It's Terribly Perfect.

9. It's Terribly Perfect: Another Dead End.

The lights were dim and the air felt smothering as I sat in the murky police station. My mom, Marcus, Tyler and Luke were all with me as the note that still had me shaking was being looked over by the police officers.

That guy, echoed through my head, which was spinning and throbbing. I was nearly frozen after first reading the note that had been addressed to me. My mother had freaked out after she snatched it away from me at the house, before she pushed me out the door and into her car, the others immediately following.

He knows where I live. He knows who I am. He knows how to find me.

“Miss Kasynne Santiago?” A gruff voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up, a tall, broad man stood, towering over me. There was something about his voice that was familiar. He smiled slightly. “Hi, I’m Officer Russell Manson. You go to school with my younger brother.”

“Calub?” I asked. They didn’t look much alike.

“Yeah, you probably don’t remember me. I’ve been gone from this town for about nine years, only been back for about five or six months.”

When Calub and I were younger, we were actually rather good friends. Our mothers would set up play dates and we would always fight over either playing House or video games. I always won though, him giving in after I pouted for a good five minutes. I’m not quite sure what happened between the two of us. He just turned into someone else, really.

I remember Calub talking about his older brother when we were kids, but I don’t think I ever met him before now. I’ve only ever met his mother. Actually, I don’t even know what happened to his dad.

“Your brother’s an ass,” Luke commented flatly. Russell chuckled, his large frame shaking. He was quite a bit more muscled up than Calub.

“Like you have any room to talk?” Tyler piped up, directed towards Luke’s actions from less than a month ago.

“That’s enough,” my mom ordered with a tired tone. They both shut up, hanging their heads. Calub’s brother cleared his throat.

“Well whoever wrote the letter was very clean and very careful about. There was no trace of any fingerprints, a strand of hair, nothing.” I sighed. As he was about to continue, someone interrupted him.

“Kasynne,” Ryan called as he came into the dim hallway. I jumped up, suddenly happy to see him as I hid my face in his chest, his arms enclosing me. “Are you okay? Sorry it took me so long to get here.” He had no reason to apologize. I didn’t even know he was coming.

“Yeah I’m fine,” I lied as we headed back over to the others and I grabbed hold of his hand. When we sat down, Officer Manson continued with what he was saying.

“Did you remember anything else from that night, Miss Santiago?” he questioned, his voice shaking a bit at the end.

“Uh, yeah actually, about two weeks ago I remembered a small part.”

“Two weeks ago?” Ryan asked, baffled.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Luke interrogated. I may have just imagined it, but I’m pretty sure Ryan shot a glare at him for a split second.

“What did you remember Kasynne?” Officer Manson’s voice was stern now.

“It wasn’t a major memory, that’s why I didn’t say anything. It was just noise. I heard another voice from someone that ran over after I was forced to take the drink. But I didn’t hear the original guy’s voice. The other man didn’t sound familiar. I hadn’t heard the voice before that I’m aware of.”