Ghost In The Dark

Double Funeral

NATE'S P.O.V.
It was Thursday morning but the whole county felt quiet, even though the sounds of sirens blared as police cruisers patrolled I couldn't hear a single thing. My mind was all over the place but my heart was no where, gone and dead. I stayed at the hospital all night as the medics and forensics cleaned up the blood drenched body of Marina, the woman I was supposed to get married to tomorrow.

I watched her cold lifeless body as she was pushed into a freezer to preserve her body in preparation for her funeral. Her father just left here, heartbroken as well. He gave me an ear full as he cried, gripped the collar of my shirt as he asked me where I was when his daughter was getting slaughtered like an animal.

It took several other police men to pull him off me as he rocked me back and forth, as he slapped me severally across the face. I deserved it. I had promised when I went to speak with him the day I asked Marina to marry me that I was going to protect her with my life, stand by her when she needs me the most and never break her heart or make her cry.

I failed in all prospects so I deserved all the backlash and slaps I received today. Losing Marina meant not just losing the love of my life, I also lost a part of me, the reason why I woke up everyday, the reason why I worked so hard to be a good detective.
I failed her as a friend, as a boyfriend, as a fiancé.

"I don't deserve to be alive" I thought. It would have been better if I was the one on that chair instead of her. Why would anyone even want to hurt her? All she ever did was work to save the lives of so many people. The reason she decided to be a nurse was because she wanted to be a step ahead when it came to the health of those around her, those she cared about the most. Was her generous nature so wrong that someone dimed it fit to end her life in such a horrific manner?

The tears in my eyes dropped even though I tried to stop them. I sat down in my car, with the weight of her death in my heart. I can't go on without her. I can't possibly pretend that I'm okay because I'm not. I won't ever be anymore.

I wiped my eyes as best as I could before starting my car. My phone buzzed as I received a text from Christina

C: Hey Nate, where are you?

     Please text me back and let me know you're okay
I tucked the phone away before pulling out from the parking lot and driving onto the busy road. The air smelt like stale bread and expired coffee and It made me dizzy, It pissed me off so much.
I needed to go away, to hide somewhere, some place that I wouldn't think about her but that was impossible. The whole county reminded me her.

The coffee shop on the east side where we had our first date after I was discharged from the hospital. I remember how she kept acting like my nurse all through out the date, asking how I was feeling and shoving my pills in my hand the moment the timer on her watch went off.

I chuckled silently at the thought as I drove past the beach.
The shores of the beach where I asked her to marry me. It was about 7pm that day and I remember sending her a text saying that I couldn't feel my legs. Ten minutes later she came storming inside the beach club and her eyes twinkled at the candles and rose petals spread across the floor. Though I got a serious beating that day and tongue lashing from her for joking around with my health, I got a fiancée out of it so that's a win.

I remember how she took care of me when a loose ceiling board fell on my head when I was in the bathroom. I wasn't seriously hurt but she panicked and cried so much thinking that only bad things happened to me, thinking she would have to share in my bad luck after she got married to me

I gripped the steering wheel hard thinking about what might have gone through her mind when she got captured, when He tied her to the chair and gagged her. How scared she must have being. If she thought and wished that someone would come save her.

I drove down to the church where we were supposed to get married tomorrow. The Divine Gospel Centre, founded by Rev. Raymond Jackson and his wife Agatha. The pews ranged in rows, lined up from the sides of the doors to the front of the church. A glass chandelier hung above the church at the centre as it gave light to the whole area. The cross hung on the wall facing the auditorium gave the church its completion

I sat down on the last bench of the left row as I looked up at the cross. I bowed my head and clasped my hands together

"Here I am, after so long" I said as I stared at the alter and cross behind it "I basically just lost everything that mattered most to me and I don't know if I can go on anymore. I don't deserve to be alive right now when the one that I love the most is no longer with me. I know that I'm not supposed to ask why but WHY?"

I screamed so loud my voice echoed all through the empty auditorium "She was the sweetest and most generous of them all but yet she's gone now. Why did you let that murderer take her from me? She believed in you more than I did but she still fell at the hands of the devil"

I wiped the tears that are now falling rapidly down my cheeks "She didn't deserve to die but yet there she lays in the cold metal freezer waiting to be put in the ground. I loved her more than anything in the world and now I can't tell her anymore. I won't be able to see her beautiful smile, nor hear her sweet voice again. How do I live with myself knowing that she's no longer with me?"

I wanted to speak but the words no longer came out. My lips trembled as I broke down in tears, falling down on my knees, punching the ground as I cried into the air.

I pulled out my gun from the holster and placed the tip underneath my chin, prepared to end it all, but even that, I was too broken to do. My hands shook before the gun fell out of my hands.

I crawled back into the seat as I bowed my head. My mind empty, nothing running through it. I'd given up and there was no will to fight on left in me. As my eyes closed I drifted off to the darkness.
"Nothing else mattered to me" I thought

I don't know how long I was asleep but I was later woken up by a small and warm hand that ran through my hair. My eyes slowly opened to see a smiling but yet sad Agatha as she looked down on me.

"You look like a wounded deer that has given up the fight" She said as she removed her hand from my head

"I don't have a reason to keep fighting anymore" I said slowly adjusting in the seat

She walked closer and sat down next to me "We always have a reason to fight. If not for ourselves then for others"

I looked down at my feet as a tear fell down my cheek "I'm sorry"

"If you were truly sorry Nate then you wouldn't give up so easily" She said

I looked up to see the tears in her eyes. She just lost her daughter and here I am being selfish

"You should channel all of this anger towards finding the person that took our Marina from us" She said with a smile "If you gave up then there would be nothing left but grief in our hearts"

She stood up and walked towards the front of the church as she knelt down to pray. I got up, picked up my gun before I walked up to her and knelt by her side. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath as I prayed in my heart.

After about thirty minutes, I got up and left the church leaving Mrs Jackson behind. It was already dark out. I pulled out my phone and I wasn't surprised at the number of texts and missed calls I had. Three missed calls from Blake and two text messages from Christina

I stopped on my tracks when I saw Mr Jackson as he walked towards the entrance of the church. He looked me dead in the eyes, the same eyes he looked at me with this morning at the hospital. I stood there prepared for whatever he had to throw at me before he sighed.

"Tomorrow is Marina's funeral" He said as he walked past me

"I know sir" I said "Mr Jackson" I called out to him as he reached for the door

He turned to look at me

"I'm sorry" Those were the only words I could muster before he walked into the church

I walked into my car and drove out of the church premises till I stopped in front of the building. I got out and knocked on the door.

A few seconds later a surprised and relieved Chris threw her hands around my neck as she hugged me tight

"I'm glad you're okay" She said as she locked the door behind us
I walked into the apartment and sat down on the sofa before running my hands through my hair. Blake walked in a few seconds later as he handed my a drink from the fridge

He sat down on the couch next to me as he watched me drink from the bottle he handed to me

On the TV Hawaii five o was being run and it made me remember what Blake had said "Remember when you said that you wouldn't take me anywhere on my bachelor's party. That we would be here watching re-runs of Hawaii Five O"

I could see the devastated expression on his face as he turned to look at the TV.

"I don't know about the rest of you but when I catch Ghost, whoever he is, I'm going to kill him" I said as I chugged down the drink in my hand.

I'll take their silence as an approval as we sat down in the dark and watched the programme in silence.