Through The Dark

Chapter 6

I tilted my head upwards to see the top of the tall building in front. I stepped inside and scanned it up and down. I had to reach the seventh floor. I went near the lift and stood outside waiting for it to open. The halt sound of the lift was heard and out stepped a man. He wore a hat completely covering his face. Hands in his pockets, he went straight past me. My eyes followed him till he reached the front desk.

"Are you even gonna step in?"

I turned around to find a young teenage boy inside the lift. He was holding the lift and stood staring at me irritably, though it was his job. I stepped in and the metal doors from both sides started closing slowly. My eyes was still fixed on the man and as he turned his head towards the exit, the image reflected on the glass doors made my eyes go wide. It was the same cerulean eyes I had seen yesterday. I didn't really see his face though. Only his eyes were highlighting.

I started pressing the buttons like crazy trying to open the doors. The doors finally opened on the 1st floor and I got out to see through the windows. The guy was walking as one among the citizens. Through the crowd, he disappeared in a flash of light.

I felt weak not able to catch the man, though he was just a few feet away.
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I reached the seventh floor and waited patiently before the house I was gonna interrogate. There did not seem to be any movement inside nor outside the house. The corridor was quiet like hell. And I didn't like it. I knocked harder and the door swung open in one hard blow. I hesitated first, but decided to step in later. It was really quiet and dusty with garbage all over and a bad odour. There were boxes every few feet and I tripped on them more than once. It wasn't really picturesque to see. I heard a slight moaning sound and headed in its direction when I finally came to the living room. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw an old woman sitting comfortably on the sofa. The Tv was turned on to a Japanese drama series. I started making conversation.

".....Excuse me ma'am. Sorry for stepping in like a thief. I'm Meghan and I'm here to get some information on your daughter Veronica's death".

No answer.

''um..ma'am"

Still no answer. I made my way to the front trying to get a better view of the woman. Once the image was clear to me, I didn't once hesitate to leave the room before anyone could see.

The woman' s throat was slit and blood was flowing out of it like water from a faucet. I called the cops once I was out of the room and the cops didn't give me time to wait as they rushed in to get the corpse.

I didn't know whether it was the killer but if it was really him, then he'd impressed me. Rage was getting over me as I clenched my fists to calm myself down. He must have known that I was gonna interrogate the woman and so he'd done a great job in slitting her throat.

I jogged over to the security room and asked the controller to show the cctv recording before half an hour. He obeyed and turned on the device. I could see lots of people entering and leaving the room. Then in I came with that huge bag of mine. As the cursor moved a few minutes front, the man stepped outside but....

He was wearing a scarf again. So that only his eyes are clear to anyone seeing. But that wasn't the thing that surprised. Once he was out, we could see him talking to a guy . The same guy we met at the airport.

I immediately called Donggeon . I sent her the photo of the guy and asked her to call every police stations in the state requesting them to check the cctvs in their areas for the guy. I then went over to the front desk and enquired whether they knew the man with the scarf. But they'd never seen him before today.

I hurried out into the streets when my phone rang. I picked it up only to see it was from an unknown caller. I thought whether to attend or not, but my hand immediately swiped the screen and waved the phone to my ear.

...........

It was silent for a few seconds and then someone spoke.

"looking for me?", the hoarse voice said as my breath tightened up.

"wh-who is this?", I tried questioning.

"Your great friend", he said with a whirl of sarcasm in his tone.

"Do you want me to call the cops?", I said trying to act bold. But anyway he ignored my sentence and went on.

"Don't you know you'll be in great trouble standing in the middle of the streets alone when it's almost gonna get dark?".

I gulped.

"You better stop messing around or else--"

"Whatcha gonna do?", he interrupted.

I took the phone from my ears and hung up.

I continued along the path when I finally reached the bus stop. The bus didn't delay its ride as I reached my street and headed along the empty road. As I neared the company, I could see a few cars leaving the place.

I rushed in covering myself from the cold and headed for my room. Once I was in, Donggeon came rushing to me with a bunch of questions swarming around her. I explained everything to her but cut the phone call part. Donggeon said that they didn't get anything about the man.

After a few minutes of getting everything settled among the members, I went in to the bathroom take a shower. There, I thought about all that happened today, as the warm gush of water slid through my hair. The man, the body of the woman, the guy from the airport and the phone call...

I came out of the shower and closed the door when I heard my phone ringing again. I sighed and went over to it.

The number was unknown again. I cut it and started making my way out of the room when I heard a notification from my phone. I stood there in silence for a few seconds and then turned to reach for the phone. I tapped on the notification and.....dropped my phone.

There were pictures of me walking on the streets, getting into my room and coming out the bathroom. A couple of seconds later, another message came as I shakily picked up the phone and scrolled the page down....

It was me holding the phone with horror plastered to my face. I looked around and saw the balcony. My legs slowly started carrying me towards it and my hand gripped the curtains and pulled 'em away. It was empty and I could see the far off lights twinkling in the dark. I stood there for minutes that felt like hours staring straight ahead of me.

I was alone. Alone except for the cold wind that hit my face as I just... stood there.

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