Staring at the picture with furrowed eyebrows, I also spotted a snow globe in the victim's hand as he stood on the streets. "Wait...that boy. I've seen him somewhere," I thought before flipping through the pages quickly for more pictures and information.
Suddenly, a realization struck me. I noticed a striking resemblance of this picture with the picture in Max's album of which I located under his sofa. The snow globe he gave me deemed similar to the one in this newsletter too.
Could it be true? Is he the little boy in this newsletter?
I raised the newsletter right to my face to look at it critically. But after glaring at the face of the boy in the picture, I realized that I had seen him before too. But where? I thought while looking around the mall. My eyes widened when a memory rushed though my mind.
Pulling a wheelchair in the hospital along the walls, I spotted numerous strangers passing by me as Mom dragged me. When I bit my lip, I started playing with my legs bored of being transferred from one unit to another for some tests.
While being dragged, I turned to the main exit watching the patients rolled quickly towards the operation unit on the stretchers. Swallowing a gulp, I stared at the patients lying breathless and others fighting to stay alive.
With a drip on my hand, I looked up to the dripping liquid with melancholy. How long was I going to stay in this hospital. It was horrible seeing blood all over the doctors who dragged the patients on the stretcher. "Ryan! Stay with me," a young woman screamed while holding on to the little boy's hand.
My eyes fell sadly while playing with my fingers. When mom noticed my uncomfortable state, she lowered her head to greet all the doctors who passed by her and dragged me to my doctor faster.
We got to the consulting unit in no time. "Come in," the doctor exclaimed. She nodded and rolled the curtains back to get me back on my bed. As she moved back to talk to the doctor, I watched them on the bed
"How's her condition now?" Sighing, he turned to her after looking through a folder in his hands. "After running several tests, she's quite a lucky girl. The hit on her head didn't cause any internal bleeding. Her x-rays are quite good too. She just needs some vitamins and dressing at the wounded area. She can be discharged soon."
Heaving a sigh, she thanked the doctor with a bow. "You don't need to thank me. It's our job after all. You can take the day off tomorrow too and take care of her." She nodded happily and walked out to talk further with him.
Left alone, I folded my lips and took a deep breath. It was only when I turned to my right that I noticed another patient was sleeping on the next bed.
"Is anyone there?" I asked staring at the curtains. A little hand slowly raised and drew the curtains back. When it was completely out of the way, I saw a little boy around my age lying on the bed.
As I saw a drip placed on him too, I saw two adults standing close to him and talking to the doctor. When my mom saw them, a smile drew on her face.
"Mr. Morrison!" she called out holding a packaged tea in her hands. The little boy turned to me with a sigh. "You look quite sick," he said. I nodded and smiled lightly,"Yeah. I had a fight with my classmates. They're big bullies!" He laughed hearing the words big bullies.
"What about you?" He lowered his head and stared at me for a moment. "Well I don't know why I'm here. I tried to play with my friends but ended up hurting my hand. I can't control it sometimes. My friends call me an outcast."
He pursed his lips and turned to our chatty parents. "What do you say we play a game? I'll bring it up." I was bored already and mom was talking to someone else. It wouldn't hurt to play a game with him.
I could find out if he was truly saying the truth about not being able to control himself. "How about we see who's fast in picking the glass vase?" Happy, I nodded and smiled at him. "No cheating alright?" Counting up to three, I stretched my hand to pick up the vase. He also did the same but the glass fell out of his hand after a minute.
"Clara!" "Max!" They yelled turning turning to the commotion. Looking at his bandaged arm which was trembling, I could tell he wasn't lying about his situation.
Mom rushed to stand by me checking if I was hurt. "Didn't we tell you not to touch anything?!" Lowering his head, I turned to him sadly. "I'm sorry about this Mrs. Dickson." My mom nodded and stared at me before turning to the boy. A doctor came rushing in before checking his pulse.
Passing a packaged tea to me, I turned to the little boy blinking my eyes. "Mom, what's wrong with him?" She quickly dropped the tea on a table by me and sighed.
"Doctor. Can I transfer my daughter to another room?" My eyes widened with her request. "Mom...I want to stay here." She turned to me with a no stare and talked to the doctor regarding the transfer. With my eyes wavering in sadness, two nurses came to pick me up and sat me on the wheelchair.
"Let's go." Turning to his direction, I saw the nurses rushing to his room with a tray of stabilizers and other medications.
I remember now. His name was Max Morrison! How could I have forgotten about this? Dropping the newsletter on the table, a customer walked up to me.
"Welcome to City Mall!" She dropped her items on the table and smiled at me. After passing each item over the barcode reader, I smiled back at her. "That'll be ten bucks please!" She quickly gave the money to me. I passed it over the counter and nodded.
"Thanks for shopping here. Hope to see you soon." She picked her bag of items and walked out of the mall. I couldn't help but think of the young man I saw outside. Will he come back here again?
Ever since I started working here, I haven't seen the detective Max was talking about. When the next shift man entered, I smiled and dropped the keys in his hands. Dashing to my house, I started panting at the door m I quickly took the keys and unlocked the door
While scurrying to my room, I picked up the snow globe from the table and sighed. "It's really here!" I exclaimed holding my breath from the run. I compared it with the one in the picture and it was exactly the same, just like I thought.
"He said he was adopted by Ian. But why would he pick him of all people? How come he was right at the crime scene. I took out the other newsletters and looked through them one by one
I stopped when I was face to face with a curious newsletter.
"Accident on Manhattan. The car crashed with a VIP car conducted by a hoodie man. After investigations over the years, the police found out he's the same doctor that disappeared after killing his patients."
Ian? He also killed Max's parents? It's no wonder he was at the scene. But why did he adopt him after killing his parents? Why did he kill them?
"He killed them and raised their son? This doesn't make sense," I alluded trying to put the puzzle together. "He wanted to destroy the world through me, so I ran away," I repeated closing the newspaper in thoughts.
I had to tell Max about this even though I didn't want to talk to him. He deserves to know this, I won't be overpowered by selfishness. I traipsed slowly checking out the books one by one too. Each book had an intricate design consisting of how to prepare weird stuff.
I gathered all of them to study them. As I meandered towards the exit, I noticed a book laid aside, hidden in between a lot of books.
Dropping the books on the table, I scurried to that book and dug into the other books to retrieve it. It had the title,"Diary of Laura Dickson" with her signature appended at the bottom right.
I tried to open it but it seemed it was locked by an invisible force so I couldn't open it. This could be the key to find out all the secrets mom hid and maybe how to defeat him too. I have to find out how to open it.
I added it to the other books I had promised to study and stepped out of the basement, turning off the lights. I spent the whole day after to study every book. Yet I couldn't grasp any information.
"Jess could help me," I rescinded dropping the pen on the table to dial her number. She responded a bit later. As I crossed my legs on the bed, I put on my earphones before replying her. "Jess, I'm sending pictures of an ancient language. Please examine them."
After cutting the call, I forwarded all of them to her. She called back in no time making my head jerk up in surprise.
"Sorry. I don't think I can do this. After studying various languages,the only thing I can say is this. Only vampires can read them. But they're extinct. Clara are you there?" she asked realizing I wasn't commenting.
Nodding, I heaved a sigh. "Yeah, thanks," I stammered before throwing the phone on the bed furiously.
"A vampire could help me? What? now do I have to go to that Ian to do this for me?" I snapped rolling my eyes.
There's no way I'd set a trap for myself. I can't go to Max now. I didn't have the courage to face him after his lies. I folded my lips and looked at the bandage on my wrist. When I raised my hand I felt no pain.
That's weird! I thought wriggling my wrist. I carefully opened the wrapped bandage to check the wound. But to my surprise, there's was nothing that showed that I had slit my wrist in the first place.
Yesterday's memories flushed through my mind as I tried to remember. After I found out that Max was a vampire, I instigated him so that he'd finish me off, then I went unconscious after a moment, waking up in the cottage. "What did he do to me?" I contemplated, staring at the bandage. Only a few traces of blood was stained on it.
So I guess I have to go to him after all, only to figure this out. I don't know if I can trust him after this. My phone started ringing, exposing Nathan's name on the screen. Furious, I dashed to my phone and turned it off. I tumbled on the bed, thinking about the tons of assignments I had to submit.
I woke up early today. I stepped into the bathtub and hurried off to school. It seemed that girls from our dying had become a daily routine after Amy Sparks died. The fear of losing their wards made quite a ruckus on the news. It was a blast everywhere. Even on the way, I could hear people gossiping about the school. This made most of the parents complain.
Others withdrew their wards and the remaining were scared for their lives too. On the hallway to my locker, I noticed something behind the scenes. Turning to the direction of the footsteps, I saw a man pulling the principal to her office. I furrowed my eyebrows wondering who it was.
After walking closer and hiding behind a wall, I saw him better. He was of average height and looked young too. His black hair fell perfectly on his head, somewhat curly even under a hoodie.
His eyes were piercing like the strike of lightening and there was a tattoo with a daring design on his neck, just like someone I knew. "Wait....it's Ian!" I gasped as fear gripped me rendering me numb. Hiding behind the wall, I started breathing heavily.
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So it's Ian. But what is his business with the principal. Why is he dragging her to his office forcibly? What is his relationship with her? Does it have something to do with the deaths?