The Phantom Killer

~Four~

The day ended, and a new one began with no particular leads on the case. The waiting was over now. The case would come to an end now. Brad Grey had been muttering a few things about someone coming after him, in his sleep. Besides that, nothing else. The plan had been set in motion. The only thing left to do was my part- risking my life.

"Dylan, I'm going out for some time", saying this, I left the hospital. I was a bit scared, although I'd never admit it, but I had to do it. I wondered if there were any more targets. Any more people that were going to be killed. I was so lost in thought that I didn't notice a man coming towards me until he bumped into me. He gripped my shoulder so tightly that a sharp pain spread through it.

"Hey! Watch it, will ya?", I complained. "And cut your nails."

I moved on, wandering the streets looking for the killer. He had to be around by now. After about ten minutes, I heard a shrill scream from behind and turned to look. I scanned my whole surroundings but nobody was there.

"Hey!", I yelled. "Who's there?!"

My vision... it started to blur. When I couldn't understand what was going on, I heard it. A sound too horrifying for my brain to comprehend, and for me to describe. I felt like something was stabbing at my chest from inside my body. I stared at the ground with my mouth wide open- panting- and saliva dripping from it. My whole body, covered with goosebumps, was trembling. I saw no point in it but I still feared- feared nothing in particular but everything. The horrifying sounds. The air which stung against my skin. And death. The sound now felt like laughter, echoing in my brain. I could now see why the victims couldn't take it. I felt like I would die too. I wanted to die, if it meant not hearing those sounds anymore. It was so terrible I lost all sense of logic. So I closed my eyes. I was certain I would die any moment now if I had one glance at the phantom. I was so terrified I wouldn't open my eyes- even when I heard someone coming.

Then, I heard a much sharper sound. Much louder and very familiar... a gunshot. The next thing I knew, someone was lifting me off the ground. I opened my eyes to see Dylan's face and knew everything was all right. The plan had succeeded.

++++++++++

The drug in my body had lost its effect soon. Everyone was sitting in their chairs forming a circle around the murderer, and me- waiting for me to unveil the mysteries. So I started.

"You are quite naive, phantom killer", I began, throwing a newspaper towards him.

"It was not really a game, was it? You sought revenge, revenge against those four boys. I suspected that from the very beginning but confirmed it only after hearing Brad's murmuring." The killer was staring at the ground, his face covered in shadows.

"As you would definitely come after the survivor, I had to drive you into the limelight and divert your attention towards me", I said, grinning. "I asked Bob to have all the news channels display this case and myself being involved in it. I made you believe that I was the only obstacle in your way. I knew you'd come after me next, so I had Dylan follow me at a safe distance.", but he said nothing. The old man was still staring at the floor. I had solved all of the case. But one question remained.

"When did he drug you?", Dylan asked.

"Didn't you notice this man before, Dylan? He injected the drug into my body when he bumped into me earlier." That was, indeed, clever. He had written that note in order to deal with the police, to cause a distraction to buy him enough time to finish off.

"There is something I want to ask you", I said calmly as his head rose. His wrinkled face showed no emotion on it.

"Why? Why did you kill them like that?"

"Because...", he began to say in a dry voice, his eyes wandering off into memories. "That is how they killed my son." My brow tightened. It all fit into place. Those four killed his son together, and disabled all the means of contacting them as they went into a hiding.

"Rhodes... the five of them met each other on Facebook. They became good friends but the other four always made fun of Rhodes for being afraid. Rhodes never took it to heart, though. He was always loyal to them. They all loved hiking and camping. So they decided to meet in real life, and go camping somewhere. One night...", he started to sob. "... my son, he was very scared of ghosts. Those four bastards decided to prank my son by scaring him. So they dressed up as ghosts, and they had sound effects ready in their laptops. They..." he broke down again. "My son was scared and he started running, until he tripped and fell of the hill..." He cried loudly, his face covered in tears.

"I... I found my son's body... and the video they made. I decided right then to hunt those rascals who hid themselves, and kill them. Scare them like they did to my son! My Rhodes..." He fell on the floor, and cried.

It was because of unrighteous people like those that even good people become bad. If only those friends thought once before playing with Rhodes' emotions, they'd still be alive. And one more family would still be happy. If fun meant separating a father from his son, it was wrong. It was a crime. And to bring justice in such situations was why I existed. It was why I solved crimes. To punish more criminals and make the society better.

"I promise to you that Brad Grey will be punished. So will you, for taking four lives. The law exists to serve justice. No individual person has the right over other's life. And no individual has the right to serve justice alone. End of discussion."

Saying that, I got up to leave. Dylan ran after me. The case was over. It was interesting, after all. I passed out on my bed as soon as I reached my room. I realised how scared I was of ghosts. I could never see a horror movie again.