To seek and to find

Final goodbyes (Mature content)

Earth woke up to the sound of sizzling, the smell of bacon and fried eggs filling the room, he opens one eye, the light coming from the living room window already assaulting him causing him to pout. He rubs his eyes in a continuous motion and then turns from side to side stretching his back, letting out a whine here and there until finally lifting himself to a sitting position, clearly not happy.
"Are you always this dramatic when you wake up?" Mix says into the quiet of the morning startling Earth who is still half awake.
"Only when I haven't slept in a proper bed", he winks at Mix finally getting up to join him near the stove, his left hand holding onto his lower back dramatically
"Excuse me for caring about you" Mix replied turning back to the stove, turning the streaks of bacon over "If we slept on the same bed there is no guarantee that my amulet would not act up if you accidentally touched me while moving in your sleep"
"That does sound logical but yet I still have this crushing back pain, I'm not getting any younger you know?"
"That's why I'm making it up to you by cooking breakfast, we're even", Mix raises one eyebrow looking up at Earth in challenge. "Who said that cooking some eggs is the equivalent of lifelong ache?" Earth teased back. Mix shrugged moving to plate the bacon and eggs along with a bowl of plain rice on a tray and two glasses of orange juice, the smell of spices making Earth's mouth water." If you don't want any that's completely fine, more for me then", Mix grabs the tray already bypassing Earth making his way into the living room, Earth following him and muttering apologies to Mix's retreating back, soon followed by giggling of both parties as they slump onto the cushions.

"Mix this is so good, I'm in heaven right now", Earth heartily eats into everything at a much faster pace than was needed, Mix trying not to giggle at his exaggerated movement, he could get used to waking up to this every morning.
"Why are you blushing?" Earth teases noticing Mix trying to hide his face by looking down away from him
"I'm not blushing, just the bit of egg I ate was really hot"
"I don't believe you, you were blushing "Earth teased again "Come on tell me why"
"No, I don't want to"
"So, you admit that you did indeed blush!!!!"'
"Erddddddd Stop please" Mix whined, Earth's teasing now definitely highlighting his rosy cheeks. He was about to throw one of the couch cushions at him, arm already reaching stealthily when loud knocks were heard. Calling them knocks would be an understatement, what they really were, were loud bangs, almost knocking Mix's door down.
Both men looked at each other confused, whoever it was, they were in a hurry. Mix made his way quickly to open the door, unlocking lock after lock, Earth all the while standing him behind just in case it was something more sinister than they thought. The last lock clicked, opening the door a fraction revealing the side profile of a very frantic Neo.
"Neo, why the hell are you trying to break Mix's door down?"
"No time for that, what I should be asking is why haven't you picked up any of my fifty missed calls," Neo asked fuming, "Couldn't contact you through your earpiece either"
"Shit Neo, my earpiece got destroyed in our last hunt, I forgot my phone in my car", Earth knows now why he felt that he forgot something yesterday, always at the back of his mind but not clear enough to make him recollect.
Mix interjects at that moment, having a feeling that if he didn't Neo and Earth would have gone into a bickering match, completely side-tracked from what the main issue was. Neo looks at both of them before sighing
"It's the house again, it has taken 10 lives and that's not even the half of it"

When Earth, Mix and Neo arrived close to the house again, the entire team was already there including Jan. What was evident next was the number of white sheets covering the ten bodies all lined up against each other. Looking up at the house in question from afar, Earth felt that it had changed, it looked more sinister, the red stones it was made from looked darker more blood-like, and the grappling plant had died leaving behind its black leaves. The arches that made up the porch looked twisted and bent cracking in the middle unlike how they were a few days ago. The smell of smoke was still evident in the air, with each step taken closer and closer.
Nobody spoke a word, Luke being the only one to acknowledge the others with a nod, Jan especially seeming to be lost in her thoughts, eyes vacant. Luke still didn't say anything as he moved over, removing the sheet of each body that was present so that both Earth and Mix can see the carnage of what was in front of them themselves.
Horrible was the first thing that came to Earth's mind upon seeing the bodies. He could feel that Mix had become rigid next to him, he wished he could say something, but at that moment he couldn't find any words to explain what they were seeing. Dead corpses belonging to seven young boys and three girls, their hair obscuring the entirety of their faces, they couldn't have been older than sixteen years old all placed on their stomachs. Gashes so many gashes present on their backs, some wide, some narrow. Some looked like lacerations from a blunt hooked object, while others were cleaner and sharper clearly the work of a knife. All of them still freshly bleeding, bright red blood oozing out and trickling down their backs onto the white sheet they lay on turning it scarlet and black. They should not have been bleeding fresh blood after almost a day thought Earth, why didn't the police move them?, Earth goes up to take a closer look crouching down, he looks at the others asking for permission. They nod. Earth wants to see their faces, wants to see if they resemble the late owner's expression too, perhaps it would be a clue. He goes to turn the body on the far-left side, the closest to him, only to be met with resistance as soon as Earth pushes. He tries again and again putting more force, now visibly frustrated but the body just won't move, stuck in its position as if glued to the ground.
"Earth.....come with me" Jan finally speaks breaking the silence, already turning back towards Earth's car, as she passes by Mix, she nods and signals him to join too, Luke, Neo, Boom and Phuwin still in hearing distance and yet still neither of them uttered a word.
"Will you finally explain what the hell is going on?" Earth's arms come up to his head for a second in frustration, Mix all the while said nothing merely observing Jan.
"Those gashes that you saw, like whip marks, aren't just random" She started "They mean something, did you see how they were all lined up, that's not how they found them originally, the closest neighbours saw these bodies scattered across the lawn of the house, almost as if they were thrown about with violence, but no one saw or heard anything"
"The police then called Neo, they had no idea what to make of this, when we arrived the smell of death was still fresh, and then that's when I noticed it!"
Jan took a deep breath in before continuing "The lacerations and cuts formed words and phrases connecting from one body to another, it isn't any language that is used today, it's old, very old. It took a while to figure it out, as I said I have only seen this language written out in old books passed by my mother and her mother before her. And when we finally aligned everything out that's when the bodies got stuck as you saw, they won't move no matter what we do, locked in that configuration"
"Jan what do the bodies say"