Monsters are real. They have been for a very long time, but have learned to hide themselves well. Clarine Denz is one such monster, perhaps the worst of the lot. She's a killer, she's delusional, she has lost hope and she has no sympathy for other...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Water!" I shout out to anyone listening.
I hear a low voice from the corner, "I hope you die." I'm tempted to tell Harry to kill her now, but then that'd be bad for him. Before Harry can get back to me the world washes away and I'm back hovering over Neel and his totaled car.
"Wait there!" the neighbor across the road shouts at a dumbfounded Neel. The neighbor is a thirty something year old man wearing a gray vest over a checkered collar shirt, his upstanding top half is countered by blue checkered pajamas and black slippers. As he crosses the street he pushes his square rim glasses further up his nose and cradles a phone between his fingers, "Sorry I didn't come out sooner, we were in a raid and I couldn't just leave."
Neel stands up and walks over to the car, nudging the bumper with his foot, "Hey there Mr. Matthews, it seems I had an accident and won't be making it to work today."
"No Kidding," Mr. Matthews replies, snapping a photo of the car before walking around to the sidewalk, "How'd this happen? I'd say kids but damn, that's intense. What mafia did you piss off?" He snaps a few photos of the punctures in the hood and the windshield.
"You know I'm not a criminal, you confirmed that with those stupid cameras."
He snaps several photos of the sidewalk side and then the crushed roof before going to the back, "You can never be too sure! How often does a kid get an apartment alone in this neighborhood? Drug money comes to mind."
"What are the pictures for?" Neel asks, following Mr. Matthews on his loop.
"My blog, you don't mind do you? Interesting shit happens and the world wants to know! So tell me, what gang you in with, what are you selling, who'd you piss off for this?" He pauses for second. "These bullet holes?" He's gone around the car once and is at the hood again, poking the holes with a finger. "I'd keep your identity a secret for sure."
"Sure, after you just plastered your fingerprints all over the evidence." Neel says.
"Shit!" he leans over the hood and uses his shirt to wipe down the holes, "Really though, what happened?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me."
Neel takes a step back and says, "A huge bird dropped down from the sky and smashed it, those holes are it stepping down before it flew off again."
"You're shitting me," he replies. Mr. Matthews looks around, there hasn't been any traffic since the car was smashed nor is there any now. Most the spots in front of the apartments are empty. Besides Neel's car on the street there is only one other car on the far end near the intersection, "Well, I can lend you my cover man, whatever shit you've gotten into you don't want the cops finding out."
They both look across the street, four spots over from Neel's front door is one of the cars still parked in front of the complex. The car has an old gray cover over it that's so dirty it looks as if it hasn't been removed in months.
