The Darkness Within

Drip...Drip...Drip

The sound woke me from the darkness that surrounded me. My eyes opened and my vision was blurry. I tried hard to focus my eyes, but I felt dizzy. I felt funny and I couldn’t explain how I felt at the time. I tried to move but I couldn’t.

It didn’t take me long to realize that I was tied to a chair. My arms were bound behind me and the ropes rubbed into my wrists when I moved. My legs were tied together in front of me. There was no way out, and I rocked from side to side to try and break free. I tried to scream for help hoping someone would hear me, but no sound came out. I only sounded muffled because of the duct tape that was pressed hard against my mouth.

I looked around and I could see the water dripping from the ceiling. It pooled on the floor beside me. The water splashed up and hit my legs drenching them. I began to breathe heavily. I felt panicked in a way I never had before.

How often do you wake up to a place you don’t remember being? The last thing I remember was walking to my car in the rain from leaving a visit with my sister, Zoey. How did I end up here? Where even was here? What was going on?

My panic only increased when I heard footsteps walking toward me. I looked and a gentleman I did not realize was heading in my direction. He stopped right in front of me and he had a wicked smile on his face. My body started trembling and I could feel it break out in a sweat. He looked at me like I was a meal to eat.

The man had tattoos and his black hair was slicked back with hair gel. It looked like he had too much product in his hair and it looked greasy. When he smiled, I could see his yellowing teeth. It made me sick to my stomach. It was either from smoking too many cigarettes or not brushing his teeth at all.

“There now, Selena, everything will be okay,” he said.

I began almost hyperventilating when he said my name. How does he know who I am? I whimpered in his direction. I tried to sound fierce, but really how fierce can one sound when their mouth has duct tape on it? He laughed at me. Like full-on belly laughed at me.

He reached out a hand and ran it down the side of my face. He cupped my cheeks and turned my head to look him directly in the eyes.

“You are worth more than you know.”

The purr in his gruff voice had me worried.

BEEP...BEEP...BEEP

The alarm went off and scared me. Sitting straight up in the bed, I let out a bloodcurdling scream. I started breathing heavily and I ran my hands over my body to make sure I was okay. To make sure I was free. To remind me it was all just a nightmare.

That’s when a second sound crashed my senses. My phone. I looked down to see our medical examiner calling me. Getting a call from him at five in the morning can only mean one thing. Someone had been murdered.

My morning run was going to have to wait.

I tossed my covers to the side and ran to the closet. I grabbed my tennis shoes, green t-shirt, black pants, and coat. I brushed my teeth after throwing my clothes on, and I pulled my long brown hair into a ponytail. It was time to get to work. I grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl on the counter and flew down the stairs and into my car.

Buildings and trees swirled by me as I sped to the crime scene. The lights and siren on my car were on and blaring for everyone to get out of my way. I pulled up to an old abandoned house on the corner of some street and saw the crime scene investigators and the medical examiner all outside. I could even see where they had cleared out a pathway so they could remove the body from the house.

Today of all days was not one I had hoped to have to full with a murder. I approached Chris, the medical examiner, to see what information he could give me. He was writing notes on his clipboard and seemed to be lost in thought. I could tell by how his brows were furrowed and his forehead was creased. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

He jumped in surprise and turned around quickly. I tried my best to hide my smile. This was no smiling occasion.

“What do you have for me?” I asked deciding to get straight to the point.

His eyes immediately cast themselves downward. His usual cheerful disposition was sullen.

“Young girl, deceased. She appears to be about five or six. Signs of sexual assault and there are lacerations on her stomach and legs. She only appears to have been deceased for about four hours,” he said.

“Who called it in?” I asked.

My stomach was churning. I hadn’t even seen the body but I felt sick. Who would do this to a little girl? A monster, that’s who. Sometimes I think we forget that humans are monsters, too.

“Officer Rutland answered the call. He has all of your information,” Chris said.

I nodded.

“Thanks,” I said as I walked off to the responding officer.

Officer Rutland was young. He worked the beat and he had his ambitions. He wanted to move up the chain of command quickly. He didn’t understand he had to learn the job and know the risks before that happens. He had red hair and blue eyes and wore the most awful pair of horn-rimmed glasses.

They looked too big for his slender face.

“What have we got, officer?” I asked as I approached him.

I needed to make notes on my own so I could go back and check things out on my own.

“Young girl inside found dead by a squatter who thought the house was empty. He ran down the street to a payphone to make the call to us,” he said as he referenced his notes.

I wrote down what I was told and nodded as I listened.

“What about the boyfriend? Who is he? Have you had any luck tracking him down?” I asked.

“Boyfriend’s name is Alex Draven. He’s only been dating the victim’s mother for about six months,” Rutland said.

Victim. Something about the way he said the word made my blood boil. She’s a person. She has a name.

“What’s her name?” I asked.

Rutland couldn’t hide the shock from his face as he looked at me. Rutland didn’t understand that by calling a person a victim, you are taking away their voice and their identity. I would not ever refer to one of my cases as a victim. They have a name and it needs to be used.

“Emma Claire Michaels,” he said.

“Has Draven been found?” I asked.

“We have the road blocked off and are searching cars. Hopefully, he won’t get far,” he answered.

That’s when I heard it. The car squealed to a stop and a woman jumped out. She started trying to run towards the house. The officers stopped her and told her it was a crime scene.

“You don’t understand that’s my baby inside!” she wailed.

She had done been called. I walked over to her hoping to calm her a little.

“Ma’am, how did you know she was here?” I asked her calmly.

She leveled her eyes at me. I could see the worry in her eyes. Her red hair I would guess was always tidy was a mess. She had red rings around her eyes and it looked like she had been crying a lot.

“Officer Rutland called for me to come to identify the body.”

A phone call? Normally we go to houses to notify the next of kin of death in the family. He already knew who she was, why did he need to deliver that kind of news over the phone?

“I see. You can’t enter the building yet. Our crime scene investigators are still collecting evidence. Our medical examiner will let you identify the body when it’s on its way out or at the morgue. Please stay out here so we can do our job to make sure we catch the monster that took the life of this little girl,” I said.

I placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at me, and tears brimmed in her eyes. This never made things easy, and Officer Rutland had just made our job harder. A rookie mistake, but still a big mistake.

“Okay, Officer-”

“Detective Selena Rogers. When did your daughter go missing? Have you filed a missing person’s report?” I asked her.

Maybe if I could get her talking, it would take her mind off of whatever was going on in the house. She seemed to snap back to reality. Like this was happening and someone was going to do something about it.

“She went missing after lunchtime yesterday. We were at the park. I took-I took my eyes off her for one second. I turned to answer one of the other mothers and I turned back around and she was gone,” she said.

I could see she was breathing hard. This one little thing she has done will live with her forever. I was sure she wouldn’t forgive herself.

“It’s okay. What did you do when you noticed she was gone?”

“I-I-I ran around the park and looked everywhere! I looked and looked for her, and I called her father. He’s not in the picture anymore, but he was supposed to come to pick her up yesterday at the park. He said he hadn’t even made it there yet. I called the police but they told me I had to wait twenty-four hours.”

She was sobbing at this point. I made my notes and frowned. When a child goes missing, the first twenty-four hours are crucial. I always hated that wait for the twenty-four-hour rule. If someone is missing, they are missing.

Sometimes they come back, and sometimes they don’t.

“Mrs. Michaels, I am going to go inside and have a look around. I am in charge of this investigation. I will keep you up to date on any leads. Do you know how we can get in touch with Alex Draven?”

I could see the shock on her face.

“Alex? Why do you need to get in touch with Alex?”

“This property is registered in his name.”

She nodded and gave me his home number, cell number, work number, and both addresses. She also said she would be in touch with me if she heard from him. I handed her my card and told her to call me any time night or day if she needed anything.

“Thank you, detective.”

I nodded and walked inside. I wanted to get a look at the crime scene myself. I needed to see with my own eyes. I walked inside the house and took everything in. If you were to look at it from the outside, you would never know that horrible things have happened here.

The kitchen sat off to the right. It had a wooden cased opening and no door. The house was all wood from top to bottom. All stained in a chestnut color. Lacking polyurethane for protection and shine.

There was an island at the center and the Formica was a brilliant blue to contrast with the chestnut. There were glasses and some wine out on the counter. I also noticed a fruit and cheese tray out. Looks like whoever was here was expecting a party. So either the party got interrupted or poor Emma Claire was the party favor.

Sickening.

I walked into the living room. There were blue throw rugs on the floor and a nice wooden coffee table between the television and the couch. I walked a little further into the room and there was Emma Claire. It was heartbreaking seeing her small lifeless body lying there forgotten like a piece of trash. I put my hand over my heart and sent up a prayer.

The wood was soaked in blood that poured from her body. She was naked on the floor and I could see the intricate flowers and vines carved into her skin. These carvings were familiar to me. Her throat was slit from ear to ear. I also noticed the stab marks on her chest.

The throat slitting ought to have been enough torture. They had to humiliate her further by stabbing her multiple times. It was classic overkill. I would be looking for someone in Emma Claire’s life. I could feel the tears prick at my eyes.

As long as I have been doing police work, seeing someone dead never gets any easier. It’s not supposed to I’m told. Just becomes more bearable. I put my gloves on that I pulled out of my jean pockets. I didn’t need to contaminate any evidence.

“Selena, glad to see you here,” came the chief of police’s voice.

I looked up to see Phil Harrison. Phil was in his fifties with greying hair and a round belly. He was a good cop, and a fair man to work with. He came out to every serious case to oversee things personally. A case like this resounded with both of us, he would be determined to find the family some closure.

I stood up from my knelt position and walked over to him.

“It’s overkill, Phil. What could this little girl have done to anyone?” I asked.

“Emma Claire could have told someone. Especially if she knew who molested her,” Phil answered.

The boyfriend, Alex Draven, came to mind. No one had heard from him or seen him since Emma Claire yesterday when Mrs. Michaels noticed her daughter was missing. If he had spent a lot of time with Emma Claire, he could have groomed her. Who knows how long the abuse has been going on?

“We need to find Alex Draven. He’s tied into this somehow,” I said.

Phil nodded and we went back to examining the rooms. There was nothing of note in the bathroom, but the bedroom was where we struck gold. The crime scene investigators found a few videotapes between the mattress and the boxsprings. They had names on them. There was one labeled ‘Emma Claire’.

Upon further inspection of the bed, once the mattresses and box springs had been removed, we noticed what looked like a built-in compartment. There were more videotapes with more names on them. Plus, these were dated and some of them went back twenty years. This monster had been praying on children for twenty years and has never been caught. He won't get away with this anymore.

That’s when we found the letter. A letter that chilled my bones. It made my blood stop in its tracks. It stole the breath from my body. It brought back every bad memory and nightmare all at once.

“Dear Selena,

I know right about now you’ve found my present for you. I am sorry I didn’t have time to wrap it for you. After all, today is a special day, isn’t it? I am leaving this here for you to let you know that I have been watching you. I know what you’ve been up to in the days since you left.

If you think you can catch me, you’re wrong, because if you find me it’s because I let you. You would have to accept a certain part of you that you think is gone. I see it. The darkness lying dormant inside your eyes. I can see it in the way you hesitate to hurt someone or the way you watch your tongue when you speak.

Emma Claire was an unfortunate find. She was perfect for what we were looking for. After all, she’s going to bring you to me. You are my most missed possession.

Good luck,

You’re Secret Admirer”

I had begun hyperventilating when Phil had started reading. If this case is tied to my own in any way, it could prove problematic. I looked around to see all eyes on me. Most of the cops that I worked with had no idea about my history, and I would have liked to have kept it that way. Sometimes you don’t get what you want.

Before I could stop myself, I had run out of the house. I had to get away. I needed to be somewhere safe and hidden. I would deal with the consequences later.

“Selena! Come back!” came Phil’s voice.

“Selena!” I heard Chris say.

I continued running to my car. It was the only defense mechanism I had left. If I keep myself away from people, then they can’t get hurt. In the same vein, I can’t get hurt by them either. I never even turned around to acknowledge them, and I didn’t plan on it either.

I had stopped listening to what is going on at the house as I got in my car. This darkness that is looming over this house is all around us. It affects you and it affects me. It’s a sickness that hangs over humanity like the plague. Only this time around it seems to be spreading more.

This time around, I hope to give it a good swift kick in the butt.