A Silver Anniversary

Entry #9

TW: DEATH

"Cameron?" I heard a voice call out. I turned to see someone approaching me. "Jesus what are you doing out here?" He asked. "Elliot?" I asked. "Yeah, it's me." He spoke. "What are you doing here?" I asked. "Am I not allowed to visit my hometown?" He jokingly asked. "Why are you really here? You've never visited in the 3 years you've been gone. Why now?" I asked demanding for an answer. "I knew you would figure me out. You were never an idiot." He joked. "I heard the news of the supposed ending of a 24-year curse. I had to check it out." I wasn't buying it. He must have picked up on my facial expression. "Okay fine. I was worried about you. I know your whole life revolved around this case and when I heard that the killer skipped the year you weren't in town, I knew you would lose your mind. Who knew what kind of breakdown you might have had." He confessed. I was confused. Distraught even. Wasn't he the one that left me? Left me alone for three fucking years?

He placed an arm around my shoulders. "Now it's your turn to confess. What are you doing out here?" He quietly asked. "Just walking." I responded. "You know you might be a worse liar than me." He laughed. "Even if I was lying, which I'm not. Why would I tell you?" I spoke. "Jesus fine. Sorry for worrying about you." He spoke. He turned away and grabbed his upper arm. I set off back to the field I originally stood in with Elliot not too far behind me. "Okay what did I do? You're obviously trying to avoid me." Elliot questioned. I didn't reply, I just kept walking. He cut in front of me and grabbed me by the upper arms. "Cameron just answer the question! What did I do!?" He asked again. "It's more like what you didn't do." I replied. "Okay if this about me leaving and suddenly showing up again, I'm sorry. I should've called you or something and told you I was coming back. Even if it was just for a little bit. Just please don't push me away." He pleaded.

"I don't care about you leaving Elliot! I care about the fact that you left me alone after you promised not to! God, you didn't even have the balls to tell me yourself." I stated. I shoved him off of me and took a step back. Tears began to fill my eyes, but I couldn't let them go. I couldn't. I couldn't let Elliot see this side of me. I'm a detective for fucks sake. "I'm upset that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't forget you. I can forget everything else. I can forget who I am, but God forbid I forget you. I was finally starting to get over it and take care of myself, but of course you have to come and screw everything up" I stated. He tried to place a hand on my shoulder, but I slapped his hand away before he even got the chance. "If you really cared about me, you would leave me the hell alone." I see the tears welling up in Elliot's eyes. I could see the way it made his eyes glisten.

After a few moments of silence, a scream came from the barn where the party was being held. A bloodcurdling kind of scream, like the ones you would hear in a horror movie. Me and Elliot took one look at each other before running back to the celebration.

We arrived to a body. I knew it was too good to be true, thinking this damn curse was finally over was my first mistake. It was a little girl, no older than 10. She lay in glass due to being thrown through the window. She was wrapped in birthday wrapping paper with only her face and hand visible. It was odd. There was no blood in sight, it was like all the blood was drained out of her and it has been gone for some time. Just the sight of her proved she was dead for quite a while.  Her left hand held a note. Elliot put on a pair of gloves and retrieved the note. "Happy belated birthday detective." He read before giving the note to me. Elliot turned to look at me then suddenly everyone was. I couldn't breathe. It felt like everyone was pushing me into a corner and just squeezing the air out of me. Whispers filled the room. "I told you he was the cause of it." "Isn't it odd how the killer skipped the one year he wasn't in town." I didn't care what people were saying. I knew it was about me.

My eyes grew blurry, and I felt like I was going to fall over. Elliot grabbed me by the shoulders and held me up straight. He was talking to me, but I couldn't hear anything. My ears were ringing, and I could barely hear the sounds of my own breathing. He left me and began to section off the scene. I mean it was a crime scene now, last thing we needed was destroyed evidence. After about 10 minutes the only people that were left in the barn was me and the body. Everyone had been pushed away. Elliot had to guard the doors to make sure no one snuck in. I could still hear people outside trying to get in. I stared at the note and read it over and over. Why now? Why not the day I came back home? I have to stop thinking with this part of my head and think with the logical part of it. Analyze the scene. Wait for the crime scene investigators. Do your damn job Cameron.