Artificial Tears

Chapter 35

It's getting late, but I cannot rest until I visit the caved entrance to this 'underground' again.

Unlike last time, I brought Xanders with me. I don't work with her often, but she volunteered.

As we drive to the place I decide to ask her the question: "Why did you want to come with me?"

"Reed asked, you know how she is." Xanders shrugs.

"Yeah, you can't really decline an order she gives." I laugh, Reed does care about everyone very much, but she doesn't like to let it show. I do sometimes think of her as an older sister even though she's much younger than me.

"I think she's worried about you. Your decisions have been getting rasher recently after all."

"Rash?"

"Y' know, you've been trying to solve this whole case on your own when you have a whole team to help you."

I sigh, but don't answer. I've been working with Reed for a long time and even though she doesn't speak much, she's a good judge of character. She probably already knows that I've been thinking back more and more recently.

The car lets us know that we've arrived and we get out, the sky has already gone pitch black and snowflakes have started falling gently.

"It's this way." I tell Xander and quietly we enter the building.

Vigilantly we shine our flashlights in order to see the whole thing.

Step by step, making sure we don't make too much noise, we finally reach the door.

I place my hand on the knob and carefully turn it. The door creaks open, before we go in, I shine my light inside and the dark staircase meets me.

I turn on my camera and go inside, we go down the stairs and find the collapsed stones.

"It doesn't look very realistic." Xanders suddenly tells me.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not real. The stones, I think it's a hologram."

"What?!"

Xanders takes the front and walks over and then as she places her hand over it, it fades, but just for a bit.

It returns to normal quickly.

"This is crazy." I say full of surprise, I had never seen a hologram this realistic after all.

"Some tech stuff does interest me, it's just very specific."

"Like your hologram concerts?"

"Please don't talk about it." She says red-faced. She seems to feel ashamed of it, I wonder why.

I walk towards her and also let my hand phase through the solid-looking object.

"Do you think we can break it somehow? Or at least turn it off or something?"

"There should be a way."

Xanders feels around with her foot for a short while.

"I think I found something."

It really gives a weird feeling, going through a holo like this one. Is this what ghosts would feel like?

It's also really funny to me how my younger colleagues from before were fooled with this thing. Who needs to retire now, huh?

Then all of a sudden, Xanders is able to turn the thing off. Showing off how big the room actually is.

I can see the old piano again, it looks more beat up than before and is that blood?

"Xanders, be careful. This serial killer of ours might be down here..."

"Down?"

I point at the hole just behind the piano.

"We have to call for backup, I'm not going in there." She says as she takes a step back, whilst shaking her head wildly.

Now that we have it on camera, or well at least I, we can finally leave this awful building again.

"Alright, let's get back-"

Something hard and cold, yet burning lands on my head.

It causes my vision to blur, getting darker and darker. "Run." It comes out as only a whisper, or maybe it was only a thought.

Before I know it I stagger and fall face-forward onto the floor.

But consciousness was already lost before I could feel the hug of the cold ground.