Cover of Darkness

Chapter 2: “Litanya”

  The next morning, Carol decided to walk to school. She was hoping she could find some other clues or at least the purple marker. As she walked, she looked down. The purple pen was probably gone by now, Carol figured, but she still was hoping for some clue other than a bloodstain.

  It had already almost been a week. The police were baffled with Alison’s sudden disappearance, and her parent’s murder. Three claws were the weapons in Alison’s parents’ murder. Carol wondered if that was what happened to Alison as well.

  As she was getting into view of Alison’s house she saw the flashing lights of the police cars. When she reached the area, an officer stopped her.

  “Miss Carol?” He asked. It was the man that drove her home after she saw the bodies of the Hagen couple—Alison’s parents.

  “Is something wrong?” Carol asked.

  “Someone broke into the house again last night.” He said. “Whoever it was took only clothes and left.”

  “Clothes?” Carol asked. She was confused. Why would a thief take clothes and leave? She’d never heard of anything like this before.

  “The person left a purple dress.” He said.

  “Purple dress?” Carol was shocked. “Let me see it.”

  The officer talked to the chief then led Carol into the house. He led her to Alison’s room.

  Carol walked in slowly past the broken glass of the window, and looked onto the purple dress. “That was Alison’s dress.” Carol walked closer. “She was wearing that the night of the party, when she disappeared.”

  “There are blood stains on the back around three holes.” He said. “There seemed to be something stabbed through her back. And also,” He paused to hand Carol an envelope, “there is this letter addressed to you.”

  Carol took the letter and looked at it. “Purple ink…?” She carefully opened it to find a piece of paper inside. One word was written in purple ink in the center of the paper. “Litanya….” Carol muttered.

  Carol dropped the envelope and the piece of paper and ran out of the house. She ran toward the school. She ran looking at the ground, not even watching where she was going. Before long she ran into someone causing herself and that person to fall.

  “Watch where you are going, brat!” Yelled the familiar voice of the man she knocked down.

  Carol looked up. It was the same man she caused to drop everything. “Sorry, I’m in a rush.”

  “Damn it, not you again!” The man said. He stood up picking up a folder.

  “You don’t have to be so rude!” Carol yelled. “One of my friends could be in danger.”

  “Well, you’re going to get into trouble if you don’t watch what you are doing.” He said.

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” Carol asked.

  He didn’t speak.

  “Answer me.” Carol ordered.

  The man just walked around her and walked off.

  Carol stared angrily at him. She stood up and brushed herself off. There was a piece of paper on the ground. Carol picked it up. “He must have dropped it.” She didn’t look at it and stuck it in her bag.

  Carol remembered what she was doing and ran off towards school. She ran into the schoolyard to find her friends. Carol found Tommy and Jason and told them about the letter with Litanya’s name on it. The group soon found Amber and heard that Litanya was at her car.

  They ran there as fast as they could, and hoped that they weren’t too late. All was lost; they were too late. They didn’t find Litanya, but found three holes and claw marks on the car door and a pool of blood beside the door. It was time to call the police.

  The police came to the scene. They asked the group questions and got the answers, which couldn’t help the case. The police decided that the same thing that killed Alison’s parents also attack Alison and Litanya. It was a mystery of why the two girls’ bodies were nowhere to be found, but Alison’s parents were left in their house. The town was on high alert of a person controlling a wild animal capable of killing.

  The group of friends didn’t want to believe that both Alison and Litanya were dead, but what else did they have to believe. There were no clues of them being alive, and Alison’s parents were mauled in their home. Carol was hoping that they would still be alive, but she was beginning to loose hope.

  That night the group went to the mall. School was canceled the next day because of Litanya’s disappearance, so they didn’t have to worry about the next morning.

  They sat at a table in the food court.

  “You mean that two people are missing now?” Mike asked his brother.

  “Yeah, Mike.” Tommy said. “I want you to be extra careful until this is settled.”

  “What if it never is?” Jason asked.

  “Stop it!” Carol demanded. “The sick person who is doing this will be found and the animal that the person is using will be put to death.”

  “Then everything will be fine?” Amber asked, causing the group to fall to silence.

  Carol looked up to see the strange man she ran into earlier in the morning. “How come he shows up at the strangest times?”

  The others looked at the man who just sat down at a table.

  “That’s the guy ran into the other day.” Amber said.

  Carol reached in her bag. “That’s right.” She pulled out the paper she had picked up earlier in the morning.

  “What’s that?” Jason asked.

  “That guy dropped it this morning after I ran into him again.” Carol said. She turned it over.

  “Have you looked at it?” Amber asked.

  Carol shook her head. “No.” She said. “I figured it was none of my business.”

  “You know what,” Amber said, “I never saw him before all this began.”

  “You’re right.” Carol said. She unfolded the paper to see a sketch of a rather unusual cat. “Whoa.”

  “Let me see.” Tommy said. Carol handed him the paper. “What an odd looking cat that is.”

  “It has statistics, and figures.” Jason said. “It seems like it is biological data.”

  “There’s no creature that looks like this in existence.” Amber said after she looked at the sketch.

  Carol looked up at the strange guy, who sat at a table alone.

  “Oliver.” Tommy read off the paper. “Prototype 05?”

  “Maybe it is a scientific experiment.” Jason said.

  “Look.” Tommy pointed to the creature’s paw. “Three claws.”

  Carol took the paper away, and looked at it. “Do you think we should show this to the police?”

  “And let that guy attack us?” Jason asked. “No way; we don’t even know if he is the killer.”

  “He might be holding Alison and Litanya alive.” Amber said.

  Carol looked up at the guy, who glanced over at their table. Carol turned away. “He’s looking at us.”

  Tommy turned around and made eye contact with the strange man, who stood up and began walking to their table.

  “Here.” Amber gave Carol the paper, but not quick enough not to have it snatched away.

  “Hey, man, don’t be rude.” Tommy stood up to face the guy, who just took the paper away.

  “How dare you order me around, boy.” The man said.

  “Who are you anyway?” Carol asked.

  The man looked at Carol, after he pushed Tommy away from him. “Call me Jade, if you desire a name so badly, and don’t come to conclusions in turn of a piece of paper. If you start coming to conclusions over something you know nothing about, you’ll get into trouble.” The man turned and walked away.

  “Freak.” Tommy muttered, as he sat back down.

  “Whoa, I thought my brother was strange.” Mike said.

  The group decided that they would go home, and give their nerves a rest. After Litanya’s disappearance, the strange drawing of a cat-like animal, or “Oliver,” on the paper, and “Jade,” the mystery man, who seem
s to show up at the oddest times, the group believed they needed sleep. They all agreed that they needed to drive home instead of walk, as they used to be able to do.

  They all piled into Tommy’s car and were dropped off at their houses accordingly. Carol was dropped off last, since her house was furthest from the mall. She told Tommy to be careful then ran into her house. She was frightened, but she didn’t want to tell anyone. She said goodnight to her parents and went to her room.

  Carol opened her closet and looked at her prom dress. All four girls agreed to buy the similar style in but in “their colors.” For years, the girls color-coded each other. Alison was purple, Litanya was yellow, Amber was blue, and Carol was red. Two of them were missing. To Carol, the red dress seemed inappropriate.

  She walked to the phone and picked it up. She hit the blue button to quick dial Amber’s number.

  Amber immediately picked up the phone. “Hi, Carol.” She said from the other line.

  “Caller ID works well.” Carol said.

  “What do you need?” Amber asked.

  Carol sat at her desk. “You know, Amber, I’ve been thinking, I know that we agreed to be in our colors, but don’t you think that since two of our group is missing, that it is inappropriate?”

  “Well…yeah…I’ve thought about that too.” Amber said. “In fact, I thought about us being neutral.”

  “Neutral?” Carol asked. She twirled her finger around the cord.

  “One of us should wear white and the other black.” Amber said. “I’m sure the dress shop will take the dresses back.”

  “Yeah, we should.” Carol said. “Well, I better go to bed, I’m tired.”

  “Don’t let the bedbugs bite you.” Amber said. “Good night!”

  “Bye.” Carol said before she hung the phone up.

  Carol looked at her desk to notice an envelope on her desk. She picked it up and looked at it. It had been through the mail, so it shouldn’t have anything to do with the recent occurrences. She decided to worry with the letter in the morning and go to bed.

  She changed into her red pajamas and crawled into bed. She couldn’t get to sleep for the longest time because she thought she heard something. Eventually, Carol fell sound asleep.

  “Carol!” Her mom called. “Wake up, it’s ten.”

  Carol sat up slowly. She felt terrible, though she slept well.

  “You might want to see the news, honey.” Her mom said from the other room.

  Hearing what her mom said made Carol nervous. She slowly slid out of bed, sliding her feet into her fuzzy black house shoes. She walked to her vanity and picked up a brush. She brushed her hair and tied it back with a clip.

  Carol walked out of her room and down the hall to the living room. “What is it?” She asked her dad.

  “Litanya disappeared yesterday, didn’t she?” Her mother asked.

  “Yeah, mom, I told you when I called.” Carol said.

  Her dad turned off the TV and stood up. “They found her parents this morning.”

  Carol didn’t have to hear anymore. She KNEW what had happened—the same thing as Alison’s parents.

  “Honey, I want you to be extra careful.” Her mom said.

  Alison, Litanya, and their parents, what did they hold in common? Carol was confused and it was giving her a major headache.

  The phone rang. Carol’s mom walked to the one on the end table and picked it up. “Hello?”

  Her mom listened. “Yes, she’s here.” Her mom turned to her. “Carol, it’s Amber.”

  Carol walked over and took the phone from her mother. “Hey.”

  The two girls talked about Litanya’s parents before they drifted into the conversation about meeting at the mall. Carol agreed to pick up Amber, who had no car.

  Carol hung up the phone and went to her room to change. She told her parents where she was going and went out to her car. When she reached her car Jade was leaning against her passenger door.

  “Why are you here?” Carol asked.

  “Oliver is nothing more than a rather large kitty-cat.” Jade calmly stated. “Please don’t come to a conclusion about him.”

  “That thing really does exist then?” Carol asked.

  Jade didn’t answer and began to walk off.

  “Hey, man, I’ve just got one question.” Carol said.

  Jade stopped. “I have no time.” He continued his walk away from Carol and down the street.

  Carol thought that this added conversation to the guy’s unusual attitude, but how much stranger could this guy become.