Grinded

chapter III.

"Jesus, my stomach is doing blackflips," said Deputy Erica Rhodes, her voice laced with disgust as she tried to swallow down on the vomit urging its way up her throat. The sight of the poor kid that had been savaged was burned into the back of her eyelids, seeing his face even when she closed her eyes. He was just a fucking kid, and yet here she was, trying to figure out which sick fuck decided to open him up like a can of soup.

She tightened her jet-black ponytail, shaking her head side to side in a fast fashion, hoping the mental image would slip out. But no such luck.

From behind her came her superior, Sheriff Sarah Abbott. Sarah was a well-built woman with a surprisingly intimidating frame to her, her shoulders broad and standing tall among her colleageaus. She had short brown hair that was cut just above her shoulders, and sharp green eyes that could read past anyone. She was a pretty damn good Sheriff, one that Erica found herself looking up to, despite the lack of actual friendship between the two.

"What kind of monster does this?" Erica then asked as the Sheriff joined her side, the two walking off from the crime scene as forensics continued doing their part. "I mean, he was just a kid, for Christ sake."

"You should've heard his parents," Sarah replied with a sigh; she was the one that made the call to them, and she'd never heard someone scream and cry like that before. It sounded like someone had punched into their chests and pulled their own hearts out before their very eyes. "Forensics are still searching the scene for anything, and the body is getting took down to the morgue shortly, so hopefully we'll have something more concrete in a few hours."

Erica noticed the drive in her superior's voice - determination. She'd only heard her sound like this once before, and that was way before Erica was a Deputy. And Erica would be lying if she said hearing that didn't excite her a little; it's not like anything ever happened in Sunset Ridge, so of course she was going to geek out a bit when something huge struck their quaint little town.

"Were you able to pull any security camera footage from the park and nearby streets?" Sarah then asked, nodding at two officers as they passed by. A faint chattering from a crowd of nearby journalists and reporters caught their attention, and earned a non-discreet eyeroll from Sarah. Fucking vultures. "Ignore them, Rhodes. I don't want any of our guys saying jackshit until I've addressed the school."

"We got some angles," Erica started as she gave a quick glare to the media circus before continuing, "but all we saw in the footage was the kid. Whoever's behind this knew what they were doing and how to stay out of sight."

Sarah rubbed her fingers along her temple; it was only quarter past eight in the morning and she was already beat. She could feel her head starting to throb, her chest growing heavy with each breath she took. This was going to be a long day.

"Shit," she spat out, "the Mayor is gonna have my ass. We've got a dead kid, two devastated parents, and a freakshow of reporters. We're up shit creek without a Goddamn paddle."

"Hey, don't stress out," Erica tried her best to comfort her superior, despite her being a pretty closed off person, "people slip, they always do. Something is gonna come up and we'll catch this piece of shit."

Sarah looked over to her colleague, seeing the genuine expression plastered across her face. The Sheriff knew that Erica was a good person, and was just trying her best to lighten the load that Sarah was bearing. She saw herself in Erica; the warm kindness and constant want to try and find the positives in this line of work. But that'll change. Sarah knew it would. It always did.

They passed by another officer, Deputy Barnes, with him nodding at the women as he headed towards the bloodbath a few feet away. Sarah made a direct beeline towards her police cruiser, her mind going haywire, like a vicious tornado ripping through a calm countryside, tearing up everything in its chaotic path. She had so much shit to get through and deal with, and she could feel the slow build-up of overwhelming anxiety swelling within her, waiting to erupt like a volcano. A supervolcano, even.