Up In Flames ✓

Chapter 17 - An anchor tattoo

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The mid February sun shone through the big expensive windows of the Wells' study.

The giant black walnut wood desk took up a big space in the middle of the room blocking some of the sunlight from reaching the floor.

A slightly smaller desk stood against the wall, a file cabinet filled the space between the desk and the window. The desk his mother always used when they were working from home.

The desk was stacked with different knick knacks, from photographs, awards they had won in the past, files that weren't in the file cabinet as well as a red rose made with beads.

Copies of their qualifications lined the walls, with a large bookshelf taking up the rest of the wall space.

A faint sound of the birds chirping and cars racing by traveled through the empty house and reached Jasper's ears.

The smell of his father's whiskey and his mother's perfume mingled together and still lingered in the air.

Jasper stood in the middle of the room, he had explained his plan to Detective Garraway, which seemed to like the idea and asked Violet if she could come along.

"Why exactly do you want me to come along?" Violet asked, breaking the brief silence that had fallen upon them. She stood with her back against the window, the sun shone against her purple hair making it appear lighter. She stood in the exact spot where Jane Wells took her last breath.

Ignoring this thought, Jasper turned to face her slightly,"I need you to help me focus."

She stared at him, then looked away abruptly,"Alright, let's go back to that day. What did you see? Use your senses, what did you feel, hear, smell?"

Jasper took a deep breath as he thought back to the day he found his parents. He closed his eyes, pearls broken, pools of blood, broken glasses, signs of a struggle, he felt numb, he felt sad, it felt unreal.

He recited his inner thoughts out loud to Violet and Garraway.

Garraway took it in while leaning against the door frame, he crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side,"When you heard someone in the house, what did you see?"

Jasper gazed down at the floor, he clenched both his jaw and his hands as he stared at that spot. Although it was spotless now, the image of the blood pool surrounding his father, then the image of his mother flashed before his eyes.

He didn't realise that his heart beat spiked until a hand touched his shoulder,"Breathe,"She told him."Close your eyes, imagine you're somewhere where you feel calm, safe. An open field, a forest, the beach, it's raining or maybe the sun is shining. It's day or maybe it's night."

He closed his eyes and did what she said, he found himself in a field, he recognised it as the corn field he once visited for a school trip. He took a deep breath, his eyes towards the sky, a light breeze hit his face and he felt the corn around him lightly brush against his skin.

"Now,"Violet's voice echoed around him,"You saw a person. They vanished before you. What colour were their clothes?"

"Black." This he remembered clearly.

"Could you tell if they were male or female?" This voice didn't belong to Violet but it didn't bother Jasper.

"Male." The build of their body, the mannerism and their height all concluded to this.

"Could you see his hair colour?"

Jasper thought back, what he saw that day played like a video before his eyes. He saw the guy's hood fall off, before he quickly put it back again,"Dark brown, almost black."