CHAPTER 1

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It is the strange fate of man, that even in the greatest of evils the fear of the worst continues to haunt him.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Waking up in the unholy hour of the night for other people may seem odd but for my usual life it is indifferent. I am Janus Strange I may look like a mediocre guy from your next door neighbor but something is really different from me among other sixteen year old teenager. I have a gifted ability I have the capability to hear the voices of the undead, even I did not ask to have this ability I don't have any choice but to accept it as a fact. I had only discovered this gift of mine when I tried to leave the house and tried to seek things in my own way. I was thirteen then by that time and wild at heart.

It was 2:30 in the morning in my LED watch clock when I opened my eyes, the rain was pouring down the streets of Oddville. When I finally come to my senses I remembered that I was searching something over the internet. As soon as I put myself altogether a cold wind brushed towards me from behind. I didn't tried to look back as possibly as I can, most of the time I didn't like hearing voices from the deceased but, I don't have any other options but to hear them. A voice suddenly bellowed from my ear that crawled up to my nerves and shivered.

“Okay, I'll do my best.” I said softly. The cold air that filled my room moments earlier suddenly ceased and stopped. I stood up and went to my closet, drew out a jacket from it. My room was small yet it suites my commodities. The four corners of the room was full of photos of manslaughter and multiple murders, aside from that there are also maps of different cities surrounding Oddville. On the farthest corner of the room there is a shelf loaded of jars containing assorted kinds of strange items from Ouija boards to odd faced dolls. I was about to exit my room when somebody knocked on the door.

“Janus?” A voice asked.

“Yeah?” I replied.

The door suddenly opened and a man appeared behind me. It was dad- not literally my biological father- he looked concerned about me.

“I know Janus I'm not really your dad but as your legal guardian tell me what's happening.” He said.

“Nothing really Malcolm.” I answered back.

Besides from being my adopted father Malcolm is also my psychiatrist, he found me straying on the streets by the time I left home. He's also one of the few persons who knew about my gift.

“Where are you going it's already late.” He shouted.

“Sorry dad!” I called back.

If other persons with the same gift as mine could see spirits of the departed I was a little different, I could only hear their agonies, grieving and vengeance they want. Aside from that my way is little too complicated, I'm like a bat it's like using echolocation I used my ears to distinguish the place where the grieving came from.

The sound of weeping didn't ceased for even a second but the voice kept on diminishing. Am I mislead? I thought to myself. The rain kept on pouring down and it's making my sense of hearing distorted. I made many turns on alleys and street sign until I regained the grieving voice again. As I arrived at the corner of an alley I saw an opened door with its lights on. The mourning voice suddenly ceased. I tried to approach the door with cold sweat my hands are getting numb, my instinct tells me not to come any closer but before I knew it I'm already at the front of the door. I wasn't so sure on what am I supposed to do.

I was about to enter when something caught my attention, a black cat. Suddenly I feel uneasy and uncomfortable. Maybe I should call Chief Garrison. I thought to myself again. I can't really help myself staying out of these spooky things especially when I heard the cries of the dead people agonizing and asking for vengeance. “I don't like this feeling, really.” I retorted.

My head peeked on the side of the door observing the surroundings checking if there are any possible clues or evidences that I can found. After checking it I stepped inside with great caution in the surrounding. The first thing you need to do when you're assuming that you are in a crime scene is to be cautious. But in reality I'm not really a crime scene operative nor a detective. I'm just a simple high school student who always have an insomnia problems with an ability to hear the moaning of the dead. The scene was surreal, there were ever hardly any confrontation happened. Everything in the scene was neat and in order.

“I think I should really call the chief.” I hurriedly picked up my phone at my jacket but it looks like I left it at home. As I roam around inside the whole scene the cry of the dead suddenly aroused again. With that instances, I was able to find where the corpse was placed. The cadaver was locked in a locker near a lampshade in the cramped space of the whole place. The assumed victim was at his early twenties, has a thin body built with a blonde hair. He has a stab wound at the left part of his chest at the location of his aorta. What a pitiful sight. I told to myself. A strong gust of wind past through me and I felt something patted my shoulder. “Sir, thanks for your cooperation. I can handle this already and may you Rest In Peace.” I blurted. The cold air suddenly ceased and I began creating my own sequence of events that may happened before the incident. But because of lack of evidence it took me a hard time to make some. The scene may look like a perfect crime. I hardly find any evidences that maybe used as a murder weapon. I tried to overlook at the cadaver for another time and tried to picture out what happened.

Then suddenly I found something at the body of the victim. He maybe was attacked first by a blunt object because there's a concussion on its head before being stabbed at the chest. But there are barely evidences that something struck him, the whole place was too neat and tidy when I arrived. Maybe it won't be a hassle if I phoned Chief Garrison from the land line. I thought to myself but, something flashed on my mind that if ever I dialed him I might be put into questions.

“What a hassle!” I exclaimed. As I rushed out of the scene a foreign object slammed me on my face. I saw a vague picture of a man, tall and skinny but I didn't recognized his face. When I woke up I found myself lying on a couch.

“Awake already?” A voice asked.

“Yeah, but my vision was still a bit blur.” I replied.

“You passed out in an alley.”

It was dad, I never thought that he was following me the whole time. “How was it?” He asked. I shrugged my head for disappointment on my chase. “There's still school so get up and fix yourself.” The only comment he gave.

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