Total pages in book: 207
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
That had to count for something, never mind her less-than-ideal choice of terminology.
When her Master returned to her side, Zari was relieved to see that he no longer looked fit to throttle some sense into her. Note to self: Alexandru didn't like Pokémon. That was rather sad, but maybe he was one of those rare beings who preferred Digimon or something?
Alexandru studied the scene before him as he mentally reviewed the details of Zari's case report, which she had emailed to him before leaving the apartment. Twelve dead boys...when there should've been thirteen.
"We've got a guy at the police station sending us regular updates about the case," Zari told him, "and at first, I thought this whole thing was about finding their killer and giving the ghosts justice. This morning, however, the lead investigators on the case had finally finished cross-referencing DNA samples with old records, and as it turns out..." Zari's tone turned thoughtful. "The killer had already turned himself in, right after the twelfth boy went missing, in fact." She took her phone out to show Alexandru the newest set of emails.
Felix Lacson, 23, high school dropout, worked part-time at a junk shop on Staten Island. Described as 'not being in his right mind' by people who knew him and was diagnosed as schizophrenic by the time of his hearing.
"One of the reporters covering his trial described Lacson as a sobbing mess, and that the suspect refused to reveal the boys' whereabouts but kept insisting he didn't kill any of them. He just put them to sleep, like the voice in his head had told him to."
Zari and her Master exchanged looks. Voices in one's head might automatically make one certified in others' books, but in their world, it usually meant exactly that - a voice, typically a demon's, messing with susceptible human minds, which unfortunately were a dime a dozen.
Alexandru considered the timeline. It had been twenty-six years since the murders, and while that only placed their alleged killer in his forties...
"Lacson's dead, is he not?"
"Mysterious heart attack while he was behind bars. If he had lived another day, he would still have died; the jury thought him guilty, and the public wanted him executed."
"And the thirteenth boy?"
"Lacson never once mentioned anything about it. The only reason we know about it is..."
Alexandru turned his attention to the dead little boy who had remained silent but watchful by his pet's side the entire time they had been talking. "Martin, is it not?"
"Yes, sir." Martin's voice had a noticeable quiver, and it said a lot of his courage that he was even able to be coherent in Alexandru's presence. The devil - or in this case, demon - might wear many faces and hide under different guises, but ghosts were one of the rare beings that his kind was incapable of fooling.
"I don't mean you any harm," he said gently. "Anyone who is a friend to my pet is under my protection as well."
After several moments, the boy asked tremulously, "What do you need me to do?"
The First One Tells A Story
Chapter Fourteen
I WAS THE FIRST ONE he took. He stole me from my bedroom, covered my eyes, and then he carried me out of the window. I think it was the window because my head bumped into something. And I've never bumped my head through the door.
Then we were in a car. Or a truck. I just sensed he was driving. My Pa always says big boys never cry, so I don't usually cry, but I was scared that night. So I cried. I asked him to take me back to Ma and Pa, but he never answered. I don't think he even heard me. You see, he was mumbling a lot of things under his breath while he was crying. At first I thought he was talking to someone. But when no one ever answered him back, I got even more scared because that meant he was crazy. You only talk to yourself when you're crazy, right?
But maybe he wasn't crazy.
Maybe it's like the mister says, and the demon was talking to him in his head.
After that he took me to this cold place. It felt like our old basement, so I guess that's where he took me?
The second boy came just a little while later, and he was crying, too. Then the third and fourth came together. We were all crying. And I was getting hungry. I asked if I could have some food and he said, when I woke up, I won't ever be hungry again.
More boys came after that. I started counting. The last one was the thirteenth. He didn't say much, but he sounded a bit older. Everyone was hungry then and tired. But he never fed us. And he never let us go anywhere so we had to pee and poo where we were. It was gross.