Page 3 of Nocturne

And that is what awaits us if we continue down this path. I can try telling her not to do this, but I know Ivy. She wouldn’t listen. Her curiosity to know things surpasses her self-preservation right now.

Just like mine did when I ventured into that wretched forest despite the many warnings from everyone. This close to her investigation, she wouldn’t leave it.

I shake my head at her as she walks forward, buzzing with energy. I follow her, preparing myself for the worst imaginable future.

Fear slams back into me with full force as soon as we step into the warehouse. The rough winds do not penetrate the concrete walls but shake the wooden boards that hang from the roof. I look around for evidence of any of those pieces on the floor so that I can show them to Ivy and drag her out of this place. Much to my chagrin, there aren’t any lying around.

The weather in Walius is unpredictable. There were dark clouds just a few seconds ago. Now, they pave the way slightly to let the moon shine into this building. The walls under the covered roof are smeared with something dark that I do not wish to investigate.

I scout for the exit points other than the one we entered. I’ve learned that particular lesson quite the hard way—always know your exit before you enter a tricky situation.

Ivy sticks to my side—thank god for that—as we explore the right side of the building.

I spot a window shuttered closed with wooden boards on the far right of the wall. Ivy and I start to walk towards it when we hear it.

The heavy squeaks of something akin to metal, when a strong gust of wind blows in from the holed roof. Ivy is fast to whip her head while I’m dreading what we will find. She is also faster in letting out a blood-curdling scream that must have awoken all the ghosts in here.

Her grip on my wrist turns tight, and I can feel her nails digging into my skin. Ivy continues to scream into my ear, hiding herface behind me. I finally muster enough courage to fully turn to the horror that awaits.

The image draws a shuddery breath out of me, making it almost impossible to swallow the fearful scream that wants out from my throat. The only reason I don’t go berserk like Ivy is because I’ve seen horrors like this before. Much more than this, but it still brings waves of nausea looking at the carnage ahead of us.

Dead bodies hang from the ceiling, all of their necks broken at odd angles. But that isn’t the only thing. All their mouths are sewn shut—quite literally—with their penises embedded into them. Some of them are missing ears, some their limbs, and some their eyes. But all of them—up until the end of the warehouse—are missing their penises. The blood drops from their bodies, forming a massive puddle underneath and leeching into the wooden boards.

Ivy looks back, and this time her screams are interrupted by her sounds of retching. She runs to a corner, with her back to the corpses and me as she heaves the day’s contents out of her.

It has been long since I’ve encountered violence like this. Almost a decade. And even when I did see the horrors before, the one before me doesn’t look like a crime of passion like the ones I’ve seen. These… corpses don’t look like they have been simply abducted from the road without any reason other than to curb their thirst for lunacy.

No.

Whoever killed them did it with precision. Not with care, but with accuracy. To send a message.

The blood is still flowing and the corpses don’t smell. It means it hasn’t been long since they have been hung here. The realisationhas horror descend like no other. Dead bodies never harmed anyone, but the ones who put them there, will.

“We need to leave, immediately!”

I don’t turn to look at Ivy puking, afraid that I will follow her suit. I need to keep my bearings at least until we reach home. I can let it all out once in the safety of my walls.

“Not so soon,”

The chilling voice has my shoulders snap together. I’m fast to turn and look for Ivy. Thankfully she is close and she moves to stand beside me, but a tad far as I’m just a few feet away from the first hanging corpse.

Two men stand in front of the door through which we came in, blocking our escape. The older-looking one has thinning hair that is sleeked back with more wax than necessary. A scar slices through his face, sealing his right eye shut. His other eye is sharp and is fixed on the bodies behind us. The man behind him has his focus on us as if he knows that we are thinking of escape.

I pull Ivy close and push her behind me. She doesn’t complain but she does let out a whimper when the second guy smirks.

This one has a bald head and a metal tooth that glints under the moonlight. Both of them appear dangerous. The elder one is angry, it is palpable in the air as he takes a step forward, not looking away from the bodies behind me.

I make a safe assumption that he isn’t the one who had put them there. This man was meant to find these corpses and I’m sure we’re going to burn in between the crossfire of some rival mob nonsense.

“Devlin likes to show off, eh, Nero?”

“Yes, boss.”

The one with the metal tooth—Nero—nods. The boss talks in an off-handed way, but his eye glints with rage. Rage so strong that when he turns his single eye to look at me, I can see murder in them. He doesn’t care if we had nothing to do with this, he is going to kill us either way. But still, I try.

“You must know that we had nothing to do with this.”

Nero cocks his head sideways, trying to see Ivy behind me. But the boss squints his one-functioning eye at me, not liking that I spoke.

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