Foretold

#12

We wrapped up at the crime scene, sending the body for post mortem, even though it was quite clear what the cause of death was. I decided to drive Caroline home, I told Kaitlyn we had to go. She looked at Caroline and nodded, clearly noting how pale she looked. She said she'll manage stuff at the office, and she promised to let us know about the latest updates.

I walked Caroline to the car and she took the seat beside me as I drove. Every once in a while I'd look at her, staring out of the window or just looking at her nails. I was worried about her, I seriously was. I drove her home and followed her inside without asking her. She walked inside and what I feared happened, she lost consciousness only to fall in my arms.

Jim was home that day who came rushing to us. I picked her up and put her on the bed. I looked at the black Labrador staring at me. "Jim, she's unwell. I don't know what to do, boy." I sighed. Jim just responded by rubbing himself on my left leg. I sat beside her and checked her temperature. It was fine. She needed to have some food. I cut her some pieces of a pineapple and went to her. I sprinkled some water on her face. She woke up slowly and I fed her the pineapple.

"Why do you do this for me, Mark?" She asked, staring into my eyes.
"Do what? Take care of you? You're my best friend." I said, looking at the pineapple.
"You don't have to do this for me, Mark. I'm fine."
"Yeah, right. You can't stand straight for one second."
"I'll have to get up, I have to see Brian." She insisted, trying to get up but her body wouldn't allow. I lost my cool. I was too worried for her.

"You're not going anywhere Carly. You're crossing all limits for a man who's never loved you and isn't sane enough to love you now. You're working too hard, you know you don't have to." I said.
"You don't know what love makes people do, Mark. You've never been in love." She said, staring blankly at the ceiling. Yeah, right, I didn't know.

"Carly, I care for you. Just take rest, okay? Brian will be fine. Madison and the other doctors will take care of him. And you need to move on, Carly, you can't be stuck up on the same guy forever. If he had gotten married to Sienna, you'd have moved on, right?" I tried to reason with her.
"That's different." She said, being her stubborn self. I struggled to still keep calm.

"Carly, I'll cook you something. You take some rest. What do you wanna eat?" I asked.
"Make me a sandwich, Mark. Then we need to talk. Figure out how he knows, how he draws." She said. I walk towards the kitchen, not looking back at her. Now I'm more scared. I'm worried that she'll lose sanity. I make her favourite kind of sandwich, thinking about her. How she used to be so happy, always smiling. And now, everything has changed.

I walk to her room to find her staring at the windowsills. I did not realize that it had started raining. "Here's your sandwich. The kind you like." I smiled. She took it and smiled. I loved that smile. She ate it bite by bite and said, "How does Brian know? We need to find out."
"I don't know, Carly. He stays locked up in that room all day. How can he predict murders? It doesn't make sense to me. Maybe he's getting out somehow and killing everybody." I said. I liked Brian at a time, but seeing what Caroline had become for him, I didn't like him anymore.

"That's not possible. He stays in maximum security. And what does he have against these girls?" She said. And something clicked. Girls.
"Carly, isn't it strange that both of them were females? Of around our age?"
"I don't know if that's a lead. What I do know is that we can't let this go on."
"Do we tell Ivanowski?"
"Not yet. That can get Brian in trouble."
"It can get you in trouble as you're his counselor." I sighed.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.
"Firstly, keep this a secret. Second, keep track of Brian's drawing book. That's the only way we can keep track of this. Third, make sure nobody finds out. If the killer finds out, Brian can get in trouble."
"Don't you think of him too much?" I sighed. But I understood. I knew how it was like to love someone who didn't love you back.

"This Liliana Shaw. We need to find out more about her. And connections with Mikayla Lee. Has Liliana got any family?" She asked.
"Wait, I'll check." I googled 'Liliana Shaw' and checked the results. "Her father died in war when she was young. Mother died last year. She's got a long term boyfriend, James Houton. And a son, Ben Houton."

"A son?" She sighed, "How old is he?"
"He's 6 years old." I cited from Google.
"So young an age to lose his mother."
"Atleast he's got his father." I said, thinking of mine, who left my family when I was young. My mother had brought me up ever since.
"Hey, Mark. Come here." She said, pulling me in her arms. I burried my face in her hair. She made me feel safe. I didn't talk to people about my father. It affected me, but I didn't like sympathy. I didn't like everybody looking at me with eyes like 'Oh, look at him. Spent his childhood working as a waiter. His father wasn't ever there. Poor child.'

But with her, I could be vulnerable. Things were better now, I was in the police force. I had enough money to feed my mom. But memories are like water. No matter how hard the rock stopping them is, they'll flow over it with time, and take away all your peace. But when I was in Caroline's arms, I knew I was safe. I knew whatever the problems are, they'll go. As long as she was okay, I'd be okay. But the problem was, I wasn't sure how long she was gonna be okay.