Offenderman Chronicles

Chapter Seven

Charlotte's POV

~~~

It didn't take long to get to the park. The dark street didn't seem as daunting as it had once before, thanks to my experience over the past few nights. Though the streetlamps seemed to loom, I wasn't bothered anymore.

Quiet but noticeable white noise filled the air as I drew closer to the fence surrounding the park. It filled my mind to the brim and over, but I didn't really care.

I was here for one person, and the urge to help, and to save her drove me more than anything else. My thoughts were simple, straightforward. I wasn't in the right state of mind to question anything.

I didn't realize that I was counting my steps until I was three-hundred and fifty-two steps into the park, and it took me a moment to realize that I had stopped walking. Though my vision was swimming, I could see someone before me.

...

It was as though that was all I needed to break out of my odd trance. Questions without answers flowed freely through my mind, and it took all my might to grasp even one of them, to gain the courage to ask--
"Who are you?"

I didn't trust whoever it was. They wore a jacket and jeans, the colors indistinguishable in the darkness that cloaked them, even under the lights strung from the beams decorating the park. The only thing that remained uncovered by that black shroud...

Was a mask.

It had a distinct feeling to it, like something you'd see in an antique store, or at a masquerade, perhaps. White, with pitch black painting the eyes and lips. It gave me a real phantom of the opera kind of feeling.

Whoever it was... though, I'll repeat, I didn't trust them. They finally spoke up, their voice filling my mind despite how quiet it was, and how scared it seemed to be.

"I've been called Masky for... uh, a while now. It doesn't matter. Uh-" He fumbled for a moment, before holding out one of my fliers, turning it around so that Karelia was the right way up.

"... You're... looking for her, right?"

I nodded in confirmation.

"Pretty fucking ironic how this works out, but..."

I had no idea what he was talking about, and he didn't clarify as he began to rummage through his pockets, pulling out a pair of car keys. He beckoned me over, and though I should have been more cautious, I followed him. If this would help me find Karelia, I wasn't turning him down.

He didn't emote at all as he led me to a small carpark. I had no idea what was going through his head, and it was here that I began to have my doubts.

What if he actually hurt me? Facing the facts- this was a weird guy in costume that I'd just met, who'd given me a name that was obviously fake. Nothing about this lined up.

But something in my body refused to let me go back.

I grimaced as he pulled the passenger door of the only car in the whole place open, gesturing inside as he moved around to the driver's side. Though I still had doubts, I didn't hesitate, getting in and buckling my seatbelt.

It was as though I'd been possessed. The white noise was getting louder, too, assaulting my senses ferociously.

It cut to a sudden halt once he sat in the driver's seat and abruptly slammed the car door shut.

I finally decided to ask questions about my current situation, now that my mind was clear, despite knowing that I wasn't going to leave.

"So. You got me in your car." I let that hang in the air for a moment. "Where are we going? I'm half expecting this to be some sorta serial killer bullshit, where you leave me in a briefcase on the side of the road, in bits."