The soft crunch of gravel fell behind as the road turned old, the dirt still squishy

from the early morning rain. The light was fading beneath the thick over growth of
trees and spanish moss. They finally pulled up behind a sheriffs vehicle and swiftly
got out of their car. The police and CSI’s were just standing around, waiting for the
two detectives from the big city up north. They walked up the soggy road toward
the scene, to their left was a white buick halfway sunk in in the swamp that
stretched as far as the eye could see. In the middle of the road was the body hidden
under a white sheet and straight ahead of them was the abulance. Small, brightly
colored markers littered the ground to bring attention to key objects or foot prints.

The local sheriff met them at the border to the scene. “Ya know how long we’ve
been waitin’” He was portly with a scraggly gray mustache. The buttons on his
beige shirt seemed to strain whenever he took a breath. He looked at the plain
watch on his wrist, “ About all flippin’day!”

“We cant help that.” Danny didn’t even pretend to be nice to people he didn’t get
along with but his blunt way of telling people he doesn’t care could sure put a smile
on any ones face. “Ya know how long I’ve been drivin’?” He looked at the sheriffs
watch, ˝Αn hour short of about all flippin’day.”

The other detective tried not to smile, but failed, so she made it look professional
and changed the subject, “Hello, Im Detective Soma and this is Detective
Chen.”They shook hands,”So, whats the situation here?”

“Well, a dead body, as of yet, unidentified but she looks like the gal that works at
the small little realestate place in town. Her car was pushed into the swamp there
but it aint deep enough to swallow the whole thing. As far as we can tell, there isnt
anything missing. We got the place run through, so everything has been collected
and documented. We were waiting for you but you took too long.”

“You are aware that you werent suppose to mess with anything untill we got here
right? Under state orders, you were suppose to leave this to the experts.” Esme
Soma prefers things done as they were ordered to be done, it avoids confusion and
all, but it hardly ever gets done the way it should.

“We got the crime team in here from over west. They’ll give you everything you
need. You can look at the body and scan around.”He walked off appearing insulted
and got into his car to talk on the little radio.

“Im going to look around. You go do what you do.” They parted ways, Danny went to
the nearest cop to ask them questions while Esme started to look at the prints on
the ground. They walked around in random directions, two different sets. The tire
tracks that lead up to the car , then she worked her way over to the body. The sheet
didn’t have any blood on it, so the cops either got there after the blood dried or she
didn’t have any open wounds. She knew the second was unlikely so she slipped on
some gloves that she kept in a pack in her pocket and pulled the sheet back. The
young woman was blond with lots of volume in her hair, well it was either volume or
the fact that she was on her back. Her eyes were blue under a layer of white fog,
the fog that signaled death. Her skin was starting to gray and she was at the point
were death just begins to cause the body to bloat. There was a whole in the side of
her head but Esme dared not look at it for fear she would vomit. Her clothes were
properly on her, a yellow blouse and blue jeans, but the cops could have done that.

Danny popped up beside her, “Got everything worked out, we’ve access to pictures,
and anything else we need reguarding this case.”He smiled big at her, “What’s
wrong? You look sick.” He followed Esmes eyes back to the corpse, “That’s a big
whole! I could fit my fist in there!”

“Leave it to you to not be mortified.”

“I’d die inside If I didn’t kid around. You should try it sometime.”

“I just watch happy movies.”

The sheriff came back from his car, “We got a suspect who lives up the road from
here in an old house. We havent seen much of him for a few weeks, but I’m goin’ to
head up there to see if I can catch him. Do you,” he paused for a moment
“detectives want to tag along?”

There were a lot of shrubs out front of a big dirty looking house. It was most
definitely old, Victorian looking but a lot more spacious and it had a wrap-around
deck. There was a fallen tree leaning against the side of the house, slightly caving in
the roof and the windows beneath it looked cloudy, like every other window on the
house. “Some one lives here?” The sheriff just nodded.

They walked up to the porch, well, she walked and he sort of waddled. “Watch
your step.” Each step on the deck sank beneath their feet. They slowly moved to
the front door and the sheriff rang the bell- a new bell with a button, but it didn’t
work. He snorted and knocked. Nothing for a few seconds; knocked again.

The house started to creak then the door opened, surprisingly quietly.“What
can I do for you, officers?” Esme heard the voice before she even saw the guy. He
was young, early to mid twenties, thin face. His hair looked like it wanted to engulf
his face, then he tilted his gaze toward her and she could tell he had just woken up,
thick gray circles marred his very dark colored eyes.

“There’s been another murder. First in a long time. You know anything?” The
sheriff’s voice turned gravely, as if trying to intimidate the younger man, but failing.
He just sounded like a life long smoker.

“Who’s the woman?” He kept looking at Esme, leaning on his door frame
nonchalantly, or leaning with fatigue. She could see it bend with his weight, what
little weight he had. She guessed he was about 170 pounds at 6’ to 6’3” when he
stands up straight. He towered over her 5 feet and 7 inches. She wouldn’t show any
reaction to him or to his looming figure.

˝Esme Soma.” She didn’t add detective, not wanting to set him on guard. She
smiled, sweetly, her naturally tan skin making her teeth seem very white,and held
her hand out to him. He studied it for a moment, even tilted his head to the right to
get a better look at her palm. Finally he smiled and shook it. “Gideon Dequenne.”
He turned back to the sheriff. “I’msorry Brenden. Wha’d ya say?”

“Sheriff LaTourette, Gideon, and you know what I said.” He grumbled under his
mustache and glanced at Esme, her semi-long, brownish black hair, big almond
eyes that complimented an oval face, and thin yet curvy figure. He knew he should
just have her talk to the kid.

“Well, I don’t know anything about it.” He put his hand on his forehead, massaged
lightly.

“Did you hear any noises? Horn honking, screaming, gun shot? Anything? I know
you can hear the whole woods at night from around here.”

“Naw, nothin’… Well, I had this dream. But it was nothing.” He, seemed to pause to
gather his thoughts or for effect. “I just dreamt of someone screamin’ and a horn
honkin’… Birds squakin’ away. But I never woke up.”

He sighed shallowly “Okay. We’ll probably be back.” He turned slowly and began to
walk off with Esme at his heels. Perhaps he thought the kid was making fun of him.
The floor creaked under the pudgy mans feet, making Esme wait for him to get off
the deck before she continued on her way to the car. She heard the soft click of the
door behind her then the groaning of an old house in pain.

They checked into a cheap hotel, sharing a one bed room. “I can sleep on the floor if
you want. Or we could share the bed…” Danny dropped a gym bag down by the
door, Esme set her duffle bag on the dresser next to the bed. She looked around,
hating the idea of sleeping in a bed that so many others have, wonding how often
the blankets are washed. “No, I don’t mess around with happily married men.” She
sounded serious, he knew better and just smiled. “I get a sheet on the floor, you get
the bed. Now, tell me all you learned from the files and cops.”

Danny sat in a chair by the desk, Esme on the floor, “Apparently there was hardly
any crime in this town, then, all of a sudden, a whole family slaughtered. Two kids
and two parents. This man was convicted,” Danny Chen handed Esme a police
profile of a rather malicious and enormous looking man, “for four accounts of brutal,
third degree murder. Name’s Victor Dequenne. He had no hope of ever seeing the
outside. Then, one day, he mysteriously died. Coroner said it was some sort of
seizure but no one noticed him tweaking out in any way. I wouldn’t have noticed
either, if you catch my drift.” He took the picture back from her. ”Then there were
two more murders. Two women, two different times, both with holes in the backs of
their heads and dumped in the swamp. Took cops two months to find them. It was a
gnarly site, I saw the pictures. Thought I’d spare you that. The culprit was this
woman.” He handed her two pictures, one of a woman that looked just like Gideon
but with lighter hair. She clung to another woman with a rounder face, taller and
darker hair, clearly the sister. They had rings of flowers and leaves on their heads;
spring colored dresses and big smiles. “Mary Dequenne. Maiden name of
Anderson.” She looked at the second picture. Mary’s face was flawless, save for a
few mild wrinkles, with big hazel green eyes. Her police profile didn’t look anything
like a mug shot; she wasn’t smiling or frowning, just simply having her picture
taken. “This picture was taken when she got caught driving under the influence.
They figured out she helped murder those two women after she got really sick and
died. Yes, helped. There was an unidentified blood and hair sample. Neither the
victims, nor Mary’s.”

“We should talk to some of the locals.”

“I know the person.” They looked at the photo of the women again. “The sister. But
tomorrow.”

-----------------------------------------------

11 o’clock and the detectives were already out, with an agenda. Danny had a cell
phone in his ear, talking away with sheriff Brenden LaTourette learning about
Dienna Anderson and her immediate family. They got the address of Diennas
daughter, the only one that still lives in town. They travelled to a small suburb, all
the houses looked similar except for the color of the doors and flowers out front.
They searched for the proper house number then pulled along the sidewalk and
walked up the drive to the stone steps.

After knocking for a few minutes the purple door opened to a young woman of
about six feet and a sturdy frame. “Hello. Are you the daughter of Dienna
Anderson?”

The woman nodded lightly, “Skadi Norn. What can I do for you?”

“I’m Detective Esme Soma and this is my partner, Detective Danny Chen. Can we
speak with you for a few moments?” She smiled professionally, again. Skadi's eyes
seemed to ice over, creating an almost piercing royal blue. The layer of eyeliner she
had on only accented the color. Esme thought that she shouldn’t say the wrong
thing around this woman, for fear of being hurt.

“Sure.” Danny made a motion like he was ready to step foreword but Skadi didn’t
invite them in. After a long pause he relaxed a bit, knowing that sitting down was
too good to be true. Skadi just stared down at them; her nose crinkled slightly when
she looked at Danny. Possibly wondering what ethnicity he is. He has almost black
hair that he keeps spiked up, brownish skin, Chinese eyes but a small nose with a
prominent bridge. He had a few small freckle like things on his cheeks and a mushy
exterior on the verge of being pudgy. His legs seemed almost too short and his torso
was barrel like with his suit on. Without it though, he actually had definition of
muscle that went down then flared out into a stomach that wasn’t flat but he didn’t
have a six-pack either.

“Do you know anything about the Duquenne family? You are related, right?” Danny
started the questioning.

“I am related to them by blood. Their branch of the family and mine stopped talking
when I was about ten or twelve. It was a long time ago.”

“Why did your family stop interacting?” Esme didn’t seem to be sympathetic or
appealing to the emotional side.

“Disagreements. I’m not quite sure what about, mum never told me. I know that
they had a different way of… Practicing their religion. We are Earth worshipers and
there are certain laws that shouldn’t be messed with. They did claiming that
humans should act human and that we should celebrate what gifts the gods have
given us by using them. Mum said they did evil things to people like cause the poor
Widow Guildersleeve horrible luck a year after her husband died just because she
complained about something Victor did. My family is very religious and tried to talk
them out of it but… Bad things started to happen.”

“Like what?” Danny sounded intrigued

“Well, important things started to disappear, I got horrible night terrors and my
father’s good health started to turn. Then our herbs started to rot or just die.” Her
eyes softened with trying to remember. “Sometimes mum would cry randomly, I
heard her and da arguing about something. They divorced a year later.”

“What does that have to do with the Dequennes?”

“You would know it as witchcraft.” Danny snorted with a giggle, then cleared his
throat to cover it upafter excusing himself.

“So, they do witchcraft, but it’s against your religion?” Esme asked when she gave
Danny a cold look

“No it isn’t. It’s against my religion to do it with the intent to harm.”

A female voice called from inside the house, “Hey Skadi! Where’d you go?” A Short,
honey blond, with loud clothing walked up behind Skadi. She stopped at the sight of
the detectives. “Did you find Ariel?”

“Are you a relative?” Esme asked

“No. Roommate. She disappeared.”

“How long ago?”

“Two days. She just up and left. Her friend Jamie was with her.” The girl started to
get flustered, which quickly turns to horrible anxiety and unease.

“Where were they going?”

“I dunno!” She started to cry and buried her face in Skadi’s shoulder.

“Have you filed a report yet?” Danny sounded concerned and tilted his head to the
left so he could see her better. She looked up, face as red as her frilly shirt. She just
shook her head. He knew that you can’t file a missing persons report within the first
48 hours of the person being gone but usually people try anyway.

“You should come with us so you can file one now.” She nodded and tugged on
Skadi’s shirt to get her to come with. They climbed into the back of the car, the
detectives got in the front.

-----------------------------

Skadi and her friend were talking to a cop while Esme read the report to Danny.
They sat in a conference room, or something like that with a pop machine, table,
chairs, dust and that’s about it. “Her name is Jamie McCourt. She wasn’t violated as
far the coroner can tell. It wasn’t a bullet hole in her head but something blunt and
about two and half inches did club her, small pieces of brain missing from that spot,
caused hemorrhaging. There were bruises on her arms and around her ankles like
someone tried to hold her down. She had an odd pattern in the hair line on her left
side like her head landed on some rocks or something after she was bludgeoned.
Blah, blah, blah… Blood under finger nails, been sent for analysis. One muddy finger
print found on blouse, also being analyzed. Great. That’s about it. Not much at all.
What about the crime scene?”

“Well, the body was very similar to the two women victims ten years ago, with the
hole, the weird rock pattern on the skin blood under finger nails. But some of it was
unidentified. A third party that no one knows who it could possibly be. The crime
scene here had two sets of tracks and weird smudges in the mud that could be
footprints but they don’t have shoe tread. Bodies in the swamp… Closer to the
Dequenne place than anywhere else. It’s gotta be that Gideon kid you talked to. He
must be messed up from his parents. And what’s up with the witchcraft stuff? I don’t
get it.”

“I don’t know. If they do evil things to people as Skadi Norn claimed, then they use
this witchcraft to make peoples lives hell for their odd sense that they deserve
revenge. Perhaps they were megalomaniacs in a way where they thought they were
'stronger ' than normal people and thought they could use it to their advantage. I
just don’t know. Maybe the murders are for some sort of ritual, like in the movies.
Like the one with the corn field and evil scarecrows.”

Danny stared at her for a moment. “I thought you only watch happy movies.”
“I do… Most of the time.” The door opened and a cop walked in with the darkest
skin Esme had ever seen. He handed the folder in his hand to Danny who sat on top
of the table, who then handed it to Esme who sat in a chair across from him against
the wall. “Thank you” they both said to the officer. “Okay…” She scanned over some
papers quickly,”The blood sample is unknown. They could only get a fragment of
the print but as far as the computer can tell, it matches Gideon Dequenne. So, we
can go arrest him after you do what you do.”

“What’s that?”

“Get a warrant so we can search his house at the same time.” The door opened
again. The sheriff waltzed in with an odd look on his face. His buttons protested as
took in a breath to speak.

“There’s another body found. You should see the scene fresh, so let’s go. We already
know who it is, one of my officers little sister, Marielle Le Bihan. She’s out in the
swamp.”

-----------------------

The girl was found just two paces away from the edge of a camp ground, in the
swamp. Her face was very bruised and swollen. She was on her left side, her blue
shirt was twisted and white pants dyed brown, hopefully just from the mud. Bruises
on her wrists and arms. There was a small pile of hair under her hand, curly and
brown.

“What do you know, Danny? We got all the evidence we need.” Leading away from
the body were two sets of tracks, one with perfect tread in the mud, the other was
awkward like the person wore something over their shoes. They split up, the good
one went off through the bushes and trails, and the weird set vanished into the
swamp. Esme followed the distinguishable one through brambles, down deer trails
then onto a road.

She waited for Danny to catch up after he informed someone where they were
going, then they continued for a while, silently, their senses kept on their
surroundings but minds on their guns. They crossed over a shrub and found
themselves on a dry road. The tracks were harder to see but the farther they
ventured the clearer the tracks became. At first they walked the exact center of the
road, then the prints began to drag and get heavy, ten minutes and they were on
the left side of the road, another ten minutes and they were on the right side.

“Is it just me or is he swerving?” Danny asked to no one in particular, nearly

whispering as if it were some big mystery no body should know.

“And dragging his feet. It’s like he’s drunk. I don’t get it. Why would he all of a
sudden be drinking?”

“Could have just hit him. Or maybe he’s injured”

“I don’t think so, but that’s a possibility. How long have we been walking?” Before
Danny could answer her question he made a sound almost like delight. An old house
was just up the road with a partially fallen in roof, a tree leaning against it and a
thick layer of dirt. “The Dequenne Residence.” She pulled out her gun, he followed
swiftly.

On the deck, Esme knocked on the door from beside it, Danny on the other side,
ready to shoot. It opened, having not been closed, and they peeked inside very
slowly. On the far side of the large, nearly empty, hall was Gideon. He was just
laying there, bloody hands cradling his head. “Gideon, it’s Esme Soma. Are you
okay? Do you need assistance?” She heard slight sobbing. “Can you come to us?”
Again only sobbing and quiet mumbling. “Let’s go.” She motioned with her head
inside. Danny had a look of protest but Esme glared at him so he walked behind her
with his gun on Gideon.

The boy didn’t move more than a shiver and kept his hands on his head, massaging
slightly. “God! My head’s gonna explode! Help me.” It was a hoarse and desperate
whisper. He rocked back and forth very slightly which looked painful when he
shivered.

“Are you bleeding, Gideon? Is that your blood?” Esme's voice mirrored her merciless
and unforgiving facial expression. “Answer me now!” He didn’t scare her any more,
just make her mad.

The boy cried, tears streaming down his red face, wetting the dried blood and
leaving small smudges of it on his cheeks and around his nearly black eyes. “I don’t
know!” He sobbed harder, “Please help me. I don’t know what happened, I just woke
up to this!”

“Quit talking. If I ask a question, only then do you get to say something.
Understand? Now get up.” He wouldn’t move, “Danny.” He helped her drag Gideon
to his feet then let go and turned away to call the local cops to come and get them
while Esme held the bawling mass that smelled of sweat. “Quit crying, be dignified.”
In her mind he cried harder but he actually just started mumbling something about
the unbearable pain.

She knew she wasn’t getting through to him. “Gideon, look at me.” She held his
face in her hands and looked up into his closed eyes. “Look at me” Her voice was
soothing and warm, “You need to calm down. Take a few breaths, deep breaths.” He
tried but started wheezing, “In and out slowly.” After a few tries he managed it.
“Good. Now tell me what happened to you.”

”I dunno. I was sleeping then I dreamt I was walking and I woke up standing in here.
My head hurt so bad and I had blood all over. I need a hospital, please, or at least an
aspirin. Please.”
”I don’t have any. You’re going to have to wait until the three of us get back to town.
Okay?”

---------------------

Esme never felt as much relief as she had when the cops arrived. She didn’t have
the patience for people fallen apart like that. She despised it, to be precise. Now she
waited outside an “interrogation room,” as the sheriff called it, waiting to hear what
Gideon Dequenne had to say about the murders.

It had been over an hour when Sheriff LaTourette and Danny came out the room.
They both sighed deep and straightened themselves out. “We’re bringing in a
psychologist. This kid has problems and we aren’t getting any where with him.” The
sheriff shook his head in a display of pity. Danny looked fatigued, like parents get
after they an argument with their toddler. He just looked at Esme, his face slack, no
sign of joy or even a joke. “The psychologist will be here in an hour. He’s a counselor
at the high school, best thing we have for the moment. He used to be a
professional, then decided to help the youth, I guess.”

The two detectives hung around, drinking coffee and just talking, mostly about
Danny. Like when Danny’s son is due to be born and why would someone ever
marry someone they met on the internet. Then their minds turned back to Gideon.
“You said that LaTourette just talked to the kid, right? We should ask him some
questions considering we have a bit more tact than the local cops.” They swiftly
moved into the room and took a seat, Danny on the opposite from Gideon; Esme
took the spot under the window but close to Gideon.

“Hello Gideon. Are you feeling better?”

“Head hardly hurts any more, thanks. How are you?” He seemed completely
different, light in his once empty, nearly black eyes, natural color in his thin cheeks
and a slight, sideways smile.

“I’m okay. Just hanging out here, waiting for the next person who’s going to
interview you. Does it bother you to talk with people about the same thing over and
over? We can always give you a break.”

“It would bother anyone.” No one had noticed he was angry before he lost his calm.

“I’m sure.” Esme was starting to talk to an adult, not a child who just tried to steal a
cookie and the whole jar fell on his head.”We’ll give you a break when you start
answering questions.”

“We’ll start simple. Where is Ariel Holmes-Papillon?” Danny hid his sadness and
fatigue with a new found energy, or just good acting.

Gideon’s head tilted to the right, “I dunno who that is.”

Danny held out a high school picture of her, “She looks slightly different now. Looks
older, skin is cleared of those blemishes and she has amazingly white teeth. Still
those high cheek bones, red hair, pointy nose. That’s what her friends said when
they filed a missing persons report on her. They said you and she used to have a
“thing” a long time ago but she suddenly didn’t want anything to do with you. You
were very upset, especially after what happened with your parents.”

“I don’t remember.”

“You seem to forget a lot. Why don’t you just save some time and answer the
question honestly.” Esme lightly set her elbows on the table and gracefully held her
face with her hands. “Come on.”

“I- don’t- remember.” His eyes were changing again, the light getting brighter.

The door opened and a man wearing a not too expensive but not cheap business
suit walked in. “Sorry, am I interrupting?” He had a deep soothing voice, what a
shrink should always have.

“Not really. You go ahead. Need a chaperone?” Danny seemed happy to see the
man, wanting to get out badly; he almost broke out in a sweat.

---------------------------

Three hours of pretty much nothing then they finally emerged, a cop escorting
Gideon down the hall and the man in the suit came up to the two detectives. “Hey,
I’m Dr. Pohle. This kid has a load of mental imbalances but the main, and most
dangerous, is MPD, or multiple personality disorder. His other side or sides killed
those women. That’s why he has a poor memory of certain events and will suddenly
change his demeanor. He is disturbed, most likely since childhood and needs some
serious help, but he may never be who he truly is… The good news is that I’ve
gotten his other side to speak with me. I’ve gotten Gideon himself to remember the
killings, although he remembers them as a distant watcher. I even got him to lead
you guys to the missing girl tomorrow.” He didn’t sound triumphant like a normal
cop would, but sounded as if he was just stating facts. Psychiatrists and criminal
profilers must keep distant mentally so they don’t go crazy and he probably didn’t
feel it was a victory because he couldn’t really help the kid.

“Did you find out who the other killer is?”

“I think it’s just his other personality… But I can’t be sure, he had no memory of any
one else, even under hypnosis.”

--------------------------

The next day, the detectives left their motel room with a heavy mind. They didn’t
know if the missing girl was alive or not, but there was one way to find out and they
were hesitant. Maybe Gideon would try to hurt someone, or his assistant was to
show up at a most inconvenient time. Of course, nothing at all may happen. Gideon
will lead them to the girl and every one will go home to live happily ever after.

An hour out into the swampy woods, following a cop car, took them to the
Dequenne residence. One by one, the suspect, two detectives and three cops
entered the large dilapidated home. They walked as if they were literally on egg
shells, dreading what may happen if they were to step too fast on the groaning
floor.

Esme walked an arms length away from the cuffed Gideon. “Where is she?” He
turned and lifted the left corner of his mouth in a display of white teeth. “Around.”
He pointed to a door at the top of the winding staircase. Two cops went up slowly,
clutching the banister for life. Danny watched from the base of it, ready to catch
some one if they fell.

Gideon placed his fingers on his temples and massaged lightly then inched his way
backward, ever so slowly. Esme turned to see him walk off through a doorway and
to the right. She followed behind him, “Where are you going?” he rounded a corner,
“Hey!” she followed then suddenly stopped. He was gone. She hastily backed out of
the room, cursing under breath, drawing her gun, “Danny! He’s running!” A loud
crash and bang came from behind her but she ignored it, her eyes only where
Gideon had once been.

She then went in after him without another thought. As they ran through the
different rooms they kept making right turns, even through large holes made in the
walls. Each room was empty save for the dust and cob webs but Esme only worried
about keeping up with Gideon. She finally caught up with him as he busted the lock
off a door and descended into darkness. She came up to the side of the door,
peeked around the frame, but saw nothing except for the top of stairs. Darkness
engulfed the world below her like moss does a rock or the trunk of a tree. But she
crept forward, slowly, gun in one hand, the other trailed along the wall. The dark
was a fog that swallowed her in a moist, claustrophobic mass. Panic settled in, her
ears strained to hear anything other than her own heart beat that pulsed in her
eardrums. Her enormous eyes caught a glimpse of light ahead and she followed it,
almost breaking into a sprint, she stumbled like a drunken blind woman, tripping
over loose boards in the floor, one that made the tinking noise of metal, and falling
one way then another because of the unevenness.

Finally a thin, short hallway. It opened up to a large, dirt-floored cellar, candles lying
randomly around. In the center of the room was a circle of small blue pebbles and in
the circle was the body of a woman, the stones digging into her face. She was
clearly dead, blood all over her head, smeared across her face and that glazed look
took over her color. A sweet yet putrid smell assaulted her senses. Yup, most
definitely dead. A creaking noise rang out and on the other side of the room, outside
the light of the candles, was Gideon, opening a door at the top of a small set of
stairs. She aimed her gun, “Hold it!”
He paused and turned to her, his head lulled to the left then snapped up suddenly,
“Help me.”He said it intensely, pleading in a shaky voice. “Please, god, help me.”
Then his face darkened, a toothy smile eased its way across his face and he walked
backward up the stairs. She couldn’t tell if his last marble fell on the floor and rolled
away or if he was mocking her.

“Stay there.”Her voice was menacing, promising all sorts of things if he moved, but
he continued anyway. She then cocked her gun, promising a whole lot more. She
noticed his hands were no longer cuffed so she moved forward, around the candles
to see him clearer in the half dark. He turned and plowed his way through the doors,
letting the daylight shine in her eyes. Esme shot once, the sound making her ears
ring loudly, disorienting her senses. He kept going, the bullet whizzing by him,
inches away.

He ran through bushes, brambles, and small trees; a mad juggernaut not going to
be stopped by mere solid matter. Esme was hot on his heels; she shielded her face,
the brambles and low hanging branches stinging her arms as they whipped her.
Something wrapped around her ankle and she toppled over, her gun landing
beneath her. She scrambled to get up and grab her gun, looking around there was
nothing but flora. She stayed there, turning in circles, scanning g for movement.
There was movement, she couldn’t look away then a twig snapped behind her. She
whirled around to a hand snatching for her gun. She pulled away and tried to create
space between Gideon and her but he was bigger than her. He had a hold of her
wrist, squeezing hard and trying to twist the gun from her grasp. She stepped back
pulling him awkwardly down toward her and brought her knee as high as she could
into his stomach. The wind was crushed out of his lungs and he almost fell, but with
his right hand he grabbed her leg and knocked her off balance, she fell back with
him on top. Using her small size to advantage she drew her legs up close to her
chest in-between him and her then kicked him as hard as she could off her. Swiftly
she rolled over and jumped to her feet running any where.

She turned to see if he was there and he was but he stopped, she turned back to
her path and Gideon suddenly sprang from the bushes in front of her. Startled she
screamed and turned direction but he jumped on her, wrapping his arms around her
and dragging her to ground. “Grab the gun!” he shouted. The other Gideon
nonchalantly walked over and fought to grab Esme’s wrists. She cried out, cursing
them and cocked her gun, she shot wildly around her, most of the bullets missing
the target. A few hit the original Gideon in the chest and one under his chin, a bit of
blood sprayed back at her.

The other hit her hard causing her vision to bounce around temporarily. He had the
gun in his hand, her heart skipped a beat, then he threw it far into the bushes near
the beginnings of the swamp. He pulled his pant leg up and out of an ankle sheath
he took a knife. He held it high over her chest to get more momentum, his eyes as
black as his pupils and a demonic smile on his thin rosy cheeks.
Esme closed her eyes tight, tears streaming back to her ears and her breath swollen
in her throat. A loud shot echoed in the air. Esme’s body shook in surprise and
shock, then more shots came, one after the other. She opened her eyes to see the
other Gideon frozen, his black eyes staring down at her; bullets bursting through his
shoulder, chest, then his head; sending small pieces of him flying in the air and his
blood sprinkling down on Esme’s face. He fell on her, his warm blood soaking into
her clothes and his head lazed on her shoulder. A soft click caught her attention,
the sound of an empty clip.

Danny rushed to her, kicked the knife away just in case. His face was red and he
was breathing hard. He yanked the corpse off her and she just laid there. “What
took you so long?”

“Well, officer Roberts fell through the stairs, I had to make sure he was okay before I
left him with officer Morgan” He sucked in a shallow breath, ”and you run way too
fast.” He smiled and held a hand out for her, “I got here though”