The Color of Truth

ten: greysen

She saw someone in my house. She saw a man standing in my room, at the window seeing her too. Not only was I in danger but now Aris, my beautiful best friend, my little savior, my rock. She may be in danger. And I've got to figure it out. I've got to make her safe again. She doesn't deserve this.

I hear her go into her room, and I hear her start to cry. I hate that sound. I hate her hurting. And I hate that she's hurting for me. I wait till I hear her stop, she always cry's her self to sleep when she's like this.  She sleeps harder than anyone I've ever met so I'll be able to disable the alarm and get out of the house no problem. I just have to hope nothing happens to me and she doesn't have to mourn another loss.

When she stops crying I make my way down the stairs. I disarm the alarm and rearm it for stay. If she moves down stairs it'll be set off, but I just hope I get back before she wakes up or before her parents return home. I walk out the door and get in her car, I was given the spare set of keys Incase I needed to go to the store or if Aris was Ill I would still be able to go to school. My car is locked inside a crime scene so it was just another way for her parents to make life easier on me.

I start the engine and plug my phone into the aux, hoping music would calm my anxiety a little bit. And her song comes on, 'Dive' by Ed Sheeran. I sing along softly trying to forget about what I'm doing and where I'm going.

I pull up across the street from the house. The sun setting behind it, it's looks almost normal. Like any other house on the street. But it's not normal. I've seen almost every monstrosity this house holds, except his face. Except the face of the man who killed my parents. I put the car in park and get out.

I hurry across the road and dodge under the yellow police tape, the mark of police when a brutal and indescribable crime happens. My stomach shifts as I hurry up the drive, almost as if I was about to vomit. But I didn't, mainly because I knew I couldn't leave any sign that I've been here. I reach the front door and pray it isn't locked, that would destroy this entire mission. The mission to see if I can figure out who the fuck was in my room. It's unlocked and opens with a familiar quiet squeak. My dad always told my mom that he would fix it. I'm glad now he didn't. Everything looks the same as I walk into the front room, my pictures on the wall, my parents smiling faces beside me in some of the photos and I'm overcome with emotion. And I almost walk out, it's almost too much. But I can't, I need to make sure she's safe. He saw her car. Careful to touch nothing I go straight up the stairs, and to the second bedroom on the right. My bedroom. Just as Aris said my curtains were pulled to the sides of the large window as if someone was looking through them. I know for a fact my last day here I pulled them tightly shut when I was trying to get a little extra sleep on that awful summer day.

That to me is enough proof that someone has been in here, lurking. It had to have been the murderer. I shudder at just the thought that that awful, inhuman, human being was in the room that I'd been raised in my entire life.

Just as the actual chill crawls down my spine there's a sound from a room across the hall. My parents room. I look over to my shelves and see the small framed photo of my parents and myself. I take the risk and grab it. I sprint down the stairs and out the door as fast and quietly as I can. I hoped he didn't hear me. The fucking murderer is in my house. Months after the fact he's squatting there, living in the crime scene he created. I hop in the car and take off. Looking back when I stop at the stop sign, just as Aris did. And there he was. Standing in the window, face concealed by shadows.

I drove all the way back to Air's house in a fog, my photo placed safety on my lap. I pull into her drive way and there's no sign of her parents. I put the car into park and go into the house.

"Greysen WHAT THE FUCK?" She screams from the kitchen table. She's shaking and tears are streaming down her face when she sees the photo in my hands. I hate to see her so torn up this way. I hurry to her side and hold her tightly. "Air I'm so sorry I worried you but I just had to be sure that you saw what you saw. He was there Aris. He never left. He's still in my fucking house." I told her, now I was beginning to panic.

"We need to call my dad. We need to tell him. We need him to catch this motherfucker." She said grabbing her phone. "He's going to be so pissed at us." I said quietly, probably shouldn't have even crossed my mind but he'd told us so many times to stay away from my house. "That'll be the last of his worries when he catches the pieces of shit that killed his best friends." She said. I saw fire behind her eyes right then. Something I'd never seen before, she was angry and scared and shaken, but ready to attack if it meant protecting me. I loved her more in that moment than I ever thought possible. She dials her dad and we wait for an answer.