20XX/10/04 – Evening195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV5DFzHrnP4
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Liz looked up at the abandoned building on Maple Street. The brittle façade of the dark gray walls was smeared with graffiti, amidst it were several other stains whose origins couldn’t be defined upon first glance. Maybe that was for the best, as she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to know how they came to be. It wasn’t a particularly high building, definitely smaller in height than the one the newspaper agency was located in. There were three, maybe four stories; it was hard to determine from the outside alone. While most of the windows still seemed generally intact, a lot of the glass was covered in cracks and Liz could spot more than a few holes in some of it. There also seemed to be bits of stone missing in the walls and one particularly wide stretching crack gave her an uneasy feeling. The way it coiled upwards across the old stone until just below the rooftop made her question how safe it was to set foot inside.
The low rumble of thunder in the distance pulled the young woman out of her thoughts. “Out of all the places, you really had to go and choose this one.” She scoffed, a hint of discomfort accompanying her voice. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡziRwgfNSCW
The man beside her shrugged. “Well, it is the scene of the crime. What better spot for a rendezvous besides this one?” He didn’t seem to be concerned about the potential collapse of the structure in the slightest. Liz on the other hand didn’t quite agree with his carefree attitude. “I’m beginning to think you really have a death wish. That or you’re just so bored with your life that you have to chase danger to get some weird kick out of it.”
“On the contrary, I quite enjoy living. And I’m not bored in the slightest either. How could I, when I have such a pretty and intriguing assistant as yourself by my side, Ms. Glaze?” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1vlGzAuu3
Ew. Disgusting.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgGCGiKiWc1
Leon chuckled as he cast her another one of his charming smiles, she was beginning to think were his trademark expressions. Liz sighed. “I still think it’s not the brightest idea to meet up with a serial killer in an abandoned building. And at night at that.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSU5LFAUnL
“I mean, I can’t just invite them to have tea with me, can I? I doubt they would show up in a public place like a café.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwR0WT2r8g
“What makes you think he’ll show up now? After all, this could be a trap too.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2R0XTeOczK
“Well, it’s not, so-“ 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0TKZieqOip
“But he doesn’t know that!” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDfkuF4C3b
He turned towards her, casually slipping his hand into the pocket of his black coat. “You really worry too much, Ms. Glaze. They’ll show, I can guarantee it. Just trust me on this.” Now that, that’s exactly what worries me.
Despite her opinion, there was distinct confidence in his voice, as well as something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Liz had already noticed it on their long walk the day before, but despite his goofiness and all-around weird act, there also was a more businesslike and serious side to Leon. She didn’t want to admit it but during those rare times he seemed sharp, almost competent. There was a certain spark in those deep blue eyes that almost made her believe in the nonsense he spouted. Maybe that was why she had agreed to go along with his mad idea in the end. Irritated at herself, Liz quickly turned away. She couldn’t afford to look into those blue orbs for too long. It was too dangerous.
“Let’s go then.” She spoke quickly, causing Leon to perk up. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmlz3D5kph
“Can I take it that you decided to put your trust in me?”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EOgv839zs
“Jury’s still out on that.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuo6KE5fmF8
Without waiting for his response, the brunette headed inside. She quickly found herself surrounded by darkness. Although the sun hadn’t completely set yet, the dark clouds in the sky had swallowed the last bit of light, intensifying the autumn darkness hanging over the city. With the few windows there was even less light inside the old building and only the loud shut of the big metal door told her that Leon had followed her. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6D6ZTGB00
“There must be a light switch somewhere.” She heard his soft voice behind her. It took her eyes a few more seconds to adjust to the darkness but soon she could discern the blurred outlines of the hallway in front of them. Carefully she took a few steps towards the wall where she proceeded to run her hands along the cold stone walls, in hope of finding said switch. The scrambling noise behind her told her that Leon had started to do the same on the opposite wall. A few seconds later Liz found something that felt like a switch. A clicking sound could be heard as she pressed it and soon after several fluorescent bulbs started to light up one after another, illuminating the corridor in a cold static light. Talk about creepy.
“Aha! Well done, Ms. Glaze! This is much better.” Leon exclaimed from the other side, clapping his hands together. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYq6hy9pxeP
“I’m not so sure about that. With the lighting this looks like one of those creepy psychiatric wards straight from a horror movie.”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmAl6FrfGX
“Not quite. If I recall, this building was once a hospital.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjkzBIDa4Y
Great. Definitely much better. What next? You’re gonna suggest that we-195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOS1LtJ97WE
“Let’s split up and look around a bit.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcr5YQyzR1
I hate being right sometimes. “You’re kidding right?”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPjlx4Lqpi
“No, why? It can’t hurt to know the layout of the building.”
Liz shook her head, banishing all thoughts of hers that had suggested this man could be reliable and trustworthy in the slightest. “Splitting up is like the dumbest thing to do. In a horror movie, once the group decides to split, people start dying.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0N64Yl7gd5
“Hm, is that so?” he asked, rubbing his chin in thought. “I never saw a horror movie, so I had no idea.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnh1peTof2k
“Wait, you never- Why?” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKs2Em1uHq
“They’re scary.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5eHO4TTziB
“Yeah, that’s kinda the point.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaoGDPQ6vG9
“Well, why would I want to scare myself? Seems pretty idiotic to me. Anyways, let’s stay together and check out this floor then.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgmVdRWWCv
How can you be scared of horror movies but not get the creeps from this place? Liz thought but kept her mouth shut as she followed her partner along the hallway.
They came across several doors that had been painted a clean white a long time ago, but were now soiled with scribbles and stains. Some were locked and the ones that weren’t led to sparsely furnished rooms. A round table, a few chairs, a wardrobe and a hospital bed seemed to have been the general interior of the patients’ rooms. A few sported an additional painting or two, but all in all Liz thought they had a rather sad feeling to them and she was glad to not have been a patient here back when the hospital had still been operating.
At one point during their search Leon spoke up. “Say, why do you keep saying him?”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2zn1Qr9ezH
“Huh?” the brunette responded from across the room. She had just opened the wardrobe of the room they were currently inspecting and had found it to be empty, just like all the others had been before.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUp2xgMEads
“The Paper Cut Killer. You keep referring to them as a male. Although we haven’t established their gender at any point.”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAsTFOowNL
“Oh. Well, I don’t know. The way the victims get slashed again and again - to me it just seems like a very male way to kill.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MmpklTJw1
The officer remained silent for a while before he responded. “So you think a woman couldn’t commit crimes like those?”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RJrtvuwRV
“I never said that. It just seems unlikely to me. I’d say we women prefer more, let’s say, graceful ways of committing a murder. Like poisoning, for example. No blood, less of a mess.”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYurQAF2XRl
“Hm, poison, I see. Is that how you would kill someone Ms. Glaze?”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPagsSFfsS
“Eh?” Liz hadn’t expected that question and so she stared at her partner blinking. Then she let out a laugh. “Me using poison? Nah, I wouldn’t.”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL3rlND5mp4
“How would you do it then?”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWd9CVx8GJB
“I don’t know. I’m not a murderer after all, so there’s no reason for me to kill someone.”195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAi88LS2CCX
Leon smiled at her answer. “Yeah, I guess so.” Maybe it was the cold fluorescent lighting but something about his smile seemed off to her. Like there was something eery hiding underneath it. The brunette shook her head, shrugging it off as a fabric of her imagination.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3LTRggqSV
The two of them continued their search on the upper floors but their findings stayed the same. The journalist wondered where the actual operation and treatment rooms were located. Probably behind the locked doors. Not like she was especially keen on exploring them, but it definitely would have helped ease her mind to know where exactly the potentially dangerous instruments like scalpels were being kept.
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Unbeknownst to the two of them a pair of eyes kept their watch on the old building. Hiding in the shadows of the big old tree in the middle of Maple Street the figure lingered near the junction box liable for the electricity of several buildings in the street. The cold autumn wind kept sending the fallen leaves on the ground flying and made them dance through the air. It would have been a beautiful sight if it wasn’t for the dark clouds in the sky that had started piling up more and more, by now forming an ominous black wall. The growling thunder resounded through the empty streets, a clear messenger of the imminent storm. Taking a glimpse at the sky, the figure pulled the hood of their long black rain jacket over their head. They weren’t thrilled about the prospect of getting drenched by the rain but they couldn’t afford to leave either. Not now. Not when their presence could be the decisive variable in the equation to determine the outcome of what was about to happen. Another gust of wind hit them in the face and their body shuddered from the cold. Or maybe it wasn’t as much the cold as it was the anxious feeling that caused the goosebumps on their skin. Their eyes fixated back on the two silhouettes behind the broken glass windows and as they opened their mouth the wind carried the quietly mumbled words away into the night. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOiaxeTJBUL
“I’m sorry Liz…”
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The thunder is coming closer. Liz noticed while she stared out of the window at the black clouds. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKPMI5ehLu
“Something interesting outside?” Leon’s voice resounded beside her. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XWVmhUUi4
“I think there really is a storm approaching outside…” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWfzS3Qbre
“Hm? Oh, yeah, it seems like it. Makes for an extra spooky atmosphere, doesn’t it? Is that the kind of weather they have in your horror movies?” He chuckled. However, the young woman didn’t respond and instead kept staring through the stained glass. “Ms. Glaze?” Leon raised an eyebrow. The last time the brunette had been this quiet she had been mad at him, otherwise she barely ever kept her thoughts to herself like that. Even though he had only gotten to know her for a day, he knew for a fact that she loved nothing more than to make snarky remarks and take jabs at people at whatever chance she got. He had been on the receiving end of them more than a few times already. That’s why he didn’t quite know what to make of the sudden somberness she displayed and it would be a lie to say that it didn’t worry him at least a little. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsY9DQlXVk
In a tentative motion Leon reached out his hand, gently placing it on her shoulder. Startled by the sudden touch, her body jerked and her head snapped in the officer’s direction.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The sudden harshness in her voice surprised him and he quickly withdrew his hand. “Oh, uhm… I just thought that- Are you maybe scared of thunderstorms, Ms. Glaze?” Although he stumbled over his words, he seemed generally concerned and Liz didn’t quite know how to react to that. A bit embarrassed she turned her head away. “S-so, what? You thought to comfort me or something?” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstVaJRemao
“Well, ye-“ 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHDhw6Crvb
“There’s no need. I’m not. I’m not scared of thunderstorms.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, as the feeling she got during a storm didn’t reach as far as to deserve to get called fear. It was more like an inner agitation, some kind of turmoil, a restlessness that plagued her. Yes, storms made her unsettled, but she certainly wasn’t afraid of them. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6VshCjUGu
For a few moments Leon studied the brunette, not entirely convinced by her words. But to her surprise he didn’t inquire any further and instead suggested for them to continue their exploration. Something she quietly thanked him for, albeit she would never say as much.
They made their way through the hallway of the third floor, Leon walking in front while a slightly dejected Liz followed. An awkward silence hung above them, but it didn’t take long for the officer to speak up again. “I’ve got an idea!” He exclaimed as he spun around. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdApOqCODLw
“To make you feel a bit safer.” The pair of gray eyes that looked up at him showed visible confusion, but he didn’t pay them any mind and went on to explain his stroke of genius. “I’ll just hand you my gun!” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4BxDYaHchV
“Excuse me, what?” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzvSrD4Zpc
“My gun! If you carry it and we get attacked by the killer you can just shoot him.” Already while saying the words Leon reached inside his jacket and pulled the weapon out of its holster. Swiftly he turned it around in his hand, presenting it to Liz. The brunette stared in bewilderment, switching her focus between him and the gun. It took her a few attempts to form any words. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoX0lNzShJ
“Are you stupid!? You can’t just hand your police gun to a civilian!” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTBLTo1PIk
“Sure, I can. Don’t worry, I’m sure you won’t have to use it. It’s just to make you feel safe.” He reached out a bit further, almost pushing the gun into her stomach. Liz made an exasperated sound but eventually took the weapon from the man’s hand. and proceeded to stare at it. The hard metal felt cold on her skin and it weighed heavy in her hand. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQlZ7NNcmB
“See, that wasn’t so hard, right?” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7cL1b1B8n
“You know I could shoot you right now.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpPTrbuNmU
“Oh, you wouldn’t. You like me too much.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7yaMra1ko
God, he really is an idiot.195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtFlwz214Z
Leon chuckled and turned his back on her. He took a few steps towards another one of the “white” doors. Reaching out, he placed his hand on the handle. But just as he was about to push it down he heard a clicking sound behind him.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Leon. Or should I call you the Paper Cut Killer.” 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsSk47GkGE
The man’s lips curled up into a sly smile. Slowly he turned around and looked straight into the barrel of his own weapon. His weapon - in the hands of his partner. His weapon - that was pointed directly at him.
“Heh, now that’s interesting.”
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I always say, I always say that it's the last time195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGfjXa0ahA
A promise I can't keep195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguLeXiAARi
I always say I'll get a grip and it'll be fine195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJCUBmAH4D
But I lie straight through my teeth195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4XhYfVUbP
Against The Current - Weapon
