Bite Me [JiGyu]

Lion

I stood by the examination table and watched the forensic specialists unzip Elise's corpse from a body bag. I had now learned each of their names- courtesy of the soft looking on introducing me to them. The one that had recognized me in the house earlier is Boo Seungkwan, the young one is Chwe Hansol, and the long-haired one is Yoon Jeonghan. Jeonghan sighed as he flicked his eyes between the body and the computer screen beside him.

"Okay... tried her skin for prints, there's nothing, be we did get a hand spread off her neck."

Seungkwan tilted his head as he looked at Jeonghan. "Reports say anything about nails?"

"Fingernails were smudged when we took the scrapings, but the scrapings were from her own palms when she scratched them. She never scratched him," Hansol explained quickly, gesturing to the victim's hands.

Seungkwan groaned and ran his hands through his hair. "Great. So a piece of metal is all we got."

"We should be looking at plumbers, steamfitters, tool workers..." The room went quiet after I said that and I internally rolled my eyes. It seemed like Seungkwan was the only one who actually wanted me there. The other two either thought I was crazy, or they hated that I was smarter than them.

It was probably a mix of both.

I stared off into the black area that a cut open part of her had made. I saw the same thing I had seen last night, except now she was floating upright, and I broke out in a cold sweat when antlers quickly sprouted from multiple parts of her body. I was snapped out of the hallucination by Jeonghan's voice. "Jihoon? You alright?"

I nodded quickly and gestured for him to continue as I calmed my heart. "Uh... all other injuries were most likely made post-mortem. So... not gored." Hansol cut off Jeonghan as he gave Seungkwan a 'told you so' look. I don't like Hansol too much, he's too cocky. Seungkwan narrowed his eyes slightly and squared his shoulders as he looked up at Hansol.

"She has piercings that look like they were caused by antlers, I never said that the deer put them there."

"She was mounted on them." The three of them looked up at me with different expressions. Seungkwan looked in awe, Hansol looked pissed I had figured something out before him, and Jeonghan just looked curious. I avoided their eyes as I continued. "The antlers were treated like hooks... she may have been bled..."

"Her liver was removed." Jeonghan spread open one of the cuts on her side with fragile fingers as he peeked into the wound. "So he removed it and... yup, he put it back in." He pulled away and looked at the body quizzically. "That doesn't make any sense though, why would he take the time to cut it out if he was just gonna throw it back in?"

"There was something wrong with the meat." They all looked at me again, and all I could do was stare at the laceration on her torso.

Hansol was the first to speak up. "She has liver cancer."

I nodded in agreement and struggled to get my words out. "H-He's, um... he's eating them."

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𝔹𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖, 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕪𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕

"P-Please," the psychiatrist's patient murmured out as he reached toward the kleenexes on the glass table. The psychiatrist handed them to him and fought back a grimace when the patient left his snotty used ones on the table. "I hate being this neurotic..."

The doctor stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "If you weren't neurotic, Joshua, you would be something much worse. Our brain is designed to experience anxiety in short bursts, not constantly like your brain seems to enjoy."

Joshua looked down and fiddled with his fingers, desperately trying to keep his mind from running a mile minute. It's what comes with anxiety- you're always wondering if people mean what they say. The doctor continued; "It's why you feel as if a lion is always in the room, on the verge of devouring you."

Joshua ducked his head down even lower as his shoulders started to shake with more sobs. "Joshua."

"Yes?"

"You need to convince yourself that the lion is not in the room. When it is I assure you- you will know."