I was once again in front of my house, this time with the broad officer Rock accompanying me. Officer Sprout had stayed in the car. Only one was necessary to be with me in grabbing some essential stuff.
My house was lit in the dark night by several strong lights and decorated in police tape. My car still stood in the driveway, briefly looked through for possible evidence, but then left alone again.
We approached the front door, where a forensic officer stood watch. Agent Rock briefly spoke to her, saying why we were here.
After some back and forth, talking about what I was going to grab and what procedures we should follow, she agreed to let us in, provided that we both wore disposable plastic boot covers and that she accompanied us.
We then ducked under the yellow tape barring the entrance and entered my house, where we put on the boot covers.
I was standing in the entrance hall. Across from us were the stairs to the second floor, where my bedroom and the bathroom with my essential stuff I told everyone I wanted to grab was located.
But, that was not the main reason as to why I came back to the house.
To the right of the stairs, the door to the entrance to the living room, to the crime scene, was wide open. From there, a bright light shone, as the officers were still busy investigating everything in more detail.
The only evidence that could make my father pin the murder on me, evidence that he knew existed, was sitting on our dining table. It was the dirt in the vase of the amaryllis plant with my mother's ashes mixed in.
One order from my father, and the police would know where to look. 'Through thorough investigation' by the police's forensic department, I would then be arrested.
Conversely, if that evidence were to be removed, I couldn't imagine that my father had any evidence left that could implicate me in any crime.
So, that was the main goal for going back here. Remove evidence straight from a crime scene still being investigated while I was being escorted by two people, all without anyone realising anything.
The first thing I did was head towards the stairs with my escorts. Grabbing the essential stuff was what was expected from me, deviating from that immediately would rouse a lot of suspicion.
Going towards the stairs, I slowed down a little bit as I passed the open door to the living room and looked inside. I couldn't see the entirety of the room, but I could see the most important parts.
The first thing I saw was that the vase was still on the dining table, untouched. There were no signs that the police had investigated it or had any suspicion about that vase.
Good. I was not caught yet and seemingly would not be if the investigation continued like this.
The second thing I focused on was the murder scene. A lot more was going on there. I saw some evidence markers at the obvious location. My blood, the burn mark, the broken bottle. But, I also saw a few forensic officers still investigating the scene.
There were a lot of bright lights aimed towards the floor. They were placed at different angles, from regular height to almost parallel to the floor. I also saw something that looked like powder scattered across the floor.
I walked past the living room and up the stairs. It was just a natural, momentary curious glance to see what was going on that no one would find suspicious. In that single glance I had seen everything I needed.
As I walked to the first floor, I thought about what the officers were still investigating.
Bootprints, I concluded from what I saw. Did that shadow leave any of them? I somehow doubted it, that something inhuman that could appear and disappear into thin air, would leave any evidence like that behind.
As for the rest. Me, Elise, Ken, and even my mother all wore socks when we were in that room. We would not have left any bootprints behind either.
I was now upstairs with my escorts. I looked around and saw that everything was a bit rummaged through. It seemed like the police had already investigated this floor, but found nothing noteworthy. Anyway, it was time to start grabbing the stuff.
I first went to my bedroom and grabbed a big suitcase. I started with putting in my clothes, about 1-2 weeks worth. I also put my passport and electronic stuff like my laptop and charger in there. I was pretty sure about what essential stuff I should grab from this room, but one set of things I wasn't sure about.
My school stuff. It seemed trivial compared to everything that was going on right now. But, life eventually will go on. Seeing that mundane part of my life reminded me of that.
When would life return to normal again? I didn't know. And therefore, I didn't know how quickly I needed my school stuff again, and if it was thus essential right now?
Well, would life return to normal again? I didn't really have any knowledge about the world right now. But, I could always hope.
I asked my escorts about my school stuff, but they said that I could just leave it here for now if I wanted, and grab it another day. I had dumped my school backpack, with today's stuff in it, in the hall when I came back home today. It was still there, after being rummaged through quickly for evidence.
Going back downstairs and then upstairs to gather all the stuff together was a bit inconvenient. Besides, it's Friday. There are still a few days left before I would need it again. I agreed with the officers, and thus left all my school stuff untouched.
Being done with my bedroom, I headed to the bathroom, where I grabbed my other essentials like my supplements, toothbrush and other such hygiene stuff.
Now, there were only two more things I thought were essential for me to have. It was the last room I was going to visit.
I stepped inside my mother's bedroom. It was a mess. The police had rummaged through here more thoroughly, some wardrobes and drawers were still left open. But, it was a beautiful mess.
In the big wardrobes the most colorful and vibrant clothes were hanging, from every fashion trend and style imaginable. In the drawers all sorts of jewelry were lying, all shiny, pretty, and charming.
And, even more beautiful than the rich glamour seen in the wardrobes and drawers, was the nature present in the room.
Plants and flowers, of different colors and types, from monotone to vibrant and from pretty to elegant, filled every nook and cranny of this room. And somehow, instead of it being a chaotic clusterfuck, everything was placed in a meticulous, artistic arrangement that was so eye catching it could be considered hypnotizing.
When the three entered the room, we all stood still.
Their reaction was of awe, the same reaction my mother herself elicited in everyone around her.
My reaction, however, was different.
Emotions welled up in me so much I started shaking. She was gone. I started wallowing in the feeling…
Someone placed a hand on my shoulder, snapping me out of it. The culprit was the female forensics officer.
"Are you alright? Do you need a moment?"
"No… it's alright. I'll be done in a second," I responded to her. I got a hold on myself, took a deep breath, and focused.
I looked at officer Rock and nodded, indicating that I was fine. He seemed to have a bit of a worried expression regarding what had just happened to me, but nodded back nevertheless.
I walked towards a nook of the room, and moved a cabinet aside. Hidden behind it was a small safe. I crouched, dialed in the correct combination, and opened it.
Money, a few thousand dollars worth in bills, and important documents were stored inside. I took the money and necessary documents that proved my identity, and closed the safe again.
Earlier, in the police car, when I discussed what essential stuff I needed from the house, next to those documents, I mentioned cash. I didn't know what the immediate future would bring, but it seemed essential that I had enough at hand to finance myself at least for a fair amount of time.
I had my own bank account for personal use, with some money saved from my part time job, but it was not a lot. I had recently bought that car for myself after all. My mother was however very rich. She was the most famous actress in the world.
However, according to what I discussed with the officers relating to money, I couldn't gain legal access to her bank account, even though I often used her credit card to buy groceries and stuff.
Luckily, we had a little bit of hard cash lying at home, which I could apparently use legally. These few thousand dollars were a drop in the ocean compared to her true wealth, but it was more than sufficient for now.
I walked outside her room, with a despondent feeling I kept hidden from my face. I put the cash in the suitcase and announced to my escorts that I got everything I needed, and that we could leave.
We walked down the stairs, towards the front door. I looked to my left into the living room again.
The forensic people were still scouring the floor for bootprints, but more importantly…
The vase with my mother's ashes that needed to disappear. I stared at it while walking past the living room, and then…
I stood still at the entrance and kept staring. My escorts stopped behind me, unsure of what I was doing.
"Uh, Jack? Is something the matter?" Officer Rock asked.
"Mom…"
All the emotions from today. All the loss, pain, suffering, and grief. I recalled it all. I let it all come back to me. I let it all come out.
"*Sob*…, m…mother. *Sob*, why…, mother, mom! MOM!"
I then broke down completely into an incoherent state of sobbing and wailing. I was inconsolable.
My escorts started panicking a bit, not knowing what to do. Even the people busy in the living room stopped with what they were doing and started staring at me.
"Hey Jack, what's wrong? Let's… let's go outside to calm down… okay?" Officer Rock stutteringly said.
"S…Sorry. It's… It's… that was my mother's favourite plant. I just thought…. she's gone, for I don't know how long. And…, and that plant is going to wilt. It's stupid. I don't know…, don't know why I'm like…, like this."
An incoherent explanation, which I uttered between the tears, hiccups, and sobs.
"It's alright. Let it all out and let's then take a deep breath to calm down, okay?" The female forensic escort said, pulling me in a consoling embrace.
I put my head on her shoulder, and continued crying for a few moments.
"Can… can I take it back with me, to take care of it?"
"Sure. I think your mother would really appreciate that when she gets back here again," the female officer responded.
I just nodded a few times against her shoulder. I heard her ask officer Rock to grab the plant for me, which he then did.
After I said a few emotional thank you's, we started walking to the entrance of the house.
"Oh…, the other plants in her room upstairs. Can.. Can I still pick them up later?"
"You can, whenever you want. Just give us a call and we'll arrange something, okay?" The female officer responded to me again.
"Alright, I'm sorry. No, thank you."
With that last exchange, officer Rock and I left the house.
***
I was once again in the police car, now driving to Elise's house. This time, I was accompanied by a suitcase full of my stuff next to me, and I was now tightly hugging the vase with my mother's ashes in them. I was still acting out a few sniffles now and then, but I had seemingly calmed down somewhat.
During the drive, I was looking out the window, slowly reminiscing about what I had just pulled off while the world shifted by.
Did I miss something, was anyone suspicious, could I have done something different?
When I entered the house and first saw the living room, I immediately realized I couldn't make the vase 'disappear' by myself. There were too many people around. I was constantly escorted. Of course it was impossible to just let it vanish from everyone's eyes.
And, even if I managed to do it, the fact remained that something would have vanished. That was still very suspicious, and suspicion was the one thing I wanted to avoid at all costs.
People could pull two and two together. If something had vanished while I was at the house, their gazes would point towards me. So, taking the vase was not an option.
Then, one idea remained in my mind.
Why not just ask for it and let them give it to me?
But, why would I ever ask for the vase anyway? I was at the house to grab essential stuff, a plant was by no way essential. There was no logical reason for me to ask if I could take the vase with me.
So, I just needed an emotional one, which would allow me to ask for it in a natural non-suspicious way.
When I had entered my mother's bedroom, I subtly tested if the idea was feasible. I could make myself emotional, yet stay rational enough.
I also saw that the female officer tried to immediately console me, and that officer Rock was a bit more emotionally stunted, but had good intentions for me. With that, I knew the plan had a high chance of success.
They would likely respond to my breakdown, trying to calm me down, which could be done by giving me the vase.
If the escort's responses had been more clinical and professional, urging me to hurry up and wanting me out of the house as quickly as possible, I would have abandoned the idea. Emotional deception requires the deceived to respond emotionally, after all.
Yet, the problem with emotions is that by the end of the day, logic would still prevail. Everyone would eventually think back at the moment and question it.
Why did he break down and want the vase?
People would seek the logic behind my emotions. If it came out of nowhere, it would still be suspicious. So I had to provide the reason, the story behind my emotions.
My mother had a bedroom full of plants. She loved plants, and took great care of them. I got emotional seeing those plants. Downstairs, I saw her favourite plant. I broke down realising it would likely not be cared for anymore.
A logical story that explains what happened to me. It would make you believe that my reaction was a natural one, not a fabricated one, and therefore not suspicious.
To expand upon it even more, I asked if I could take the other plants too, further supplementing that my goal was not this specific plant, but taking care of my mother's plants in general.
All the details and caveats of the plan I had thought of, and I considered it to have a high chance of success, so I went with it. And luckily, everything went as I expected.
What if even with all that, I still could not take the vase with me, because I was not allowed to take something, no matter how seemingly insignificant, from nearby the crime scene?
Well, in that case, nothing would happen, and I would have left the house leaving it there. I could have always gone back to the house another day, to grab my school stuff for example. With another try and more time, perhaps I could have come up with another by then.
I considered it briefly. What if this plan failed and I discovered that it was absolutely not allowed to take the vase. What would I do then?
Arson. A vile idea popped in my head. Good luck finding any of my mother's ashes, her DNA, in the rubble of my burned down house. And even if, proving I had moved those ashes previously to alter the crime scene.
Could I have let things go that way if things hadn't gone well now?
The idea didn't sit right with me. I would commit a major crime. And even more stomach churning, I found it disrespectful to treat my mother's remains like that.
Mixing her ashes with the dirt of the vase of her favourite plant was already oblique, but I at least had the feeling that she was somehow at peace with it. If I went with arson however, her ashes scattered and lost in the burning building of our house, absolutely not.
I abandoned my line of thinking. The what if scenarios were more for personal improvements than necessity right now. I achieved what I wanted and no one was suspicious.
I was satisfied. A concern had fallen off my shoulders. Now, there was only one left.
Yet, that paled in comparison to this one.
My father.
Specifically, the shadow he could send after me, whenever he wanted, to spy on me or take me out.
It had not appeared to interfere during my machinations just now. Well, it might have not been there at all. But even if it was, I had rationalised that my father's interference was unlikely.
My father wanted me by my side. If he wanted to pin the murder on me, he could have already done so when I first went back to my house. Evidence tampering is pretty incriminating, and he was there, being invisible watching me do it.
In fact, if he had watched this all going down just now, I imagined he was now more delighted than frustrated. Even if he was not present, I was sure he would keep tabs on what was happening through the police department. Even from secondhand reports, I'm sure his sentiment would remain.
The pet mutt he let go two years ago had grown, and showed him that he had learned a new trick by himself.
My father had taught me that your emotions were a weakness, something that people would prey upon, as you should prey upon them. You should therefore always control them, never let them show.
Best was to not have them at all. What was absent could not be used against you.
It was a lesson from a psychopath, who could not feel a single thing for other people.
Operating on pure logic was very effective, but I found that at times it was not sufficient.
No amount of logic could mend my alcoholic mother's broken heart. Only through her emotions I could make a change, was what I discovered in the years I took care of her.
Therefore, despite what he drilled in me, I had done a complete subversion of that lesson.
I had let go of my emotional control, bearing my feelings for all to witness, and used them to deceive everyone around me.
It was something that was impossible for him to do, and that was good for me.
I had solved a problem in a way that he could not do himself. That raised my value in his eyes. He wanted me by his side so that I could be useful for him, but how could I be useful?
If I could do the same as him, but worse, was that really of use? If I could do the same but better, then it crossed the line of usefulness and ascended into being a threat to him. No, to be really of use, I had to demonstrate I could do things he could not do himself, in a way that was not a threat to him.
If he had watched this, I'm sure he would want me by his side even more now. And the more he wanted me by his side, the less inclination there was to dispose of me.
It was at least a more positive development, but no matter how positive it was, the problem remained.
I would cross a line with him for what he had done to my mother. Besides murdering me, he could even now still pin the murder on me.
I had no illusions that my father would let go of that evidence so easily. Why would he, if he could always spy on me through his shadow without my knowledge?
He would always try to retain his leverage, to be able to control me as effectively as possible.
He will always know where the vase is. Because of that, he could always inform the police when I defy him, even if her ashes are now in my possession.
To arrest me for murder, and then make some sort of deal with me for my freedom, at the cost of my soul.
As long as the shadow was around, I would always lose. I stood no chance in a fight against the supernatural.
Until now.
The shadow is my father's power, and I can now win against my father.
Because my mother is in my hands again, and I will use her against him.
I've been dancing in the palm of his hand. Now I'll make him dance in mine.
So that I will be able to kill the supernatural, and get rid of my father once and for all.
I needed to. Otherwise, there would be no saving me.
I still lacked the details to form a concrete plan, but all the ideas I could think of had one thing in common for me to be able to succeed.
I'll have to transform my destination into my hunting ground.
The car stopped. We arrived at Elise's house.