A R I E L
THE HOUSE WHICH Larson showed us in the photo came into view. It was further away from the main road than we had expected, but I'm guessing if this really is Jack Morison and by chance, he's hiding out from someone, then it wouldn't be in plain sight. As anticipated, the sky had drifted off into a darker hue, which then prompted us into using our flashlights. Larson led the way and through our journey, I remained centred between him and Lewis. I genuinely couldn't care less about their problems, but I'm guessing she didn't take my words of encouragement into consideration.
That's the least of my problems. Right now my plan is to find Jack and uncover the story and whereabouts of Barry Roosevelt. My life depends on it. "Should I knock?" Larson asked as we stopped at the end of the pathway leading up to the porch. We were surrounded by tall trees that hovered over our heads and complete darkness. There was no sound coming from the house, no light nor any indication of life. It didn't look abandoned but neither did it appear inhabited. "Let me, if something bad is going to happen I should take the blow," I said as I pushed him out of the way.
"No, let me." Lewis piped in.
"Look the two of you, this isn't an election, okay? It's just knocking on a door." I snapped as I climbed up the porch. The hardwood creaked beneath my feet and somehow the sound seemed to have magnified way beyond my expectations, halting my footsteps. "Ariel seriously–" I cut Larson off as I threw my hand in the air. I'm not scared and neither do they have a reason to be. Sure this is dangerous I guess but we're kids. If by chance our life is in danger I'll just whip out my "we're lost" card and crawl my way into the cracks of this person's heart.
Ignoring Larson's cry of protest, I etched closer towards the front door. At my feet was a welcome mat. The sight wasn't out of the ordinary but rather it was what was left beside it. I crouched down and ran my fingers through what appeared to be ash. It felt warm to the touch and withered as a gust of wind swept in my direction. Someone's here. Just as the thought crossed my mind something clicked above my head and the door came flying open. In the next following seconds, all I could hear was Larson and Lewis' cries of pleas and all I could see was the barrel of a shotgun.
~~~
I never saw the day where I could say that I was held at gunpoint. Should I have been scared? Yes, I supposed so. Was I? Not really. Call it intuition but I knew that he wouldn't have shot me. Luckily enough though I didn't have to pull out the "I'm lost card." Well to be fairly honest I didn't want to. When Jack had asked me to stand on my feet slowly and Lewis and Larson cried like dying hyena's in the background I just muttered his name and waited for my desired reaction. As expected the colour drained from his face and his grip on me loosened. He seemed to be both in a state of fear, confusion and anger.
However, things settled down once I told him we just wanted his help. Like I said earlier: I'd find a way to crawl into the cracks of his heart and I succeeded. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you living in the woods so far from town? All your information on the internet was wiped out except your articles and myspace page which both had no photos of you. Can I take a wild guess. . .witness protection?" Jack set the shotgun rifle down beside the entryway leading to what appeared to be his living room. "I should be asking the questions, you little rascals. Wandering in the woods to find a man you don't know at such a late hour in the night? This better be worth it."
"It's about Barry Roosevelt and the murders he committed," I said. His shoulders suddenly tensed, "our friend was accused of a double homicide a month ago. It was in the exact same fashion Barry murdered his wife and those two other women whose bodies were discovered after his arrest. We know our friend is innocent and that he was framed but no one believes us. We're trying to sus out a possible copycat killer or Barry himself. Any information will help, really. We just-we just want to get to the bottom of it." My eyes brimmed with tears as I peered up at the man who appeared to have rather been dead than invite us inside.
The look on his face was the embodiment of hesitancy but behind that lingering gaze of uncertainty was concern and pity. He sighed in defeat, "you were right, son." He said as he turned his attention towards Larson, "I am here on witness protection. I didn't want to leave town because it's the place I was raised so the protection program put me here instead." Somehow within the few seconds that he was speaking, Larson had found himself standing beside me, his hands twitching at his side: A clear indication of his nervousness.
It was a habit of his I realized now has never died. I guess this place and this entire situation is creepy. At the sight of me crying, he suddenly slipped his hand into mine, the twitching immediately subsiding. I don't know why my body prompted me to find Lewis' gaze but as I expected: she was the least bit interested in what Jack had to say and instead on Larson's and I intertwined hands. I did tell her if she wants him back she needs to stop being a whiny sulking bitch. Now she has to suffer seeing him cozy up to me.
I don't like it one bit but if it means it'll push her to show me her true colours and intentions then so be it. I curled my fingers around his and caught the sneer of her lips as her eyes began to darken despite the lack of light illuminating her face. As much as I hate to say this, Theo is right. I can't trust anyone. . .especially those closest to me. "I didn't just write the article because it was simply my job to do so." Jack said, snapping me out of my thoughts, "I wrote it out of personal knowledge and connection to the case. I–I was close friends with Barry Roosevelt and I testified against him in court."
Past
"Why do you have an ankle monitor?" I asked out of curiosity. Before he could reply, Jena crawled towards me excitedly, her bright gray eyes boring into mine. "That's just one of the wild dares we have in this game, beautiful. You see Finick was dared to walk into the town's precinct and pee on the rug in the main lobby. He did so of course but by the time anyone had realized what happened he ran out and jumped into his car. They went on a wild goose chase trying to catch this asshole on the highway. It didn't make big news because no media outlets had gotten word of it.
Still, they were in hot pursuit and this idiot accidentally swerved off the road and crashed into a tree. They tased him, arrested him then dragged his ass to court. He got 30 days in jail for indecent exposure and the other serious charges were dropped because his daddy in England bribed the crooked assholes to keep quiet. So they released him on probation and he can't leave the house for a month." Wow, rich assholes really do get off easily when they throw money in authorities' faces. My mom is a Doctor so she makes six figures a year but no one knows that unless they ask.
I don't wanna be known as the girl with rich parents who bail her out of every situation. And I intend to keep it that way. "If your dad is rich why are you playing this game then? Isn't it to earn money?" Finnick nodded his head, "my dad is rich but I never said my mom was. They had a nasty divorce and my mom fell into bad drug abuse. She lived off of the child support he paid but I'm 21 now so guess how long that was? Ever since then she's only been getting worse and has no money to pay for shit so I work part-time because I got college and the money I make off of my job and this game is to fund her rehab stay. My dad pays for my school but he won't help her so I gotta do it."
Looks really can be deceiving. He looks like your typical trouble-making punk when in reality he's a sweetheart who risks his life for his mother. That's dedication. I respect him for that. "That's amazing, Finnick." I mumbled, "I uh also need to use the washroom," I said as I stood up from the couch. Tobias snapped his head in my direction and parted his lips to protest but before he could, a hand lowered over his mouth, "she ain't gonna die, buddy. Let the girl go piss in private, geez. It's up the stairs in the main foyer. When you get there just take a right down the other hallway. It's the first door to your left." Finnick explained.
I thanked him and began my trek out of the basement and up the stairs. However, as soon as light streaked into the staircase when I made it to the top, Trey made a not-so-surprising appearance as if he were waiting for me. I don't usually pay attention to creepy assholes like him but the sight of his face and the unsettling feeling that I know him from somewhere keeps bothering me. "Ariel," he called out, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Yeah?" He smirked, "what's your last name?"
"The hell is it to you?"
"I mean no harm sweetheart I'm just curious. I've seen you before but I don't know from where." Although his face was unsettling I knew he wasn't lying. Why? Because I felt the same way. "Ariel Campbell," I answered, seeing no harm in it. I wanna know too. His smile faltered as a look of realization fell over his once unattractive features. I mean it didn't make him more attractive he just looked less like a cartoon villain and more like a human with real emotions. "Ariel Campbell? As in Adrien Campbell's sister?"
Adrien?
This asshole knows Adrien? I scoffed, "of course you did." He nodded his head vigorously, "yeah I lived like two dorms down from him. We hung out a lot and by hung out, I mean smoked pot and drank till our asses fell off." Adrien, the guy who aspired to be a lawyer was smoking pot and drinking. Oh, the irony of it all. His smile suddenly faltered, "I-I knew I recognized you. He has a photo of you and your little sister in his wallet," I curled my nails into the palm of my hands as those words escaped his lips. "Ariel I'm really sorry about what happ–"
"Let's not talk about it, please." I cut him off hastily and before he could reply I excused myself and hightailed to the washroom, wishing that he didn't bring my brother's name into that conversation. Well now I know who he is, I guess I can sleep at night without that lingering question nagging me.
Present
In detail, Jack Morison laid out how he came to know Barry. "Barry and I were kind of like best friends. We weren't but considering he didn't have many friends I guess you could say I was that to him. We went to high school together, got into the same college, became roommates, you know the typical things. He was always a weird guy. Back in my time being an introvert was looked down upon even if it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. But by the time we got to College he wasn't just weird anymore. . .he was dangerous. He started doing drugs, hanging with the notoriously bad kids, sleeping with half the school's population. Barry was no longer an outcast.
I always had my future set out neatly before me. I'd graduate, get my Bachelor of Arts Degree, become a journalist, have a wife and kids and no one, not even Barry would ruin that for me. So I asked him to move out one day in fear that the faculty would suspect I was partaking in his troublemaking and it ruined my future. I told him he had a week to move out or I would. I left that morning but when I came back I uh–I didn't expect to find what I did.
In our bathtub, I found a girl beaten to a pulp just bleeding half to death. Her name was Melissa Aspen and she was his girlfriend at the time. I told her I'd call the cops but she pleaded with me to not because Barry threatened to kill her. I was torn but I knew what Barry was capable of and I knew he would make good on his promise. So I cleaned and bandaged her up, got her home and threw all Barry's shit out the door. I left the apartment too in fear that he would try to hurt me. I came back a few days later and all his stuff was gone. He dropped out of College that same week and I never heard of him again.
Fast forward a few years later I bumped into him and Diane whilst I was out on a business trip in Gainesville. He still looked disturbed just with age and I wanted nothing to do with him but he insisted we exchanged numbers. I didn't want to disrespect him in front of Diane so I accepted. She was so sweet and I honestly feared for her life knowing what Barry's true nature was. Anyways about two weeks later I got a call from him. It was urgent and he sounded scared and distraught. I knew in my gut that I shouldn't have gone but I did anyway out of curiosity.
I met him at a run-down motel. He looked god awful when I arrived. He started to rant about Diane cheating on him with her ex-boyfriend Sung-Ho Jones and how she needed to pay for disrespecting him. In detail, he told me everything he'd do to her. He said he'll make love to her one last time so she'll know what it feels like to miss him. He would then beat her as she looked into his eyes and pleaded for him to stop, knowing she brought it on herself. He said after he beat her to death he'd carve a cross into her leg so that God may be with her and then he'd dismember her so she wouldn't be easily identified.
The sight was jarring. . .scary. He looked possessed and I knew if I didn't get out of that motel room he'd kill me. Why else would he tell me his entire plan if he wasn't reassured that I wouldn't be able to tell anyone else? So when he was distracted in his deluded thoughts I hit him over the head with a beer bottle and ran. I hopped into my car and drove off. I drove until I got back To New Hampshire with nothing but my phone and shoes, all my belongings remaining behind. That's how scared I was.
I told the authorities over the phone because I feared for her life but they did nothing about it because I had no proof that Barry was abusive. The proof was always there. Her colleagues knew, her friends knew but they found out too late. A week later I heard about her death on the news. The FBI finally took my story seriously seeing as Barry murdered her and two other women in the exact way he described to me. I along with all Diane's friends and colleagues testified against him in court. Surprisingly, even his ex-girlfriend testified and finally told her story about his abuse. I also testified that her story was true.
I asked them to put me in the protection program for my family's safety. They gave me a whole new identity and yes staying in town is risky but the chances of Barry getting released are slim to none. The protection program is just a precaution. He was sentenced to life because we wanted him to suffer in prison. Death is too easy. Sorry kids but we were never told what prison he was sentenced to, all we knew was that it was maximum security.
Barry is a sick man and he has a lot of enemies but he has just as many admirers. The list of people who may be inspired by his technique is endless so I don't see how you all will find out. Right now if you wanna prove your friend is innocent you need to focus on his friends, enemies and family. Maybe you'll find a connection between him and Barry if you look deep enough. I'm sorry that I can't help you'll any further."
Though the night was long and the story was far more interesting than I expected it to be I still left unsatisfied. We found out nothing new other than them being pals. He's right, Barry has many admirers and any one of them could be behind this. All I need is a connection to Tobias. "Guys, do you remember what Barry's ex-girlfriend's name was?" I asked as we trekked down the path towards the car.
"Melissa Aspen," Larson mumbled as he kicked at a stone beside his feet. I stopped dead in my tracks, "wh-what?" Larson frowned, confused as to why I had suddenly stopped. Silence enveloped us, leaving the loud chirping of the crickets to fill the blanks in our conversation. I didn't need to elaborate any further for him to realize whose name he had called out. His hand lowered onto his mouth as his big brown eyes nearly bulged out of his head, "Melissa Aspen. . Aspen as in–"
Lewis chuckled in disbelief, "Tobias' mother."
~~~
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