The Twelve Crime Countdown

Twelve Drummers Drumming

Will's POV

They gasped when the lights flickered off. If I hadn't been alert before, I certainly was now.

"Are you okay?" I waved my hands slightly ahead of me trying to search for something. The bags hung heavily on my forearm.

"Yeah, it just shocked me." They responded back. "I'm going to look for my phone, so I can use the flashlight."

A light beamed beside me, casting a spotlight at least a few feet ahead of us. "Let's get back to our room." They slowly swished the light across the area ahead of them to see the way ahead.

I slowly moved to be close to their side on our journey back up to the suite. They played line leader all the back to our place. The keys jingled before unlocking the door.

The bags dropped on the floor next to the door. It gave a gentle thud on impact with the ground followed by the bag's plastic rustling.

"I planned on taking a bath, but I guess I can't do that anymore." Their light disappeared down the hall. "I'm going to go look for candles. Sit tight."

My hands were once again out ahead of me, feeling for furniture ahead. One of my fingertips grazed against something cold, but it did not feel like furniture.

It felt like touching someone else's skin. The potential skin contact felt alarmingly cold, like something dead.

My voice caught before I could react, lurching back, recoiling my hand away from what I touched. What could be here that felt like that? My eyes had been slowly adjusted to the dark.

I started to see a pale white arm draped over the couch's back. What was happening here? I slowly crept to get a closer look at the person who had to definitely be on the couch.

I recognized her on the spot. Her long blond hair and her fearful, wide eyes. Chest wound still seeping blood that spread across her nightgown. How is she here? I must be having a hallucination.

She blinked once then twice. Her mouth slowly spread a gap in a mock of a scream, but she never did. At least, I did not hear her. A heart beating in my ears, starting faint and getting louder the longer I stared.

The heart beating erratically, I couldn't pinpoint who it belonged to, me or her. I squeezed my eyes right and tried to take deep breaths. Maybe, that heartbeat was mine?

My eyes snapped open and she had disappeared. "Ugh," my heart thumped against my chest and breaths became hard to get. I dropped onto the couch, lying as far back against the couch as it'd let me.

"I'll need to talk to Hannibal about this," I muttered under my breath. Slowly coming down from that big shock, staring into the endless dark void. I could not see ahead of me.

Shoes shuffled about behind in the search for some candles. A question to solve after that is how to light them.

"Will?" I heard their voice slowly come closer.

"Yeah!" I twisted and saw them with a candle stick sitting on a holder. The candle illuminated a small space around it.

"I found one, isn't it neat?" I hummed along. "I think we'll just need two now. Come on, we need to get ready for bed."

I slowly got up to my feet and followed them to the bedroom. The bed we had was fairly large. The bed sheets blended in the darkness around. (Y/N) gently set the candle down on the bedside table.

"Hannibal is going to get another candle. I'm going to get more blankets." They left me behind before I could question the sleeping arrangement.

If we were to share the one bed, what would we do about it? (Y/N) could be in the middle. I'm not a fan of being that close to Hannibal.

The building grew colder over a few long minutes. My breath, visible, swirled in the air. I sat down on the edge of the bed, taking off my shoes.

Sock-clad feet came back to the ground. I wondered about the hall briefly before I found the two. Hannibal let the second candle.

The candlelight illuminated the bare outline of (Y/N)'s figure. A mountain of blankets hide their face from view.

"Need help with that?" I came up to them.

"That would be nice." Their voice called over the large pile of fabric.

A soft smile tugged at my lips. It was a comical display to see them like that. "Here, I'll take some." I took a chunk of the pile and went back to the bedroom with the two.

"How should we do the sleeping arrangement?" I turned to ask them.

"I don't know... I didn't think that far." They dropped the blankets onto the bed.

"We could share the bed. It is large enough to do that and have our own space." Hannibal came to the other side of the bed, giving a look. To the untrained eye, it was just a glance, but I could see the point he intended.

"I guess so...we could use excess blankets as barriers to ensure privacy. " They suggested, already getting to work on it.

They tugged blanket after blanket from the mountain to form a line. Two lines separated everyone from each other.

"Good night, everyone." (Y/N) snuggled into sheets around them.

"Night," I shifted and turned to find a comfy position on my side.

"Sleep well now, Will and (Y/N)." Hannibal laid completely still on his back with his hands entwined over his abdomen. He looked like he only meant to rest his eyes rather than sleep.

"Hey," A finger poked the middle of my back. Their voice remained hushed.

"Yes?" I whispered back over my shoulder.

"Do you think it's weird that we're lying in the same bed as our therapist right now?" They whispered.

I couldn't help but erupt with laughter.
_______________________________________
1002 Words