Be My Superman

 I opened my mouth to speak but was lost for words. He waved and turned to walk away leaving me standing to feel the pain as my heart broke in two. Cocking his head to the side, he revealed to me for the last time that killer smile, the one I'd grown to love.

~PRESENT~

My eyes were fixated upon the small TV screen, whilst I twisted my hair into a loose bun, and began to eat my, now cold, pasta. I stabbed at the pasta anxiously as the future of those three children that I'd fought so hard for was jeopardised. Here they were being wrongly accused for something they didn't do. Where had I gone wrong? Sighing loudly, I got up with a grunt and walked to the bedroom, shoving the half eaten pasta in the bin as I went.  I lay on my soft pillow waiting for my eyes to close. Would those children sleep tonight?

"Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain, kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain. Cos I see sparks fly whenever you smile." The familiar sound of my favourite song blasted from my radio alarm. My head snapped up and my eyes became wide. A smile played on my lips as I listened intently to the soothing melody. Then I thought of them again and the smile was gone. I grumbled as my phone began to buzz. Yup I thought as I checked the caller ID. It was Calvin my best friend and work buddy.

"Yo Skye! What-up?" He bellowed through the phone, the ear splitting booms of music in the background wrecking my ears. I shook my head and sighed. Feeling a pounding in my head I answered. 

"Jeez! Cal It's too early to listen to your stupid shouting...and turn your music off...shit that's loud!" I swore as Cal turned the music of, leaving a ringing in my ears. I heard his quiet chuckles as I slowly began to recover from my shock.

"Love you too babe, so listen I was wondering if you would do me an itsy bitsy teeny weenie little favour oh gorgeous clever amazing friend of mi-" He started but I knew what was coming and cut him off before he could persuade me. My head was still pounding as I stood up and yelled at him down the phone.

"NO FREAKIN WAY CAL!" That was the 3rd time he'd asked me to do his night shift for him this month! I hesitated, he was my best friend, but before i could let myself give in, I hung up. That jerk was having another girl over ?! I swear I didn't know a bigger player and cheat. I also didn’t know a nicer kinder friend I thought briefly, remembering how I had lived with Calvin for almost a year. He'd been good to me then. Never bothered me and never got me feeling uncomfortably. It was probably because he was too engrossed with his girlfriend, or girlfriends I grumbled silently in my head.

Calvin was like a big brother to me and that would never change. I let out a content sigh knowing that one day he would move on, grow up, and maybe even settle down with a proper family. I thought over it a bit more. Maybe not till he's fifty- when he realises girls aren't toys. Laughing at the thought I changed for work. Mick, my boss was giving me a new case today since my old case was closed. I was hoping it was office work. That meant that there was one less murder in the city which was VERY good. As if on cue my phone buzzed on my bedside cabinet resulting in me letting out a long shaky breath. Texting me usually meant he had a big case for me......so I carefully picked up the phone and my shoulders sagged as I read the text.

We've got a 3-19! Hurry I'll send you the address.

I wasn't lazy, I wanted to solve this case it's what I'm paid for. But it also meant I had to see another helpless body on the ground. Glassy eyed because someone had selfishly took away their most important and precious gift.....life. Zipping my boots absentmindedly and grabbing my jacket and folders, I ran out of my apartment and drove to the address. The one Mick had so kindly texted me.

The body lay lifeless on the ground. Not exactly the body but more what was left of the body. There was barely any flesh left on the man that lay vulnerable before me. His eyes and face had been clawed and the ghastly stench of the corpse was repulsive. I shook my head as Calvin came jogging over. In the corner of my eye, I could see him give me a sympathetic smile. Calvin knew that no matter what, I would never get used to seeing dead people. I gagged slightly, as a short man wearing abnormally large glasses turned the body around looking for bullets of any kind. It was a simple procedure if you liked that sort of thing. Which I, evidently, didn’t enjoy doing..

He began to press on his head softly, scrutinizing it carefully. I opened my mouth but before I could ask questions he stood up with a look of bitter amusement in his eyes. 

"That was easy. He died from blunt force trauma, no doubt about it. Though whatever did take bites out of him could have killed him. He was hit over the head at least three times before he was fed to the creatures of the wood." I gave him a grim smile and he answered with a nod before leaving us to investigate. I grabbed my brush. It was something I did to give myself some comfort. Like a stress ball but not soft or as squishy! 

"I got dibs on prints!" I said before Calvin could even register. I always did this because it meant that Cal had to do foot prints, which always took longer.

The day passed easy. Once I collected prints and fibres, we decided to head back to the lab.

Calvin and I arrived to a pile of clothes waiting at my desk. I suspected it was evidence because I was sure I didn't wear boxers. Deciding to leave the clothes as they were, I left to go see if they had finished processing the body.

Unfortunately the examiner was right.  Joe our pathologist had also said that the man had been dead at least fourteen hours which meant the TOD was around midnight. No surprise...one very strange thing was the small incision the killer had made by the man's heart. Joe suspected that victim had some sort of surgery and went about cutting along the incision to see what else he could find. Meanwhile Alice, our researcher, found out the man was called Jack Frances and was recently let out of jail on good behaviour. She also found he was perfectly healthy and he didn’t need any surgery.

So we knew for certain that the incisions were all doings of the killer. When I went to process the print, I found Calvin staring wide eyed at the ground and had a feeling this was the end of my easy day.

"Huh! That is...something." Calvin said looking puzzled. 

 "Uhhh woww!" I answered studying the report in front of me. Cal had checked our database for matching prints and got a hit...to a boy who was deceased 13 years ago when he was nine in a car crash! I groaned, my voice mirroring Cal's. We had to go to Mick now. 

As I approached Mick's open office I saw that he was grabbing his coat and slinging his I.D chain around his neck. This worried me. It usually meant he was going to another crime scene.

"Sky I need you to come with me. I think we're dealing with a serial killer."

"Great." I mumbled.  Just what I needed- another lost soul. Another life not lived. My hands wrapped around my gun tightly as comfort and I ran out the building in haste to keep up with Mickey.

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Copyright © 2013 Nabila A