I opened my eyes to a tree smashed on the front of the car. My head hurt badly, and I could feel blood running down my temple. I turned around looking for Casie. She was unconscious leaning against the back of the passenger seat.

I forced the door open, then ran to the other side to do the same with the back seat. I pulled Casie out and began walking away from the smoking car. I sat down by a tree with her in my arms trying to remove the fog from my brain to come up with a plan. Paul and the others would come quickly once they saw the smoke.

"Casie?", I tried to wake her up. "Casie?", she grunted making me feel relieved. "Casie, can you hear me?"

I could hear people coming our way, so I stood up and carried her away from there.

The adrenaline started wearing off as I walked, and I could feel pain in many parts of my body. Casie would probably wake up to a similar sensation, and I had forgotten to bring her meds with us. I was pretty sure there was something for pain in the bag.

The bag! Shit! All of our money was there. I barely had a few bucks in me, but not enough to pay a smuggler to take us out of here. I had to go back.

I gently laid Casie down and took a few steps away from her. There might be people near the car already, so I wouldn't be able to get into it without them noticing. Shit. I would have to find another way, and I had to do it quickly before the cops...

Casie groaned, so I walked back to help her sit. "Are you okay?", I asked as she slowly regained her consciousness.

She opened her eyes wide. The distorted face from before was back. "Hello, detective", she spoke in a raspy, demon-like voice. I fell back, startled. "Took me a while, but finally we meet", she was slowly standing up.

"Be careful. You could get hurt", I said trying to help her. I might be hallucinating because of the crash and until my vision went back to normal, I didn't want to scare her.

She dismissed my hand and started laughing. "She's gone."

Chills ran down my spine. That laugh. "I know you're startled, but..."

"Don't you hear what I'm saying? She's gone!"

"You should sit down. I'm going to go get our stuff and then..."

She grabbed me by the t-shirt violently. I swallowed. It was real, I wasn't hallucinating. "Stop with your stupid nonsense", she let go of me and pushed me to the floor.

"Who are you?", she ignored me. "Where is Casie? What did you do with her?", that damn laugh again. "WHERE IS CASIE?"

"You know, at this point, I thought you would understand the situation better."

"BRING CASIE BACK! I... You can have me instead. Just, bring her back...", tears started running down my cheeks. I didn't understand what was happening, but I could feel that Casie was in danger.

She approached me in a swift motion, our noses almost touching. "You're doomed, detective", she smiled.

"Take me, then! I have nothing to lose now. Just let her go. I will do whatever you say."

She laughed wickedly. "Don't you understand? SHE'S DEAD!", my heart sank. "SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD!"

Without thinking much of it, I tackled her down. "Leave her alone!", I was struggling to keep her down. "Casie, listen to me. You can do this. You need to fight this. You need to come back to me", she started laughing out loud. "You need to come back, please. I'm sorry I pushed you so much these past days. I'll be kinder and more considerate. Just, please, fight back".

The witch stopped laughing. Her face slowly disappeared, and Casie's soft features came back.

"Detective?"

"Yes! It's me. I'm here. I'm here. You need to fight to come back."

"Detective... Why...? Why are you so stupid?", the witch's face was back.

She pushed me away. I flew out and slammed the back of my head with a tree. She walked towards me and lifted me by the neck. I couldn't breathe. I was slowly losing consciousness.

I hit her on the chest with my knee as strong as I could. She released me and bent down from the pain, letting out a shriek.

I was coughing on the floor when I felt a kick in my stomach. Then another one. And another one. I tried to protect myself as best as I could. I didn't want to hurt her, I would hurt Casie too if I did.

She made me turn face up. She was holding a branch, her face filled with rage. She tried to stab me with it, but I stopped her with my hands. She started pushing it down with more strength. I couldn't hurt her. I couldn't.

I felt the branch breaking my skin and instinctively pushed her away with more force than I wanted.

I got up just in time to see her also standing up, her left arm was crooked, broken in two. The witch's face disappeared, and Casie came back screaming in pain. I ran to her.

"I'm so-sorry, detective. I-I didn't mean to", she claimed in the middle of her cry.

I hugged her carefully, trying not to hurt her arm. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. It's alright now.

***

Paul took a puff on his cigarette. He was tense, rock-hard tense. He knew smoking wouldn't help in this situation, but at least it would relieve a bit of the anxiety he was feeling.

Forensics were taking pictures of Casie's decomposed body lying on the bed of the hotel his friend was in a few days ago.

He knew he couldn't do much for him at this point, but at the same time, he wanted to protect him from all the consequences that his actions were about to bring to him. Lucas was like a little brother to him, putting him behind bars wasn't so easy for him to do, thus, he smoked.

Smoking sometimes had the effect of numbing him, especially after smoking a few packs in a row, and that's what he was going for this time. Maybe the process would be easier that way. Maybe he would even forget what happened and be a real detective instead of this bag of anxiety worried sick about his friend.

His phone rang, and he put out his cigarette with his shoe before answering.

"Carson."

"I'd like to report a murder", replied the male voice of his partner softly, emotionless.

"Lucas! Where are you? I've been searching for you everywhere!"

"She's been dead for half an hour..."

"Listen, I know you think I'm against you, but it's not like that. Let me help you, kiddo... Kiddo? Are you there...?", he hung up. "Shit!", he tried calling back with not much success. The operator kept saying the number didn't even exist. Maybe he could ask someone to track down the phone or...

"Paul, I think we found him", one of his colleagues announced.

The night was coming down as he hurried to the mountains. The sky wasn't dark yet, but the trees were so dense it made it feel like it was midnight already. The soil was wet, so walking there made a muddy mess.

He followed the trail of officers, firefighters, and paramedics to a tree bathed in blood with a male body resting on it, his left arm crooked, broken.

Cigarettes. Yes, he had to get some cigarettes. He needed a smoke to numb the pain he was feeling now. He had to be a detective, he couldn't get emotional. He pulled one out of his pocket and placed it on his lips while searching for his lighter with his shaking hand. He knew it was going to be hard, but not this fucking hard.

"He won't let us move him", a paramedic announced.

"What?", the cigarette he had put on his mouth fell to the ground. "He's alive?"

"And conscious. But won't let anyone approach him. We thought you might...", he couldn't hear the rest. He was trying to be professional, but the emotions filled him up before he could stop them, making him run and kneel next to him, to his little brother.

"Kiddo?"

Lucas lifted his head just enough to show his friend his darkened eyes and distorted smile.

"Hello, detective."

THE END