Literal Darkness Short Story Collection Book 1: Blank State

9:00 P.M.

The police are waiting for me when I get home. They tell me there was a murder where I work. Jeremy. My stomach lurches. I ask how he died, they tell me he was stabbed to death, his body hidden under the house.

They ask we where I was earlier that night. I tell them I was working with them, we finished the house and went home. Then I think hard about earlier. His car was still in the parking lot when I left. I shrugged off the thought. He was probably just finishing up the last bit when I left. The memory is a little fuzzy. I don't tell them anything more than what I already had, and tell them it was all I knew. 

Finally, they figure I've given all I can, or at least, all I'm willing to and bid me good night. I don't know how I'm gonna sleep well knowing that if I would've left any later, the killer probably would've got me too. I start to wonder, maybe it was him. The guy on the news that's been killing people. 

I sit down at the table and look out the window. A patrol car. Looks like I'm under surveillance. Makes sense, I was the last one to see Jeremy alive before he was murdered. They'll pull him out once they know I'm innocent. 

An hour later...

I turn on the light and look out the window at the cop. He's outside smoking a cigarette. He turns and looks at me through the window, and frowns. He's tall, stocky, maybe in his late twenties. He looks like he's freezing cold out there. I open the door and invite him in for some coffee. I figure if he's gonna be up late watching me he could at least have something to keep him warm and awake. He hesitates at first, but accepts. I welcome him in and get the coffee going.

As I prepare the officer's coffee, I look down next to me, and see a carving knife. I pick it up, admiring the gleam of the sharpened edge. I start to smell something metallic. The cop is looking right at me.