Hope in the Hearth

by Jacob Raya

  “Oh my God! Babe!”

  “I know! Hold on! So I wanted to get out of there, but I had to take a picture for the police. Scary enough, and what I found the creepiest and oddest thing was that his eyes, nose, and ears were missing.”

  “Babe! You have got to be lying. Please tell me you’re lying!”

  “I’m not! It’s the solid truth! He was missing those parts of his body and also had scratch marks on his foot and blood all over his body. After that, I rushed out of there, got my groceries, and came back here-”

  “What?” She jumped in again, not allowing me to finish my thought.

  “Babe, I would have left right away. What is wrong with you? Why would you stay there? You could have been hurt! Let alone killed by whoever killed that poor guy!” Rebecca was clearly distraught, and she started wringing her hands with worry and anxiety, her brow furrowed in despair.

  “I knew what the circumstances were, but I had to make a police report. It was the best and right thing to do.”

  “I know it was for the best, and as you say, the right thing to do, but you could have just left it all alone and let someone else discover the body, maybe even the police!”

  “I couldn’t have. It would have been bad enough for that man to have no justice for who killed him. Plus, no one else may have come across his body, and the police wouldn’t have been contacted!”

  “Well, it’s good that you made the police report. When are we going to meet the police? Or when are they going to start the investigation?”

  “In a few hours from now. Since I told them it was a homicide, they were on top of it right away and are taking it into their hands immediately.”

  “Oh, okay. I’ll go with you.”

  “What? Why? You should stay here and get ready for your new job!”

  “No, I don’t think I’ll go in today, it can wait. Besides, I could find another one or tell them that I had an urgent emergency, like getting sick or family problems.”

  “Why? You don’t have to do that, honey. Just go to your job interview, and I’ll take care of it. Also-”

  “I’m not taking that, Matt!” she cut me off again, almost angrily. “I want to go with you, and you're not going to stop me! I want to be with you in case anything happens, since what you told me seems a bit terrifying even for the police to investigate.”

  “Okay! Fine! I can’t stop you, and I know I can’t no matter how hard I try! So you might as well tag along!”

  “I was hoping you would say that! So are we leaving right now?”

  “No, wait!”

  “What?”

  “Do you hear that?”

  “No?”

  “My phone is ringing in the bedroom! Hurry, go get it.”

  “Just leave it alone-”

  “Never mind, I’ll go get it!” I answered the phone, and the officer told me that I needed to be there in a few minutes.

  “Whoa!”

  “What is it, babe?”

  “The police said they want us there right now. They need us to leave the house and go straight to the station.”

  “Okay, then we have to go.”

  “Grab the things you may need; we might be there for quite some time.”

  “Why? For how long?”

  “I don’t know, just grab them anyway.”

  Rebecca and I gathered our belongings and got into the car, ready to go to the station.

  “We need to stop fighting like this, Matt.”

  “Well, I mean, a lot of couples fight. Almost every couple on this destructive planet fights! There is, in fact, too much fighting in relationships between two lovers. Just love each other under any circumstance!”

  “But that’s what couples do. They fight. And then they get over it. Mainly because one doesn’t agree with the other on an opinion or something that may be important to the family.”

  “Yeah, that’s true, but just why? All this hassle and for what? It doesn’t get us anywhere!”

  “Well, I do know for a fact in my heart that when we fight there will always be a good outcome, and it’s usually much better than the conflict we may have had!”

  “I know you're right, honey, but we’ve just got to focus on what we want out of our relationship. Simply love one another, and we should be fine. Does that sound fair?”

  “It does, plus, we need to stop yelling at each other so much. I’m pretty sure our blood pressure is already high from what you’ve seen and what you’ve told me.”

  “I’m hoping that isn't true, but you're right more often than me the way that a woman always gets the last say.”

  “Well, almost every time.” She glanced at me and smiled, and I squeezed her hand as we drove to the station.

  2

  The Report

  Even though Rebecca and I vowed not to fight for the rest of the day, we still ended up breaking more promises that we made. Sometimes arguments can make relationships fall apart. I just hoped that didn’t happen between us. For now, we had more significant problems on our hands.

  “I told you, Rebecca, you didn’t have to come along with me.”

  “But you don’t know how long we're going to be there?” Rebecca asked.

  “No, I don’t. I’m sorry to tell you, but it’s possible we could be there for half the day.”

  “What? I have some things to do, but if it’s that urgent, then I’ll have to wait.”

  “I have some stuff to do as well, but I made the call, and they wanted both of us to be there.”

  “Yeah, I know. Just focus on driving.”

  We arrived at the station with two officers waiting at the front.

  “Hey, how’s it going?” the police officer said to the both of us.

  “Pretty good, Officer, and yourself?”

  “Doing good, doing quite good, actually. You said your name was Matt, if I’m not mistaken?”

  “Yes, and this is my fiancé, Rebecca.”

  “Okay, so you were the one that made the call last night about a possible homicide?”

  “Yes, but Officer, I guarantee you, it’s a case you’ve never seen before in the history of homicides in this town.”

  “Well, when you gave us those details we immediately sent an officer over there to investigate. He came back all in one piece, but had a few blood stains on him.”

  “What? Blood stains, Officer?”

  “It was from the victim when he returned.”

  “Oh, that makes sense.”

  “Save the excitement for later. We're going to take you in and ask you a series of questions about the incident. More importantly, about the victim and who and how they may have been killed.”

  “Okay, sure. Sounds good, Officer. Does my fiancé need to answer any questions?”

  “At this point, no. Since you were the one that made the call and were the only witness, you’re the only one we need. But, if she would like to help in any way, she is more than welcome to. Now, follow me and we’ll get started. By the way, there are refreshments. So if you start to get bored, they’re at your disposal.”

  We walked into the station, and it wasn’t that crowded considering it was a Saturday, but it was early in the morning, so not many people were going to be up at this time.

  “Okay, you two can have a seat, refreshments are right outside to your right. We’ll keep the door open in case you’d like to help yourself, and the restrooms are at the last door to the right at the end of the hall.”

  “Okay, thank you so much, Officer.” We sat ourselves down, and the chief walked in.

  “Hey, Matt! How you doing on this fine day?”

  “Pretty good.”

  “And I see that you brought your lovely lady here as well!”

  “Yeah, she wanted to join me.”

  “Well, there isn’t any harm in that, now is there. The more help we can get, the better!”

  The chief was an amiable guy, and almost every family in the town knew him.

  “You ready to start, Matt?” />
  “Yes.”

  “Okay. So the first question is what led you to that area in the first place? It may seem that you already told us this information over the phone last night, but we want to clarify it.”

  “Yeah, it’s no problem. I was walking to the supermarket that’s only a two-minute walk from where I work, and in the middle of my little journey, I heard what sounded like water spilling into a sewer. I went to investigate, and when I arrived to where the source was, I started to feel a breeze that was a little colder than the usual brisk breezes there are at night this time of year.

  I took out my phone to get some light, and found that a water hose on the side of the apartment building had been left on. I turned it off to conserve water and took another look around.

  The second time I looked, I found nothing, so when I started to walk out, I felt a drop of what felt like water hit my head. As I mentioned before, it didn’t rain last night, so I brushed it off, as it could have been water from that hose or a cup somewhere above me, and continued walking.

  Only the third time, another drop hit my forehead. When I brushed my hand across my forehead and looked at it with my phone, to my horror, it was a drop of blood. I looked up and saw a little bit of blood on the stairwell as well as a path of blood, which I followed.”

  “And, your fiancé knows about all this, right?”

  “Uh, yeah-”

  “Yes, Chief, he told me everything,” Rebecca interrupted.

  “Okay, sorry to interrupt, continue,” Chief White said.

  “Don’t worry about it. Where was I? Oh yeah, so I followed the trail of blood and it led me to a broken door with scratch marks on the side where the lock was. I slowly cracked the door open and was gazing at a hallway. I looked into the hallway and saw a flashlight with blood all over it and a pool of blood right next to it. At that point, I was terrified and wanted to get out of there, but forced myself to investigate further. I then came across that dead man.”

  “That man with the missing ears, nose, and eyes.”

  “Yes. He was missing those three parts of his body, and after that, I took a quick picture to send to you guys and just ran out of there, hoping never to return there again!”

  “Well, yeah, that does sound pretty creepy indeed and-”

  “Sir, you have a call from Officer Miller.”

  “Okay, send him through.”

  “Uhh, sir?”

  “Yes, Miller, what is it this time?”

  “The body is missing.”

  “What? What do you mean, the body is missing?”

  “Wait, the body is missing? That’s impossible! I was just there last night! How could it have gone missing-”

  “Hold on, Matt! So, are you blind or you did you just tell me that the body was missing?”

  “Well, all that’s left are his bones and just a pool of blood around him. There’s hardly any flesh left on him, with partial skin still on his face and lower body.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Sir? Captain? If you want us to call in the other team, we can, or-”

  “Wait! We’ll be there shortly! Do not move! Make sure that you stay where you are, and I mean it, Miller!”

  “Uhh, okay, sir. No problem.”

  “Grab your things, we're heading out!”

  “Wait, what? Why? Can’t we stay here?”

  “You can if you wish, but we advise both of you to come with us in case we need your help identifying anything that we may have missed.”

  “Dammit, man! Why? I could have been killed yesterday. Now again?” I yelled.

  “You don’t have to, as I said, but we really could use your help, Matt!”

  “Well, okay. Sure I’ll go, might as well.”

  “Wait, Matt? You don't have to go. Just let them take care of it!” Rebecca yelled.

  “Don’t worry about me; I’ll be fine. I’ll call you every five minutes if that makes you feel more comfortable.”

  “Well, promise me you’ll come back with no scratches or blood or anything! Just your clean clothes, and most importantly, yourself!”

  “I will. They’re just going to investigate why the body is missing and the fact that there are just bones left. I’ll be back, I promise.”

  “I’ll believe this time, babe.”

  “You ready, Matt?”

  “Yes, sir!”

  We headed out, and as we drove to the vacant apartment complex, I started to feel that cold feeling that I did when I first walked into that dark alleyway on the side of the apartment.

  When we arrived, there were a bunch of police cars and guys in Hazmat suits spectating the area. I was still a little terrified to walk in there again, but with all these people, I thought to myself, I’ll be safe.

  Funny enough, whoever killed that guy would have to be a savage to go after one of us. Hopefully, I can get a head start and run like hell out of that damn place! We got out of the car, and Chief Davis handed me a gun in case something might go wrong and if a crazy serial killer was hiding somewhere in that dark and colluded building.

  I for one didn’t think a serial killer did this, but someone or something else. Perhaps a mutant creature that had found its way into this town. Or it was just a serial killer or cannibal as Chief Davis had said.

  As I walked up the stairwell, I noticed that all of the blood stains and scratch marks had been removed and there were a lot of white coverings everywhere. I guess to make it clean, or it just something government workers do as a precaution. I walked in with a little uneasiness and saw that Miller was not blind.

  The guy only had his bones left with little flesh on parts of his body here and there. All the blood around him was also gone, and his flashlight along with all of his belongings was gone.

  “Hey, excuse me?”

  “Yes?”

  “What happened to the gentlemen's belongings, might I ask?”

  “Yes. They were all gone before we even got here, which will not help us in our investigation.”

  “What the hell? Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but is there anything else you guys can do?”

  “Nothing from here, but I have to get back to work, is that okay?”

  “Do your job. It will hopefully get us one step closer to the answers we need.”

  “I sure hope you're right about that.”

  The young woman got back to what she was doing, and I overheard Chief Davis talking to Miller about the situation.

  “So you weren't kidding, huh, Miller?”

  “No, I wasn’t, sir. Why would you think that?”

  “You tend to joke around often and try to scare others with your pranks and all that other shit you did to us last year!”

  “Oh yeah, sorry about that. It was Halloween. I was having a little fun.”

  “Well, having a little bit too much fun can get you fired, but you were lucky I was in a good mood that night.”

  “Well, thanks for your hospitality.”

  “Don’t push it!”

  “Sorry, Chief.”

  “So, when you arrived here all that was found were his bones and just a little hint of flesh, right?”

  “Yes, sir. With no blood around, along with all of his belongings missing.”

  “Okay, this all sounds like it is going to be the hardest case of the year, or moreover, the toughest case we may have ever had in this town.”

  “See, I told you. It’s going to be the toughest case in the history of this town, and one of you guys may have the most difficult time solving it.”

  “And who is this you brought along, sir?”

  “This is Matt. He’s the one who made the call last night about this man and the homicide that he encountered. And it's a good thing too that he had the guts to stay there and make the call.”

  “Well, nice to meet you, sir. I’m Officer John Miller.”

  “Nice to meet you too, I’m Matt Williamson.”

  “Well, now that you met our newest recruit, it’s time we started to try and figure o
ut which psychopath killed this man. I’m pretty sure he wants justice served.”

  “Not that he would know, sir.”

  “Shut the hell up, Miller!”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s always sorry, just act like a grown-up, which you’re good at from time to time, but please do it all the time, thanks!”

  Miller hesitated to open his mouth for what he hopes will be the last sentence he will have to say to the chief.

  “Will do, sir. Or Chief.”

  “So Miller, do we have any evidence or background as to how this man ended up here and why he was at this abandoned apartment building?”

  “Yes, sir. We have two theories; would you like to hear them both?”

  “It’s not like I have a choice.”

  “Huh, so you can be a smart-ass sometimes, too.”

  “From time to time, yeah, but right now, this report is more important, so oblige me with your theories.”

  “Okay, fine. Our first theory was that the homeless man was most likely thirsty or wanted to wash himself up and decided to see if the hose on the side of the apartment building was functioning. It turns out it was, and he chose to either get a drink of water or wash himself, which we consider is the most possible theory.

  Sooner or later when he was in the middle of cleaning himself or doing whatever he was doing, someone came and attacked him, which is why there were spots of blood along with that trail of blood near where the puddle of water was.

  We followed the trail of blood up the stairwell, which we then speculate that he ran up to get away from who was attacking him. He then must have closed the door, as the lock was broken from the attacker, and he made his last stand in the hallway on the second floor of the apartment complex.

  The attacker burst through the door, and the victim must have had a flashlight, as it was left at the scene of the crime about 6 feet away from his body with blood stains on it.

  We also put the puzzle pieces together that if he had a flashlight on when he broke into the building, it must have been dark or nighttime when he was attacked. After all that, we assumed he was in shock and bled out or must have died from substantial blood loss in an average of about four hours.”