Stay Away (The Beocraftian Gambit - Book One)

CHAPTER THIRTY: A VISIT TO THE PAST

The old abandoned warehouse stood, corner lot, like a looming gargoyle; perched on a mound of earth protruding like an overfilled grave. The place looked dilapidated and haunted.

For a moment, Kevin looked over the warehouse T-Murek had used to torture Loretta over a year ago. It felt like he was revisiting his horrible past by coming back to this very place. For months, he'd tried to fight off the memories of the past, and now he's back to the place where it all began, the very building where he sat to watch his fiancée die.

He has returned to the one place he'd hoped he would never have to see again. As he climbed up the old broken staircase, Alex heeled him. And when he reached the wooded door, the memories of the past flooded his mind, filling him with great horror.

It was almost twenty-four hours after T-Murek had left the room, leaving Kevin tied to the chair. Kevin watched with pain in his eyes as flies buzzed around the opened wounds on Loretta's lifeless body. His face was pale, his arms and feet still tied to the chair. The belt had stopped the proper circulation of blood to both his arms and feet. He was hungry and weak and sought death to come quickly, to end his agony. But death seemed so far away, only pain served as his companion at the moment.

He had gone for several hours—maybe days even, without food, but that was the least of his worries. He was more concerned about how he'd continue his life without Loretta in it. He knew for certain that the gruesome torture of the woman whom he loved most would haunt him forever.

Then, without warning, the door burst open, and bright light from the touch of the several police officers bathed his face. That was how he met Leonard. Kevin—unhappy at the sight of the police finally coming to his rescue, was counting on a slow and painful death, side by side with the woman he loved, and not to be found and saved. He was rather ungrateful that the police had finally found him.

Leonard walked up to him, flashing his torch at his face. He loosened the belt strapped around his arm. The rest of the officers who were with him untied Loretta's lifeless body from the pole. Flies buzzed around the corpse. The sickening smell of metal and rotting flesh blanketed the air in a choking aroma. Covering their noses in disgust, they dragged her body out of the room. Traces of her blood were drawn on the floorboard as they dragged her away.

"Who the hell murders a person this way?" Murphy uttered, holding his nose. He felt a prickle in his stomach as he looked away from the body.

Leonard held the torch over Kevin's face, looking at him. "Did you see who did this?"

Kevin's expression was numb. He sat looking straight ahead at them like he had no life left in him.

"Hey! What's your name, kid?" Leonard asked, waving his hands around his face. But Kevin remained unresponsive.

"After what he just witnessed, he won't respond to anything. He's in shock," Murphy uttered from behind as he walked towards them. "We need to give him some time to recover before questioning him about what'd happened here." Murphy examined Kevin more closely. "He looks completely broken. We need to get him to a hospital."

"Poor kid is going to need lots of therapy before he can ever function again," Leonard added and searched Kevin's pocket.

"What are you doing?" Murphy asked him.

"Looking for some ID—anything we could use to identify him." Leonard took out a wallet from Kevin's pocket and opened it. He fished out a card and glanced through it.

"Kevin Logan," he read out the name.

"Kevin? Kevin!! Can you hear me? Kevin, look at me. Come on. Snap out of it!"