Airel - Aaron Patterson [23]
Kreios took hold of the grips of the Sword and slowly pulled it from its sheath. The room filled with light as he held it up. Zedkiel shielded his eyes as the Sword shone with the brilliance of the sun. Kreios touched the blade and said in a hushed voice, “The Sword of Light. Never again will I let you stray from my side.” He turned to his brother, “With this we will wage war and restore hope to our people once again.” His eyes were burning with pure fire.
Chapter XIII
Boise Idaho, Present Day
I was literally in shock when the police showed up. The ball cap man’s body was discovered by an unfortunate boy who was looking around for the source of the smell—the tangy, rusty, smell of blood and urine—during the movie. He had been craning his neck, trying to see if he could catch the eyes of anyone else who might have smelled it too. A daylight scene on the screen provided the sudden illumination he had needed.
The situation got worse from there and the police were called, the movie stopped, the lights turned on and everyone came pouring out of there as if the place were on fire.
Michael found me in the lobby, gave me a reassuring hug, and asked if I was okay. “What happened? Did you see anything?” He asked as if he was excited, hoping I did see something so he could hear all the gory details.
I blurted out—“I saw the whole thing! Didn’t you guys see it? He did it right in front of everyone.”
I pressed my fingers into my temples, as if by doing so the images of the event would flee like frightened children. It didn’t help. All it did was bring up the image of a bloody knife and the sound of footsteps on the tile floor. I could picture it in my mind, the way the knife just hung there in his hand as if he would drop it any second, so careless and casual.
The police locked down the theater and interviewed everyone, including some people who had been watching other movies. Maybe someone had seen the killer in the ticket line, or in the bathroom in between movies. James and Kim stood around with us as the place gradually cleared out. The police had interviewed everyone they could. Even though they had locked down the building in an attempt to trap the killer, I knew he was long gone.
They interviewed me too. I told them everything that had happened, even the part where he followed me into the bathroom. I wanted to cry but couldn’t. It was like the world was running on its time and I was lost in my own slow and haunting version.
“You are one lucky girl!” The officer in charge said. He had a heavy brow with deep-set dark eyes. He flipped his notebook shut, mumbling something to another cop, bigger than him, as they both moved away, talking. Lucky? I thought how unlucky I was to have seen the murder, but then again, I was alive. And that was something.
The officer with the heavy brow turned back to us and said, “We need you to come on down to the station to meet with a sketch artist. You can... ”
“I’ll take her.” Michael broke in. I didn’t interject. I thought it was a good idea, me not driving.
“Miss, miss!” The other officer broke in, a fat man with a balding head. “You’ll be riding with us. We still don’t know where the suspect is and Detective Lopez would feel more comfortable if you were under our protection.” I nodded to him.
I started to hand off my car keys to Kim. Michael snatched the keys from her hand. “We’ll follow you and wait till you’re done.”
“You don’t have to come. I’ll be fine.”
Kim rolled her eyes and said, “We’re coming!”
I called my parents and dropped the bomb. Boy that was fun. My mom was freaking out, in tears, and I could tell that Dad was ready to kill someone. I reassured them as best I could and told them not to worry. I would be home in a few hours.
My dad insisted on meeting me at the police station. To confess the truth, that made me feel a lot better. “Dad, it’s fine. I’m okay. Besides, I’m the only one who saw him, so I kinda have to go down and talk to them.