Paralyzed (ON HIATUS)

Troubled Conscience

It had been four days since Mark and I patched things up. Things were going great between us, we had great communication and Mark was more attentive towards me. Currently, Mark and I sat next to each other on the couch. I was laying my head on his shoulder and he had his arm wrapped around me.

I was exhausted from the extra time I had been spending in The Center. The semester was ending so we were going to be short on volunteers this month. On top of the lack of volunteers, Felix had been out of the country. With him gone, I had to pick up the slack and help in other departments just so Chloe could focus on her job. 

I look at Mark who in return smiled at me before kissing my head. I was so thankful for Mark as he came in every day to volunteer, even if he was exhausted from work. Without him or Kendall, I would be completely screwed. 

My mind traveled back to the email Felix sent me two days ago. Apparently, the reason he hadn't been responding to my messages or showing up to work was that he was mourning. A loved one had died so he flew back to Sweden to visit his parents and attend the funeral. 

Guilt settled in my chest as I thought back to when we last spoke. Thinking back maybe Felix was being overprotective because of his recent loss. Maybe he was just scared and vulnerable and he wanted to tell me what was going on in his personal life. Whatever the case was, I was in the wrong for jumping to conclusions and shutting him out. 

"Are you okay?" I blink my eyes and realize I was just spacing out. 

"Yeah, sorry I'm just tired." I breathe out. Mark pats my head and strokes the back of my hair. 

"You work too hard." A small chuckle escapes my lips as I grab his hand from my head.

"Says the diesel mechanic." I intertwine our fingers as Mark shakes slightly in a playful way. He smiles before placing his fingers under my chin and looking into my eyes. 

"What are you thinking about?" His voice was innocent but his stare was intense and I suppressed the urge to swallow. I mumble 'nothing' and he lifts an eyebrow at my tone. I reassure him with a smile and he leans in to plant a soft kiss on my lips. 

"Okay sweetheart, just want to make sure you're okay." I yawn as I lay my head on his chest and look at what was on screen. At the moment we were watching some anime when Mark's phone buzzes. He takes it out and I feel him take a deep breath. 

"Oh no." He says deeply in a somewhat despairing way.

"What, what's wrong?" He doesn't say anything and instead grabs the remote to change the channel. A bright red and white headline slides across the screen. 

DISCOVERY OF DEAD BODY BY HIKER LEADS TO TWO OTHER BODIES

"Jesus Christ." I cover my mouth in shock at pictures of what looks like women in their mid-twenties. Two blond women and a brunette, one of the blonds was a teacher, the other an accountant. The last one was a wife with a one-year-old baby, a sudden ache flowed through my chest as I read about her information. As I looked at the photo of the brunette, I felt her eyes boring into mine. Mark turned up the volume and we stayed silent and soaked in what the news reporter said. 

"Our breaking news today, a man has helped police discover the bodies of three missing women. This Friday morning young Jamie Gue went on his usual hike and things quickly took a  dark turn. Jaime noticed that there was a woman slumped up against a tree who he believed may have fainted due to heat exhaustion. After asking multiple times if she was okay and getting no response, he realized something was wrong. It was then that Jaime got closer and soon discovered the gruesome scene. The woman now known as Jennifer Pamen had been brutally murdered, a deep gash across her throat. Yet there was no sign of blood on her body or clothes. Upon further investigation, Jaime realized her fingers were cut off and cauterized. Jaime then noticed that the fingers were trailed behind her body, leading to a bush with an even more horrific scene. There in the bush lay full-body mutilated corpses.