What Lurks in the Dark

Chapter 5

"James!" Mason yelled in excitement as he laid his eyes on the man entering his room. I sat there and smiled. I was so glad that the cheery Mason I knew had returned. Mason stood up and gave Jamie a bear hug. It was almost the cutest thing ever. Earlier that day, the doctor said that Mason could be released soon, so I guess that was something to look forward to.

After about a month of caring for the wounded kid, he finally healed, but his memories hadn't come back. But honestly, I didn't care. I couldn't stand when Mason hated me, so even though it's wrong for me to think this way, I was relieved that he didn't remember what actually happened.

I didn't know how long the peace would last. That day was rough. Evan had gotten a death note from the murderer. Apparently, the murderer knew that he'd seen Carolina being killed. I ran into the interrogation room and once again saw Evan pale, shaken up. "What happened?" I asked panicked.

"I was coming home from my cousin's house, and when I got to my doorstep I realized that I didn't have my keys, I always keep a spare under the welcome mat. So as I went to grab them, there was a note next to them that said, I know where you live. It literally said Your Friend Cross so I automatically assumed that it was the guy who killed Carolina. I know the press refers to him as the cross killer." As he spoke, he shared everything and skipped not one detail. But it felt like too much information. But I brushed off my suspicions considering that I was sleep-deprived.

"Who's this cousin of yours?" I questioned.

"Justin Ross," for a moment I hadn't realized whom he was talking about, but then it hit me hard.

"I went to school with him," I whispered in shock. Justin was always one of the students they picked on, and he tried to keep to himself. Whenever I tried to help him he just pushed me away so I ended up just staying out of things. I'd always felt bad for the kid. He'd been the smartest kid in our school, and probably the youngest to ever be in our grade. Realizing he was still in the room I said, "Sorry about that, do you have the note with you?" I slid my gloves on. He nodded and pulled the small white piece of paper from his pocket, shakily handing it to me. I walked over to the door and opened it allowing Evan to go, and I soon followed after.

I sent the paper in for fingerprints and the forensics crew said that due to the fact that it was a piece of paper, they were going to have a hard time getting results other than Evan's prints. I pushed open the door to my office and tripped over mid-air, falling onto Nathan's tall body, and our lips... touched. I was kissing him. Cliche right?

What the hell? I cursed myself on the inside. It wasn't like me to be this clumsy. I tried my hardest to push myself off of him, but I swear it felt like he was pulling me in tighter. I finally gave in to the kiss, then it hit me.

I pushed him in his chest and threw myself off of him. "What the hell's your problem?" I asked as if I was expecting to get an answer.

"I'm so sorry," he muttered, "I didn't realize what I was doing-" I cut him off, not letting him finish his excuse.

"It's fine, just don't let it happen again," I said, not realizing how cold I sounded.

~

Mason and I stood over Carter's grave. I was holding in the tears, trying my hardest not to let Mason see me cry. "Carter, man," Mason stated, "I'm going to join the police academy. I'm going to follow in your footsteps. I'm going to finish what you weren't able to." The tears I had been holding in for the past hour, they finally fell. I just couldn't lose Mason the same way I lost Carter. As I started up the car, Mason looked like he wanted to say something, but he just never said it. Each time he opened to say what he'd been dying to say, he just sighed.