Nocturnal Animals

Chapter Two

March 16th, 2019

I woke up  covered in sweat again. I rubbed my face annoyed. I laid back and stared at the ceiling. Since the day we found Edwins moms I can't stop seeing that monster. I am scared all the time, I am scared of the darkness. I have nightmares all the time, when they do seem to stop, when I finally think I can rest they come back. I used to cry after every nightmare, I've gotten used to them that sometimes i just wake up and go back to sleep. But I can never truly rest. Sometimes they get really bad that I can't go back to sleep.  I usually can remember my nightmares in detail but not this time. The dream was foggy. I grabbed dream journal and tried to put the dream together. I can remember being on my knees covered in mud, begging someone to stop hurting me, then being pushed down to the ground. A pair of golden eyes staring down at me with hatred penetrating my eyes. Flashes of colorful lights appeared on the sky as I laid on the mud. I felt fear all the time. Will they ever stop? Do I have to die in my nightmare to make everything stop? Will they stop?

I got out of bed and went down stairs, as I walked down the stairs I heard two unfamiliar voices and a police radio being turn down. 

"Mom?" I called out as I walked down the stairs.

"I'm here Honey, come on down" She yelled. As I went down the stairs I saw a police car through the window parked in the front of the house.

"What's going on? " I asked as I entered the living room.

"Hey Hun, the police is here  to ask you a few questions" she said, she looked worried.

"Hi," I said to the two police man, they looked at me and looked at each other.

"Hi Ray, we are here to ask you some question regarding your classmate Ben Reed. I am officer Fisher and this is my partner, Officer Brown. Ben went missing Wednesday after school, he was reported missing Wednesday night and we found his body near the woods this morning..." 

"His body? Wait, Ben is dead?"  I was in shocked, my head went blank.

"Yes, he has passed. We know this is hard for you. We just want to ask you a few questions to understand what happened to him." He said, the thing is that me and Ben aren't really friends, we have some friends in common and classes but thats it. "When was the last time you saw Ben?"

"I haven't seen Ben since Wednesday, I think. He didn't show up to class" I said and looked at mom confused. "We are not really friends" I said and looked down. I felt so bad, his face appeared in my head. " I do know that him and his girlfriend tend to hang out near the woods" I said, there were rumors that they liked to make up in the woods and get high. Ben is known for selling weed in school but I didn't tell them that of course, they should be able to figure it out them selves.

"Do you know where?" Officer Fisher asked. "mmm, I think passed the burger place near the school," I said. The police officers looked at each other. 

"Have you ever been behind the burger place? In the woods?" Officer Fisher asked me. His eyebrows were curbed in.

"mmm no, I've passed by there a few times but no." then something told me that I have been there before but I can't remember. Then an image from one of my nightmares flashed in my head. It was Ben and I  talking in the woods.

"You know that the burger place has cameras pointing towards the street right? and we have viewed its content for the past few months, it took us a lot of hours but we have seen it" he looked at me straight in the eyes. 

"Errrr, okay? " I said confused, " I walk pass there all the time, if thats what you're talking about, its on the way home" I said confused. Mom looked at them confused.