CHAPTER 5: NEW DAY, NEW PROBLEMS - Part 1

After leaving Yelena's house, Walter drove his car to her house, but throughout the journey, the young girl's macabre smile did not leave his head. During the journey, due to a distraction, he ended up running a red light and almost ran over two men who were crossing the street, around 8 pm. Such an image did not leave his head and disturbed him continuously, while the rain was falling, it was possible to see some couples having a date in snack bars and restaurants. Even with the rain intensifying, it was possible to hear the sound, coming from a restaurant, the sound of a radio.

"Greetings New Orleans people, I hope you have a good day, I'm Oliver Mcqueen, the day was very rainy and caused a terrible traffic jam in the city. Some places were flooded, causing flooding in some houses, especially in the regions close to the swamp, east of New Orleans. Soon we will close the 15th, however the forecast for tomorrow is still rain, but as soon as we get more information, we will let you know, so see you tomorrow, on the morning radio. Good night everyone."

"Yes, things are not easy. Since last night, this rain started and until now it has not stopped, the worst thing is that it seems that it is intensifying more and more, as it is possible to see more lightning and thunder. Damn traffic, I have to wake up early tomorrow and I'm still a long way from home." - Complains Walter, while driving his car.

After driving for another thirty minutes, Walter finally arrives at his house. Tired and fed up, he gets out of his car without his umbrella and opens the gate of his residence, to put the car in the garage. All wet and irritated, Walter puts his car in the garage and closes the gate, only then he enters his residence. Before going in, he takes a good look at the street to see how things were. Many of his neighbors were at home and there was virtually no traffic on his street. Thanking him for living there, Walter enters his house.

After a good hot shower, Walter goes down the stairs of his house and goes to his kitchen, which is on the first floor of the house. There, he goes to the fridge and takes out a pot of chilled rice, a chicken breast and some french fries. As he heats up the food, he thinks to himself what could have happened to the girl Yelena.

(I need to study her case, these cases of fainting are linked to her illness, which is probably of psychic origin. I noticed that she was very thin, although they were feeding her. My going there today wasn't much help, I couldn't get it lots of information because of the priests. I'll jot down some questions and bring them tomorrow.)

After dinner was over, Walter went to his desk and started writing down the questions he was supposed to take the next day. When he finished writing them, he lay down on his bed and quickly fell asleep.

"trrrim-trrrim"

"trrrim-trrrim"

"Damn it, is it dawn already?" - Wonders Walter, while forcibly opening his eyes, to turn off his alarm. When he hits the clock, he realizes that the sound continues and this makes him get up in bed. Realizing that it is still night and raining. Now that he's awake, Walter hears the sound a little way off and from the ringing sound, it sounds like his phone was ringing.

Somewhat bewildered, Walter gets out of bed and starts down the stairs, looking for his phone. Turning on the house lights, he goes to his phone and looks at his watch to see what time it is. After looking at the clock, he wonders who would call him, at 04:00 in the morning.

"Hello, who is this?" – asks Walter.

"Good morning, is this Doctor Walter?" - A rather hoarse and mysterious voice answers.

"Yes, it's me, who is this?" – Retructs Walter.

"Sorry to call at this hour, but we need your help. Here, the policeman Dimitri is speaking. A few hours ago we found the corpse of a man who committed suicide and we needed to do an autopsy, unfortunately our medical examiner is on vacation and is not in New Orleans. Could you come and look at the corpse? The French Quarter Police Station will pay the cost of the consultation." - Said the officer Dimitri.

"Okay, I'll be there in an hour" - Walter said, who then hung up the phone. Quickly, he changes his clothes and leaves in his car. Due to the distance, the journey took an hour. Upon his arrival at the scene, he saw only a few police officers and patrol cars.

Heading to reception, he introduces himself as Doctor Walter and a policeman comes towards him, waving. He was a white policeman, with rosy cheeks smeared with donut pieces, a bulky belly that squeezed his belt, almost to the point of bursting it, plus he had a bald head with side hair.

"Hello sir, glad you arrived well. This night is very confusing, first an arson attack in the early hours of the morning and now a man who committed suicide." - Says the man, who introduces himself as the police officer Dimitri.

"After the war, a lot of people got post-traumatic stress or debt, so it doesn't surprise me." - Walter responds.

"Good sir, please follow me to the autopsy room." – Requests Dimitri.

Both men proceed to the autopsy room. Upon getting there, Walter sees the man's corpse on the table. The poor guy was completely destroyed, both arms and legs. As if that wasn't enough, he apparently spent a lot of time in the rain, as his clothes were completely soaked and the blood on his clothes was dry.

"From the damage sustained from the fall, I assume he fell from a height of at least 100 feet." – Says Walter.

"Strange, the building he was in must have been approximately 12 meters. But there were no traces, as if someone had left his dead body there. From where he was on the sidewalk, he definitely fell off the building." - Answers Dimitri.

By taking a closer look at the man, in particular his face. Walter notices that there was something in his mouth and slowly opening it, so as not to damage his jaw, he finds a square medallion, with some inscriptions. This rectangular medallion had a kind of half moon at one end of its upper face. And passing through this half moon, there is a strange symbol, similar to a cross, but with a strange shape.

When picking up the amulet, Walter felt a slight tremor in his hand and a little headache, causing him to drop the amulet. Where Dimitri quickly placed it in an evidence bag.

"Well, this amulet is quite strange, why would he have it in his mouth? Did he belong to a cult or something?" - Dimitri asks.

"Who should answer these questions is you and not me" – Answers Walter, making a light joke to lighten the mood.

After the end of the autopsy, Walter writes down on a piece of paper all the information acquired during the autopsy. Finally, he hands the document to Dimitri, who gives him his payment. The end of the autopsy took place around 5 am.

Since he was already close to Alextrov's house, he decided to go straight there, since it wasn't worth going back to his house. The journey took about an hour. Upon arriving at Alextrov's house, he knocks on the door and is quickly attended to. Alextrov invites him out of the rain.

Entering the house, Alextrov offers Walter hot chocolate, who gladly accepts. He quickly asks Alextrov a few questions about his sister. Questions like: "When did she start the seizures?", "What are the symptoms she has?", "Did she ever have delusions or do anything strange?", Etc.

After the end of the snack, both get up and leave their cups on the kitchen counter. From there, both head to the stairs, climbing slowly while talking. As they stood in front of Yelena's door, Alextrov knocked softly on the door, so that his sister wouldn't wake up suddenly. Upon realizing that she hadn't heard, Alextrov knocks on the door again and no sign of life is revealed inside the room. Quickly the two men looked at each other as if they suspected something was wrong. Alextrov forces the door, which opens fully. When they looked into the room, they realized that everything was dark, but the window was open, causing rainwater to wet the floor of the room.

Quickly, Walter runs down the stairs, to look outside the house, while Alextrov runs towards the window, to see if he sees any sign of his sister, but the only thing he sees is a 6 meters high chasm. and his sister would not have jumped, as there was no sign of blood, as she would surely have been hurt by jumping from such a height. Looking more closely, he notices that there are wet footprints all over the house, so soft as to be barely noticeable. Following them closely, Alextrov goes downstairs and follows the trail, which leads him to his parents' bedroom. At that moment, a chill rises up Alextrov's spine, as if he expected to open the room and find himself faced with a macabre scene. But when he opened the room, he realized that the bedroom window was open and the footprints followed there. He quickly heads towards his parents, who wake up with a great fright.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH, HOW SCARY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE GUY???" - Anna shouts, while Mikhail jumps out of bed and enters a combat position, similar to a boxer.

"I didn't have time to explain, Yelena ran away. I looked in her room with Walter, she wasn't there, the window was open and I followed some footprints that led me here" – Alextrov responds quickly and energetically, as he heads towards the bedroom window.

Quickly getting ready, Mikhail and Anna run out of the room and say:

"We are going to the police to report the disappearance, you follow her footprints"

When turning on the car, the radio turns on as well.

"Good morning New Orleans, today. on the 16th of February, it should rain until around noon, when the sun should show its face! A lot has happened lately, the economic stress due to Mardi Gras is making traders in the area insecure. Sadly, a man ended up committing suicide last night, his corpse was taken to the French Quarter Police Station. We don't have much information yet, but if you need help, just dial the number on your screen."

"Damn the radio, turn it off for me Anna" – shouts Mikhail, while maneuvering the car out of his house.

Running into the garden, Alextrov finds footprints formed in the grass, as if she were walking barefoot. Such footprints led to the wall that was in the family's backyard and there the footprints disappeared.

"Damn it, how did she get over that damn ten-foot wall?" - shouts Alextrov, with an air of indignation.

Running to the front of the house, he meets with Walter and explains the whole situation. The street Yelena took, the street behind her house, led directly to the New Orleans Cathedral. Both ran to the front of the house to get into White's car, but before they did that. A black car pulls up in front of the house and an Indian man in tacky clothes gets out of the car and asks where Yelena was. With no time to explain the situation, Walter just says:

"Damn, how did she get out so fast and the way you said. She was weak and weak, a person in her condition would not be able to do that and the worst thing is that she could get worse because of the rain. Hey you, while you're looking for her, get in the car and drive, we're going to New Orleans Cathedral."

--------------------------------------------------------------

Continued in the next chapter...