The Pleasures of an Eternal Nightmare

Chapter 3

Officer Cross opened the door for Terry, stepping aside so she had room to walk. Terry walked in front of the officer and dropped the game device in her hand. "Can you give that to K.C.? It might help him to calm down."

Julie inspected the device and noticed all the scratches. "Why are there scratches?"

"K.C. used to carry it in his backpack and it would get scratched by the folders and textbooks in his bag. He also dropped it a few times."

Julie turned it over and saw some writing on the game reader. The writing seemed to be code, using numbers instead of letters. "What is with the numbers?"

"I don't know," Terry said. "He told me it was part of a secret code system that he and Kaleb developed."

"Where can I find Kaleb?"

Terry lowered her head. "He lives in the house by Oval Street but I wouldn't expect much from him."

"Why is that?"

"Well... after the shooting four months ago, Kaleb refused to come to school. He isolated himself in his house and only communicated with K.C.. I don't know what he is like now, but K.C. get's uncomfortable talking about him."

Julie nodded and started walking down the hall. "Thanks for the information."

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Julie knocked on the wooden door and took a step back as she waited for a response. The cold winter air cut through her police coat like a long blade made of ice but she wasn't here for the comfortable warmth of the house, she was here for answers. K.C. mentioned rumors surrounding him after his incident with Mr. Nair but everyone they interviewed seemed to have only positive remarks about K.C.. Terry's reaction to seeing him was more of concern than fear, further confusing her. Aside from that, the code on the back of the game device seemed deliberate, almost as if there was an important secret to it. She glanced at the digits again:

"66-36-48, 42, 6-30-36-34-16"

It seemed strange. Something wasn't right.

The door opened and a tall slender boy stood in front of her. He had short, messy, silver hair with red eyes and pale skin. He had a headset over his ears and a game controller in his hand. He wore a white tank top with gray shorts and the bags under his eyes suggested a lack of sleep.

"May I help you?" the boy asked in a somewhat deep voice.

"Kaleb Scott, correct?" Julie asked.

"That's me," Kaleb said with a yawn. He slipped the headphones off of his ears and rested them on his shoulders. "Who are you supposed to be?"

Julie showed off her police badge. "I'm Julie Cross with the local SWAT and investigation teams. I'm here to ask you some questions regarding K.C.. Can you spare some time?"

Kaleb glanced at something inside and sighed. "Alright. Come on in."

When Julie walked in, she looked in the direction where Kaleb had looked earlier. There was a TV with a small console set beside it. On the TV was some kind of first person shooter game set in a modern military setting. His character was standing idle in front of an old car in the desert with gun fire erupting around him. A black grenade fell beside his character and exploded. The car exploded and his character let out a scream as his body became a mess of body parts and blood.

Julie felt her stomach churn but Kaleb shrugged and said, "Don't worry about it. I was just about to log off the game anyway." They sat down at the dining table in the kitchen and Kaleb set a bowl of candy in the center. "So what kind of questions do you have, this time? I think last time you guys came by, you didn't ask much."