Chapter Nine: Lurking in The Dark

Lorraine’s hand hastily covered her mouth, while her eyes widened at the sight. But if she thought that would be the end of it, then she was totally wrong. For her eyes drifted a little further and she saw a body lying on the floor; she took a couple of hesitant steps she noted that the body was desiccated. She felt a hand on her shoulder when she turned she found Aiden looking at her with a glum look on his face. They both turned to the body on the ground in silence. “We have to call 911.” She stammered her words, while tears fell from her widely-open eyes.

Aiden only nodded his head, but he knew the police should be the last of their worries. Aiden knew he should get Bates here, in any way possible. Had the situation been different, he would have called him straight away and made sure that they clean that mess without anyone knowing anything.


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Bates was standing with a glass of whiskey in hand before the fireplace of his house. It was decorated in a Victorian style, which he claimed to be his favorite era. He took a sip of his glass then his shoulders stiffened. He felt his presence, he could hear his assertive sauntering into the room. Without turning and with a glower firm on his face, “I see you welcomed yourself into my house”

“And I see you still find allure in small towns”

Bates turned scowling, “What are you doing here, Cedric? It has been over a century.”

The man in question, Cedric, only let out a long chuckle, which sounded nothing short of baleful to Bates. “My purpose of coming here is quite obvious”, he then tilted his head, “It’s yours that raises many questions.” He then narrowed his eyes menacingly, yet his tone remained light, “You’re not thinking about defying me, right? Your maker?”

Bates let out a long breath and sat on one of the big armchairs before the fire, “Leave the girl alone. She knows nothing. If you ask me, she’s just an ordinary little girl. A very normal teenager”

Cedric grabbed another glass and poured from the bottle of whiskey on the small table. Cedric threw the content of his glass in one gulp, “If she is as gullible as you say she is, then what brought her to this town? This one particular town; it’s where everything started”

The glass hung half-way before reaching his lips, as Bates sat frozen for a second longer. “I thought you’re the one who manipulated her mother into coming here”

“I didn’t even know she was alive”. Cedric shrugged his shoulders.

Bates heard the swoosh of air signaling Cedric's departure. He didn’t know what to make of what he had just heard. The presence of the girl had been justified in his mind that Cedric was behind it. *“But if Cedric wasn’t the one behind it, could it be that she fooled us all?”*

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The police sirens had dwindled down, by the time two paramedics carried Judy on a trauma board to take her to the hospital; they were assured that the girl was all right, just unconscious. Deputies spread in the scene inspecting the headless body and whispering amongst themselves. It was easy to see that they had been as horrified as Lorraine was. Lorraine watched after her friend until she disappeared from her view. Aiden wrapped an arm around her in a comforting side hug.

However, Lorraine wasn’t comforted.

She decided to be strong, put on her strong face until the situation passed. So, she stood as stiff as a board while Aiden hugged her, trying to whisper comforting words into her ear. She saw a man, seemingly in his fifties, approaching them. As he came to a stop in front of them, she recognized his face, the one she had seen on TV in the earlier hours of the day. He introduced himself, “I’m sheriff Harold Fisher”

“I’m Aiden Aetos, and this is Lorraine Dawson” Aiden replied before a word could leave her mouth.

The sheriff nodded his acknowledgment, “What were you kids doing here? Haven’t you heard of what happened to the Jonas family?” His tone was blaming, scolding, and very tired. It wasn’t easy for him to see people dying left and right. Throughout his years as a sheriff, this town had never been through these kinds of things. He took pride in being the sheriff for the past twenty years and maintaining the peace in Secret Valley. It was why he was elected by the people every single time. The incident with the Jonas family had the mayor nagging him to no end, he didn’t even want to know what the man would do after hearing about that.

“It was the annual party, the one held for the beginning of the school year” Lorraine informed, and the sheriff nodded once again. *“Of course, the annual party. Only if these kids knew the kind of things that lurk in the dark.”* He thought with a scowl. Lorraine started telling him what happened during the part with Jason and Judy. “I was worried about her, so I went with Aiden after them”. She gulped the lump in her throat, stubbornly willing herself to not cry. “I… I didn’t expect to see this” she shook her head.

Aiden confirmed her story, then added, “I arrived first. I saw Judy unconscious then noticed the body a few feet away from her”

The sheriff let out a long sigh and said in a sorrowful voice, “unfortunately you will have to come down to the station with us to confirm the identity of the deceased. We need to know whether that was Jason or someone else”

“Can we go later? Look at her; she’s a mess” Aiden tried to hold it off, rather rudely, but Lorraine shook her head firmly. She tried not to feel offended at him calling her a mess. She liked to think that she was handling herself well enough with everything that was happening.

“Let’s just get it over with”

“It is better to figure out this nightmare.” She thought to herself. It was how it seemed to her. She was beginning to feel like she was not even there, like she was watching everything happening from the outside.

“Fine” Aiden replied with a clenched jaw and a tight voice.

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From afar, a man stood watching the entire scene unfold. Cedric’s eyes watched the girl like a hawk stalking a prey. He was still trying to figure her out, he didn’t know what to make of her. He had visited her, manipulated her mind, and took her to the very place where Darla was buried. However, she had shown no recognition of him, even when he changed his face right in front of her, showing her the monster he really was.

He kept a constant watch on her, trying to figure out exactly what she was. She surprised him by how normal she was. Despite himself he took note of small things, small details about her. How she would always read for an hour before she would let herself fall asleep, and how she would nervously nibble on her lower lip when she was nervous. He noticed how she would cry on her own, then go out to the world with a bright smile.

Cedric scowled at himself for noticing such unnecessary details, but he couldn’t help it. He watched her following after the other girl, despite being aware of the danger, or even part of the danger, of it. He was impressed with her standing strong against the Aetos boy. The thought of Aetos made a wave of hatred course through his body. He shouldn’t have noticed those things. She should have been dead by now, but something always made him hold back.

His scowl deepened when he saw Aiden wrap an arm around her, like it was his right to do so. *“Like she is his to hold.”* He thought bitterly. Cedric didn’t know when his plan of killing the girl changed into intrigue, but he came to a final decision. He would figure her out, then he could kill her. Seemingly satisfied with his decision, he left the scene as Lorraine and Aiden got in the back of one of the police cars to go to the station.