Somebody is gonna get hurt real bad...

Chapter 28 :- The Place where the Lilies Bloom

"It will be okay. Is that what you want me to say?"

The flare has long gone but the heat remained in its ashes

Does it even matter who lit the bloody matches?

The butterfly who flapped her wings was incinerated in the fire

The one who was thought to be virtuous was an eternal liar.

Irisvile's peace could only last so long as the ghosts of the past began to haunt the town once again. The sin of blood was merely the fact that the lost ones were that of the noble kin. As the cascading blood changed the color of the water of the Tiger-lily river, the earth reeked of the corpses. The treacherous hope was once again prepared to betray the virtuous, however the sinner begged for forgiveness. The lie remained hanging on the line while the death lurked nearby in search of an opportunity. Did you know that karma is a bitch?

"What do you mean by there is no one named Officer Mason in the special task force?" It was 9 p.m. and Mr. Jackson was raising hell inside the Irisvile County Station "Is this some kind of joke? He called and told me that my daughter was dead, that her corpse had been found in the Relitain forest." Mr. Jackson who was saying words with pressed lips was beyond furious. "Call Sheriff Ted." Mr. Jackson commanded "Now." It had been ages since he had set foot in his beloved county station and few changes were hard to miss.

It was bright and the number of telephones were almost double than what they used to be during his time. The County station was a bit more cramped as the number of officers had increased significantly. There were minor changes in uniforms as well as few more female faces were to be seen. There were not many changes in infrastructure but the size of cubicles seemed smaller somehow. The County station seemed distant somehow. The moment I set foot in here the atmosphere changed. I changed. I wished it would have been under different circumstances. A sense of belonging towards this place has not been lost...

"Mr. Jackson, you need to understand I am new here. Deputy Sheriff Forbes has gone on patrolling. I can't..."

"I can't?" Mr. Jackson asked threateningly. "Isn't it your duty to help those in need.

" Sheriff Ted is on leave for some personal work and we have been given orders not to disturb him... The Deputy Sheriff will be back soon, if you could just wait until then..."

"Are you seriously suggesting that his personal work is more important than the life of my daughter?"

"No... It's not like that..."

"Officer, my daughter is missing. And I know Sheriff Ted is out because he is not even picking up my calls. I went to his place, his house is locked. You... You are not ready to cooperate. Look, it is a matter of life of my daughter. And the area that needs to be covered is quite big. Please..."

"You are not getting it. It's not like I don't want to call Sheriff Ted, it's just that I am not authorized to call him. You will just have to wait until the Deputy Sheriff is back."

"Don't you get it..." Mr. Jackson said in a painful voice "My daughter, she is missing. She left from Heming County in the morning. It takes barely 4 hours to reach Irisvile... My ex-wife called her friends, all her acquaintances. She is nowhere to be found! "

"Mr. Jackson..." The Officer in front of him tried to reason with Mr. Jackson.

He got cut off. "Around 7 pm I got a call from some Officer Mason claiming that my daughter is dead... And now you are telling me that there is no Officer Mason in the special task force... And on top of that you are not even ready to call Sheriff Ted. If I could reach him, I would have. Believe me, I have tried everything! Please..." Sheriff was remembering all those people who he had to turn away during the course of his employment. Never thought that I would be standing on this side. Ahh... I guess karma is a bitch.