September, 12, 2015
》》》》》

DAN HOWELL

The next day at work wasn't pleasing. It was supposed to be my day off, but what can I say? This police force is nothing without me, they couldn't put simple two and two together. I guess an emergency happened, otherwise why would they call me to the station?

"Hey Winston, did you do something new to your hair?" Drew calls over to me, I know it's me because Winston is the fake name I use, just so no one can link me back to Bridgeport. I turn around and look at him, the look of stress is evident in his features. What happened that would get him so worried? He was new coming police officer who still acted like he was in high school. Although his inability to be serious and his constant jokes is something that brought joy to the station it could hold us back at times.

"No, the fog makes it curly." I explain to him. That is the weird thing too, the whole town is cloudy making it seem like a ghost town. It's bizarre for Holistown, there hasn't ever been fog from what I gathered from locals.

"Oh, it's a nice look though. You could finally get a date." Drew jokes, I shoot him a serious look. It the same look I give him when he messes around during a meeting, it gets him to pipe down.

"Why was I called in? What happened?" I ask him, walking towards the meeting room. Although Drew isn't the best officer I still keep him as my partner. Let's just say he has a lot of dumb luck. He manages to say something stupid that actually helps at times and his ability to find something by accident is handy.

For example, in the last investigation he was able to find the gun used in a robbery. A man had robbed an elder man and stole all his goods. Drew had brought his dog over on the day we were at a suspect's house. It was a tradition for him to dig a hole for his dog to poop in, he believes it helps the soil. Once he dug a hole, he found a gun was buried. After sending the gun over as evidence it was proven to be the weapon used to kill the old man during the robbery.

"Well it seems someone was killed, it seems like the victim was tortured or something." Drew informs me.

"What type of torture? Can you clarify?" I ask him and he shakes his head.

"I wasn't told anything else." He sighs. "I was told to bring you to the meeting room as soon as possible." He brightens up. Whenever he gets a simple job he feels useful, maybe that's why I took him as my partner. He isn't big headed or smart, I feel better by comparison.

I rush to the meeting room, Drew trails behind me. I open the doors and see the chief and a few other people. Two woman and two men.

"Ah Winston, I'm so glad you could make it today. Hopefully I didn't interrupt any plans." The chief laughs. The chief was a humble man who looked as if he's in his fifties. He has kids I hear, I forgot exactly how many.

"Of course not. Let's skip to the point, who was murdered?" I rush him, I take a seat and Drew follows behind.

"Well Louise will be presenting the details." The chief spoke, he nods towards the blonde woman. She opens up her laptop and begins, looking towards me with a look of hesitance. Louise is a quiet woman who lost her fiancé two years ago, it seemed to have scarred her and she refuses to admit it. I could tell every single detail of it by just looking at her. He was killed, she doesn't know who killed him and the case was closed.

"Well, two nights ago, a man was murdered by an unknown person. He was killed in his basement on the edge of the town near the forest. Reports of screaming and crying were made by neighbors. Once police arrived they found the man was cut open and organ were taken. We sent him for an autopsy, and it revealed his left lung, kidney, and large intestine were taken. Also, it seemed someone had used a nail gun on his legs, and a stapler. Furthermore, his tongue was cut out with scissors, it seemed the scissors were dull and took several tries to cut it out. Lastly, a name was carved into his head, and the wall had a message on it." Louise informs everyone, she looks up at me for some sort of prediction.

I'm frozen in my spot, this sounds a bit too familiar for my liking. Is there someone out there who tortured people? Who is this person? I need to find them as quickly as possible. It starting to creep me out, this murder sounds like what Anne would do. There's no way though, it's just a coincidence.

"What was the name?" The chief asks Louise, she rips her eyes away from me and scrolls a bit on her laptop.

"Dan." The one word makes a lump form in my throat. That punches a hole in my coincidence theory. It's not about me, right? There's no way. No one knows my name in this town then who the fuck is this? It can't be...Anne right?

"Damn, that's one hell of a Valentine's gift." Drew jokes.

"Drew this is no time to joke." The chief scolds him. Drew's shoulders sag as Louise speaks again.

"The message on the wall was a bit messy but it was made out to be, 'I'm back, old friend' it was written with blood." Louise adds.

"Well maybe they wanted to sell the organs?" The man sitting across from me adds. His name's Ravi, he's been in the team for three years. He's a bachelor, and says he doesn't plan on changing it soon.

"Why would they write that message on the wall? Or use a nail gun on his legs?" Louise disagrees, Ravi sighs and writes down a few notes in his notebook.

"Winston, what do you think?" Ravi turns to me. I swallow the lump in my throat, and clear my throat.

"According to the autopsy, how were the organs removed? Were they cut out?" I ask Cindy, she reads around before answering.

"They seemed to be ripped out..." She states, everyone looks at me.

"Were chewed up chunks found on the scene?" I ask, trying to keep my calm composure.

"It doesn't seem like it...wait are you implying that someone ate his organs?" Louise asks, she looks at me like I'm crazy.

"Is the crime scene cleaned up yet?" I question and she shakes her head.

"Take me to the scene, I need to investigate." I demand, trying to make it seem like my world isn't falling apart. Can Anne really be back? I killed her, the demon exited her body and she's dead. She can't be alive. She can't.

"I don't think-" Louise begins to say but the chief cut her off.

"He's the top investigator in our team. We're going to the scene." The chief orders with force. Only Drew, Louise, and the chief follow behind as I rush out.

She can't be back. It's not her. Anyone could kill like that, but how the hell do they know my name? Who else could it be? PJ wouldn't come after me, he doesn't kill like that. Maybe it could be him.

"Are you ok? You look like you have a dick up your ass." Drew asks me, I groan at his comparison.

"Not now, Drew." I shoo him away, he frowns as he looks at me with worry.

"Do you really think this person ate his organs? I don't know anyone who would want to do that." Drew adds. Well, I sure as hell know someone who has eaten teeth, nails, and intestines but she's dead. PJ wouldn't do that, he's too full of himself to ever eat organs. It isn't confirmed that the organs were eaten though, but I bet they were. Can the really dead rise?

"This isn't the first time I've encountered that." I vaguely spoke.

Anne is dead. It's someone else. I have to find out who it is.

____

Who do you think it is?