Scars

The sudden attack had surprised him. But he didn't mind. 'Why?' he played along.

'Because it's a beautiful day, Sin. The sun is smiling down on us. The birds are singing for us and the air is just…' she took one long and sharp breath with her mouth, '…marvellous!'

'You sound like a holiday infomercial.'

She laughed exuberantly and playfully nudged his shoulder.

They finally walked past the couple. Sineas had decided to make way for them on the narrow path. He tried to tug on Clarissa's hand but she pulled back. She didn't look like she wanted to budge. Luckily, they avoided an awkward collision. The older couple made room for them and Sineas and Clarissa continued on. She was wearing an exultant look on her face. Sineas looked over his shoulder. The man looked like he understood.

'So, how did it go at the station?' Sineas asked her.

Her face immediately became glum. 'The inspector is convinced that I killed both Justin and Miss Bale. Slaughtered them out of jealousy of their "relationship".'

'Justin was dating Miss Bale?'

'That's Moustache Sherlock's deduction,' she answered. 'Allegedly he's got enough evidence already.'

He instantly started laughing.

She looked offended. She gave him an unfavourable look. 'Sineas, this is a very serious matter! I could go to jail for this and yet you're laughing about it?'

He realized she no longer looked to be in a joking mood. He wiped a tear from his eye and cut his laughter shot. He said, 'Claire, I do realize that this is a serious matter. But what I don't regard as serious is Charles' claim.'

'What do you mean?' she asked him, now looking very confused.

'I've seen this before. He's just trying to scare you. the evidence they claim to have against you is just something tangible to hold on to until they catch the real killer.'

'That's the exact same thing I told my mom!' she blurted out, her expression lightening up a little.

Sineas added, 'Don't worry yourself about Charles. I'm sure when it comes to cases like murder, those guys are practically rookies. It's like a little boy playing with his father's boxing gloves.'

She tightened her grip on his hand. She gently laid her head on his shoulder. 'Not the analogy I was expecting but…' she shrugged, '…I'll take it.'

Their road had led them to the end of the park. There was another path that it connected to. This one went all the way to the opposite end, connected to another that led down towards where they had come from. They were probably thinking the same thing; up until they saw the couple get onto the same path from down the park. Sineas was not keen on another awkward confrontation. They turned around and began to make it down along the same direction they had come from.

After they had made it halfway down the path, they decided to rest on a bench. The bench on its right was unoccupied but the one on the left had a man probably in his mid-twenties snoozing on his back with a newspaper covering his face. His right arm was dangling loosely underneath the bench.

Sineas was relieved the man wasn't snoring. He looked at Clarissa. She looked dismal as her eyes wandered aimlessly through the park. 'Is there something on your mind?' he asked her.

She turned to the ground, but just for a second. She turned her eyes in front of her again. She said, 'Sin, you know how important it is for us to be honest with each other, right?'

He nodded, silently. He assumed this was the appropriate response to her worrying question.

She said, 'Now that I know about your past, your family…knowing how deep and personal it is, I appreciate the fact that we got that part cleared. But it also got me thinking, and I've decided to tell you something as well…something you ought to know.'

Sineas was beyond nervous now. He wondered but he failed to guess what it was she wanted to tell him. 'What…What is it?' he asked her.

'Last week, on my way from the library, I got this strange feeling that something or someone was following me. At first I thought that I was just being paranoid but then I started to hear this sound. It sounded like…like someone was hauling something on the pavement. Something heavy.'

'Something?'

'Metallic. So, finally, my mind…and my survival instincts decided that this wasn't just in my head, that this could be the axe killer. So I ran and ran as fast a I could…despite the darkness, despite that the person could be faster than me, despite it all, Sin I just ran. But then…' she squinted hard, 'I tripped on a cat. I think.'

'You think?'

'It was really dark and I could barely see anything. And to add to the darkness, the fall made my mind a little hazy. At this point I don't even…I'm not sure if the entire experience was even real.' She covered her face with both hands.

Sineas drew closer to her. He rubbed her back gently up and down. 'It's okay, just tell me what happened next,' he urged her on.

She pulled her face from her hands and placed her chin on top of her knuckles. Tears were now rolling down her eyes. She continued, 'When I fell, I fell on my face and that's how I got this…' she pointed to the slightly purplish mark above her eye, the one that had once been covered by the bandage.

Sineas had just realized that he had not paid much attention to the scar lately. It seemed to be healing very quickly.

Clarissa went on, 'I rolled over on to my back and that's when…that's when I saw him, Sin. I saw Justin's killer! He was there, standing at my feet, the axe in his hand!'

'Did he hurt you?' he asked her, leaning in much closer.

Clarissa began to weep softly. Her cries were in brief pauses as she constantly tried to catch her breath.