Chapter 5

MYSTIC HOLLOW

(Homicide)

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BY NAOMI INNOCENT

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CHAPTER 5

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Sarah who was in the VIP ward at the hospital finally opened her eyes, seeing her mom sitting close to her with her head placed on her bed.

She saw Zoe standing close to her and smiled seeing her regain herself.

"Ma'am, she's opened her eyes" Zoe said tapping Emily Bellos who opened her eyes, she looked pale more than her daughter who was admitted.

"Sarah darling, are you ok now? Do you need anything?" Her mom aked rushing her words feeling excited. Sarah stared at her for a while before glancing at the plaster on her wounded wrist and a drip connected to her other wrist .

She started removing the drip connected to her wrist as her mom tried to stop her and instructed Zoe to call in the doctor.

Zoe returned with the doctor who tried to calm Sarah down but she wouldn't listen.

"Sarah please listen to me, please just listen ok?" The doctor said as She calmed down.

"See you're gonna be fine. We are just gonna inject you and remove the drip since you want it off. You don't like it right?" The doctor asked as she nodded and kept staring at her.

"Don't worry, we would take it off" she said as the nurse came with the injection on a tray holding a book with her left hand.

"Now let's check your temperature" the doc said as she placed a thermometer in her mouth.

After taken the readings, the doc smiled.

"Temperature's good" she said and check her pulse before processing to inject her.

But Sarah kept staring at the book the nurse was holding.

Her mom noticed her staring at a particular spot as the doc took her temp again.

"What's it honey?" Her mom asked as she traced her eyes seeing her staring at the book the nurse was holding.

"Doctor, I think Sarah wants to draw, she's been staring at that book for a while now" her mom said as the doc smiled.

"Oh really? Mia, why don't you get Sarah a book and a pen?" The doc told the nurse who bowed and left with the tray.

"Seems She loves drawing?" the doc asked.

"Yh, ever since she was a kid" her mom said.

The nurse returned with a book and HB pencil. She handed it over to Sarah who took it with agitation and started sketching as she crossed her legs in a kneeling position on the bed.

"I guess I'll leave you both to yourselves" the doc told Mrs. Bellos.

"Thanks Doc" she said.

"Call me Erica" the doc said before leaving as the nurse followed her.

Mrs. Bellos smiled and stared at what her child was drawing with agitation.

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"I just received a text from Peter, he said they managed to leave the hospital unnoticed and they are ok" Elena said as she and Alex walked home.

"Guess we are both grounded?" Elena said feeling unperturbed.

"Yh, so much for being a hero. Guess my dad is right after all. Its not everything we should get ourselves involved in. We seriously don't know what they are dealing with, we don't wanna drag attention to ourselves " Alex said as they hiked.

"No Alex don't, day that, we.."

"Just stop Elena, we all are just some bunch of losers trying to prove some stupid thing or whatever" Alex said as Elena breathed down knowing its pointless to argue with Alex in this state of his.

*

"The mayor just called and he is furious, and worst of it all, his wife and daughter were inside that same hospital! What if they were the ones murdered? We really need to do something" Ruth said out of frustration as she gathered with her team around a table.

" I don't know which normal human would go about killing innocent kids!" Detective Crane blurted out.

"Kate, any good news about the DNA sampes from the scene?" Ruth asked.

"No ma'am, it was all cleaned, the killer is really smart. He made sure he left no traces at the scene" Kate commended.

"How about the CCTV footages?" She asked.

"It was tempered with again, and I found this" Phillips said as he handled the photo he got from the CCTV footage to Ruth who observed the blurred photo of a man on the roof.

"How did this killer know the spots where the CCTV cameras were mounted at the hospital? Most of us here doesn't even know" Detective Mansion said perplexed.

"Well, that explains just one thing. This killer is an inside man. He is someone that knows a lot about Mystic Hollow " Detective Crane said.

"And check this out, he is aiming just at the forehead and its children from age 8 to 17 he has been killing lately" Phillips added.

"I think he is trying to stir up something" Kate said.

"Now the question is who is the killer? Who is his next target? When is he gonna strike?" Ruth asked as she circled Mystic Hollow Hospital and wrote *Homicide 4*

She looked at the other places on the map of mystic Hollow she has circled. And those circles are places where the homicide had occurred.

"Since we don't have answers to those questions, we are gonna keep our fingers crossed, trust no one and tell no one our plans or secrets. The killer might be our brother, husband or even one of us, let's be careful" Ruth said as the tense in the room amplified.

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"Wow, Sarah, that's a nice drawing, can I see?" Her mom asked after Sarah finished drawing whatever she was drawing.

She dropped the drawing on the bed as she buried her face on the pillow and started crying.

Her mom took the book and stared at the drawing.

"Awwn, so cute, Zoe come and look at this pretty kid she drew, she's so pretty" Mrs. Bellos said as Zoe walked towards them to see the drawing.

Its a drawing of a little girl with blonde hair who was smilimg revealing her one sided dimple with grey eyes.

Beside the drawing, Sarah wrote some figures which seemed more like a code.

*02082023*

Her mom and Zoe were too engrossed with the drawing that they didn't take notice of the code.

*.

"I think we should opt for patrol every night, let's see how these CCTV footages are being tempered with" Detective Crane suggested.

"Yh and we'll also see if we can notice any funny movements in the nights" Detective Kate suggested, though Ruth didn't buy the idea cause she's not ready to loose anyone.

"I think its risky to do that? What if the killer stopped killing the children and starts killing us? As in, the people following up the case?" Detective Vera asked as Phillips glared at her.

"What do you mean by that? Are you insinuating our kids should die and we live? Its better if they should leave the innocent kids alone and face us! Seriously I can't watch another innocent blood shed! I lost my daughter! My only kid to this damn killer! We are gonna take the risk to save the children, if it is possible, I wanna die on their behalf! And Im volunteering for the first round of the patrol" Phillips said and left as everyone remained sad and downcasted.

"I meant no harm" Vera said with a shrug.

"He is in pains right now, we should understand him, he lost his only daughter Jane to this killer" Ruth said as she scratched her scattered hair.

"I'll go with him at the first round" Vera said as Ruth nodded.

*.

Elena stayed in her room thinking of everything she read in Sarah's birth record, its so normal, but why would she be acting strange and weird?

She opened her phone and went straight to her gallery to check out the pictures she took from her record book.

She read through her Health records as she opened her mouth.

"Sarah was frequently having seizures when she was a kid?" She muttered to herself as she continued reading.

"Born 21st December, 2005? What the hell!?" Elena screamed and threw her phone away as her mom entered her room.

"What part of you are grounded you don't understand young lady? You are not allowed to use your cell phone or any electronic gadgets" her mom yelled at her as she picked the phone from the ground and sat on her bed.

"Why don't you just lock me up in a cell huh? At least I'll have cell mates to talk to instead of being grounded! " Elena nagged folding her arms as she stretched her legs on her bed.

"See sweetie, I would really appreciate it if you would stay away from all these Mystic Hollow stuff, I wouldn't wanna loose you" Ruth said standing up from her bed as she dropped the phone on the bed without glancing at what her daughter was doing with it.

"I wish my dad was here, I wish I knew him, I know he would had listened to me, I just wish.... "

"Shut up young lady! You're not permitted to speak of your dad, do you understand?" Her mom fired at her which made her scared cause she hasn't seen her in such state before.

Elena became afraid immediately and watched her mom leave the room as she banged the door behind her.

Elena knee hugged herself and buried her face between her knees and cried.

.*

"She's really pretty" Zoe commended as she looked at what Sarah drew on the book.

"Honey who is she? Is she a friend of yours? How did you know her that you were able to draw a potrate of her off hand?" Her mom asked as she stared at the smiling potrate of the little girl.

"Sarah.. Sarah Honey?" Her mom called her and went to where she buried her face on the pillow. She tried to make her raise up her head and then she realize Sarah was crying.

"What is it honey? You wanna go home? Don't worry, we're going now. Zoe, go get the limo ready" Mrs. Bellos instructed her as she nodded and left.

In less than a minute Zoe left, the doc, Miss Erica came in with the nurse.

"Why is she crying?" Erica asked Mrs Bellos who helped Sarah stand on her own.

"I think she wanna go home already, she hates it in here. Remember what happened to her here when she was brought for some psychological issues?" Mrs Bellos said in a whisper to Erica who quickly got the clear picture of the scenerio.

But little did they know that there are some things beyond human understanding.

Erica discharged Sarah as they left forgetting the potrate she drew at the hospital.

After they left, the nurse went to clean up the room as she saw the potrate.

"Wow, she's a good artist" she commended as she thought of returning it back to them, then she heard the screeching sound of tyres, she stood close to the window and watched as the limo of the Bellos drove away.

"I guess I'm gonna have to keep it" she muttered to herself as she stared at the potrate then she took notice of the code written beside the drawing.

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Tbc