Chapter 4: The mystery is maddening

David's heart pounded in his ears, the knocking came from the front door. He moved slowly towards a window that might give him a view of the thing outside. What he saw made his blood run cold, the woman from earlier was stood outside waiting for the door to open, after a short amount time the woman brought here gloved hand to her mouth and her shoulders shuddered. She laughed then turned and walked away, leaving without a sound being made.

David was frozen watching the fog with eyes wide in terror, whatever just happened was something that David hoped would never happen again.

David was feeling exhausted after the wandering, the fear, the running, and again the fear. Sleep was going to be difficult but he would need it, military training was going to be helpful here.

David eventually managed to get some sleep though it was hard fought. Sleep overcame him and when he could focus again he was back in the street with the stroller. He was stood with the stroller in front of him, in arms length with the open end facing away like he was pushing it. David was again frozen, afraid that any sudden movement would be his end.

A giggle broke the silence and a familiar presence made itself known just out of eyesight. It was close, right next to him and was staring through him, to his very soul. A gloved hand came into view as it was being moved upward again toward a white veil. Another giggle was heard before the voice came, soft and calming.

"Can you hear it?"

---

Jackson finished the report and decided that was enough official work for today, he had plans that he was going to keep both to confirm that he wasn't crazy and to find the Chief if he could. Jackson left the station and returned home so he could take a shower and prepare for the no doubt long night ahead of him.

After a shower and dinner Jackson went to retrieve things he thought he might need for his search such as extra batteries for his flashlight and spare ammo for his gun, better safe than sorry.

Jackson was ready so he set off towards his Chief's house. The drive didn't take long as he and the Chief didn't live to far apart and they were in adjoining districts, the Chief lived in the north while Jackson lived in the east. The station was in the west near the center where all districts intersect, the west was where most of the shops and businesses were while the south was for more industry than anything.

When Jackson arrived he saw that the tape was still up and he was sure somebody was watching the building so just incase Jackson lifted his badge so as to let anyone know he was a cop too, though the darkness and dim moonlight probably made it difficult to see. Jackson continued regardless of whether they saw that gesture or even him.

Jackson entered the house and moved for the "basement" door, only to find it locked again. His kicking should have broken the lock or something but he was sure it should not be able to lock again, 'Guess I'll kick it down again'.

Just before he was going to kick the door down again he heard shuffling coming from above him, from upstairs. Jackson drew his pistol and made his way upstairs like he did the first time. He reached the top and listened.

"Jackson"

Jackson spun to face the bottom of the stairs as he heard his name being called again. Jackson turned and came face to face with a older man holding a revolver towards him.

"I see you demon, thought you could sneak up on me?" The older man asked.

Jackson froze when he saw the barrel pointed towards him and tried to act as calm as possible.

"Don't do anything stupid, you shoot me and you get life" Jackson said trying to both to keep calm and intimidate the man.

"Quiet monster, I can see your eyes and they are despoiled like everyone else in this hell" The man said seeming to keep the strange calm he had.

"Are you Ethan Kellers by an chance?" Jackson asked remembering that he read something about him during his time in his office.

"So you know me monster, good for you" Ethan said mockingly.

"What are you doing here Ethan" Jackson asked calmly

"I heard the police chief went missing so I came to see if it was connected to that damn cult" Ethan said.

"I read about that cult, your not part of it then" Jackson asked.

"NO! they took everything from me, they should all burn for their crimes" Ethan yelled then got quieter as he continued.

"Then we're on the same side here, lower the gun" Jackson said hopefully.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, Quiet monster" Ethan said before he fired the revolver.

Jackson rushed the closest door and dove into the room where he quickly righted himself and aimed his gun at the entrance. Jackson waited only seconds before he heard a crash of glass.

Jackson looked over himself and saw the bullet tore through his new coat but otherwise left him unharmed. After Jackson ensured he was uninjured he went to the window he heard break, it was in the study. Jackson peered through the window and saw an empty street in the dark of night. Ethan was more unhinged than he was lead to believe, he saw a cop as a monster and jumped from a two story window after shooting at said cop.

Jackson saw no sign of Ethan but he decided to check around the premise just incase which turned up nothing. He'll deal with Ethan later for right now he would focus on the chief, if what Ethan said was true then the odds of him shooting any random passerby was low or maybe it was really high as he seemed to have no problem shooting at Jackson and he was a new resident of ... Regardless chasing him would be pointless as he has no idea where Ethan lives.

Jackson decided that focusing on what he came to do would be best so he returned to the "basement" and went to kick it down. When he got to the door he saw the there was a light coming from the seams, green in color. Thinking Ethan might have went in here he put his guard up but then remembered that it was supposed to be locked, he tried the handle and the door came open. Jackson was looking into a swirling pool of black water with pale green light shining from below. Jackson was definitely insane, this was unnatural and impossible.

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"Jackson"

He spun and leveled his pistol to the air right behind him, where nobody stood and a voice called his name. The swirling pool reacted to the voice and from the depths came tendrils of black water that shot out to pierce and engulfed Jackson.

A single tendril of the black water tore through Jackson's chest as the rest engulfed him in a eerie caress. Jackson was pulled under as the door slammed shut with a bang and a click as the lock was set back in place. Jackson didn't even have time to scream, as if to herald his demise it then started to rain.

---

Jen was taking the disappearance of her father poorly as any would expect, she spent more time at the station so she wouldn't be alone and tried to distract herself with her work. Jen's emotional state was poor to say the least, with her father missing and her having nowhere to start looking she could only wait for any news that might come in. Currently they had as many personnel they could on searching for leads on where he might have gone.

A call came in that there was a gunshot heard from a familiar address, Jen was both worried and hopeful, the gunshot was bad but what if it was her father that fired it, that would mean he's alive if not okay. Jen had people on it as soon as she could and her mood improved if only very slightly. Jen decided she should go even if she technically wasn't allowed but her father was the police chief and a veteran, she knew how to handle a gun if she needed to and she'll be damned if she isn't there for her father like he would be for her.

When she arrived at her father's place she saw two cruisers at the perimeter of the house and a older model mustang sitting in the driveway. When she could she asked one of the officers if they ran the plates on the mustang yet.

"We did and it seems to belong to one of our own, detective Jackson" said the officer as he read it.

"Oh so detective Jackson is here?" Jen asked.

"No, at least we haven't seen him, his car was already here when we arrived" said the officer confused.

Jen was perplexed, was Jackson the one that fired the shot and if he did who was he shooting at? Jen decided that forensics would be a better team to talk to, so she walked in and found one.

"What did you find?" Jen asked trying to put on a air of confidence.

"Oh, Jennifer your the chief's daughter right, ah, sorry for your loss" the forensics member said.

"We don't know if he's dead so don't talk like he is" Jen said suddenly heated.

"But yes I'm his daughter" Jen commented slightly calmer after her sudden outburst before the team member could respond.

"Yea, sorry, right, um, there was a bullet hole in the wall in the staircase, the angle suggests whoever fired was at the end of the hall facing the stairs" the team member said settling into his role to help ease the embarrassment.

"Any idea who shot at who?" Jen asked

"Not yet but whoever shot was in a hurry to get out, so much so they jumped through the window in the study and landed with a roll, lucky for them they seemed to avoid getting cut" He said as he showed her the broken window with a lack of blood stained glass.

"So whoever shot knew what they were doing then? What about the one getting shot at?" Jen asked interested in how this was playing out.

The forensics member lead her towards her old room, she was really hoping it wasn't going to be covered in blood. Luckily for Jen it was mostly how it was left.

"The 'vic' seemed to take cover in this room as the wall behind the door had been bashed with force and the rug in front of the door is folded and disheveled but nothing outside of that" he said.

"No blood from either, so a shot is fired and the one at the top of the stairs takes cover in my old room and the one with the gun runs through the study and jumps two stories without any blood being shed" Jen was confused, it was like two thieves catching each other and then leaving after trying to get away from each other.

"But then where did the 'vic' go" Jen asked thoughtfully.

"Don't know but regardless detective Jackson didn't leave yet or at least if he did he didn't take his car" the team member said just as confused as Jen.

'So detective Jackson was still here or close by at least but where and why isn't he showing himself to us', Jen's thoughts were a mess. She was worried about her father and now Jackson is missing as well, but why was Jackson here. Jen had hoped Jackson was here to look for her father which would move Jackson up to the top of the list of people she respected.

---

David awoke in a cold sweat and was near to screaming when he thought better of making noise, he can't make noise or it will see him and him being seen means he's dead. David moved slowly to the window to look outside, when he got to the window he looked out and saw nothing but the foggy and lamp-lit street of this nightmare.

David had to find the exit as fast as he could if there even was one, if he didn't he isn't sure he could stay sane. He looked at the roof and saw the ravens looking at him from their perches. David backed away from the window and started to gather what he could carry and set out for his trial.

After hours of walking David began to realize this place was repeating itself, David knew that it didn't always do that as his friends house was quite a distance from his own. David decided to find the similarities and see when they changed. David walked by the same street sign reading Crow st. 9 separate times before he saw a new one. The second street lasted 27 times before a change happened. David seeing the same sign for 27 streets was sure he was stuck here, they seemed to change on random chance, how long would it take to just reach the edge of town.

As David was lost in his mind a tap of metal on glass broke him from it, he looked around in panic and made sure to stay quiet. Something was in the house next to him and it was trying to get his attention.

"Come in, we were waiting for you"

David sprinted away from the voice until he heard a raven's song, he looked to the sky and saw a murder singing a song of death.

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