Demigods

Two Sides Of A Face

The silence that filled the bare room carried a eerie hum that resonated lightly. Zachary Sorensen stared blankly at the handcuffs that held his hands bound to the steel table before him. Even though, he had found himself locked in a cold interrogation room in a police precinct, he felt quite calm and confident. He caught himself thinking about a quiet dinner at a nice welcoming restaurant. A pang of guilt shot his chest when the nonexistent whisper of his wife's name echoed in his mind. He knew he should be feeling bleak with all that had happened but he felt strangely optimistic about himself.

The door creaked open and gave way to a woman clad in darkest suit and pair of trousers he had ever seen. She marched briskly into the room, placed her file on the table and without acknowledging Zachary, she fell into the seat in front of him and let out a deep sigh. Her expression was rather stern, somewhat tired and half-appalled. It appeared that all the creases that should have been on her clothes had settled on her pale freckled face. Zachary's gaze was soon fixed on the lady's sleek long dark hair that laid neatly on her shoulders. She reminded him of someone he didn't want to remember and it hurt that the thought of this person irritated him.

"Mister Sorensen, I'm Detective Parsons." She began, staring intently at him. "And I'll be asking a few questions about your missing wife, Heidi Sorensen."

Zachary took a deep breath. The name she had uttered shot a spasm of pain in his soul. He could still see her glowing smile, her cerulean blue eyes and sleek dark hair that carried a distinct scent that caused a flutter of butterflies in his stomach. She was his joy and pride. Her radiating aura was the only he was addicted to and she was going to give him something else to live for. She was six months pregnant before she disappeared. She was his only source of euphoria but that was until she vanished, leaving behind a cryptic goodbye note. Riddled with excruciating pain, he had immediately reported her missing.

"Miss Parsons, I'll be willing to-"

"Detective." Parsons cut him off. "You would refer to me as Detective Lucille Parsons."

"I'm sorry, Detective." He replied. "I'll be willing to answer any questions you have for me but are the handcuffs really necessary?"

Lucille heaved. "Actually, Mister Sorensen. They are very necessary for this interrogation."

Zachary's eyes widened. "Am I under arrest? Did I do something wrong?"

"Let me ask the questions here, Zachary."

Zachary adjusted in his seat, trying to hide his anxiety. Lucille went on to open the file before her. She flipped through a few pages and turned her attention back at Zachary.

"Mister Sorensen, tell what you remember from July 15th."

"You mean the day my wife disappeared."

"I believe so."

Zachary wiped the trickling beads of sweat off his forehead on his shirt before he began. "It wasn't a great day for me. I had been fired at work so I got home early than Heidi. I was-"

"When did you get home?" Lucille asked, cutting him off.

"I think that was about 2pm in the afternoon." Zachary replied. "I kept thinking about how to tell Lucille the bad news. It was a really bad time to be unemployed because she was pregnant and to go on leave."

"So what happened when you got home?"

"I tried to distract myself by preparing dinner after which I went to bed."

"When exactly did you go to bed?" Lucille inquired.

"I'm guessing between 3:45pm and 4pm." He responded. "I wasn't exactly keeping track of the time."

"Carry on."

Zachary shifted again in his seat, he was starting to feel the sweat trickle down his back. Perspiration was building so fast that he felt that the temperature had doubled up. His anxiety was growing even faster. His enthusiasm was slowly dying from the stifling heat.

"I woke up by 2am the next morning. I knew something was wrong because I had almost slept for nearly ten hours. I think she may have drugged me. I called out for Heidi but the house was so quiet. I began calling her cellphone until I found the goodbye note by the bedside."

"What prompted you to report her missing if she had left a goodbye note?" Lucille asked.

"It was so unlike her. I wasn't exactly sure she had left that note because the handwriting was slightly different from hers."

"What did you assume had happened?"

Zachary's left eye twitched. "I didn't know what to think but I could tell that something was wrong. To be honest, at some point I thought she had kidnapped or something."

"Alright then." Lucille uttered. "Now I'm going to tell you what we know."

"Has she been found?" Zachary blurted excitedly.

"Actually yes, she has." Lucille responded with a tone that sounded malicious.

"Where is she?" Zachary yelled. "I need answers."

Lucille tilted her head with disbelief. "Mister Sorensen, earlier today a search warrant was issued to search your property. When your house was searched, we found a large cemented space under your bed. You could say it was roughly the size of a shallow grave."

"What?"

"Mister Sorensen, we exhumed the decomposing corpse of your pregnant wife from your bedroom."

Zachary froze. A chill ran down his spine and his vision was becoming blurry. A weak migraine hit him and he bowed his head. He struggled to process the information he had received. He thought she must have been making a very sick joke. Not only was his pregnant wife dead but she was buried in his bedroom. It couldn't be possible. It just wasn't something that could have happened. He rose his head to find Lucille staring at him with a fierce glare.

"I-I don't believe you." Zachary stuttered.

"Zachary, drop the act already. We know exactly what you did."

"No. This isn't funny." Zachary bellowed. "I don't know what you are trying to do but I don't believe you."

Lucille let out a bitter laugh. "You don't believe me?"

"No, I don't." Zachary replied. "This isn't very funny. You need to let me see my wife."

"You murderous prick!" Lucille spat. "I swear we would do everything to make sure you hang for this."

"I need to talk to my lawyer."

"Shut the hell up, Zachary!" Lucille retorted. "You murdered your wife in cold blood and buried her in your bedroom."

"No. Don't say that!"

"Don't say what? Are you repulsed by the gruesome murder you committed?" Lucille continued. "You killed your pregnant wife and your unborn child and buried them in your bedroom. How do you sleep at night, Zachary?"

Zachary slammed his head against the table. "I didn't do that. Stop saying that."

"You stabbed your wife sixteen times, Zachary. And then cooked up this faux story about how she left you. You made up this fake letter to throw off the attention from you."

A bloodcurdling scream resonated through the room and Zachary kept on slamming his head against the steel table. Lucille backed up but she wasn't backing down. All she saw before her was a demented killer who thought he was the smartest person in the room.

"Tell me why you killed her. Tell me why you stabbed a pregnant woman so many times and then buried her in the bedroom you slept in. Tell me why you denied your son a chance to live."

Lucille remained relentless and Zachary kept banging his head against the table and blood was starting to splatter over the table.

"Zachary, you are a killer and I promise you that you're going to pay for what you did."

Zachary screamed again and slammed his head into the table with brute force. Suddenly he relaxed as though he had knocked himself unconscious. The silence that followed carried a chilling awe. Lucille drew closer to check up on him but he suddenly shot his head up causing Lucille to fall back into her seat.

"Jesus Christ!" Lucille blurted as she watched him take in a deep breath.

A sickening smirk spread across Zachary's blood-smeared face. "Hi, Detective. I'm Bennett. It's nice to meet you."

"What the f-"

"I'm Zachary's alter ego. Kind of like Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde."

"What is going on?" Lucille asked, visibly confused.

"I'll explain." Bennett replied with a strangely calm voice. "My name is Bennett and I share this body with Zachary. I'm the one you're looking for. I killed Zachary's wife."

"You're telling me you have DID." Lucille said, uncertain of what to make of the situation.

"Basically, yes." Bennett responded. "You know you made Zachary almost lose his mind just now."

"C-Can you t-tell me what happened?"

"Well, after Zachary fell asleep, I took over and I decided to break the news to Heidi myself. She was hysterical when she got back. It turned out that someone from Zachary's job had seen her and told her. But what she didn't know was that Zachary wasn't there and I had a very bed temper. She kept bitching and I felt a need to shut her up."

"What did you do?" Lucille asked, still in awe.

"She said something about us being incompetent. That was the one that really made me lose it. I went into the kitchen and got my favorite silver knife. At first, she wasn't sure what was happening until I stabbed her in the wrist. Trust me, there is nothing more intoxicating than taking a human life."

"You murdered a pregnant woman and her child." Lucille yelled in terror. "You're a monster."

"If I'm being honest, I personally never liked her but what can I say we all have our dark sides."

Lucille rose from the seat and made her way out of the room. As she exited the room, Bennett's boisterous laugh sent a chill down her spine. She was nearly certain that his wicked guffaw would haunt her for the rest of her days.