Nocturnal Animals

Family Dinners and then Some

Nocturnal Animals
Chapter Five
Family Dinners and then Some

☾☾☾

The only sound that could be heard throughout the library was my rapid typing. I searched through the opened case files for hours- starting at the time I got out of school. I've been in this same position ever since, desperately seeking further information. 

I wasn't going to leave until I found something new and important. 

Determined to figure out the quickly ruled cases, I kept searching. The time grew late as the sun slowly dipped behind the horizon, a dampening sky overtaking thine eyes. But I still didn't budge. Not until I'm satisfied. 

No matter how many different things I focused on, not one alarming detail stood out. In fact, most of the cases were the exact same. The victim would be wondering in the woods when he shouldn't be, and then BAM! - out of nowhere a vicious animal sweeps in, and takes out their throats. 

Looking at all of the recent cases together, not a difference stood out. This bothered me, for usually each case has its own unique touch to it. I feel that no death is ever the same. 

So why could these cases be mistaken for one? One answer. Somebody's covering up the truth. 

There was a dauntless urge rising inside of me. It was telling me to go to into the sleeping forest- go to the crime scene. Search for any clues, or evidence left out of the official report. It might be late, but that means nobody will find you.

But no, that would be crazy, right? That exact idea was probably what got those people killed in the first place. If another attack happened just yesterday, then whatever was stirring up this mess was still out there. I would be insane to risk it. 

Maybe I should just keep searching online. Something interesting is bound to pop up soon.

I scrolled through all of the relevant case files once again. Still, nothing.

But that's when I got a new idea. Maybe the reason I couldn't find anything else was because I was searching for information in the wrong places. I was staying locally, but what if somewhere else had similar problems? 

I pulled up google and searched 'vicious monster that kills people by biting out their throat'. Within seconds, results appeared- new results. 

"Wyandot?" I muttered, reading the name of the town that popped up. Scrolling down the results page I found news articles about the same exact thing. Reading a few articles, the details of the cases happened to be the exact same as the ones from our cases. 

I looked up where Wyandot was, and- "Minnesota!?"

Wyandot happened to be just two hours away from Raven's Wood, too. Looking at all of the -twenty-eight- articles from Wyandot, the dates have all been from the last five years. It seems the last one was a couple of months ago- that's around the time ours started.

"The library will be closing soon." The rude librarian from the other day said, appearing out of nowhere and giving me a heart attack. When I turned to face her, she was looking directly over my shoulder- at the screen, "What's so interesting about Wyandot?"

I shrugged, judging her on the inside, "I just heard about it somewhere."

The librarian looked somewhat unpleased with my answer. She nodded anyways, though, still continuing to linger in front of me. 

"Can I just use the printer before I leave?" I asked, hoping she would give her answer and part.

"It's broken." She vaguely stated. Funny, for I saw someone use it just earlier.