Offenderman Chronicles

Chapter Five

A/N: My actual good computer broke so I decided to update the fanfic, since writing isn't very technologically demanding. Also, it's kinda soon to ask, but if anyone wants to pay me to write anything??? Just message me! Please.

Karelia's POV

~~~

I slept for a long time, constantly drifting in and out of consciousness. I didn't know how long it was. At one point, I could have sworn I felt shifting at the end of the bed, but when I glanced down, there was nothing there.
At another, I felt as though I was being watched, and though I felt too exhausted to move, I could hear the faint fuzz of static.

With all these unnerving things happening, I was glad to finally be woken up properly. I rubbed my eyes as I sat up, hoping to god that whoever was across from me- they would just be an ordinary person. I wasn't sure whether or not I got my wish.

Their skin wasn't grey. That was a good thing. They were somewhere between pale and tan- you know, an ordinary human color. They wore proper clothes, too. Things that ordinary people might actually fucking wear.
Of course, there had to be something off about them, and I caught it when I finally glanced up to make eye contact with them.

They had a strange white mask obscuring their face. There were black markings around the eyes, but when I looked into the holes in the mask, it looked as though the darkness had overtaken whatever face was underneath. I couldn't make any features out.

I huffed softly, disappointed, sitting back with a wince.

The person stared.
They awkwardly, clumsily shoved a plate toward me, not seeming used to interacting with people. I wasn't all that surprised- they lived in a mansion of people considered sub-human, and may well be so themself.

On their own, they seemed so meek and harmless compared to everyone else here. I wondered what they were doing here, but disregarded the thought as I looked at the contents on my plate.

And god, it was such a relief to see proper food, even if it was primarily meat.
From what I could tell, it was probably beef. I glanced down to it for a moment before looking back up to them, brushing my hair back. After that whole ordeal, it was such a mess.

"Who are you?"

I wasn't exactly gentle with my wording. I felt as though I didn't need to be- even if they seemed different, they probably weren't. They probably had done just as many terrible things as everyone else here.

They seemed nervous for a moment before cussing under their breath, dropping a fork onto my plate before hurrying toward the door to the room.

I sighed to myself, glancing back down to my meal.
That was the first interaction I'd had here that wasn't entirely awful, even if it was painfully awkward.
And I was glad for it.

~~~
Charlotte's POV
~~~

I'd arrived home hours ago, and though I'd waited, dreading the moment it would happen-
My mother never came home.
I sat at my computer as I stared out the window, leaning against my desk.
I was waiting not only for her, but for any phone call that may help me find Karelia. It was a lot to hope for- that somebody might have found a trace of her already, but it was really the only hope I had to cling to.

It felt like an eternity before I heard any sort of sound indicating some other presence. A car pulling into the garage. I grimaced, knowing that this was probably going to be my last moment of real freedom for a while, hurriedly closing my laptop as I got up to move into my bedroom.

After about half an hour, I came to realize... nobody was coming. There were no keys in the door, no footsteps. It wasn't my mother, and that was enough to make me paranoid. I hesitated, glancing around my room for some kind of weapon.

I'd left a broom in my room earlier. A simple mistake, but a useful one now. It was a shame that I didn't have any sharp objects immediately available. I grabbed it by the head of the broom, pausing, before swinging it.

I could definitely wind somebody with this.

I stepped out of my bedroom, approaching the front door and carefully fumbling with my keys. This seemed like the best place to start, since we didn't have a garage door, and this would lead directly to whatever car had pulled in.

I stopped immediately and stared at the sight of my mother's car. If her car was here, then where was she? I hesitated, not closing the door behind be as I came closer to the vehicle- red, of course, her favorite color- peering in the window.

It was unusually dusty.
I wondered- was it unlocked? It would be out of character for her not to lock it, given how much she valued it, but-

I pulled at the handle and the door popped open. It wasn't nearly as dusty on the inside as the windows seemed to be, and I had to squint for a moment to make sense of what I was seeing.

Red rose petals
Littering the inside of the car.

I knew I really should report this to the police- maybe it would give them more incentive to search for her, and by extension, whoever had taken Karelia.

A larger part of me wanted me to leave her to suffer. I'd find whoever had done it myself, take Karelia home safely and leave her to rot.

Sure, it was selfish. It wasn't thinking about other people who were affected. But, maybe sacrificing a few people was okay to get rid of someone like her.

I made my decision, carefully closing the car door and pretending that I'd seen nothing, sweeping a couple petals under the car with the broom I still held before heading back into the house.

Perhaps I should have been worried about myself, but I was so giddy at the thought of being without her that I couldn't even begin to feel negative, despite everything that was happening.

She was gone, and I had another lead on where Karelia had gone.
I'd just need to do some research.