Obsession

Secret: Chapter 4

At 3:21 AM on a Sunday morning, most of Shaw was asleep. It was a lazy little town on the Lord's day of rest, and it would be quite peculiar to find a lively home at that time of night unless it were the holidays or something quite odd was happening.

Paul Stroup was the first to return to bed. After gauging the commotion and Gabriel's paranoid glances around the house, his gaze lingering a second longer in darker corners, Paul had taken it upon himself to take a quick check of each room, and out the window into the yard. He did it in a subtle manner so as not to throw the boy into a frenzy, but he had realized that Gabriel's panic stemmed – perhaps – from a presence that didn't belong.

Shannon stayed awake a while longer. Inside the kitchen, Gabriel was seated at the island counter fiddling with his hands, massaging his fingers to rid away the last of bundled nerves. Julian leaned against the counter, munching on crackers, and Rebecca busied herself with making three cups of Chamomile tea. One for Gabriel, another for herself, and a third for her mother upon the lady's request.

Rebecca stirred the tea and slid one cup in front of her friend. Then, she took another one and disappeared into the living room, handing the cup of steaming tea to her mother who went to bed after hearing from her daughter that all was well and things were now once again, under control.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Julian asked Gabriel just as his sister returned to the kitchen. Rebecca sat in the chair next to her friend and pulled her own cup of tea closer.

"Not necessarily," Gabriel replied. Then he looked up, the movements he made with his fingers also coming to a halt. "What's today's date?"

The siblings exchanged glances.

"The third...no, that was yesterday," said Julian, lightly shaking his head. "It's the fourth," he corrected.

"That's probably it, then," Gabriel said aloud, checking the days off with his fingers. "Eleven days more," he said again, this time quieter but the siblings still caught it. Once more, they exchanged glances before Rebecca decided to say something.

Gently, she touched his shoulder to grab his attention. "Gabe," she called, concern in her voice and mirrored on her pretty face. "What's happening in eleven days?"

Gabriel chewed on his thumb, glancing from one sibling to the next. "It's nothing," he started but Julian was quick to jump in. He came forward and stood before Gabriel, a disapproving frown on his face.

"Don't try that, Gabe," he said. "I've never once seen you this rattled. You were terrified of what – I don't know but whatever it was that happened in your dream, it was bad enough that you thought it was real." Julian shook his head, mildly irritated. He expelled a deep breath and then, his features softened. "It's alright, Gabe. You don't need to give specifics, but it'd be nice to know what may have caused that panic attack."

He considered that. He thought about if they really needed to know. It wasn't their nightmare to bear but he couldn't deny that it was all so strange. He hadn't had nightmares in a little over four years. He didn't wake up in the middle of the night screaming or thrown into such a panic that it awaken everyone else.

"It's my mother," he replied, returning to fiddling with his hands and fingers.

A noticeable tremble had set a course through his hands when he remembered the dream, and then the night everything went very wrong. He remembered the gripping, spine-chilling dread that had seized him hearing those god-awful screams of terror and agony. He remembered feeling a presence two days prior to the incident. He'd gotten up in the dead of night to use the bathroom, and oblivious to the hell that would shortly befall his entire family, he had simply ignored the oppressing weight of the silence that drowned the house, and the feeling like something was not quite right.

At that time, he'd chalked it up to his half-asleep state. Thinking back now, he had no idea how he could've ignored the silence. It was terrifying and it was telling. The silence had somehow felt alive since not a single sound could be heard. Not the fridge whirring, and not a single floorboard had creaked. Their house had been an old one and time had worn the structure so even the slightest of wind made the wood creak and groan.

There had been nothing.

Gabriel felt a mild throbbing – an incoming headache – so he reached for the cup of tea, gently blew away the steam, and took a careful sip. The rush of the warm liquid cascading down his throat brought a much needed and instant relief. His shoulders lost its tension, and he breathed in contentment.

The trembles in his hands had started to subside.

"I've never talked about it before, and it's strange. I haven't had a nightmare in years," he began, taking another sip of tea. Setting the cup down again, he drew invisible circles across the countertop. "September fifteenth," he informed, "it's the night my mother was murdered."

The atmosphere in the kitchen dropped and silence befell them. Never would the Stroup siblings have guessed that Gabriel Hastings was keeping such a dark and sinister secret. It was true that Gabriel had never spoken about his mother or how she had passed. He avoided that topic like it was a taboo subject like the wizards of the Potter-verse avoided saying the name of their greatest foe.

"Gabe –" Rebecca began, but her friend continued to narrate his story.

He knew it was unhealthy to keep something like that all bottled up, but he could never find the strength to talk about it until now. After more than four years, why now, did the nightmares return? He needed to get it off his chest.

"The reason my father and I moved to Shaw is because it's where the Sheriff in our previous town relocated us to. It's suburban and quiet. Safe. The person who killed my mother had evaded apprehension for a long time and families were part of his M.O."

Julian raised an eyebrow. "Modus operandi. Are you talking about a serial killer?"

Gabriel nodded. "There had been reports about a strange, hooded man parading up and down the streets at night. It created a lot of paranoia and some people reported feeling like they weren't alone inside their homes at times. There was another incident where a neighbour's dog was killed. He disappeared for a while, but then he came back. And my family was his target."

"That is terrifying," Rebecca commented.

Gabriel chuckled. "You're telling me. I lived it." He shook his head and took another sip of his tea before continuing with his story. "I remember that there were a few times when I'd wake up in the night to odd sounds outside the house. Sometimes it was inside the house. But two nights before she was..." he trailed, leaving his words hanging since there was no need to say it again. "There was an incident that really...it's scarred me. It's why I woke up the way I did."

He felt the familiar burn of tears pricking his eyes as a chill stole up his spine, the hair on his arms standing on end when he remembered that night. Recalling the events aloud didn't help either.

"I'd woken up to use the bathroom that night and subconsciously...I just...I knew that there was another presence in that house. I felt it. Wherever he was, he was already inside, and he was watching me."

"Oh my god," Rebecca whispered, covering her mouth with both her hands. She couldn't believe what she was hearing for it sounded surreal that such a thing could happen to someone she knew. To someone with whom she was close.

"According to the detective on the case," Gabriel continued, "that was part of his...ritual. He'd sneak in, watch them be a family, learn the layout of the house. And when he struck, he'd incapacitate the father, kill the wife in front of him, then the children, and finally, he'd kill the father."

Gabriel shook his head. "It messed me up for a while and I kept thinking that if I'd been a little smarter," he paused and pursed his lips, staring off into nothingness, "maybe she'd still be here."

"But that's not what's bothering you, is it?" Julian asked, and the boy turned to look at him. Gabriel's expression was blank, but he shook his head in agreement to Julian's question.

"Why now after all these years?" he wondered aloud. "And why that specific night?"