The Killer Among Us

Chapter 50

Chapter 50

My bloody hands stained the glass doors of the Carlisle police station as I pushed them open. Immediately after I entered, all eyes were glued on me. I wish I could say that it wasn't what it looked like, but that's exactly what it was. I had killed a man, one of their own. But there was one question still left unanswered. How would I prove that he was The Solemn Serpent?

It was early in the morning and yet the police station was bustling with officers, walking around frantically. Every single one of them turned as I walked past them, a look of confusion plastered on their faces.

I walked straight to the reception, holding myself up by resting my weight on the counter. The young deputy's eyes were widened in shock, his mouth agape. In his hands, there was a wooden clipboard. He was clearly working on something as I interrupted him.

"I-" I stuttered, "I need to report a crime."

He barely acknowledged me and returned his attention to his clipboard but I had no patience left in me. "I murdered someone," I blurted out with the utmost sincerity. That got his attention, his eyes darting up suddenly.

He spoke slowly, "Okay, why don't I call the sheriff and let him know?"

I nodded in agreement and he left swiftly. After a few moments of waiting, the sheriff appeared from one of the doors and guided me into an unlit and dingy interrogation room.

It was there that he sat me down and asked me to tell him what had happened, and I did so quickly. Once I started, I couldn't stop myself. It was like a river of emotions gushing out of me. So, I told him about everything, Ava, Eddie, Aria, Ian and eventually I even told him about Burke. He listened intently, taking a few notes and nodding at my statement.

When I was finally finished, I felt like a heavy stone rolled off my heart. A lightness came over me but the second I stopped talking, the lingering darkness of Aria's death weighed me down immediately.

He sighed and folded his wrinkled hands on the metal table. "Let me get this straight," he began, "You're saying Detective Burke is actually The Solemn Serpent, who is on a killing spree because you killed his High School girlfriend years ago. Then he abducted your sister in order to avenge -"

"Ava," I explained softly.

"Ava. Now you're saying you made a deal with him to give yourself over if only he let your sister go but when you arrived at the meeting place, she wasn't there," he paused, "And so you killed him."

His eyes stared at me as if he thought I was insane. In a way, that wasn't entirely untrue. Nevertheless, what I told him was the truth, if he believed me or not.

I simply leaned back in my chair and nodded, agreeing with his recap.

"Jacob, I know your family has been through a lot lately..." he argued, pity clear in his voice,

I immediately interrupted where he was going with that, "I'm telling you, this is exactly what happened."

At that he pressed his lips together, put his palms flat on the desk and got up.

"Well, thank you for your report, Jacob. Just give me a minute and I'll be back, okay?" he said as he left the interrogation room.

He let me sit alone in the darkness for what felt like an eternity. As I was accessing the amount of blood on my clothing, the door opened again, the unnatural forensic light blinding my tired eyes.

In the doorway stood the sheriff, a stern expression on his face. He gestured for me to get up and I did as he asked.

With no explanation, he bluntly turned me around, grabbed my aching arms and put handcuffs around my wrists. He closed them a little too tight, causing the skin on my wrists to break, but I was too tired to complain.

With one hand on my shoulder and the other holding onto my arm, he guided me outside the interrogation room. Again, the deputies turned around and looked at me as I passed them. This time, however, their expressions weren't shocked, they were pitiful. At that moment I knew they still didn't believe me. If they did, they'd hate me for killing one of their own.

To be honest, I didn't really care. There was nothing left for me to lose anyway. So, I simply went along with it and walked where the sheriff guided me to go.

We had almost reached the main door when one of the deputies called after the sheriff, who instantly pulled me to a stop. I turned around to see the same young deputy that I talked to at the reception desk running to catch up with us.

"Sheriff," he began, panting out of breath, "You won't believe this."

The sheriff's eyes squinted in confusion and I listened intently to what the deputy had to say next.

"Some hikers just found a girl," he explained with a surprised tone of voice. "She was wandering the woods in Meadows of Eden national park, completely disoriented and alone," he paused, shaking his head in disbelief, "She says her name is Aria Thomson."

My entire body slumped to the floor, a wave of relief overcoming me. To be quite honest, I didn't know how to act. The feeling of joy seemed so foreign to me, overpowering and unlike anything I had ever experienced. There was a part of me that couldn't believe it and that part was big. Aria was alive and well. She was safe. The Serpent was lying, even with the last breath he would ever take. Or was he? My mind and vision were spinning alike.

The sheriff quickly pulled me up again, steadying me with force, but I didn't care.

"I did it," I whispered as I leaned back my head, tears of joy and relief streaming down my hot cheeks, "I did it, Dad."

I was led outside towards a police car and I knew that once I got in, I would never leave police custody ever again. However, that didn't phase me at all. They could do with me whatever they wanted. The only thing that mattered to me was that Aria was safe. My sacrifice wasn't done in vain. I had killed, sure, and probably lost myself in the process, but at least I made sure that my little sister could survive. If only I could hold her one last time before they locked me away forever.

A deputy opened the door of the car but before they put me inside, I looked up to the sky for the last time, closing my eyes to remember this exact moment.

Out of nowhere, a beam of sunshine broke through the grey winter clouds. It parted the ever present darkness of winter and illuminated the horizon. It was as if its warmth and light cast out all the shadows within me. Just a few hours ago, I had known only loss and desperation. Then, in a fraction of a moment, all the hurt I had endured, all the loss and suffering, simply faded away and I rejoiced for what I thought impossible had happened. The spring had come after all.

The End.