Resurface

I won't bore you with the details of the drive to Nevermore, but just know that I stopped in at Crawley's on the way, just as a precaution. He was there, so that's all good. Wouldn't let me into his home though even though it was and currently still is raining. My clothes are soaked now, so I had to put towels down on the seat of my car.

I'm currently standing at the front gates of Nevermore, police cars everywhere. It's pretty dark depsite the time being 04:00 p.m now. Through the pouring rain I see two people crying. Two women. From a distance one is small enough to mistake for a student next to the other, Principle Weems. She's a tall goddess of a woman. Again not the time. I guess I should walk up and see if they're okay, especially since Larissa has spotted me. She looks so sad but is doing her best to console the other woman. Maybe they're a teacher or a relative of the deceased or a close friend, I have no idea.

I begin walking towards them, having full intentions on seeing if they need anything but just as quickly as I'm walking, I'm pulled away by a colleague to see the crime scene. I gave Larissa an apologetic look and she gives a faint smile. I order Officer Sullivan to get and umbrella and some warm drinks for the women and to tell them to take a seat, maybe on the steps leading up to the Nevermore building. She goes right away while I'm stuck walking towards the scene of the crime. Many officers on the way down told me that it was pretty horrific. I can attest to that. You have to understand hat I've seen a lot and I mean a lot of death in my life, but this...this was the worst.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw and I won't scare you will all the details but I give a brief overview of what I saw. This was much worse than the previous sights which I'll explain too. But let's focus on this particular death first.

The body of a young boy, dressed in a Nevermore uniform, lay on the ground lifeless. He couldn't of been more than 14, though it was difficult to tell considering half his face was missing. Sorry wrong word. It wasnt missing. You could very clearly see it caught in the high branches of a tree, still dripping blood. He had been impaled multiple times by branches, leaves placed over his body. I say placed because it was very clear that someone or something had tried to hide him under the fallen leaves. His body was as white as snow, the eye left on the side of his face that hadn't been torn off was misted over. Fear still carved into the features that remained. Apparently his name was Henry Carver. That's what the label on his blazer said. Scribbled in blue ink. Probably wrote by his mother or someone who didn't want him to lose it. Another officer got a photo up of him and we matched what remained of his dmface to the boy in the image. It was him alright. The boy in the image looked so innocent and carefree but the boy Infront of us looked like a fragile version of himself.

That's all I'll say for the rest is too gruesome. What this boy went through must have been truly terrifying for him. This had happened sometime last night was what the corornor on scene could suggest. I felt bile creep up my throat as I stared at the boy before I had to turn away and run past the crime scene tape to throw up.

I didn't even catch a break before I heard it.

An earpeircing scream that made my blood run cold. Colder than the breeze.

That scream will never leave me.

I rushed towards the sound, gun in hand, and then when I got to the location of the scream, I froze. Officer Sullivan had been trying to locate an umbrella in one of the many cop cars when something in the Forrest caught her eye. She forgot her current task and took out her touch to look deeper into the Forrest. She kept going, what she was following I don't know, she was shook up about it and refuses to talk about it, I can't blame her. While she was walking she tripped. She believed she had tried over a broken tree branch but as she stood up, she saw the floor littered with bones. Not animal bones, human bones. She didn't scream at that though. What she saw next was the real reason. From her own account she said that she had lifter her torch to survey the area. The her torch casted a shadow onto a treeas she was moving it. At first she didn't pick up what it may have been nbut she knew the shadow looked odd so she pointed the torch in the direction of the tree again. Then she saw it. The body. Mangled in the tree, legs dangling creating the shadow when the light was pointed at them. It looked as though the body had been dropped from the sky and fell through the trees. Officer Sullivan didn't fully register this at first due to the shock and the scream she released but when I got there I saw it. There wasn't just one body, but there were from what I could count, seven bodies all seemingly dropped from the sky. All but one caught in the trees. The one that wasn't caught, layed on the ground face down, looked like a middle aged man.

Not long after I got to Officer Sullivan, did a few other officer show up. They called in the others to get down there and I took Sullivan back to her cop car. She was definitely in shock. I called the ambulance to check her over and she was taken to the hospital and watched all night. Sure I should have gotten her statement but there was no need to make her relive what she saw. So now I'm stood, still in the rain, trying to process everything while we get forensics to examine and evaluate the other crime scene.

I should check up on Larissa and that other woman. Yeah, I'll do that. That's helpful. Maybe they know something so I can get a statement. God I hope they don't know anything, it's awful.

I make my way towards them. Both sit on the steps leading to Nevermore. Radio chatter consistent on my walkie talky as I walk. I finally get to them and the other woman looks up and asks, "Have you found my baby boy? Is he okay? A Police Woman came up to us and asked if we needed anything but I just want my little boy!" She doesn't know. I look to Larissa and she won't look me in the eye. She knows something.

"Ma'am may ask what you're boys name is?" Please don't be him. Please don't be his mother.

"Henry Carver" Why? Why did it have to be his mother.

She looked at me with hope in her eyes. Hope that I knew I would have to crush, not by choice but by obligation due to my profession.

"I'm truly sorry ma'am but as of 02:30 your son was found deceased in the forest. We are currently investigating what may have occurred and will keep you updated with everything. If there's anything you require or would like to know, please do not hesitate to ask. I'm sorry for your loss." A dick move I know. There was definitely a more sincere and sympathetic way of putting it but I would have cried and I needed to be strong. I didn't know this boy but damn does it hurt when a child dies.

Then she screamed, cried, shouted at the world, then at me, and then to god. She launched herself at me and began to hit my arms and chest. I just stood there and took it. She needed to feel something. That's when Larissa finally looked me in the eyes with fresh tears about to fall. She looked at me with so much sadness and anger but I could talk it wasn't directed at me. Then she looked down at her heeled shoes and stared. She didn't look up for the rest of the time the woman was there.

The said woman's hits slowed as grief took over. I held her as a form of comfort for what felt like hours but was really about ten minutes. Then an officer led her away to go back to the station to provide more information and answer any questions she may have. thank god that during the time I was holding her she didn't see the body bag with her son inside being put into the back of a van for transport. When she was out of sight, I looked upwards as I felt tears beginning to form. I couldn't cry, not yet. Not while still on the job.

I looked back to Larissa, she still stared at her heels, which I noticed were covered in mud. I sat next to her in the stairs which were covered overhead slightly from the rain. I sat and looked straight ahead, watching the other officers work from a distance. I sat staring at the flashing lights of the cop cars which were bright in the darkness. I sat and focused on them for a while. I sat and waited for her to talk or scream or cry. I sat there.

The world around us seemed to speed up. Officers began to load up and leave. Some came over to tell me what they were doing and I gave a curt nod and told them to do everything they could tonight. Some were shaken up so I told them to go home for the night. Soon enough the last cop car left my view, going down the road and back into Jericho.

Then and only then did Larissa speak. She still didn't look at me but she spoke.

"Henry was a bright student. He was always looking to help. He volunteered at the local pet shop on his weekends. He was a kind boy, of elven decent, who wanted to become a doctor and cure diseases that effected outcasts, as his father passed a few years ago from a terrible illness." Then she went quiet. I didn't say anything. I just listened until it felt right to talk.

"I was the one who found him." Then it hit me why it felt like she knew something. She has seen him dead. She continued.

"He hadn't shown up to classes this morning. It wasn't like him so I assumed he may have been ill. I went to his roommate, Kai Langley to ask what was wrong with him. Mr Langley said he hadn't seen Kai this morning and that he wasn't in his bed. I didn't want to panic him or anyone else so I searched the school with a few teachers and we found nothing. By this time it was just after lunch. I called his mother to see if perhaps she knew where he was or if he had contacted her. She of course didn't know so I sent someone to collect her to bring her here. I called the police and they and myself along with a few other teachers that were available went looking. That's when I found him. I didn't have the heart to tell Ms Carver, who was still at Nevermore waiting incase he returned." She let a single tear slip, which she quickly wiped away.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm sorry that you had to be the one to find him. I will find who did this." Then she looked at me. For the first time she truly looked at me. She was exhausted, heartbroken and frustrated. She began to shiver and only then did a realise that her clothes were drenched from the rain. Her hair was damp and slightly ascue. Her mascara had ran, her lipstick wasn't as sharp as usual.

"Calliope?" Her voice was so fragile and weak. Hoarse from crying. I was brought of my tance like state which is when I realised I had been staring.

"Sorry... you're probably freezing and I should head back to the station. If there's anything you need please don't hesitate to ask..." and before I could finish my thought she hugged me. I quickly reciprocated it and that's when I heard the cries. It finally hit her. She had tried so hard to hold it together but she couldn't, not now anyway. I held her for a while before she pulled back and said that she should get some rest. I agreed and wished her goodnight. She began walking towards the entrance door to Nevermore and I said, "I'm sorry for your loss, I wish I could say more. And seriously if there's anything you need, not only from the police but just from a friend, I'm here." She gave a small nod and a faint smile before saying thank you and then she was gone. Behined the door, which I stared at for a while. I looked at my watch and it's 09:58 p.m. Time to head home for the night.