HOMEOSTASIS

Chapter II

"It's improbable I'll ever come back down,
I fell in and now I think I might drown."

⦻⦻⦻

San Diego isn't so bad. It's actually really pretty! But it's not like they could afford to go to the beach. They had a killer to catch. And that would be really hard, considering they don't know how they look like.

So, they took their van, and Kate drove around the city. She went to the depths of the dirtiest inches of it. She even tried to make herself look pretty and... decent, so she could ask around for information. Toby helped her with that. It was fun to do her hair and clean her face with wet wipes. Christ, she can't remember the last time she took a proper shower...

But after two entire days of non-stop search, they got a lead. It was a pure coincidence, really.

They stopped at a parking lot to sleep for a while. They needed to rest, they're not some immortal beings. And just as they were making themselves comfortable, using their own clothes as pillows in the back of the van, an ambulance and police cars passed by. Loud sirens going off in the highway, and something in Tim awoke. Some may call it "proxy intuition", he likes to call it "logic".

Without any warning, he jumped over his colleagues' sleeping figures, and started the car in a rush, following the police and ambulance in the distance. He swerved and possibly went over the speed limit at some point, but it's not like he cared. Brian- with his still covered face- could only hold on tight to the window, as his friend started the ride from Hell and back.

After driving for fifteen consecutive minutes, they finally arrived at a location. An apartment complex. People all around were in panic and a few were crying and sobbing. And when the paramedics brought out a kid directly to the ambulance, the four of them could spot the very obvious wounds all over his torso. His dotted pajama shirt was covered in pure red. Clearly a stabbing. Just like the ones in the "Bedroom killer's" files.

Kate passed through the crowd, accidentally bumping against a woman wearing all black, but soon got to the front.

"Hey," She whispered to one of the officers who was guarding the scene, "Where did they find that kid?"

"Huh? Get out of here, miss. This apartment complex is now a crime scene!"

"In his bedroom, right?"

The man looked at her up and down, quirking an eyebrow, "And how the Hell do you know that?"

"I'm taking my master's in criminology, and I'm trying to write my thesis about a killer who only kills during the night." As she spoke, her hands moved frantically behind her back, signaling the others to follow the ambulance, "We call him the "Bedroom killer". Please, any info, as small as it is, would be a great help!"

The man sighed, looking around the place. "Alright, look." And Kate mentally high-fived herself for her amazing acting skills. Usually, she hates conversing with random people- it grows an inexplicable anxiety in her head- but maybe it's because she's away from Slenderman, that she's finally being able to do this. She hasn't seen any density of woods in a long while, so maybe the fake sense of freedom is finally speaking louder.

"I can't tell you much about what we know. Especially because I'm not in that department. But all we know so far, is that the name of the killer is Jeffrey. He's a suspect of killing his own parents and he might also be the cause of his brother's initial disappearance. That's all I know. Now get outta here before both of us get I trouble."