Bloody Souvenirs

Chapter 22

"Baby, I'm praying on you tonight.

Hunt you down, eat you alive,

Just like animals, animals. Like animals....."

I knew the lines. They were from a song by Maroon 5. Animals I think it was called. And  I also knew what the next lines were.

Maybe you think that you can hide. I can smell your scent from miles....

I swallowed hard, fear dripping from every inch of my body.

It felt like my throat was closing. I was suffocating. I crashed down to the ground, the impact hitting hard but I didn't care. After what I just saw, I was practically dead anyway.

But instead of crying, I just stared ahead with blank eyes. I didn't know what to do. Where do I go?

The next few hours were a blur. I don't remember much of anything save for Matt calling the emergency number and telling them the situation. He then pulled me down into the living room and sat with me on the couch, whispering comforting nothings to me. I sat there, hugging my knees to my chest and slowly rocking myself back and forth as we waited for the cops to turn up.

When they finally did, I was surprised to see it was Agent Jack Larson and his partner Agent Redding, along with a couple of other guys.

I quickly wiped my face before getting up and greeting them. "I thought you worked for Homicide, Agent Larson." I said, "Didn't know you were handling such cases."

"Actually," Jack Larson flashed a smile, "I'm in charge of the Polaroid case and it is up to me to investigate any possible lead. Oh, and you can call me Jack"

I nodded softly, before looking down at my feet. I heard him sigh, as if was almost sorry for what was happening to me.

I refused to go back up so Matt showed the cops up to my room, to collect evidence. I just sat on the couch, trying not to panic. Just then, the doorbell rang, startling me. Slowly, I got up and peeked through the peephole. An anxious looking Jax was standing outside, biting his lip.

I opened up the door. "Kat!"Your lights weren't out and I heard the police turn up." he breathed, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I mean, no. Ugh, just come in."

Jax's face was a mask of different colors of concern but he came in nonetheless and sat beside me. Over the span of the next few minutes, I explained to him everything that had happened, occasionally crying in between.

When I was finished, we both sat in silence, dumbstruck. It felt like repeating the occurrences to Jax had somehow made them more real. They had actually happened and this wasn't just a bad dream that I'll wake up out of.

"Kat," Jax had just begun to say something but was interrupted by Agent Jack Larson coming back down the stairs, his partner and Matt in tow. When he saw Jax, his expression changed into something I couldn't quite recognize.

"Our people will be done collecting evidence in a while." he said, his eyes still fixed on Jax. "We will get back to you with what we can find." Then he narrowed his eyes in Jax's direction, "And you are....Jake?"

"Jax." Jax corrected, his expression one of utmost indifference, "But yeah, you can call me Jake."

Agent Larson pursed his lips but ignored Jax's snide comment. He said, "You must be pretty close to the family."

"I am close to Kat." Jax replied, "Her brother and I have never really formally met."

Wait, what!? I thought. How come I had never noticed that Matt and Jax had never once talked to each other?