In The Dark

62 - November 3rd

Melanie slowly began to rouse, squinting against the small amount of light creeping in from the edge of the curtain over the window. She frowned as she realized a muscled arm was draped over her waist and Geri was in bed next to her. She carefully turned her head to see who was cuddled against her, the previous night's events slowly coming back to her, and colour rose to her cheeks from the embarrassment of her reaction to Officer Shaw's phone call.

She carefully lifted Brian's arm off of her and she slid back against the headboard, pushing herself onto her feet and gingerly stepping over Brian and onto the bedside table before lowering herself to the floor.

Now upright and fully awake, pain began radiating through her head, making her slightly nauseous. She fought back the urge to vomit and quietly extracted a few Advil tablets from the bottle in her suitcase. She looked back to make sure Geri and Brian were still asleep before grabbing her key card and leaving through Geri's room to keep them from hearing the door click shut behind her.

Coffee was already brewing in the penthouse suite when she entered, but no one was in the kitchen or the sitting room. The TV was on and she could hear Simon on his mobile in another room. She quickly poured herself a glass of water and took the Advil tablets, then opened a few of the cupboards to see what there was to eat. She found a pot of instant oatmeal and she scanned the directions on the back to make herself breakfast.

She grabbed a few blueberries from the fridge and sprinkled them in her oatmeal before sitting on the couch in the sitting room to watch the program on the TV. She froze as Otis's face appeared on the screen, along with her picture and the six other women. She stared at the screen, fully engrossed in the news story and no longer aware of anything else going on around her. The reporter was speaking with a few of the parents of the girls that had been murdered by the cult member. They were sobbing and gripping photos of their lost loved ones, all girls in their early 20s, all kidnapped and found dumped in random places between the houses of the men, all with their reproductive organs removed.

Shots of Otis and the other four men were shown as they were led in handcuffs from a police van into the Court House, along with illustrated depictions of them sitting in the courtroom. There were short clips of the exterior of Otis's cabin, closeups of the police tape keeping people from trespassing, the window Melanie had climbed out of, and then a map of the area with yellow dots showing where each of the men lived and red Xs where each of the girls' bodies were found.

Melanie continued to stare at the television, taking in each of the distraught faces of mothers, siblings, grandparents, and friends of each of the girls. She read the names written beneath each person who spoke to the reporter, memorizing the faces that went with them and the lost loved one they were connected to.

Simon walked into the room and halted as he saw Melanie staring at the TV. He looked worriedly from the news program to the girl sitting on the couch, completely absorbed in the visuals on the screen.

"Melanie?" Simon asked, slowly approaching her. She didn't move, seeming not to have heard him. Not wanting to startle her, he took the remote from the kitchen table and changed the channel. Melanie continued to watch the screen for a moment, going over what she had seen, before looking back at Simon. He looked at her sympathetically and sat on the arm of the couch next to her.

"You shouldn't watch that," he said softly. She apologized guiltily and walked back into the kitchen with her untouched pot of oatmeal. No longer hungry, she dropped it into the rubbish bin and moved to leave the suite.

"How much of that did you eat?" Simon asked worriedly.

Melanie stopped and looked back at the bin where she'd chucked the oatmeal. "Enough," she replied as she shrugged.