Book One Chapter Three: The Mystery Resurfaces

The person who had been stalking Nick had been lying low for some time now, but this night, Nick is awakened by something. He searches his house for clues. What does he find?

Chapter Three The Mystery Resurfaces: I got up and searched the house, I was very frightened at this point. I went downstairs and grabbed a knife off of the counter, the one I usually use for checking the house. I searched the bathroom, the closets, the kitchen, the basement and just about everywhere in my house. I came back upstairs and searched the foyer, it was there that I found something totally confusing, but it somewhat relieved me; hanging on the bench beside my door, I found a torn piece of fabric clothing. Could it belong to the murderer? I went to the phone and dialed 911. The 911 operator picked up the phone.

“You have dialed 911, what is you emergency?” Asked a male voice.

“I heard footsteps in my house a few minutes ago. I live alone, and when I woke up to search the house, I found this ripped piece of clothing.” I told him, my heart racing.

I checked over my shoulder periodically as I spoke with the 911 operator.

“Kid, is this some kind of joke?” Asked the operator.

“What? No! What I told you is the absolute truth!” I told him defensively.

“Okay. I’ll tell dispatch to send a squad car your way. What is your address?” Asked the operator.

“Twelve Mill grain road.” I told him.

“Okay, I will put in a call to dispatch. A squad car will be at your location in a few minutes.” Said the operator.

“Okay, thank you.” I said.

I hung up the phone.

In a few minutes a squad car arrived in my driveway, two officers, a female and a male came out and walked up to my front door. They knocked and I opened it. I showed them the piece of clothing. They took the piece of clothing from me and put it in a plastic bag.

“Thank you, kid. This could very well be of use to us in our investigation.” One of the police officers, a female, said to me.

“No problem. Could you let me know the results once you have analyzed it?” I asked them.

“Yeah, sure. No problem. Have a good day, kid.” The other officer, a male, said to me.

“You, too.” I told him.

He and his partner waved goodbye and got back into their squad car. They drove away, heading for the downtown area where the police station was located.

 

When they were gone, I felt the door to see if it was warm from the hand that must have touched it to get out. I was right, the doorknob was fairly warm, recently touched, not only by the officers when they opened the door, it was touched before that. Was the murderer inside my house? Or had the murderer left? I had checked the house. I jumped back in surprise. I thought about this, perhaps the murderer was still in my house? I went to the window. It was locked just as I left it. I flicked on the news and found that there was another murder on the opposite end of town. The victim was alive, and was reported to have a sample of the element that was in old man Barn's body. The scientist on T.V that was giving information on the element said:

"Well, this sample is quite unusual, the murder that victimized Hank Burns on the other side of town has many of the same details as this one, this new element, varying in intensity, can be very toxic. Upon closer examination of the lab reports, this new element appears to be a cryogenic substance, this element has never been seen or studied before. One question that I am afraid that I will not be able to answer is why it is found in these victim's bodies."

The scientist finished. Once the news went back to the weather reports, I flicked the T.V off. That was new, would Mr. Grant have anything to say about it today?

 

I once again got ready for school, it was still early, but I lost myself in my daily tasks. Eventually, it became a decent time to leave for school, and I headed out. I was still on edge from last night, and I kept my guard up. I walked through the familiar streets, nothing was out of the ordinary, but I was still on edge. I arrived at the street that the school was on. The bell rang as soon as I walked into the parking lot. As I walked over to the door of the school, I heard people whispering.

"Hey, isn't that the guy who's dating the new girl?"

And "Hey, I know that guy, him and Saja are going out on Friday."

A few other whispers reached my ears, but they all had the same message. How had people found out this quickly? I suppose Saja told her friends, then her friend’s told their friends, etcetera, and etcetera. I passed Kaleen in the hallway on the way to my locker. I noticed that she was still wearing sunglasses. By now the difference I had noticed a few days ago was subtle, I must've gotten used to seeing it.

 

First period passed by fairly slowly. I noticed that Saja was still wearing sunglasses, too. She kept them on all day. I wonder why? I also noticed that Saja smiled every time she saw me, and she usually looked away a few seconds later. The rest of the day went on as usual. By now, rumors concerning Saja and I had started, but I paid no attention to them. I usually didn't worry about stuff like that until it became a problem. Finally 6th period came. When everyone was seated, Mr. Grant began the lecture, he flipped his black hair and adjusted his glasses.

"Well class, as you probably heard, the element found in the victims' bodies can be toxic, and is cryogenic. I also have a video to show you on the matter, you guys don't need to believe me on this one, but I have a buddy who works up at the police station, and he says that the bodies of all the murder victims are gone by morning." Mr. Grant said.

I didn't believe Mr. Grant, but hey, a video would take around five minutes off of class, and it was probably somewhat exciting. The kid next to me, Micheal spoke up.

"Yeah, good one Mr. G." He said. Mr. Grant raised his hands.

"I didn't believe it either, until I saw the video for myself." He said, holding up a USB memory stick. "Now, those of you with weaker minds should probably leave the room." Mr. Grant Advised. No one left the room. I was very intrigued, and somewhat nervous.

 

"This should be good." Said Micheal, settling back into his seat.

"This recording was caught by a streetlight camera." Mr. Grant said, plugging the USB stick into his computer.

We all huddled around the screen. A video player popped up onto the computer, and Mr. Grant clicked the play button. On the screen, there was yellow crime scene tape, a victim laying in a pool of blood, and in the lower left corner, it displayed the time and location: 1:24 AM Wheeler Street. That was only three streets down from my house! Then, something impossible happened: The victim got up. We were looking at the victim's right side. On its neck, there were two dots. A gang symbol maybe? Just then, the victim took a step, and disappeared off of the screen, just like the figure I had seen a few nights ago did! It was if he had run off at the speed of light. The recording ended on the image of a chalk outline of the victim's body behind the crime scene tape.

 

"So you see class, it did actually happen." Mr. Grant said once we had all gotten back to our seats.

"Some of you may have noticed the two dots on the victim's neck, right now, investigators say that the dots are a gang marking, and that these murders are the result of a gang war." He went on.

"But the murders all happened on the other side of town, we are safe, right?" Asked Lisa.

Mr. Grant shook his head slowly.

"I don't mean to alarm you, class, but that happened on Wheeler Street, within walking distance from here." Said Mr. Grant.

I looked over at Saja, she looked scared, no, not quite scared: Nervous, although who wouldn’t be nervous at a time like this? Even I was. Soon after he said that, two police officers in full uniform came to the class room door. I frowned with confusion. Why would they be here? One officer was female, the other was male. Mr. Grant did not notice them at first. He then saw where everyone was looking. He turned and said

"Oh, hello officers."

The female officer said "Sorry to interrupt your lecture, but we are looking for a young man named Nick, is he in this class?"

Mr. Grant nodded, and motioned for me to go with them.

 

"Hello officers." I said, curious to know where this was going.

"Hello, Nick." Said the male officer.

He had short brown hair, and his partner had long blonde hair pulled back in a bun.

"We received a call from your home address a few days ago saying that you found a ripped piece of cloth in your household." said the male officer.

Recognition flared across my face. "Oh, yeah! Did you find out whose it was?" I asked, hoping that the murderer was already behind bars.

The female officer scratched her head.

"The strangest thing happened when we analyzed it. There were traces of DNA all over it, but they had no source, in other words, that person doesn't exist, but the DNA on it says it does."

I gasped.

"You mean that there is DNA on it, but no person that it belongs to?" I asked.

The officers both nodded.

"I'm afraid that that's exactly what it means." Said the male officer.

I was very confused at this point, I wanted some answers.

Author's Note

If you like the story so far, please let me know, if you have ideas, please let me know :)

Reviews

[John Mcnab]

Very good, I am completely enthralled with the story so far, I love the way you are able to convey emotions through your writing, I love your detail, your characters, your storyline and you plot. Everything about this book is just amazing! I give this a 10/10!

[KeithKVH]

One point of interest I remember from the first read as well but escaped mention, when they're talking about non-existent DNA, they mean it doesn't seem to be human DNA right? Modern society wouldn't record everyone's DNA without it being set in a much different kind of society. Violation of rights and such.

[Ryan Henderson]

Thanks for the review! And yes, the society in this book is a little different, although it appears to be similar to this one.

[Lizardo]

This book is has really gotten my atention! When I have time, I will keep reading it because it's really coold. As I said back then, Your descriptions and details are good
Awesome book!

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you very much!

[Lizardo]

You are welcome!

[KeithKVH]

Agh, I made a note of it earlier but I forgot until I looked at notepad. Sorry to make another review just for this, but I must say the line "Fangs, why did it have to be fangs?", whether it was intentional or unintentional, was a great Indiana Jones reference. I love it. xD

[Ryan Henderson]

LOL! It was intentional! I did not think many people would catch that! XD

[Ryan Henderson]

I will admit, there are little references and "Easter eggs" Throughout the series, so keep your eyes peeled ;)

[KeithKVH]

Good work on this as well! I really am enjoying this so far. I wasn't expecting a story like this from chapter one, but I am in no way disappointed. Seeing the party coming together one after another is interesting, and while the pace of story advancement and the sheer amount of action packed into it made me a bit uneasy at first, it came together rather well actually and has grown on me. I can't think of what I read in the past that was similar, but your style does make me feel nostalgia like I've definitely read a classic that flowed similarly.

I know I should have asked this last chapter but I forgot, and the party building here has got me wondering again. Why don't the King and Queen have any guards or servants from the castle? It sounded like a big place, but I remember there never being anyone but them and Luna. Are the werewolves dying out or are they just not communal?

I do have a list of spelling and grammar to point out, though I might slow down on those from now on unless I find something big. Most people would call me a grammar nazi, and even without minor corrections the flow would still be okay enough to enjoy the story, and I think I should prioritize that. I stayed up late to finish this, I had to pause earlier because of trouble here, so I only listed a few things from before I had to break. I'll PM them tomorrow if you wish.

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for the review! I first wrote this story in 2010, some things changed over the years, some things didn't. I did not put servants in the werewolf castle in 2010, and that scene did not change much over the years, so I suppose it slipped my mind. And yes, a list of spelling and grammar would be nice, thank you!