Blame

Dangling

Blood was dripping from the second story of the building that was being worked on.

Hanging out of the window, suspended by what appeared to be a cord tied tightly around his ankles, was Nick.

Though, admittedly, it was a bit hard to tell. If Elizabeth hadn't already seen what he was wearing just a little bit ago, she definitely wouldn't have known that it was him.

His face didn't quite look like a face anymore. It was as if somebody had smashed his skull into a million fragments.

It was hard to look away from.

Charlie was still trying to get Elizabeth's attention, but she simply couldn't get herself to focus on the brunette's words anymore.

The receiver slipped out of her grasp. It would have hit the ground, had it not been attached to the rest of the payphone.

A bright orange, slightly flickering light was visible inside.

Smoke was beginning to billow out of the window, which had been swung open in order to let Nick's body hang.

Something was written on the glass.

It was difficult to read with how far away it was.

''Please, stop!' She cried, but he kept hitting her anyway.'

Below it was another one of those fucking smiley faces.

Elizabeth finally tore her eyes away, instead looking back down, where a rather loud banging had become audible.

Somebody was trying to open the back door, but it simply wouldn't budge.

Judging by the way he was dressed, he was also a construction worker.

Elizabeth recognized him too.

Dirty blond hair, dark eyebrows, freckles...

It was Gar.

Of course it was.

He squeezed his way past a couple of people, making his way over to the alley, likely to go around and try the front door instead.

A skeletal figure rose up from behind the dumpster as he passed by, going completely unnoticed by the crowd, who were too distracted by the burning building and the mutilated corpse.

Piercing blue eyes met hers.

The demon raised one of its thin fingers up to its lips, silently shushing her before it began to follow after Gar.

Elizabeth, rather compulsively, began to follow after it.

A rather loud voice in the back of her head was telling her that she shouldn't, especially since she didn't know what she was going to do to stop it, but that didn't stop her.

"Liz!" Jesse shouted after her. "Liz! What are you doing? Don't follow after it!"

Her words weren't registering either.

Jesse went to follow after her, but quickly backtracked and picked the phone back up.

"Charlie? It's Elizabeth's friend. I'm gonna need you to tell me what to do, and I'm gonna need you to do it fast."

Elizabeth entered the alleyway.