Dear Brother

    I haven't been right since that day. I still wish I could've done something. Sadly, I continue to live as his remains already deteriorated from a corpse into something out of a seventh grade science lab. Let me take you to the beginning.
I had a best friend growing up named Matt. We met in the second grade over some sticker game our teacher made us play. We've been inseparable and took care of each other like brothers ever since.
    After graduation, both our parents put money together and bought us a brand new car to share. We both had to find jobs, so why not do it together? At least, that's what our parents figured anyway. Either way, I was terrified of driving so, it worked out.
We searched for weeks trying to get employed with not one single callback. We were running out of money quick, so we became desperate. We resorted to posting flyers of our resume around busy areas in town, in hopes someone would see it and hire us. It worked, surprisingly enough.
It was late on a Monday when we received a call from an agency who hires people for odd jobs. What made this company interesting was, they served as a middle man for workers looking for jobs, companies looking to hire, even locals looking to find people that are willing to do any sort of work, within the law of course.
We showed up to the address they provided and became immediately skeptic about the offer. The building looked as if their funds were cut halfway through maintenance. There were old paint buckets scattered around the front of the building, dry and unusable. Tools that looked like they have been out in the rain too long. Even the sign with the name of the company and hours of operation, was just words written on printer paper with a permanent marker.
We realized the size of our wallets as we were contemplating on leaving, so we decided to try it out. Before taking the chance, we created a plan as a precaution, in case things were to head south in the worst possible way. Safety had always been a sort of gift for Matt. Even as kids he was always prepared for anything. Maybe he was paranoid. About what, I'll never know.
To our surprise, upon entering the half empty room, we were greeted by friendly faces and humble hello's. The receptionists behind the large desk, quickly pulled out some paperwork, explaining the requirements and issues. Basically giving us the "Do's and Don'ts" of any situation we might get in.
    That same evening, after filling out our applications and returned home, the agency reached us and asked if we were interested in a "personal service" job on the outskirts of town. The job was to clean horse stables and feed animals in a 30 acre ranch. It was owned by a very well known person in our town named Jeffery M. Warwick. He used to be the mayor but resigned after his wife and son died in a horrible 8 car pileup. No one had seen or heard from him since. We accepted.
    The next morning, we arrived at his ranch and were stopped by a chained iron gate. We looked around and saw nothing but horses, a few cows and chickens grazing around the lot. We honked the horn a couple of times before questioning if we were even at the right place. Naturally, we called the agency and asked what was going on.
    The lady we spoke with said she just got off the phone with Mr. Warwick and was just about to reach us. Apparently, he left specific orders in an envelope attached to the gate. She added that he demanded us to stop honking the horn. We were confused and cautiously got out of the car to inspect the gate.
    After investigating, we found the envelope, just as he said. Inside were 2 keys, a map with areas shaded in different colors and a note. It said that each day he will attach a new envelope, similar to this one, with specific duties. One key was for the lock on the gate and the other was for the tool/feed shed. Each color of the map showed us which areas we were and weren't allowed in, red being restricted, yellow was if we absolutely had to and there was no way around it and green being allowed. I remember seeing more reds and yellows than greens.
The letter also demanded that if we were to disobey the orders given, we would get terminated with a bad review. That meant, we wouldn't get paid or rehired for other jobs through the agency.
    The rules were, not to take the keys home, absolutely not cross the boundaries shaded in red at any given time, and if we were to leave a task unfinished, there would be no second chances, no exceptions. However, if we did a good job, it said we would be offered a permanent position.
    Matt and I were baffled and intimidated by his strict demands. I don't think I've ever had a situation where I needed to impress someone this much. Though, it did make sense considering how much he was willing to pay for this job. So, we swallowed our pride and began working.
    By the second month, everything came as second nature. Even Mr. Warwick seemed to trust us because the only notes he started attaching to the gate were of any changes in routine. One letter even mentioned that we were allowed to start taking the keys home with us. Matt and I felt pretty proud of ourselves after reading that.
    One day, as we were taking a break, Matt began questioning as to why our boss was so secretive. I suggested that Mr. Warwick was probably just too depressed after his family died or something to that nature. However, I could tell Matt wasn't satisfied by that answer. I told him to forget it and we were making enough money to pay for everything and then some. We didn't even have to worry about a maniacal boss hounding us for making a mistake. He dropped the subject, saying I was right but I knew he was still curious. I understood his curiosity though, "fear of the unknown" basically, but I knew better than to question a good thing.
A week after, I came back home from a family dinner and started getting dressed for work when I received a call from the agency saying our contract had been terminated. Mr. Warwick had contacted the agency saying we violated a strict rule, stole some expensive items and damaged his property. They also told me that the authorities have been contacted and were on their way to pick me and Matt up.
I was outraged and filled with so many questions. I called Matt a few times but it kept going straight to voicemail. I then contacted his mom but she said both her and her husband were out on business and haven't been home for a couple of days now. I grabbed my jacket and was about to head out to Matt's house when I saw an police car pull up to my driveway. The jumped out of his squad, holding his taser on his belt and yelled at me to get on the ground. I was handcuffed and taken to holdup in a matter of minutes. I never saw it coming.
About 4 hours had passed until an officer opened the holding cell door and said I was released. They gave me back everything but my phone because it was, as they put it, "potential evidence." When I walked out the front door, I was greeted by my crying mother who rushed over to hold me and my furious father who was yelling at the secretary manning the front desk. Apparently, the officer who arrested me thought I was going to try and run because of how I burst through the door.
On the way home, my parents decided to defuse this situation by taking me to get some ice cream, like I had just gotten out of the doctor's office. I found it funny and a bit silly but I wasn't able to laugh at it at the time. When we finally got home, I told my parents I just wanted to rest.
I walked into my room, closed the door behind me and quickly turned on my laptop. I opened every social network I could think of, just to get a hold of Matt. I wanted to yell at him, ask him why this happened. My anger quickly faded into fear and worry. All his social profiles said he hadn't been active since the night before. All I found was the message I sent to him, telling him I was headed to dinner with my family, which he read.
I couldn't understand. I've known him all my life, I knew he would never up and disappear without telling me anything. At this point, I felt something was wrong. I walked into the living room and asked my parents what they heard from the police. They said Mr. Warwick was pressing charges on Matt and I for breaking & entering and robbery. The items that were stolen were keys to his property, 300$ cash and a smartphone. He also suspected that we had been planning this since the day we were hired. Nothing was adding up to me and because we didn't keep the letter allowing us to take Warwick's keys with us, it looked very bad.
That following day, a police officer came by to bring my phone back and tell us that all of the charges against me have been dropped. When I asked why, the officer said I was cleared and I was just not allowed around his property. I also asked if they were able to get a hold of Matt. He said no and if I were to see him or get contacted by him, to inform the local police department. I told the officer that Matt wasn't capable of doing something this stupid, it was just not like him. He replied with, "you never fully know a person, have a nice day."
I plugged my phone to charge and once it turned on, I received a notification saying to plug it into my computer for a software update. I usually hated these things but as soon as I got a prompt to backup my files, I saw I had 2 phone backups, mine and Matt's. I remembered having to set up both phones we purchased with our first paycheck. I had the idea to look up his phone's location through the "Lost Phone" app we had, in hopes of finding him.
I got a lock on the most recent location before his phone was shut off manually, inside Mr. Warwick's property. I was beginning to think that maybe Matt did steal from Warwick but if he did, why would he go on the lamb for 300$ and a smartphone? It was downright farfetched to me. When I exited out of the location tracker, I received a notification window that read "Lost/Stolen phone? Click here to download your cloud storage data." After the process was completed, I found a few short videos that were automatically uploaded to the online storage. One was a 2 minute video. It was out of focus and dark but you could clearly hear Matt asking "What the fuck is he doing?" The second video was through Warwick's window, looking into his living room. It panned over to his kitchen, where you can clearly see a dark colored liquid, dripping off the corner of the table. The final item of interest was a picture of Mr. Warwick standing over a clammy grey body wearing an apron covered in blood.
  I immediately showed my dad what I had found. He is a retired Courts-martial and is well respected in our community. Within minutes, he had a search party scouring the 30 acre ranch. We did manage to find Matt, but not in the way we had hoped.
They found his body in a tool shed behind Mr. Warwick's house. The chief walked up to my dad and told him that I shouldn't be there to see it. I demanded to see him and fought with tears in my eyes, calling Matt my brother, demonizing Warwick as they dragged him in handcuffs back to the station. No matter what I said though, I was still taken away.
Matt had a closed casket funeral requested by the family who was able to see his body. It terrified me just to think of how he must've looked. I ended up staying away from all social media 'till I was certain the story wouldn't randomly pop up on my news feed. I was isolated and filled with disgust and hatred.
A long time had passed and I felt ready to know what happened to him. I gathered every speck of courage I could find in me, walked in to the living room and asked my dad about it. He was timid and asked me repeatedly if I was truly ready to hear the story. I took a deep breath and said yes.
    After Mr. Warwick's family died, his depression spiked so high, he isolated himself from everything and everyone around him. No one questioned his actions, I mean, who would? He was a grieving father and husband. There were visits from the community, who would bring anything from get well cards to food and clothing to his ranch. Warwick however, would never accept any of those gifts.
Warwick confessed to digging up the bodies of his wife and child and took them back to his house shortly after the visits stopped. That is where he began experimenting with them. Essentially, trying to "bring them back to life." However, there is only so much you could do to a dead body before it starts to deteriorate. Because of it, his experimentation quickly turned into trying to keep his family's remains preserved.
He said that he tried everything from household products, such as baking powder and vinegar, to chemicals, like window cleaner and oxidized water, just to keep these bodies fresh. If he were to make a mistake and accidental render a body part useless because of failed attempts, he would go out and hunt for people who more or less matched the body part he had ruined. His targets consisted of single mothers outside the city.
At first, he would seduce the mother and reel them in to his trap. He said this method proved to be taking too long. He also said that he could hear his wife yelling at him, asking him why he was cheating on her. Days kept passing and the fight to keeping these remains preserved was just too difficult. He ended up giving in and resorted to taxidermy. He found some videos online that showed him step by step on how to do it properly. With the fear of ruining his family's bodies, he decided to practice on unsuspecting bystanders.
One night, he finally felt confident enough to start on his wife. Halfway through the procedure is when Matt caught him. Warwick said he saw a flash of light come from outside his window. At first he thought it was lightning but when he looked towards the window, he noticed a shadow move. He rushed outside and saw Matt running towards the main entrance. As he was trying to jump the 10ft high gate, Warwick reached for his rifle and shot Matt, hitting his upper thigh, below the butt cheek.
Warwick grabbed Matt by his ankles and dragged him back to his house. He admitted to being so angry at Matt that he decided to keep him alive through the procedure. Matt died of shock on his table that night.
Warwick was sentenced to death for several counts of manslaughter, kidnapping, premeditated murder and so much more. He was a threat to the public and had to be executed. Worst part is, if you believe in a god, never again will he be able to see his family, even after his death.