Page 55 of Unusual Noises

It wasn’t until I was walking into the police station that a mirror reminded me that I was still covered in blood and brain matter thanks to Marilyn and Richard Clark. Now, while it’d been self-defense, I had killed two people, and now that I was faced with having to explain in detail what happened tonight, I was very grateful that Saint hadn’t let me shoot Donovan Clark. It would have been murder, and the police would have surmised enough with the help of forensics.

Once we got into the interrogation room, Officer Murphy asked, “Would you like me to find you something cleaner to wear?”

My eyes watered at her offer. Even though it really didn’t bother me, I didn’t want my parents to see me this way. I had called them as soon as I’d gotten reception, and they’d been as hysterical and as worried as I had expected them to be. Officer Murphy had also suggested that the Clarks could have been using a signal jammer of some sort, because there’s no way that our phone signals would have beenthatbad only thirty minutes from town.

After bringing me a clean shirt and a bottle of water, Officer Murphy had escorted me to the restroom where I had changed and washed my face. Staring in the mirror, my hair and the rest of me were hopeless, but I still looked a lot better than I’d had walking in here.

Escorting me back to the interrogation room, I waited tiredly for someone to come take my official statement. I thought about how the police were probably on their way to Lulee’s parents’ house right now to break the news to them, shattering their lives forever. I thought about how Cree was probably being prepped for surgery right now, his parents racing to be with him during this horrific time. I thought about Kevin’s parents and what was happening with Sarah. I even thought about Trevor and his family. He’d been traveling and, somewhere, there was someone waiting for him. A someone that was going to find out the horrible truth just like Lulee’s parents and Kevin’s parents.

Hours later, when the door finally opened, I turned to see two plain-clothed detectives walk into the room. I was too tired to try to gauge their vibe, but I didn’t even know if I cared anymore. Fatigue had finally set in, and I just wanted to lie down somewhere and cry myself to sleep.

“Ms. Mercer, I’m Detective Howser,” said the first detective as he sat down at the table, right across from me. “This is Detective Rolland.” The second detective took a seat next to him. “We just came from the crime scene, though we’re heading back out there after our interview for a more in-depth look.”

“What do you need from me, Detectives?” I asked, tired, but knowing that I needed to cooperate for the sake of justice. Donovan Clark needed to rot in prison or fry in the electric chair, and I was going to do everything that I could to make sure that he got what he deserved.

“We just need you to tell us everything that happened tonight,” Detective Howser answered. “As hard as this is, we need you to tell us anything and everything, Ms. Mercer.”

Letting out a deep breath, I began telling them everything, leaving nothing out, even how Saint hadn’t let me kill Donovan Clark, though I had really, really, really wanted to.

Epilogue

Saint – (One Year Later)~

Her screaming woke me, but that wasn’t anything new. Plus, no matter how far we’d come over the past year, I’d known waking up this morning that today was going to be a trigger event for her.

Sitting up, I pulled Verity into my arms. “Shh, baby,” I cooed, wrapping her up tightly. “I’m here, Verity. I’m here.”

“Saint, Saint, Saint…” she chanted, her voice falling into a low whisper. “Saint…”

“It’s okay, Verity,” I said, though I knew that was a lie. Nothing was ever going to be okay ever again. Things were going to work out, but they were never going to be okay. “It’s okay.”

Today, Cree, Verity, and I had gone to visit Lulee’s headstone, and I could hardly recognize any of us anymore. No matter that all of us were still going to counseling, we still just couldn’t get past what the Clarks had done to us and countless others. Lulee’s loss was still as painful as it’d been that night. Even Kevin’s death still played on our consciences. While we hadn’t known him well, we were bonded by that horrific night, and I didn’t think that we’d ever get out from under that dark cloud.

As for Sarah, we still heard from her, but if I thought that we were broken, that was nothing compared to what she was still going through. Yeah, we’d lost a very important person in our lives, but so had she. She’d lost the love of her life, all the while, enduring a horror that I was incredibly grateful that Verity and Lulee hadn’t had to experience.

“I miss her so much,” Verity cried quietly. “We were all supposed to grow old together.”

“I know, baby,” I replied softly, pulling her in closer. “I know.”

“Cree looked…he looked so broken, Saint,” she continued to cry. “I…I don’t know how to help him.”

“We can’t help him, Verity. No one can,” I told her truthfully. “All Cree can do is mourn his own way and let time help him sort out his feelings.”

A year later, all of us still lived in California, and I was working at Lorax Engineering as planned, Verity worked for a research firm that dealt with hereditary diseases, and Cree was a mathematics professor for a private college. We had followed the plan, but it was safe to say that none of us were actually living right now. We were coping, but as long as I had Verity with me, that’s all I needed. After watching Cree lose Lulee, nothing mattered more to me than the girl in my arms.

“Baby?”

“Yeah?”

“Marry me,” I said, and not because she was upset. I wasn’t asking her to marry me to make her feel better. I was asking her because I couldn’t lose her toanything. “Just you and me. No family, no big production, no anything. Just me, you, the pastor, and a witness.”

She didn’t say anything for a really long time. In fact, she was so quiet that I moved to check if she’d fallen back asleep. When I pulled back to look down at her, her blue eyes looked up at me, and every single fucking thing in my world resided inside that gaze of hers.

“Fuck, I love you,” I told her. “I love you so fucking much, Verity.”

“I know,” she whispered. “I love you, too.”

“Marry me,” I repeated. “Marry me, so that I can stop losing my fucking mind.”

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