Loving The Beast I Swore To Hate

The heavy rain splashed against the precinct window. Each drop was a percussive beat against the glass, mimicking the frantic rhythm of my own heart. Another missing person report was spread on my desk, a grim postcard from the abyss. The face staring back at me from the grainy photo belonged to a young woman, no older than myself. Her smile was wide, her eyes hopeful, and to think they would never see another sunrise made my stomach coil.

I traced my fingers over the outline of her smile, a ghost of a memory from a life now vanished. This was the fifth victim in how many weeks. They labelled them as drifters and attributed their disappearances to unfortunate accidents. But accidents produce bodies, or traces at least. Every lead we’ve had has always led to a dead end and I knew why. The official reports marked the town as haunted, something of that sort. But I saw the frayed edges, the dark threads that wove beneath...the monstrous pattern lurking just out of sight.

“Another one, Blankson?” Knox’s low rumbled voice pulled me from the precipice of my thoughts. He leaned lazily against my desk, a mug of what I suppose was coffee, steaming in his hand. The aroma cut through the metallic tang of fear that perpetually clung to the air in this precinct.

I didn’t meet his eye. “Same profile. Young and innocent. I mean, she had no discernible enemies, and no financial woes. No love interest either so it can’t be the case of an elopement. She’s just...gone.” The word tasted like ash in my mouth. My mother was gone too but not like in this case. I had found her splayed across the living room floor, a beast hovering above her, with eyes glowing with a feral, predatory light. I don’t know what was worse though. She dying or me finding out that that monstrous beast that killed her was my estranged father. I quickly shut the jagged piece of memory out.

“You still on about your monster theory?” A frustrated sigh escaped his lips. I knew he meant well, Knox. He saw the fire in my eyes, the hunger to solve these cases, the relentless pursuit that bordered on obsession. But he just didn’t understand its origin. I mean how could he? He just hadn’t seen a man transform, flesh rippling and bones reshaping into something primal and really terrifying, before tearing the life from the woman who loved him.

“Knox.” I drawled out slowly. “You saw the report. There was no sign of any reason that could have led to that. Disappearing into thin air? Come on, this is clearly not human.” My voice was now a low growl, a promise I made to myself everyday. That when I find them, I would make them pay dearly.

Knox ran his long manly fingers through his dishevelled hair, clearly frustrated with my theory. “Ashenbrook is a small town, Blankson. It is not uncommon for people to leave. People get into silent troubles and well, decide to fake their disappearances. Continue researching, maybe there is a loophole somewhere. It’s not always a horror movie.”

“Or maybe, you are just not looking hard enough for the monsters.” My cold gaze finally met his and he flinched, a subtle shift in his posture.

“Has it ever occurred to you that maybe it is because they are not real?” He said quietly, still holding my gaze.

“And when Mrs Robinson was found with her body torn apart? Clear evidence of a beast? What was that then?”

“Just as it was. A beast! Could have been any wild animal.”