Chapter 9: First Stop (1)

When getting out of the car after half an hour of traveling, Hiyori had her stomach shrank in three sizes, not that it was too big to begin with. The moment she followed Everlong out of the building she could feel the previous, heavy mood of hers returning. Now, knowing that the weight she always felt pressing down on her was a demonic entity, it was an extra baggage put on her back. Standing in the rain, amidst the darkness she had some really nasty thoughts appear in her head, imagining herself laying in a pool of blood. She just came to an abandoned part of the city where she has grown up, where the street lamps were cut and the old apartment building before her was cordoned off, waiting to be demolished. She was about to walk into it with someone she barely knew. Her mind already was at a place where she imagined herself being raped, then gutted and strangled with her own intestines. Worst off… she thought that would be for the best. She thought it was what she deserved. What she… wanted.

 

“Focus.” came next to her Everlong, holding an umbrella, putting his hand on her shoulder, grabbing onto her strongly. “I don’t know what you are thinking about but it surely is not something pleasant!” The moment his hand touched her, the previous thoughts quickly evaporated from her mind, regaining her clarity. If he wanted to do anything to him, he would have already done so. She was drunk, sleeping on his couch, nobody knew that she was out of town, not that anyone would come and look for her either way. Yet nothing happened, plus he was the one who made it possible for her to feel alive once again!

 

“Was… was it… you know…” looked around “Was IT doing it?” asked, breathing a bit quicker still. 

 

“Yes. I’ll keep an eye on you so don’t worry but you need to calm your thoughts down! That is going to help you a lot! It knows what is happening and it is powerless against me so its target is you. It is going to try and force you into a corner or simply, to break you down! And its attempts are going to be fiercer as we approach the truth of its origin!” 

 

“Great…” sighed loudly while Everlong was still holding her shoulder with a friendly smile.

 

“Look at it the other way! The more it tries to influence you, the more we know that we are on the right track! Come!” walked forward to the closed front door to the apartment.

 

“You have a key?” asked, hurrying after him.

 

“Nope!” answered, simply kicking the front, metal door. At first it just rattled loudly. Hiyori almost dropped to her butt, not expecting it but with a second kick he sent it flying open. “Open Sesame!” said, closing his umbrella with a laugh.

 

“I don’t think it works that way…” twitched her mouth, walking after him, not wanting to be left alone for even a minute. 

 

“Author’s liberty! Now it does!” waved his hand, pulling out two flashlights, giving one to her. “By the old records, your grandparents lived on the fourth floor, the top floor. 402 should be the number. If they are still on the doors!” walked forward as the pieces of concrete, wooden chips, parts of the peeled off wall paints, all cracked and cracked under his shoe, echoing loudly inside the dark, empty hallway. Following him, no matter how quietly tried to move, every step of hers was like firecrackers for her ears. “No need to be sneaky!” stopped Everlong at the stairway, leading up to the other floors, turning towards Hiyori “Nobody is going to come here.”

 

“...” flinched, thinking about similar thoughts as before, expecting that he is going to start choking her right here and now! But nothing like that happened as he just started walking up the steps. “But kicking the door in was also loud…” gulped, recollecting herself once again, cursing the THING, messing with her thoughts. 

 

“You would be surprised how easily people ignore things they don’t want to associate themselves with.” replied from the turning point of stairs “A noise coming from the abandoned building block? At 5 o’clock? While it's still dark, cold and raining heavily? Not my problem, let someone else deal with it! Everyone is going to think that, resulting in nobody coming. 90% of the time. Of course there can be a vigilant person around somewhere, jumping on the fact he or she can play vigilante or something.” 

 

“What if this is that 10%?” asked, already out of breath by the time they were at the second floor. “Damn I am out of shape…” moaned, angry at herself for the poor performance she was showing.

 

“Then whoever comes has come for nothing. Even if they bring the police with them!” slowed down his steps, letting her catch her breathing “They would have to let me go free because I have connections.” 

You are reading story Detective Everlong at novel35.com

 

“But I don’t!” said, nodding at him to go, don’t need to stop because of her.

 

“Oh, but you do! For the duration of me working on your problem, you are under my protection! So relax! Let me handle things~” 

 

“T-thank you…” whispered, going after him as she was stunned by his reply, only recovering when he disappeared into the darkness atop the stairs.

 

Taking two steps at the time she quickly catched up. When they were at the top floor after a bit of searching it was easy to find the flat that once belonged to her grandparents. Their names, carrying her own family name, were still next to the door, loosely hanging from the wall. 

 

“Weird!” sighed Hiyori “I only came here a few times when I was little. Very little. I barely remember things from it. I can’t even recall the layout of the room!” explained, watching the dirty, dusty and rusty metal door before them.

 

“Bad family ties?” asked, trying the doorknob but it was locked.

 

“Kinda.” thought a little before answering. “I was young to be told directly. But thinking back… I assume they had some kind of bad blood with my father.”

 

“What about your mom?” looked at her for a moment before asking her to point the light at the lock as he got out a lockpick and started working on it.

 

“Orphan. Maybe that was the start of my father’s relationship souring with them. I honestly don’t know!” shook her head, watching him slowly pick the lock. “Why didn’t you did this with the front door?”

 

“Making a loud entry would alert every and all junkies, hobos or vagrants of our arrival.” said with a half-smile. “If they picked this place as their nest, we would have known about it then!”

 

“It… somehow does not fill me with… confidence if you explain it like that!”

 

“As I said, relax!” clicked the lock at the same time as he pushed open the door. “I can only repeat myself, while I work on your case, you are under my protection!” said, pulling on the door with a loud, cracking noise and flashing a grin at her. “Open Sesame~”

You can find story with these keywords: Detective Everlong, Read Detective Everlong, Detective Everlong novel, Detective Everlong book, Detective Everlong story, Detective Everlong full, Detective Everlong Latest Chapter