THE HARBOUR [EDITING]

Awakening To Horror pt 2 - Edited

A while later, he is parked just outside Flint. He picks up his phone and rings her.

"I'm outside," he says. He hears the thumping of footsteps over the phone before she replies, "I- I don't see you," he can hear the confusion in her voice.

"I mean, outside Flint, not the house,"

"What?" She says, "Why would you? . . Cole," she's inpatient, and he can practically feel her panic.

"I got caught up," he lies, "I can't come to you, you'll have to get out of Flint by yourself. I'll meet you right out -"

"What the hell does that mean?!" She interrupts angrily, "Caught up? Cole, I called you because I can't leave!" He brings his fingers to his eyes and rubs them quietly. Truthfully, the reason he hasn't gone to her exact location, which she sent him, is because he can't. Not that he would disintegrate if he went into Flint and picked up his cousin. It's that if it's as bad as she says and there's a dead body, he would rather not put himself at the scene of a crime in broad daylight.

"Daisy, I can't be there right now. I need you to get out of that house, leave Flint, and come to me," There's a strangled silence before she speaks. "If I could do that, don't you think I would've?" She asks rhetorically. In all honesty, he knows how ridiculous he sounds, but he cannot put his reputation at risk right now. All eyes have been on since he was assigned chief of police - eyes that would see him fail. It's not every day a man in his late twenties is assigned chief over men with far more experience in the force than him. Despite his hard work, there is and always be people claiming he got where he is through nepotism - which isn't entirely false. He acknowledges the privileges he has had over the course of his life because of who his parents and relatives are. It's mostly because of that that people want him to fail. So they can be right about him being 'undeserving' the past couple of weeks have been grueling.

He can almost feel eyes watching him at this very moment. Chief of police going into the shit stain that is Flint unprovoked like some patrol cop would raise eyebrows. He loves his cousin, but he can't let one of her fall outs shake things up for him, not now.

"I know. I know," he sighs, "if you want me to help, you'll have to wait a little longer. At least just until the sun sets and the streets clear. Caper is a small town. I can't have people see me leisurely driving into Flint, you know," he waits for a response. It doesn't come. "Daisy?" he calls, "you understand that, right?"

"I need you to get me out of here, Cole," she grits out.

"I know, just not now. Get comfortable, trust me. It's for the best that we do things my way," he hangs up before she can argue.

"Get comfortable!" She shouts, incredulous. "Get comfortable. . ." She repeats as if waiting for the words to make sense. Daisy paces about the room biting her nails. She can't believe it! He practically blew her off! Chief of police, and he can't move things around to get her out of this retched house! She shakes her head wildly as if to shake away her irritation. This is getting increasingly worse by the minute. She's trapped in a house with a dead body until sundown. How could Cole do that to her? She wipes the wetness off her face, which makes her realise she is crying. She looks at her fingers, still coated in now drying blood. She whimpers before falling to the floor and breaking into silent sobs.