I parked my car on the curb outside Annabella's house. Night was falling and it made the house look spoopy but I was used to it. You can't be a cop and not deal with spoopy things.

The door was blocked off by caution tape and I had to duck under it. Straightening, I flicked the light switch on but wasn't very surprised when nothing happened. No money for the bill means no lights.

I dug through my pocket till I pulled out the lighter I carry in case of emergencies. The house looked worse then I remembered. Shelves where turned over, books all over the floor, unidentifiable stains where all over the floors and walls, and the building smelt like death and drugs. It's amazing what a few days of abandonment can do to a house.

"Now if I was a twenty year old girl where would I hide my diary." I muttered to myself as I made my way through the mess. The atmosphere was extremely tense and I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me and if I've learned anything that means someone or something usually is watching you. I did a 180, holding my lighter up high and trying to see into the shadows the best I could but I couldn't see anything.

A loud chiming noise made me jump nearly up to the ceiling and I started swinging around frantically before laughing quietly at myself while I pulled out my phone. "Hello?" I greeted not bothering to look at caller ID. "John? Where are you? I came over to your apartment but you weren't there?" Smitty's voice calmed me down and I continued to slowly make my way through the house.

I laughed nervously, "Well uh, it's kinda a long story but well I'm uh, I'm at Annabella's house." I confessed as I peered into a room and saw what looked like a small office. Maybe in here? "Why are you there?!" "Well I got a letter today from Penelope-" "Penelope? As in the dead Penelope?" He interrupted. "Yes that one. She said that Annabella had a diary that she wrote everything in. I figured I'd go get it since you where busy." "John, you should have gotten me." "I know," I confessed "I wasn't thinking to clearly."

I winced as I stepped in a dark liquid. There goes these boots. "If it makes you feel better I completely regret my decision." I left the office empty handed. Bedroom maybe? "You're such a idiot." Smitty said jokingly. "You're coming over now aren't you?" "Yeah." I hummed and glanced over my shoulder. Was it my imagination or did something just move.

"Code Pepe." I said. "Alright," I heard the siren going and breathed a sigh of relief. We had long ago set up different words to tell each other the safety of the situation. Code Pepe meant someone else was here. I peered in the bedroom and saw that surprisingly it was in pristine shape. Nothing was messed with except the window was open and the bed was unmade. Like someone has been sleeping in it.

On the foot of the bed sat a leather book about the size of my hand. I walked over and flipped it open.

Property of Annabella Ebony

I gasped. This was it. "John? You ok?" Smitty's voice was filled with worry and I shivered at the warm feeling that came over me. "Yeah yeah I'm fine. I found the diary." He sighed in relief and I snatched the book up and shoved it in my hoody pocket.

"You better put that back." A thin, scratchy voice said and I turned to see a shadow standing in the doorway. I cursed under my breath. "John?" Smitty said. "You shouldn't touch things that don't belong to you." The shadow moved closer and I could see the vague outline of a man. He was almost my height. Shadows from the flickering flame masked his face.

"I don't suppose it belongs to you either." I spoke ignoring Smitty. "It's more mine then it is yours." The man snarled. "John?" Smitty said again more urgently. "Hey Smitty, im gonna have to call you back. Pepe is here." I said and hung up before he could respond. I shoved my phone in my pocket with the diary and focused my attention fully on the man.

"You must have figured out by now that I've got backup coming." I spoke calmly. "And what a surprise your backup will get when they find the door barricaded." Ah fuck. "They'll get the barricade off eventually and you'll be hauled off and put in prison for first degree murder." I made a wild guess that this was the killer. "Not if I'm not here for it and you're not alive to rat me out." He said and took a step closer. I saw something at his side glimmer in the light and I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Why did you kill Annabella Ebony and Penelope Dayholt?" All I need to do is keep him talking. "That bitch and her friend? She had it coming. You don't cheat me and live. As for her friend she knew to much." I searched my memory for anything in this room I could use as a weapon. I couldn't think of anything but I remember seeing a doorway I assume leads to a bathroom.

"How did Annabella cheat you?" I asked and slowly began taking steps back to where I remembered the doorway being. "She promised me my drugs and didn't deliver through. If I don't get my drugs then the voices get loud and they'll only stop if I kill. She should have just given me the drugs but the little slut had to run off." He spat. "I don't like killing but the voices demand it. I just wanted to take my drugs and live peacefully but she wouldn't allow it. She made the voices come back."

"The voices?" I thought I could hear police sirens in the distance and I prayed for Smitty to wait just a big longer. "There's so many of them. They all talk at once and so loud till it feels like my heads going to split open." He clutched his head and swayed slightly. I was almost to the bathroom door now.

"What are they saying now?" He looked up at me and his mouth split into a horrible smile. "They're saying to cut you open and bathe in your blood~" he leapt forward raising the butchers knife I'd seen earlier. I raised my arm to block and winced as the blade cut through my hoodie and into my skin, though from what I could feel it wasn't deep. I swept his feet out from under him and dashed to the bathroom. I looked around frantically for the item I was looking for. At last I saw it just as I heard him get to his feet.

I popped the lid off the hairspray and held it behind the lighter and held down the spray. Flames leapt forward and the man jumped back with a yelp. I bravely took a few steps forward while he backed up trying to get away from the fire.

A loud bang sounded from the living room. "John!" Smitty yelled. The man looked to the door and then to me. I held the hairspray ready to burn him to a crisp but he decided he was to far out numbered.

He gave me another creepy smile before turning and throwing his body out the window. I ran to the window to see him tearing into the woods behind the house. No way I could catch him now. I flicked the lighter off and dropped the hairspray as I slid to the ground.

There was the pounding of footsteps before a bright circle of light appeared on the floor in front of me. I looked up to see Smitty standing there holding a pistol and flashlight.

"Oh my god John! Where's the intruder!?" He looked around wildly. "He's gone, jumped out the window when he heard you come in." I was exhausted. Smitty dropped down in front of my and gasped when he saw my arm. "You're bleeding!" "Yeah no shit Sherlock." I rolled my eyes. "Shut the fuck up Watson." He said his normal response without even thinking about it.

He was pulling my sleeve up to look at the cut that was pumping out blood. "God damb it John you idiot. You should have just called me!" "And get you hurt? I'll pass." Smitty helped me to pull my hoodie over my head and he pressed it firmly against the cut. "Neither of us might have gotten hurt if we went together!" He was panicking now. His voice high pitched as he pressed down harder.

"Smitt." I said and his eyes flickered up to mine. "I'm fine. I'm not going to die. It's just a cut, it doesn't even need stitches." I soothed and saw him relax slightly. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry." "It's fine. I know I was stupid buuuuuut." I reached into the pocket of my hoodie and pulled out the diary. It now had blood on the corner but other then that it was fine. "I got the diary!" I cheered. Smitty shook his head and smiled at me. "And they say you're not a good cop."