The Unseen, Chapter 3: Demon

“One must keep the lines between monster, beast, and anomaly a well defined and impassable barrier. Not only may it save your life, but it may relieve you from any mental burdens you may carry as well.”

~Hunter's Manual




A pitch black town near the rushing waters of a lake sat silently in the dull moonlight, its glow only just illuminating its cold surfaces.

A woman's horrible scream tore through the sky.




Many miles to the east, Kris, out of his soaked clothing and in a fresh wardrobe, walked through a grey cement hallway with a plastic container in his hand. He passed a couple doors with the inscriptions “OIB” and “RIB” on each. At the end of this hallway sat one final door, simply inscribed with “HB” in black lettering on the wooden door's brown surface. With a creak, the door opened to a large, mostly empty lobby area. A single caged light bulb hung from the ceiling above a desk. The desk's top was almost completely obscured by a variety of papers and folders, all except for the part occupied by the computer monitor, which sat to the side of the desk's middle. Behind this almost mountain-like collection of documents was a stressed looking blue bird monster wearing large glasses and a plain white shirt.




“Hey, Berdly.”

“Ah, heya. Back from the case?”

“Yeah, dropping off the body.”

“Er- well why didn't you just drive in the back?”

In response, Kris lifted the plastic container he was holding and placed it on the desk, revealing its contents to be nothing more than a scrap of flesh.

“... Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Th-That's all that was left?”

“Not really, but you would've gotten the same results with anything else I picked up.”

“Is it supposed to be like this?”

“It... had a body at some point.”

“What happened to it?”

“Susie. I don't really feel like elaborating.”

“Yeesh. Alright, I'll find something to fill the paperwork with. What did it end up being?”

“Looked like a tall human lady with long black hair. Seems to be able to replace people with mimics, and teleport whatever they mimicked closer to them in a heavily sedated state. The mimics can do simple actions and very simple speech, but become less convincing as time passes. I was able to control my mind but my body was under its control, and it could possibly cause hallucinations. I think it was able to get me because I opened a window, but I wasn't able to recollect much before it happened. It moved... oddly. Slow, almost elegant on the tips of its feet, as if it was near weightless, or underwater. Its hair floated upwards as well, and waved upwards as if submerged in liquid. It was defeated from a single cleaver strike to the temple, though a fair amount of... effort was put into killing it thoroughly.”




Berdly wrote in a notebook for a few seconds before clicking his pen and placing it aside.

“Well, that's that, Kris. Anything else you need?”

“Yeah. I was wondering if we could schedule a break starting tomorrow, for five days.”

Berdly glanced at his computer monitor.

“Y'know it's gonna be tomorrow in, like... ten minutes, right?”

“I know, but this is sort of important. I hate doing this to you on such short notice, but-”

“Nah, nah, don't worry about it. We got some replacement teams sent in today, and they look pretty capable. I'm sure I could slip in a few days for you two. Besides, with the increased call volume settling down you should be fine.”

“Thanks.”

“Though, uh, I gotta ask. Where are you heading to?”

“Gonna spend some time in Black Falls. Not sure if we're staying the full five days there, but we might. I'll keep you updated.”

“Alrighty. Stay safe, and keep your badges on you.”

With that, Kris turned and walked through the door behind him and entered the hallway once more. Just before reaching the door on the other side, a tall, dark figure emerged from the crevice between the double doors ahead of Kris. The moment Kris recognized the figure, his blood froze.




A tall, slender man cloaked entirely in a full-body black suit with various layers of bullet proof armor stepped into the hallway. Not a single fleck of skin was visible, everything was covered in a dark fabric of some sort. The cold, unreadable stare that pierced through the small goggles on his face sent shivers through Kris. Any intentions in the stare Kris returned were lost in the darkness of the space behind the goggles, as if they were black holes of emotion or feeling. Various test tube-like vials hung from the oddity's waist and around his body. Each tube was filled with some sort of dark liquid. Across his chest was a bandoleer which held large golden bullets with dark red tips that clinked softly as he took heavy, steel-toed steps toward Kris, stopping just before him. Kris steeled his nerves as swiftly as he could.




“Good evening, Sir.” Kris barely managed to mutter.

He nodded, and stomped past. Once Glare had exited the hallway through the door Kris had entered from, Kris breathed a sigh of relief and stepped through the doors in front of him. Seeing the head of any division was a rare sight, but Glare had the unique trait of being one of the scariest living things on the planet. This, on top of being the head of the most violent division of their organization, the Hunting Bureau, made him an intimidating presence to behold.




Kris descended the steps in front of the nondescript building that housed their operations and made his way down the sidewalk to the van. Hopping in the driver's seat, he looked to his left and found Susie in a half awake state, leaning back in her seat. She wore a more civilian styled set of clothing, as opposed to the organization's standard attire. In a plain white shirt and blue jeans, he remarked in his head that it had been a while since he had seen her in such casual attire. Kris sighed once again and started the vehicle, whereupon it whirred to life.

“You look like you saw a ghost.” Susie muttered.

“Just Glare.”

“Oh, shit. He say anything to you?”

“Nope.”

“Ahh, I should've known... Shit. If Glare's in there, some seriously dangerous stuff is around.”

“At least we won't run into it, if they're smart and have the barricades up already.”

“Yeah... We're sleeping at the usual place tonight?”

“Yep, just outside of town.”

“Cool. Wake me up when we get there.”




Susie let her head rest against the window and took a deep breath before shutting her eyes. Kris pulled out of their parking spot and began their drive out of the city. The usual spot for their sleep was a cozy middle class inn straddling the city limits, and had sheltered them for innumerable nights. The late night drives were always calm, as Kris took a less travelled path to the inn through some industrial areas further from the city's centre.




As Kris drove, he took note of the night sky which was blotted out by light pollution and skyscrapers that etched black squares into the starscape. Twenty minutes passed until Kris pulled into the parking lot of the inn, not yet turning the van off. A neon sign reading “Leadliner”, written in cursive, lit up the gravel and interior of the van, in a dim reddish light.




Kris turned to his side and gently shook Susie's shoulder.

“Hey, we're here.”

Susie hardly even grumbled.

“Come on, we've got warm beds inside for us.”

A slurred “But I'm comfy” crawled from her lips.

“We have to get into some new clothes. Susie-”

And then, the gentle snoring started.




Kris retracted his hand from her shoulder and sighed in defeat. He sat for a second before getting out of the car, ran to the back of the van, and returned with a grey blanket. He set the blanket on the middle compartment and then pulled the van out of the red light cast by the inn's sign. Kris parked the van in the darkest spot in the parking lot, and turned the van's ignition off. Silence settled in afterwards. Pulling the blanket up to his shoulders and letting the backrest lean down, Kris settled into his makeshift bed and slept the night away.




Susie's eyes shot open to the sound of distant thunder, and what met them was a soft ray of white sunlight peeking through a hole in a wooden roof. Examining the strange, new environment that she had been placed in, she found she was perched on a pile of hay. Rusted metal tools of all sorts surrounded her, all of which were held inside a wooden shed about five meters across in each direction. Many of the boards that made up the shed's roof were missing.




Susie could hear the soft clash of waves against a cliff side, though the sound was far in the distance. Susie got up in confusion and realized she was no longer in her usual casual attire, instead, she wore a faded yellow tee-shirt, black jeans, and well worn brown shoes. Her hair felt scraggly and unkempt to the touch.




“Where am I?” She muttered under her breath. Most dreams her brain conjured involved her remembering her past, but this place felt completely unfamiliar to her. She realized she was in a dream very quickly after waking inside it, so why hadn't she woken up? Susie stepped to the wooden door in front of her and grasped the brown metal handle, first attempting to push, then to pull. Neither resulted in the door opening. For a few moments, she slammed her shoulder into the door, but that only yielded similar results. In one last attempt, she put an immense amount of power into a kick aimed at the part of the door closest to the handle. A wave of pain scrambled the nerves in her leg as she fell to the floor, the door unmoved. She laid on the floor for a few moments, pondering why she even attempted to interact with anything in the facade of her subconscious.




Getting to her feet once more, Susie examined her settings in better detail. The rusted tools seemed to be for a very specific purpose. Many pickaxes and shovels lined the walls, with empty boxes of explosives sitting in inches of dust in a corner. An aged, assumedly nonfunctional pneumatic rock drill rested on its side next to an axe. Mining tools. She grabbed a pickaxe off the wall and took a deep breath, positioning herself in front of the door. The aged wood of the axe shaft felt brittle in her hands, but she held onto hope that it would be enough to break her way out of the shed. Susie wound up a swing and let it loose onto the door. It finally gave, and in quite the dramatic fashion. The door simply shattered into wooden shrapnel that shot out onto the grass in front of it. Susie panted from putting a bit more effort into the swing than was needed.




Keeping the tool firmly gripped in her hands, Susie walked out of the shed and was immediately assaulted by heavy winds. Squinting as she looked to her right, what she would assume as south, she saw a winding road surrounded by cliffs that rose high above it. The same cliffs surrounded one side of the clearing she was in, while the other side of the clearing ended in a steep drop off a perilous cliff, where the raging white waters of the ocean splashed upon the rocks at the bottom.




To Susie's left, at the edge of the cliff, sat a tall white lighthouse with thick red stripes that ran vertically down to its base. The light didn't seem to be functional as far as she could tell, but her eyes were more focused on what the lighthouse sat in front of. A massive, dark grey thundercloud flashed sporadically in the distance, far above the ocean's surface. The sound of distant rain and thunder seemed to grow closer by the second as her surroundings darkened. She felt her body losing strength, her every muscle and tendon deteriorating until-




Susie's eyes fluttered open once more to the sight of trees rushing past her window. A yawn escaped her mouth as she stretched her arms as far above her head as they would reach until they hit the ceiling of the van.

“Finally decided to wake up, huh?” Kris prodded.

“Ugh, how long was I asleep for?”

“Well you fell asleep just after I started driving to the hotel, and it's about noon right now, so...”

“Twelve hours...? Damn.”

“Yep.”

“So why do I still feel like shit?”

“Because you slept in the car, instead of getting up like I told you to?”

“... Maybe.”

“Absolutely.” Kris replied with a smirk and an eye roll. “Eat a burger, that'll make you feel better.”

Susie looked to her left and found a brown paper bag sitting between the seats. Her eyes lit up instantaneously. She dug into the bag with zeal and pulled out a burger about the size of her fist, and nearly tore right through the wrapping before stopping herself.

“You, uh-”

“I had my two already. Dig in.”




Susie smiled happily and tore through the wrapping, to the priceless food underneath, taking a few big bites without hesitation. The lettuce and tomatoes crunched with each bite, and within a minute, the burger was gone. The stray sauce and mayonnaise that leaked onto the wrapper Susie had placed on her lap was quickly wrapped up and thrown back in the bag, while she retrieved another burger and repeated the process.




The leaves, the branches, and the light that flowed through both flickered and flew past the car as they began driving up a small incline in the road. Susie sat back in her seat and let the satisfaction flow through her.




“So, I'm gonna guess we got the day off?”

“We got five days off.”

“Bullshit, really?”

“Yep, we got really lucky this time. Helps that we've barely asked for breaks before. I was surprised that wasn't your first question last night, actually.”

“I was tired, and you looked like you didn't have any blood left in your body. It was kinda distracting, y'know?”

“I wasn't that scared.”

“... Yeah, you were. So, where are we heading, anyways?”

“That, I'm leaving a surprise. Shouldn't be too much longer, though, in fact-”




Just as those words left his mouth, a green sign on the side of the road caught her eye.

“BLACK FALLS

2KM”

“Black falls? Damn, dude. We haven't been here since we were kids. Remember that field trip?”

“You mean the only one our school could afford? Yeah. It's a bit more of a tourist trap now, but as far as I know it's still a nice place to visit.”




Mere seconds later, the treeline on Susie's side of the road stopped, and gave way to a gorgeous view of a small town situated next to a sinkhole, the town being on one side and the van being on the other, with a road that ran along the hole's edges. Susie looked down to the pitch black waters in the sinkhole, her eyes trailing up the similarly dark, multiple waterfalls that flowed from the town's rivers.




On the field trip many years before, Kris and Susie had learned that Black Falls was known in the past as a concentrated point of paranormal activity, due mostly in part to the water that turned black as soon as it entered the town's premises. More mundane paranormal activity, such as spirit sightings and moved objects, of course. Nothing akin to the beasts and anomalous objects more commonly known to the organization were as widely known at the time, nor presently. This was due to the best efforts of the organization to keep the more dangerous and mass hysteria inducing creatures at bay and out of the public eye, only to be dealt with by agents like Kris and Susie. A few select incidents had been rumoured to slip through the cracks, however, though details on these were kept far away from the eyes of Susie or Kris.




Too many eyes to close. Too many mouths to shut.




Despite many researchers investigating the waters of Black Falls over the years, it was concluded time and time again that there was nothing natural causing this effect. This water flowed in from Lake May, which the town was built on the coast of. The town was originally much larger, but in a time far before either Kris or Susie's, half of the town had sunk into a cavern that the town had unknowingly built many structures on top of. Many lost their lives, and this accident only strengthened people's beliefs in the town's status as an epicentre for the supernatural. Despite this, many flocked there regardless. As long as the land between the sinkhole and the lake didn't rupture, and as long as the town sunk no further, it would continue to draw traffic.




Once Susie and Kris had driven to the town limits, they parked just before a large forest-camo coloured military truck that was parked across the width of the road. On each side of the road, two armed guards stood stoically and watched the van intently. One a large brown bear monster wearing glasses, the other, a younger looking human with short black hair. Both dressed head to toe in military armour and fatigues, and wielding imposing semi automatic weapons.

“They have em here too? Geez.” Susie muttered.

“You have your badge on you, right?”

“Yeah.”




The bear spoke first, walking to the driver-side window of the van.

“Drivers licenses and IDs please.”

Instead of either, Susie and Kris took out small black cards. On one side, a single red strip cut diagonally from the top left to bottom right corner. On the other, red text on a black background read “HB”. They handed their cards to the bear, who instinctively took out his flashlight, pressed it against one of the card's sides, and turned it on. Out the other side, a red light in the shape of the “HB” lettering mixed with the red stripe shone against the door of the black van, along with words “Kris Dreemurr”. He handed the card back to Kris, doing the same thing with Susie's card. “Susie Gardon” shone out from the backside of the card, which was quickly returned to Susie.

“Good to go. Enjoy your stay.” The bear confirmed.

“Thanks.” Kris replied.




The bear gave a thumbs up in the direction of the truck's front. The vehicle soon revved up thunderously, and drove forward off of the road. Kris and Susie passed the truck as they drove into Black Falls. Passing the town's limits, they were quickly surrounded by aged, but stable buildings. The faded, once vibrant paint of the surrounding area gave off a strange feeling of nostalgia which both Susie and Kris felt deeply. When they had come here many years before, banners and flags of all kinds hung from building to building and flapped proudly above rooftops and balconies. It seemed to be a somber time for the town now, which left them wondering what could dampen the spirits of the town this severely. In addition to a lack of decorations being present, the townspeople themselves were oddly absent as well. Few people or monsters wandered the streets, and those few that did walk the streets wore faces that reflected their dull environment.




“Wow.” Kris remarked. “This place is a lot less colourful than I remember.”

“Yeah, I barely remember it at all, but even I remember more colour.”

“You think that was just nostalgia?”

“Nah, something's wrong.”

“Hm, wanna go somewhere else?”

“No, no, it's fine.”

“Are you sure? I'd hate for our time off to be this depressing.”

“Nah, really, it's fine. Let's just find a diner and have some coffee.”

“Alright.”

Within a few minutes a diner came into their sight. A small, unassuming restaurant just before the edge of a waterfall that drained into the sinkhole. “Darryl's Delights” shone in pink cursive neon atop a sign pole in the middle of the parking lot. Overshadowing the diner from across the sinkhole was a five storey hotel. Dark wood with a golden trim around each window and balcony forced a fairly imposing feeling upon Susie and Kris as they stepped out of the van. A harsh breeze ripped through the air atop the cliff side as they walked to the metal railing just before the waterfall.




As expected, the water was pitch black, just like last time they were here. It was nearly unreal how the liquid seemed to take all the light from its surroundings. Not even the sun could reflect off the water's surface. Susie's hair blew sporadically in the high winds while Kris' relatively short hair gently raised and lowered on the breeze.

“You ever gonna cut that thing? Or put it in a ponytail at least?” Kris prodded.

“Nah, dude. This is like, part of my identity.”

“Doesn't help much when ya can't see.”

“I can see just fine, thank you!” Susie shot back playfully. “You're one to talk, mister 'brooding anime protagonist'.”

“You call me that again and I'll beat your ass.” Kris chuckled.

“As if you could.”

“... I'd give it a good try, at least.”




The two sat in silence for a while, letting the ambience of the blue sky and rushing water say all that was needed for that moment. Eventually, however, there was something weighing on their minds that needed to be said. The quiet was nice, but unusual to say the least.

“Slow day.” Kris deadpanned.

“Yeah. I wonder what's going on.” Susie remarked with an air of inquisitiveness.

“Not sure.”

“Maybe we should ask the guys inside?”

“Maybe, just don't get too into it, alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, don't get wrapped up in anything too serious.”

“Why's that?”

“It's our week off, remember? If we do find something suspicious, we'll call in about it, but as far as everyone else is concerned we're off the grid right now.”

Susie sighed a bit and looked to the water.

“Yeah, I get ya.”

“Besides, we deserve this.”

Gently patting her shoulder, he gave her a reassuring look that said more to her than any actual words could. Susie could only nod in response.

“Now,” Kris sparked, retrieving his hand and letting it retreat into his pocket. “Let's head inside.”




A high pitched bell rang through the quaint, checker-board floored diner. The red seated, floor mounted stools squeaked softly as Kris and Susie sat together. The pristine red marble shone gently from the sunlight outside as they watched a tall mechanical monster of sorts walk out from the back. A tall, humanoid, steel automaton stomped to the counter. Said stomps very subtly shook any objects near it with its weight. Pipes and wires untidily hung from its back, somewhat covered by a steel sheet. Its front side was much more professional, however, being mostly flat, polished steel. A large, but dim spotlight acted as its head, a dull orange glow emitted from within the glass. Both Susie and Kris were rather surprised, but mostly Susie, as valiantly as she attempted not to show it. Robots, and mechanical monsters in general, were rarer than most, so seeing one in such a public setting was an uncommon sight.




“Welcome.” An older male sounding voice rang through a small speaker in the monster's collarbone area.

“Hey, you're Darryl?” Susie asked.

“No, ma'am. Darryl is unable to come into work today, so I am covering for him. I'm covering for everyone, actually, so apologies for the slow wait times or lack of service.”

“Huh. What happened?”

“Strict curfew. Lavender Telson, Seventeen, went missing three weeks ago. This place, despite its rather touristy nature, has quite the close-knit community. This sort of thing doesn't happen often. They're still looking for whoever did it.”




Both Kris and Susie could feel the grimness of the statement.

“That would explain the heavier military checkpoint outside of town.” Kris remarked.

“Apologies if this put you off of our town.”

“No, no, it's fine.”

“... I suppose I should've taken your orders first. Apologies again, I am... quite inexperienced with working in the front.”

“No worries.” Susie sighed. “I don't suppose you have any chalk on hand, do you?”

“Chalk? As in-”

“Yeah, sidewalk chalk is best, but any kind will do. If not, uh... Well, what do you recommend? I'm really just looking for a drink and a snack.”




For future reference, Susie thought, it was probably ill advised to ask a robot with no mouth what food it would recommend. Luckily, he didn't make it a bigger deal than it was.

“For drinks, our cocoa is made from the finest ingredients available, topped with whipped cream. I've also been told our cherry pie is to die for.”

Susie grinned and looked to Kris, who returned her expression with a far softer smile.

“That sounds good to me.” Susie said with a hint of enthusiasm.

“Wonderful. And you?” The waiter asked, gesturing to Kris.

“I'll have a pie too, but with a coffee instead. Three cream, three sugar.”

“It will be prepared shortly. Your total comes to thirteen dollars and forty five cents.”




The meal, if you could call it that, was quite heavily enjoyed by the pair, to the point that they had to restrain themselves from ordering seconds. A perfectly sweetened cherry flavor exploded through their bodies and brains, leaving them both heavily satisfied, not to mention the exquisitely brewed coffee and hot chocolate. Kris made a note to return with haste on their next visit. With a fully satisfied pallet, they retired to one of the booths that faced the side of town closest to Lake May. On one side of the soft red booth, Kris nonchalantly read a newspaper that had been placed on the table, while Susie peered out the window at the rest of town. She looked to the buildings that just barely rose up above a couple stories at most, the rivers that ran between some, and the bridges that ran over-top the rivers. An adequately relaxing view at the very least, but Susie couldn't help but wonder how serene it could've been had the circumstances been different.

Just her luck, she thought.




“Any word in the papers about that kidnapping business?” Susie asked, her eyes unaverted from the window.

“Nope, this is up to date, too.”

“Huh. I guess in a small town word travels quickly enough with stuff like this. Or maybe they just don't want to arouse suspicion? Three weeks, though... Seems like a long time to keep something like this out of the press.”

“Yeah.”

“Think this could be our department?”

“Susie.”

“Right, sorry. It's just... weird, you know?”

“Yeah. Look, let's drive around town for a bit, see what there is to look at and relive some memories. Then we'll head to that hotel and rest. Get us into some new clothes, and hopefully into a new state of mind.”

“That... sounds nice, actually.”

“Let's head out then.”




With their goodbyes said to the waiter, they left and hopped in their van, going about their day.




Unusually fast, the day did saunter on as the pair wandered the near empty streets, stopping at the occasional antique shop and thrift stores. Of course, one of these destinations was to be the gift shop, despite Kris nor Susie enjoying the prospect of seeing very real creatures and fears reduced to plushes and figures. Though they could hardly blame them, maybe familiarizing the public with these things could dampen their effect in some way, and besides, it was doubtful most of the public knew of their existence at all. Regardless, not a cent was given as the pair walked out of the shop and into their van. On their way to the hotel to have a rest, Susie took note of a side path that she hadn't noticed earlier, only a short distance from the hotel.




“Hey, slow down.” Susie urged. Kris pulled alongside a sidewalk, and both took note of a tall white monument at the end of a road that led away from the sinkhole and into a small forest of sorts.




Curious, Kris drove down the road to the strange memorial. A white stone cube served as a base for a rectangular tower that stretched at least a couple dozen meters into the air. Halfway up the monument, the rectangle began to rotate into a sort of screw-like form, tapering off into the disgustingly sharp top. The structure was surrounded by a large, very well kept clearing of grass. The front of the monument had an inscription that left an unnerving feeling within them.




“Lavender Telson, 17

We hope and pray for your return.




To all you could have been.”




They didn't speak, but the feeling of loss within them said enough. Kris solemnly turned the van around and began to drive back to their original destination. After a day of roaming the town, the effect of sub-optimal sleeping schedules began to weigh heavily on their bones as they drove into the parking lot of a certain “Sleeping Waters Hotel”. Multiple suburban houses lined the side of the street opposite the hotel, making it easily the most crowded part of the town. The sun dipped halfway below the horizon and showed no signs of stopping as the clamour of shoes upon gravel signalled Susie and Kris' arrival, both of them carrying black suitcases. The hotel towered over them imposingly, as if it somehow knew how comparatively insignificant they were to its size. The sound of softly squealing metal reverberated through the hotel lobby as the windowed dark wood doors peeled open to welcome them.




The lobby was not unlike any other relatively high class hotel, featuring detailed, yet abstract paintings stretched across the impeccably well polished wooden walls. Sofas of various pastel colours surrounded wooden coffee tables with glass centres, hosting at least one fake plant in a vase on each. The receptionist, a very blocky grey stone monster with a dark blue eye in the middle of its head, greeted them, and they quickly got assigned to a room. A host of identical red-carpeted hallways and stairs led, eventually, to their space.




What immediately jumped out to both of them was a third floor view of the sinkhole through a large window. Never getting the chance to see it from such an altitude, the rushing black waters of the town's rivers and waterfalls mixed with the clear blue waters of Lake May all glistened off the buildings and windows made for a rather serene sight. Clouds approached on each side of the town and surrounded the area in a quickly gathering storm. The rest of the pair's room was quite typical, consisting of separated beds with an end table between them, a large television, and a door to the bathroom. Kris sat on one of the bed's side as Susie flopped onto the other, stretching her limbs out and sighing in relief.




“Man, you were right. We do deserve this.”

“Told ya.”

“Thanks for this. Really. I uh... Didn't realize how much I needed it.”

“You're welcome. It's nice to break out of the routine.”

“As much as you love your routines, right?”

“Hey, I like sticking to what I know.”

“Well I'm gonna stick to this bed and watch TV.”

“You do that. I'm gonna go take a shower and brush my teeth.”

Kris took his suitcase into the bathroom and was about to close the door before quickly asking something.

“Need in here before I shower?”

“Nah, I'm good.”




Susie knew it was going to be quite a bit before she saw Kris again, so she switched the television on. Not caring enough to switch it from the channel it was already on, Susie kept the TV on the news channel for the local area. She knew nothing from her organization would ever show up on there, nor any news station for that matter, so it was interesting peering into a world where it almost felt like they didn't exist. Because to the world at large, they might as well not. The amount of effort that went into ensuring this scared her, and though he didn't want to admit it, it made Kris' skin crawl as well. As far as Susie knew, neither of them understood the full extent to which the organization's hands reached. Anyone who spoke out, released videos, or even made public comments about their work was quickly silenced. Their minds were changed, either by persuasion or force.




Susie attempted to breathe deeply to expel the stress from her body, and focus on the TV. Dozens of minutes went by as the evening turned to night, and the sound of water rushing through pipes remained. Kris had always favoured long showers, and it wasn't hard to see why considering the various, sometimes copious amounts of undesirable fluids and parts that could end up on a person in his and Susie's line of work.




A new sound manifested outside Susie's window as well, in the form of a heavy rain. A weather forecaster dully spoke about the upcoming storm in the Black Falls area before the news cast suddenly cut to two different news anchors, a male and a female human. This shook Susie out of her trance and drew her full attention.




“Hello Black Falls County.” The male news anchor said in a wavering tone. “We're here with you tonight to bring incredibly unfortunate news. This... may come as a shock to all residents within our humble town and the neighbouring ones, as such I highly suggest you prepare yourself.”




The newscaster paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing.




“Yesterday, at nine in the evening, the body of seventeen year old Lavender Telson was discovered in the basement of Zachary and Harry Jacob's house. The offenders have been arrested and confined accordingly in Black Falls Police Department, and are currently awaiting-.




And that's when the screaming began.