the Runswick serial killer must be scraped and closed, until further notice, the murders will be investigated, cleaned up, and the victims will have funerals, but active detective work on the case will be prohibited."
The detective gaped at the sheriff "WHAT?!" The man lowered his head in shame, letting out a deep exhale. "What the hell?!" The woman's face sunk into a blank expression as comprehension drove through her mind "Don't tell me...Is this about your speculations?" She glared, her chest heaving as she tried to take in steady breaths of air without letting her anger take over her rationally, "This is absurd, Ben, if you suspect him, you need to do something, especially now." her fists grasped the fabric of her blazer as she tried to argument her point "It's not that easy." The man's voice was low as he solemnly looked down, the woman shot him an incredulous expression, "What? Of course, it is!-" She countered, "No, it's not Layla." The sheriff's voice was stern and the woman shut her mouth as he lifted up his head to stare at her with a firm look.
"You don't know what it's like, to suspect your own damn son of-...." The man didn't finish the sentence, scared that even the mention of it would be a bad omen. "It's not just about you Ben, even if we're wrong, the mere conjecture of it, keeping that to yourself, is terrible. Not only to the victim's families but you're also knowingly exposing Charlotte's kids, Alice's son, and my son...to a possible extremely disturbed individual." The sheriff flinched at the last few words, he knew deep down that she was right but denial and grief prevented him from admitting to the truth. "It's more than that, That boy... he's my own flesh and blood, I've seen him take his first steps, say his first words, heard his first laugh...He's my child, Layla, he never was...he never showed signs of..." The sheriff let out a shuddering breath as his thoughts got filled with images of the scarlet haired boy that he had raised.
The woman's gaze softened slightly as she took a step toward the man "I understand how you feel, but, He made his choices, He's eighteen. It's time to let him go. You did your best even when your wife passed away and Roy lost his mother, you kept trying to give him the best upbringing, but he might just be..." She shut her lips as she figured she was stepping into sensitive territory "But closing the case for the sake of...It's not fair, to the victims, the families, and the victims that will come. And we're not even certain that your son is the one behind it. It might just be some crazed sicko and our suspicion of your son is just a misunderstanding." The woman squeezed the male's shoulder as he glanced at her. "No, I have made up my mind, the case is closed."
The detective stared at the man with an unreadable expression. "Have you at least told Alice and Charlotte that their children might just be involved with a serial killer?"
"Have you told your son, Layla?" The woman stayed silent. "There we go, we both know why we won't tell them, those six were best friends since kindergarten, you know damn well how close they were, even after the accident, those four stayed together, and now that's Y/n is back, it appears that they are making up for lost time." The woman narrowed her eyes at the reminder of the dreaded thing that tore her family apart. "That's no excuse-" She rebuked. "Then tell Y/n! Tell Ezra, Nova, and Elio, tell them that one of their childhood friends is a serial killer, and see how that plays out. I heard that you asked them to bring Y/n home. Go back home and break the news to them while they're all there." The man snapped.
The woman shook her head in disappointment but said nothing further as she walked away. The sheriff was left in the stillness of the scene and took a moment to compose himself "Oh god." He put his head in his hands as he realized what he had just done. He took out a folded photograph from his inner pocket and opened it to stare with a longing look at the two people in. There was a woman with bright lime eyes smiling at the camera as she held a young boy around ten years old on her shoulders, the young boy gave a toothy grin while his mismatched eyes sparkled in the bright sun that reflected on the pair. The sheriff ran his finger over the picture. "You would know what to do if you were here, Gina." He sadly smiled before letting out a sigh and looked up "I don't know where I went wrong with him." The man confessed. Light raindrops hit his face as he reminisced about the past years.
.
.
.
Y/n was sitting on the sofa, idly looking around the space at his four friends before glancing out the sliding glass door leading out to the garden, it was late in the afternoon and the sky had gotten dark. 'I can't order takeout because none of the places are open at this time' The boy listened to the rhythm of raindrops tapping on the screen door. All the stores and other places closed when the nighttime set in, meaning that even if it was just afternoon when the sun went down, so did the stores. It was inefficient, it made shopping for groceries at the last minute, impossible.
Y/n supposed it was better safe than sorry, it was more riskier to be out after sundown. But then again, people had been murdered in broad daylight, so if you looked at it from a logical perspective, staying in this town itself was jeopardous. Moving away would be the sensible thing to do. Still, not everyone in Runswick wanted to move away, some have lived here for generations, have deceased family members buried at the local mortuary, and don't want to leave that behind and others just don't have anywhere else to go, so they take the chance.
'I wonder when exactly this all started, who was the first victim?' Y/n was snapped out of his thoughts by his scarlet-haired friend. "Are you sure you're okay, Y/n?" the h/c haired boy stared in bewilderment at the male as he tried to wrap his mind around the statement, "You were once again gawking out of a window for minutes, your habit of dozing off is inept." Elio's judgmental comment earned him an offended scowl from Y/n "First of all, ouch." The boy put a hand to his chest in an exaggerated manner. "Secondarily, what the hell did I do to you? He asked in a melodramatic voice that held an undertone of exasperation. Elio didn't reply, which further grated on the h/c haired's nerves.
"Don't worry about it. He's always like this, he doesn't mean it." Nova bolstered reassuringly. Y/n eyed the ash blond with suspicion as he doubted the legitimacy of the claim, He gradually looked aside, not wanting to create a confrontation, not before meeting eyes with the black eyed boy and sticking out his tongue as a final derisive gesture to the male. Elio's features remained characteristically deadpan. Y/n shifted his eyes past his friend to peek outside the glass barrier once more, his ears picking up the wailing of the wind flying through the branches of trees, serving as dreary background noise.
The poor weather conditions made his mind wander back to the duty of getting himself an evening meal and let out a weary grunt. "Y/n, seriously, what's up?" The h/c haired male tightened his lips into a line "Mom said I need to fix myself dinner since she'll be home late, but I can't cook and all the takeout places are closed." at the explanation of the boy's personal dilemma, Ezra stood up from his chair and flexed his knuckles before facing the h/c boy "I can go see if I can throw something if you want?" Hearing the ash blond's offer, Y/n peered toward him and gave him an affirmative nod. "Thanks, you can do your thing." he gestured toward the kitchen.
After Ezra had left the living space, Y/n noticed the tiredness that set in, all the exertion he had experienced the entire week was catching up. The chronic stress left him drained; he didn't want to acknowledge it at first, but following that day's incident, he could no longer deny the increasing fatigue scraping against his brain, slowly drowning out all thoughts, leaving behind fog and muscles sore while headaches became more frequent. His eyelids fell heavy, as he snuggled deeper into the soft fabric of the cushions and rested his head against the hard exterior of the wall.
"I'm going to take a few minutes to rest up. I'm exhausted" the boy mumbled to the other individuals in the room. Y/n's vision turned hazy as his lids fluttered over his sights. A voice sounded through his perception but his brain failed to register the words as a proper sentence while it drifted off to a state of inactivity.
The boy blinked open his eyes, once the drowsy layer was gone from his vision he glanced around and was stunned into disorientation as the guests he had allowed in were nowhere to be found. There was no evidence of anyone other than himself having occupied the place. Y/n furrowed his brows 'What the hell?' the male sharpened his senses to try to pick up on any indication of sound from the rest of the house, but it remained quiet--almost quiet.--- the wailing of wind had gotten louder, as though it was echoing off the walls of the enclosure. His e/c pupils snapped to the glass door.
It was open.
His brain started flaring alert signals and pumping blood to his veins as a premonition built up creating an unsettling atmosphere. Terror started squeezing in his chest making his lungs struggle to take in air. this fear reached it's peak once a figure appeared in his line of sight. Y/n tried to move his limbs but remained paralyzed. 'No, no no no.' the chant swirled around in his panicked mind. The person moved, they bent down to meet the frightened boy at eye level, the h/c haired stared at the dirty beige mask in mortification. his brain begged him to move, scream, to do something.
Y/n caught onto a swift motion from the intruder, and a flash of a silvery object flew toward his chest, the boy stared wide-eyed at the action. a knife was plunged into his ribcage, directly piercing his heart. Pain receptors coursed with agony as irreparable damage was done to his nerves and vital organ. Yet no sound could come out of the boy's throat, his eyes could only follow the movements of the intruder as they ripped the knife out of his chest, allowing blood to seep out of the gaping wound.
Y/n's pupils glanced down at his hands, they were covered in a coating of deep red, but something was wrong, his hands were blurry, his brain couldn't comprehend the limps in front of him. He lifted his gaze, and what he witnessed sealed the boy's fear, the intruder took out a camera and angled the lens toward the dying male. The last thing Y/n saw was the blinding flash of the cellular device.
Y/n bolted upright in a cold sweat, chills covering his body, his mind unable to process anything for a brief second as it remained in a state of shock, his eyes flew up, and he saw his visitors staring at him in bewilderment and worry. Ezra was about to give the male a plate of food but paused due to concern for the stunned male. Y/n didn't know what to make out of the situation, his thoughts were racing, too jumbled to make a distinctive move on his end, not wanting to worsen the stiff circumstance, he pulled his lips into a nervous smile to take the dish from the cook with trembling fingers.
"Thanks." Y/ didn't utter another word from his mouth, scared that every word after the gratitude would ultimately break down the thin wall of defense put up, exposing the anxiety and dread hiding behind. He knew they must suspect something, based on their concerned expressions, but the boy didn't want to affirm any of their suspicions, let alone have to explain the reasoning to his jittery display.
Ezra walked back to his seat next to his brother where his own plate was, without a word. Y/n put the plate of food down on his lap and picked up the utensils to prepare himself to dig into the meal, the aroma of spices filled his nostrils, yet as the male was about to take a bite, he stopped. There was an empty feeling in him, he instantly connected the dots, he lacked appetite. The previous hunger he felt was gone. The food itself looked delicious, so that couldn't be the problem, The problem was him. The utensils hovered over the dish as the boy glossed over the well-prepared meal, There was a feeling churning in his stomach, it was dreadfully familiar.
'No, It's not going to happen again, I won't allow it'
driven by determination in his spirits he began shoving down the nutrients, ignoring how the flavors tasted bland on his tongue with every bite, but refused to let his mental state control his actions. after swallowing down the last bite of food with force, he put the plate on the coffee table and moved his gaze up to look at his friends who were observing him with increasing worry. Y/n took note of how the four males and just begun with their respective meals and had just watched him gorge down an entire meal with difficulty.
"Are you alright Y/n? You seem very..." Nova couldn't find a suitable adjective that could accurately describe the boy's outburst. "Yes, I'm fine," Y/n replied in a higher tone. He didn't acknowledge the ice-blue eyed male further as he turned his gaze to Ezra "The food was great, thanks." he stated, to which Ezra gave him an appreciative warm smile.
Y/n peeked at the glass door, it was closed, but it didn't stop the boy from expecting it to slide open at any given moment. That nightmare he had, might've been fake, but the circumstances that played around it, were very much real. And that fact, frightened him more than any nightmare could.
Because he knew, that if the serial killer decided to hunt him down...those dreams were nothing compared to what he feared they would do to him.