"So, you're the assistant?"

The young and jittery assistant, palming his ID card, slowly nodded.
Ace looked around the office as Liam and Landon trailed behind him. A few certificates were framed and hung on the high walls. Books were stacked very neatly in the shelves, according to their size, so neatly that Ace shuddered at the gleam of neatness.

"Your boss had OCD."
Though it wasn't a question, the assistant nodded to Ace's statement.
"Alright, now, your name?"
"Edward Taylor, sir."

As Detective Brown continued with the questions and Landon took the notes, Ace pondered over a certain picture. It was a picture of Rachel and Lillian. Bright faces, merry smiles, doctor's coat on Rachel and casuals on Lillian.

"Your boss seemed to be more friendly to this patient, more than anyone."

The assistant looked at Ace and gulped before answering.
"She was one of the most successful cases. So, on the last session I was asked to click this photo."
"When was the last session?"
"Last week. I'll check the records but as far as I remember, Tuesday."

Before Ace could question again, Landon's phone rang.
"Yes?"
He looked at Ace.
"He is with us, yes. Okay, I'll tell him."

Ace looked at Landon questioningly.
"You declined the Chief's call? Anyways, he wants you to check the alibis of all the suspects."

"Okay. How many suspects do we have?"
"Three. One, Rachel Gartner's husband. Two, Emily Hunters and Three, uh, Lillian's date?"
"Add one more. Now, Mr Taylor, let's start with you, shall we?"

~~~

Justice shut off her phone, ultimately. KVC was blowing up her senses. While her chief did little to nothing to ease her burden, he further went forward to give her number directly to questioners and seniors.
'Clear your own mess' were the words he chose to scream.

The television played a news report of News Today, which was covering the streets of Aronville. People cowered away from each other. Shops were mostly empty. People were placing new locks on their doors. The last one made Justice look at her door and the almost broken lock clinging to it. With a shrug, she grasped her phone and went forward to shut the television.

A sharp sound made her stop in her tracks. It came from the door. Her heart hammered in its cage and her fists tightened around her phone. She slowly moved a step back and looked at the door. It was closed. What could be barely called a lock was still there. Justice decided two things, next. She needed a change of locks and she needed the courage that everyone thought she had.

Shutting the television and placing the phone in her pocket, she crossed towards her doorway when something caught her eye. An envelope. By the looks of it, it was slid from below the door gap which explains the sound she heard. Being a journalist, she was not afraid of threats but even so, when her hands grasped the tip of the envelope, she felt a strange sensation, one that she was not much familiar with: Fear.

As she opened the envelope, a single paper slid out of it and that was it. Justice rubbed the corners of the paper to see if more were attached to it, but there were none. So, her focus fell on the writing in the paper.

" d i e o r k i l l "

That's all it said. That's literally all it said. The handwriting was so crooked with some letters bold, for no seeming reason, wrong spacings and what not. It almost looked like a child's handwriting but Justice knew better. Now, she had another job beyond the previous two. It was materialistic but could save her.

~~~

A rope held her feet back and another held her hand. In an attempt to slide the glass that sat calmly on the opposite side of the room, she was trying to slide as far as possible. If the glass breaks then she could easily cut off the ropes, at least that's what she thought. She had tried screaming, that's what she did since her senses allowed it, but to no help, she chose this resort.

Her struggling stopped the moment she heard, a heavy door opening. Immediately, she cowered back into the wall, her hair falling over her face because that was the only barrier she had from the world. She could occasionally hear a bird or two singing. Dawn was breaking. But, for her, for once, it was not a merry sight, it was horrifying.

The door of the room she was in, slid open. Someone stepped in, but she wouldn't look at them. Eyes sealed shut, occasional whimpers escaping from her chapped lips made the silence of the room, thicker. Her hands already had numerous cuts on it, her legs had too. They burned for a while but either she went numb or they just stopped stinging.

Noticing that it was too silent, she slowly moved her head towards the door. But, in an instant she regretted it, because the moment she looked, something struck her head so hard that her eyes went out of focus and whatever scream she could gurgle out, was merely audible. Her hands gripped whatever they could so when a sharp hiss was heard, she knew she had scratched off the abuser's skin. Her eyes shut.

Emily's eyes shot open. Her erratic heartbeat did not help in assuring her that it was just a dream. But, the soft glow of morning light and people rushing in and out of their houses made Emily breathe out,
'Another nightmare.'

If things go as she remembers, if the so called 'coincidence' occurs again, then she had to do something. She had the means to take a final test. So, that morning she left her house with a determined stance, if only there wasn't a note hanging from the letter box.

Taking the envelope in her hand, she immediately ripped it, absent mindedly. But when her eyes fell upon the writing on it, she stopped in her tracks.

" W e f e e l y o u "

The handwriting was so crooked with wrong spacings and letters bolded for no reason. She felt a chill pass through her and the moment she derived the writing, she could almost feel the eyes on her.

While Emily needed to let the Detectives know, she somehow felt that she would be calling for her own harm. She felt the need to help put a stop to this disaster, she felt coming, but should the sacrifice be herself? Only one question wafted around:

'What to do?'

What should Emily do? While anticipating her next move, let's make some guesses. Also, apologies for not being regular at all. To those who PMed me about updates, thank you for letting me know that you all cherish this book. I believe that feedbacks essentially grow a writer so THANK YOU!!