Duskwood: And Beyond

6. The Body

ORYN

I could hear the ringing in my ears. It was as if all my traumas resurfaced.

"They found a body." Was she dead? Did I fail? This was too much. First, I got a call from the kidnapper, who is now possibly a murderer. And now this... It was too much. My vision started to blur from all the tears. I picked up my phone and called the one person who can help me.

"So, you are now a detective? I don't know about that, O!"

Anabelle came as soon as she heard my voice. I told her everything, except the hacker. It wasn't because I was protecting him, I was aware of how illegal it is. It would only worry Anabelle further. I didn't want that.

"I feel responsible Ana. I know how it feels."

"O, that's dangerous. Not only for you but for others too. Let's think about this. Once you are in a better shape..."

My bedroom had access to the roof. It was my hideout. This wasn't the first time I called Anabelle during an attack. There was a time I used to call her every night. We used to climb to the roof and watch the stars, talk about things. We did the same tonight. After a while, Anabelle suggested we sleep. She told me that we will figure this out tomorrow morning. Anabelle stayed with me. It was nice to have her around. It felt safe.

I didn't get a good night's sleep. I woke up four times, nightmare after nightmare. It started with the usual. My parents had a car accident, the police came to inform me. We couldn't find their bodies. We never found their bodies. Of course in real life we did, two weeks after the accident. My dad lost control of the car and drew it to the river. Naturally, the water took them away. My second nightmare was similar, again dead parents, no body concept. The third one was different. It was definitely due to this case. I was in a forest running. I was searching for Hannah, but I kept failing to reach her. The fourth one was about the hacker. It was him who called and threatened me. I was in my living room when someone knocked on the door. I opened it and there he was, in his hoodie. The visual was the same as the video call but the sound was my new friend Darth Vader.

I woke up with terror and decided not to go back to sleep. What was the point anyway? I wrote a small note to Anabelle and went running. This time, I ran longer, faster. It didn't feel liberating today. The darkness over me stayed, so I ran faster. It didn't work. Great, I have lost my one hobby.

I returned home. Anabelle was already awake. She made us coffee. Just as I sat down on my couch my phone buzzed. It was Jessy. She added me to a group chat. Everyone was there except for Lilly and Thomas.

Oh no, Lilly and Thomas. Did they know about the body? I remember what it felt like when the police knocked on my door.

"Are you alright Oryn?" Anabelle interrupted my flashbacks, thankfully. She was also staring at my phone.

"I don't know what to say," I told her. It was the truth, I was a stranger to these people. Cleo wanted to tell Lilly herself. And for some reason, I agreed to tell Thomas. I texted him. There was no easy way of doing this, for either of us. He went offline immediately. He was probably having some sort of a crisis. Part of me wanted to be there for them, the other part wanted to run away as far as possible. I took my journal up.

28 September 2019

Last night I got a call from the culprit. He is threatened by my involvement. He wants me to stay away.

Hannah Donfort has been missing for four days.

They found a body last night. We decided to inform Thomas and Lilly this morning. After informing Thomas, he went offline immediately. Dan thinks this is suspicious.

Dan is not the kindest person in the group that's for sure. He also seems to not trust Thomas. There is also some tension between Jessy and Cleo.

Anabelle was watching me intensely. It was almost as if she was trying to read my mind.

"You want to do this, don't you?"

During my college years, I have read a lot of terrible crimes, saw videos, even wrote about them. But those never got to me. Certainly, they were disturbing, some more than others. But they were just that, they weren't personal. But this was personal. This became personal. And I wanted to see it through. I wanted to save these people. I nod. Anabelle smiled.

"Well then, I have some things to pick up. I'll be back in a few hours." She was already making her way to the door. I knew she was planning something but I didn't know what.

The hacker texted me again. He wanted to tell me about the body. He was surprised that I already knew. We both agreed that it was probably not Hannah. I think it was mostly because we didn't want to accept the possibility. It was clear that the hacker cared about her. He wanted me to keep Jessy close. That felt wrong but I could see his point. I was not in Duskwood and these people were my only connection there. Besides, Jessy seemed nice. He was a bit weird about the cat photograph I found. It seemed normal to me but surely he knew more than I did. He had this habit of going offline all of a sudden. I did not like that but I also had other things to do. I continued to decipher the cloud.

And there it was, my first possibly successful find. It seemed like a prescription but the resolution was not the best. The hacker said he would take care of it. Around that time Jessy texted me. She caught Cleo trying to sneak in and wanted me to get her to confess it to Richy. It was clear she didn't want any more drama between them, so now I was the bridge. I agreed.

Cleo added Lilly to the group chat. I felt bad for her, she lost her sister and now this body was not helping. Cleo also texted me privately. She wanted to talk about Hannah, and I wanted to talk about her break-in attempt. And we did. I took my journal again and note these down.

Hannah had prescriptions. We are still working to make it legible. Cleo was trying to break into Richy's garage.

Hannah has only one sibling, Lilly, her little sister. 

She had no reason to run away. Things were just starting to go so well for her. She had a great family, a fantastic boyfriend and she was happy with her job. Running away would be out of character for Hannah. 

Is Cleo jealous? 

Hannah didn't have any enemies. Cleo is sure of it. Cleo talks very highly of Hannah. 

Cleo's break-in attempt: She was running, she heard people arguing and she got curious. She says it is out of her character. She agreed to tell Richy. She also decided to ask people about Hannah. Richy mentioned that in Duskwood gossip spread fast. I am sure something will come out of this questioning. 

Our list of people is Ms. Walter (owner of the motel), Mrs. Sully (gossip queen), and Phil Hawkins (owner of bar Aurora).

We decided to go with Ms. Walter first. 

I stopped. I still didn't have a suspect. They all seemed normal but on the other hand, they all had this internal drama with one another. They seem to trust me, well except Dan. This was going to be harder than I thought. Just as I was finishing my journal entry, something happened. 

The camera on my computer was activated. The little light meant that it was on. But only lasted for a second. Was I being watched? By who?