Chapter 17 — Infection of the Mind

On October 5th, 2020, the day before the first court hearing in the case of Laurens Vermeulen aka Mad Dog, Esther and Leo were at work dealing with the next investigation. It was much simpler and they were actually at the stage of interrogating the main suspect and waiting for the lab results to confirm the collected evidence. Overall, the day went by without any major complications, one could say it was quite boring.

In the late evening, when they were standing nearby the coffee machine, drinking from the paper cups, it hadn't escaped Leo's attention that Esther looked tired again that day, which in turn made him worry again. Apparently, one day of rest was not enough. Additionally, when they received confirmation that he and Esther would be questioned at the hearing tomorrow, she seemed very nervous. Leo wanted to lighten the atmosphere by joking around, but he didn't quite succeed. For one thing, since he was an introvert, his jokes came out rather awkward. Secondly, Esther seemed to be in a really grave mood, and all she could do was smile very faintly while she drank her coffee, then crushed the cup and tossed it to the trash can standing nearby.

"Something happened yesterday when you got home, right?" Leo finally asked, unable to bear the atmosphere.

"Nothing happened yesterday. Fortunately." Esther replied, and you could actually see something like relief on her face.

"Then why are you acting like this again? You felt fine on our trip on Sunday. Or so it seemed." Leo replied, not understanding. He crushed the empty coffee cup and tossed it into the trash can too.

"It's about what happened the night I came to your place and later when I came by to get my things for yesterday's trip." Esther sighed, looking at him. "You probably won't believe me again, but I'm going crazy... Every now and then I hear these terrible whispers, I see shadows in my apartment, I'm afraid to go into the bedroom, because as soon as I look in there, strange things start to happen." she began to blur out the words nervously. "On Saturday after work, when I came to pick up a few things for our trip and entered the bedroom for a short while, a moment later I heard whispers in my head and all the lights turned off again. Yesterday evening I didn't even go into the bedroom for a moment, I slept on the couch in the living room, and that's probably the only reason why nothing happened." she added at the end, her eyes glazed with tears.

"Esther..." that was all Leo could say. He wanted to shake her, say it was all an exaggeration, and she should just report it all to an electrician, but the sight of tears stopped him. Leo just embraced her and hugged tightly. He had no idea it was that bad with her. He still refused to accept it, but it seemed that his friend was close to a nervous breakdown.

Esther hugged him as well, biting her lower lip as she tried to hold back the tears. They stood like this for a good few minutes, she nestled against his shoulder and he with one hand on her back, the other stroking Esther's hair gently.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Esther returned to her apartment, at first she continued to avoid the bedroom. However, when Esther went to the bathroom to take a shower, and later stepped out of it in the bathrobe, passing by the bedroom again, the previous bad feeling didn't hit her. Esther stood in front of the door for a long moment, trying to make sure she does not feel the anxiety anymore. Finally, she pressed the door handle and stepped inside, immediately looking for a switch on the wall to turn on the light. The room looked the same as she had left it. Even the packet of half-eaten chips was still on the bed. Esther walked over to the bed, picking up the chips from the sheets and setting them on the desk, however avoiding looking at the laptop. She took a clean sheet from the wardrobe and changed it, then the small and bigger cover, into which she put the pillow and duvet. Then Esther took clean clothes out of the closet, making them ready for tomorrow, and for now put on clean pyjamas, which consisted of shorts and a slightly too large t-shirt. Only then did she turn to the desk and her eyes fell on the laptop. Esther still didn't feel anxious, so she slowly walked over to it, sat down in the chair, at first placing her hands on the desk top, staring at the black screen for few minutes.

Finally, she pressed the switch to turn the computer on and nervously waited for the operating system to boot. When the desktop appeared on the laptop screen, everything appeared to be normal at first glance. Only after a long check it turn out that Esther couldn't find the search engine that made her access to the Deep Web. Then she closed the laptop hatch, taking a few deep breaths. Suddenly Esther remembered that she had left the scarlet feather found in that apartment on the desk. She looked around, but it was nowhere to be found. So Esther looked in the drawers, under the desk, bookshelf, wardrobe, and even under the bed, but didn't find it there either. Whoever was here in her absence not only deleted the search engine from Esther's computer memory, but also took the scarlet feather.

Images that she had seen on the website were constantly moving in her mind, but she tried not to think about it. Esther had the feeling that all these inexplicable things were happening because of her interest in Scarlet Angels and visiting this damn website, and she didn't want to go through the same events from a few days ago. Maybe those whispers and haunting were some kind of punishment for wanting to know too much? For rummaging too deep into this? If so, Esther should stop now. Who knows what awaited her if she had to delve further into this topic...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After work, Leo returned to his apartment, ate the ready meal, took a quick shower, and went to bed almost immediately. However, he lay there for a long time, not sleeping at all. Leo wondered about everything Esther had told him. Yes, his friend looked like she was really losing her mind, but Esther's words sounded sincere, not like crazy person talking. Her eyes and face expression clearly showed that she was truly scared. There were only two possible answers: It was either a complete paranoia and Esther really believed it, or what she said was true. But on the other hand, Leo couldn't believe that there was such a thing as the Scarlet Angels. Yes, they existed as a myth, a fairy tale told by the elders to comfort the hearts of younger people, but there could be no truth to it. Leo might have believed in God and his angels, but that was where his faith ended. Anything else that wasn't mentioned in the Bible as 'God's creations' simply couldn't exist. And even if existed, they were at most a creation of Satan.

"Maybe some demon wants to possess her? Should I call an exorcist?" he said to himself, but his sceptical mind disowned the idea. "No it is not possible. Esther just needs a lot of rest." he continued, staring at the ceiling. Leo was more likely to believe that his friend was losing her mind and needed professional help than that she was really haunted by some mythical creatures called the Scarlet Angels.