Dead Voice

What seems to be a normal day becomes a horrible death for Keya Gul in the early morning of Monday. He started his day with his usual morning routine; jog for an hour or until he gets tired then greet the people living in the trench with snarky comments and a disgusted face and before the early morning ends he will get back home and look at the mirror to talk to his narcissistic self.

After he showers from his early jog, he got a call from an unknown number asking him for his payment for a certain product. He doesn't recall buying the product, but he always wants to flaunt his richness so he agrees to pay for the product but on one condition, it must be in person so he will know that the product is real and existing.

The caller agrees on his terms and told him the rendezvous and he agrees. He then prepares to meet up with this unknown caller. He decides to pay in cash since he is not that trust this caller. After preparing for another boring day, he went to his workplace first before meeting the caller from earlier. He exhales a sigh as he walks the familiar streets of Emir City.

The familiar streets he longs to walk without being scared especially at night. He can't remember the last time he walked down the streets of Emir City without being scared of getting killed by the monster that roams the city at night and by the people who idolize the said monster.

As he passes by the familiar bridge where they found Ms. Sorrel's body, he saw Mrs. Prime washing her clothes once again. She does it mostly every three days and even to him, it is a mystery as to why she does it. He just shrugs the thought and continues walking when he got a text from the caller from earlier.

~0~0~0~

From: Unknown (914-xxx-xxx)

To: Keya Gul

Time: 9:30 am

Message:

Be ready, Mr. Gul. He is coming your way.

~0~0~0~

He felt shivers up to his spine and tries to shake it off. But the thought of getting killed by an unknown killer got him so scared he immediately went to work. He left his work around one pm to meet the mysterious caller and went to Granson's Cafe as instructed.

He went inside and sat at one of the tables before ordering coffee. He waited for a few minutes when he a familiar figure to go inside the cafe. 'Ren Sage,' he thought. The sexy and ever-loving florist that owns Primula. He desires the guy but he doesn't want to ruin his reputation.

A few more minutes had passed and the caller was nowhere to be seen so Mr. Gul starts packing up when they heard a loud bang from an abandoned building. He got scared but when he looked around everyone went back to their own businesses as if nothing happened. This city is indeed mysterious and scary. Good thing he already passes down the papers to move out to Eclair next week.

He exhales a sigh and walked out of the cafe. He walked around the playground near it when he saw a figure from a distance. He squinted his eyes to see the figure from afar. When he realizes who it was, he ran. He ran as fast as he can while the figure just walks slowly towards his direction.

He looks back to see if the figure is running but he saw that it was still far from him. Without thinking twice, he still runs and runs and runs until he reaches an abandoned building and went inside it. He never expects to have this kind of day, and he wishes he just went home and lazied around his safe haven. Yet, here he is, running away from a deadly figure he never thought he would encounter in the hot afternoon of Monday.

He saw an opened door leading to a small room and decides to go in there to hide then call the emergency hotline before it was too late. Once entered the room, he locked the door and frantically calling the emergency hotline. But before he even tries to escape, the figure is already by the door singing what he called the death song. He has heard it before down the alleyway of the Black Trench.

Most kids from that place to sing the song. Some elderly people even play it on the piano or any instrument that they have. The song itself sends shivers to his spine. His train of thought was cut short when he heard the figure singing the song. Then he started banging the door attempting to enter the room. The figure even peeked through a peeping hole to see his frightened state.

The moment he heard the door cracking open he hid inside of a dirty closet and whispers in his phone to tell the dispatcher of his whereabouts. But before he gets to finish the address, he was thrown to the other side of the room as the figure grabs the back of his shirt. His back slams at the cold hard wall.

Mr. Gul tries to stand up but his body is too weak and his back is aching. He felt that the figure sat him on a chair and ties him up. The figure even talked all about Ianthe Garance. He felt sadness and joy when Ianthe died but he never thought that his mistress could do such a thing.

He thought that the figure is the one who killed Ianthe. He tried to look into his eyes to find malice but the only thing he sees is mercy. He never thought he would see such a thing in a killer's eyes. He gulps and waits as the killer finishes his story. He closes his eyes for the impact but nothing came. As he opens his eyes, he saw the figure walking away and into the darkness.

A few minutes later, as he tries to escape, the police came in with guns in their hands. Mr. Gul just sighs in defeat and bows his head. They grab him and brought him to the precinct to be interrogated. The moment he sat down, he looked up to the detectives and said, "Never mess with him. He is as dangerous as the police itself. Never make the same mistake that I did. I lost my family because of him," he said as he cries his eyes out.

"He is a living demon. He looks at you with mercy as he tortures you. Make you realize that your existence is nothing but trash," he said in between his. One of the detectives looked at him and asks his partner to go out. He sat down in front of Mr. Gul. He clears his throat and pulled out his notebook to start his interrogation. Mr. Gul answers every possible reason and excuse he could think of.

Before the day ends, he was asked to go back tomorrow morning for another interrogation with the chief of police. But none of them know what will happen the moment he went out of the police station and into his home. As he opens the door, he was greeted by something but can't see what it was until everything went black.

The next thing he knew is that something red and hot wax dripping on the side of his face. He tries to move, but every part of him is aching. He groans and tried to move again when he heard sounds that sound like a chain then he was met with darkness and nothingness.

~0~0~0~

Tuesday morning came and Lilibush and Cantaloupe prepare themselves to work. They got a text from Amorphous saying that the chief wants them to the station before going to investigate their killer's previous victims. They nodded at each other then looks if Major is already awake. But it turns out that the kid already left. "Is the kid too excited or what?" Cantaloupe said as he fixes his tie.

"Shush, stop teasing the poor kid," Lilibush said as he ties his shoes. They immediately went to the precinct and onto the office of their chief. "Good morning, boys," the chief greets them. "Good morning to you too, Sir," they both greeted in unison. "Where is Major?" Chief Moss asks. The two detectives looked at each other.

"He's still not here?" Cantaloupe asks confusedly. "The time that we got Amorphous' message, Major is no longer at the apartment," Lilibush explains.

Then, an exhausting Amorphous burst inside the office with a bloody letter on hand. "Major was taken," he said in between breaths. Chief Moss suddenly stood up and exclaims, "What the fuck you mean taken?" Amorphous tries to calm himself then gave the letter to their chief.

"I received a disturbing message from Major so I went to his apartment to check on him but he was not there. I roamed around the apartment for clues, then I found that. I don't know what happened but Major is gone," Amorphous said as he looks at the two other detectives.

"He was not at our apartment earlier also. We thought that he is here already," Cantaloupe said as pacing around the room thinking where could Major be.

"Chief? What does the letter say," Lilibush asks out of curiosity. "It's a clue. Let's go back to Major's apartment to search for more but never let out a single word about this not until we know of his whereabouts," Chief Moss said and they all went to Major's apartment.

Good thing, Major's landlord is a friendly old lady who lets the detectives in the apartment with no further questions. As they walk inside, they began to scramble into Major's things to find a clue when Cantaloupe called them over to the bedroom.

When they entered the room, shuffled letters were written on the wall with a bloody handprint on the side. A sticky note with two triangular shapes pointing to the right is also seen on the wall. Amorphous took a picture while the others try to solve the mystery clue. The letters on the wall are written as;

"T-S-U-T-V-A-B-Q"

Hours had passed by, but they still can't solve the clue leading to Major's whereabouts when suddenly something vibrates at the kitchen tops. Lilibush immediately went to the source of the vibration when he saw a phone that does not look like Major's phone. It has an incoming call, he is hesitant to answer the call so he brought it to the others instead.

"What did you find?" Chief Moss asks Lilibush. "It's a burner phone," Lilibush answers as he gives it to Chief Moss. "Huh? Since when Major had a burner phone?" Cantaloupe asks as he looks curiously at Amorphous.

"Do you think I know?" Amorphous answers as he looks at the phone as it vibrates. Chief Moss reluctantly answers the call and sets it to the loudspeaker.

After a few minutes of shuffling and static signals, they heard the most disturbing sound they could ever hear. It was Major begging them to save him as they hear shrieking laughter not far away from where Major is. Before the call ended, they heard noises of what sounded like chains and whips then the call was cut.

They looked at each other then looked at the phone in front of them. The silence of the apartment didn't give them enough time to process everything that is happening.

Major's sudden disappearance and the phone call to give them the utterly shocked that Major could've been somewhere far away from the city.

Even Chief Moss doesn't know what to do apart from sitting down and taking a big sigh of frustration. The only clue left by now is the writings on the wall. That he also wished to give them enough clues to find Major before it is too late.