What is this? Daniel stood there petrified; his gaze was set on Mark.
The night howled in the chill of the wind, and the wind blew in Daniel's direction.
Mariya called Daniel's name and explained further.
"So, as I was saying, this mark here has some of the blood used of the remaining people. The first thing that occurred to me was a suicide cum sacrifice ritual—"
Mariya turned her head to Daniel.
He stood there silently, not a single movement on the eyelids; even looking at him for a while, no one could tell whether he was breathing or not.
"Daniel? DANIEL?" Mariya ran towards Daniel and started yanking his shoulder.
****
I walked behind Mariya with a bleeding mouth; the mark under my tongue somehow started bleeding, and then she took me to the roof.
This weird incident, I have a feeling it is not what it seems; it is something more…
As I followed her, I wasn't able to shake this feeling that all the answers lay there.
We reached the terrace, and she shined the light on the floor.
It was the same mark under my tongue. Before we got into the car, Mariya clicked the photo of the mark and showed it to me.
Now I know why they think I am connected to this.
I stopped my steps and looked at the mark, and something strange happened.
My body got numb, and it felt like every nerve of my body stopped working; the mark on the floor flashed before my eyes.
Then suddenly the darkness clouded my vision, but my body was still paralyzed, like I was in a nightmare.
A dark fog enroached on me, and the next second, I was back in the basement.
"Why am I back here? How did I come here?" With a still face I uttered in my mind, It was a strange feeling. I can't even feel any kind of emotions, like I am empty from the inside out.
Then a droplet fell on my cheek. The droplet slowly moved from my forehead and then touched my eyelashes…
It was blood, and then finally I was able to move my eyeballs.
I moved them above and saw it.
The dreadful sight of 12 people hanging from the ceiling, the hook pierced the tongue and came out from the back of the head.
Then again, something moved me away from them, like it wanted me to get a good look at them.
Finally a face was visible, so I took a look at one of them.
It was an old man; his face was riddled with wrinkles, he had hazel brown eyes, and he was half bald.
His eyes were rolled back; the scene was gut-wrenching, and I forced my eyes closed.
Please be a nightmare…
Please be a nightmare…
I pleaded, then slowly opened my eyes, but what was in front of me pulled the instinct of fear that I lost when I came here.
The eyes that were rolled back were now staring at me…
They looked straight at me and the mouth that gaped open in agony convoluted with desire…
Now he was smiling at me.
Slowly I was gaining my emotions back: fear, anger, and grief—that's all I felt at that moment.
Then his dried lips moved—
"The White Sheets…" it muttered.
"DANIEL!" The loud call of Mariya woke me up, just like a person wakes up when they fall to their death, i arose from the same way.
"What happened to you? Are you ok? I called many times, and you didn't respond; I was worried." She released my shoulder and took a deep sigh of relief.
"You scared me there for a while, you know? I thought I again lost my lead after so many years. Well, anyway, what happened to you?" She lit a cigarette again.
"I was there—" I uttered in a muffled voice; the tiredness twisted my muscles, and my breath was slowly balancing its pace.
"There? Where? What are you saying?" She exhaled a puff of smoke.
"The crime scene, I saw—I saw one of the faces; I saw it." I dropped on my knees and then rolled on my back.
Mariya's hands paused midway through her mouth.
"What?" She glared at me like I told her the sky had mountains.
"I saw—" she interrupted and started pacing left and right. "I heard you, but it's impossible." She grabbed her forehead.
"What do you mean?" I wasn't angry that she still hid something from me; I had more things to worry about.
"You know, I didn't tell you everything. The day we arrived at the crime scenes and looked at their corpses, there was something else." She crushed the cigarette under her feet.
"All of the corpses had their skin burned with a strange thing, like the skin was there but completely dead, blackened beyond recognition.
Not only that, it seems they consumed something that made their organs.
We only had DNA to identify the corpses, but no other identifying feature.
It was like they were preparing for it for a long time, slowly marinating themselves for a present."
"What else? Can you describe the face?" Mariya asked.
"It was an old man with hazel brown eyes; he must be between 70 and 80. He had baldness in the middle and some hair on the side.
She jerked her arm in weird excitement and awe.
"Yes! Yes! The first body we pulled down was estimated to be an old man; the skeleton was estimated to be of a male of about the same age range, and not only that, he was the only one who was this old."
She rubbed her chin with furrowed eyebrows. "What else did you see?" She crouched and put her face just above his with a distance of a few centimeters.
"Nothing, after that I didn't see—but heard…" I was afraid to close my eyes; I feared if I closed them, the scene would flash before my eyes.
"What did you hear?" she asked.
"White sheets," he said, "white sheets."
"I see the white sheets." She took a breath and then stood up.
"Alright then, now for a question for myself." She pulls
drew out her gun and aimed at Daniel.
"Now tell me, how are you involved in this or in 10 seconds?"
[I WILL KILL YOU]