The Killer Among Us

Chapter 32

Six days left

Jacob

Everything happened in slow motion and yet my mind was racing at the same time. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't catch up with reality. Every cell in my body was aware of the danger Eddie was in and that was why pure instinct took over, making me a mere observant to the situation. I felt helpless, impotent and completely and utterly out of control.

My body was at its physical limits as I raced up the countless flights of stairs, adrenaline coursing through my veins. A high pitched ringing pierced through my ears and my vision was blurry. Thick drops of sweat formed on my entire body and my calves burned in exhaustion. Yet, I didn't stop to catch a breath, not even for a second.

My boots pounded heavily on the hardwood floor as I closed the distance between me and Eddie's apartment. Once I reached his door, I started pounding on it with all my might. I could have sworn I bruised my knuckles from the heavy impact.

Hoarse breathing and the ringing in my ears made it difficult for me to hear what was happening inside. My temples were throbbing and all rational left me.

"Fuck it," I mumbled as I threw the entire weight of my body against the heavy door that separated me from Eddie. It wouldn't move at first and so I tried again, and again, hating myself for being so useless.

Eventually, the door flung open, revealing an eerily quiet apartment. The sound of my gun chambering was the only detectable sign of life.

I shouted out for him, "Eddie? Where are you?" Desperation laced my words, I barely recognized my own voice.

No answer.

I looked around desperately but there was no sign of The Solemn Serpent anywhere and yet Eddie was nowhere to be seen, either, causing me to panic. "Did he take him?" I wondered.

When I looked to my left, I discovered to my shock that the door to Eddie's computer room was ajar, the room that Eddie never left unlocked. I instantly knew that something was wrong, horribly wrong.

With fear, I approached the door. It was pitch black inside of the room and so quiet that you could have heard a needle drop to the floor. Something seemed off, however. The familiar metallic smell of blood stung in my nose.

With trembling hands, I fumbled for the light switch and finally a harsh light flooded the room.

That was when I saw him - Eddie, lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

For a fraction of a second, I simply stood there, frozen in fear, paralyzed by disbelief.

Then, when my mind caught up with what my eyes were seeing, I immediately darted to him and held his lifeless body in my arms. Instantly, darkness filled the frame of my vision, closing in on me as I screamed for him to move, to open his eyes.

"Please, no - " I wept, heavy tears streaming down my face, "Eddie, no."

Hoping that he was still alive, still in there somewhere, I shook his body vigorously. However, there was nothing I could do to save him. I was too late.

His body was still warm and yet it was limp in my arms, his head falling back lifelessly. From the corners of his lips blood was still gushing out, showing that he was alive for most of the attack.

I surveyed his body, nausea rising in my throat. When I surveyed his body I realised that his upper torso was relentlessly stabbed multiple times, revealing slashed skin through his shirt.

The constant sob that was stuck in my throat made it impossible for me to breathe. Shallow gasps of air escaped my lungs and I hated myself for it. A part of me begged to switch places with Eddie. I wanted to die in his stead. It wasn't fair that I was breathing when he was not.

"It should have been me," I whispered as I hugged his body closer to mine.

I wish I could say that he uttered some grand last words as I held his body, weeping over him. Nevertheless, the truth was that one day he was alive and well and the next, he was just gone - irrevocably and permanently gone.

He didn't pass away in peace, at an old age, accomplished and with his family by his side. No, he was murdered in cold blood. Eddie died a painful death, a dreadful one. What hurt most was that he died a lonely death. I wasn't even there to comfort him in his last moments.

He died the death that was meant for me and I would blame myself until the day that I breathed my last breath.

When I looked up for a split second, I saw on the wall in front of me that The Solemn Serpent left a message for me. A message that he smeared on the wall with the blood of my best friend and the words hurt like a knife being jammed into my stomach. It read, "I warned you." Eddie's death was my fault and The Solemn Serpent made sure that I knew that.

I took it all in for what felt like hours and then, like a switch being turned, the pain that once burned in me like a fire, faded into an icy numbness. I felt my heart freezing in my chest, sending shards of ice through my veins. The numbness took over my entire body, leaving me with nothing to hold onto.

Minutes passed as I laid there, Eddie's dried blood clinging onto my skin, yet I didn't move. Maybe I hoped that if I laid there long enough, that I would eventually wake up from this horrible nightmare. But I didn't.

Instead, the whirring of helicopter blades outside tore me out of my trance, reminding me that I was on the run from the police. A distant choir of wailing sirens warned me of their coming. They were like bloodhounds, smelling their prey and hunting it down mercilessly. I wondered if The Solemn Serpent had alerted them that I was there, wanting to rob me of the chance to say goodbye to Eddie.

Slowly, I planted a kiss on Eddie's forehead and gently laid his head down onto the floor. I wished I could offer him a more honorable death, a more respectful goodbye.

Unlike what most people thought, Eddie was a hero. Heroes don't always have to perform spectacular acts of bravery to be one. Eddie was born a hero and even if I didn't see it when he was still alive, he saved my life in so many ways. Gratitude wouldn't even begin to describe what I felt for him, a loyal friend, a true brother.

Without looking at him another time, I forced my body to stand up and when I glanced down at my trembling hands, I saw the innocent blood of Eddie staining my skin. A fitting image, I thought. Even if it wasn't me who killed him, his blood was still on my hands, on my conscience.

Standing in the frame of his front door, my head hung low as I whispered, "I'm sorry."

The last of my tears rolled down my cheek and dripped onto the ground heavily, an incomprehensible grief lingering in my heart.

As I dragged my body away from the crime scene, I embraced the cold numbness that lulled me into a blissful trance. It was like a lullaby, humming to me softly, offering me the sweet escape from the deep wounds of loss.

Driving away as far as possible, I thought back to the funeral of my dad and the words of condolences that people offered me.

"Time will heal the wounds," they said, "Grief is a process. You need to be strong now."

Grief, I have learned, is the accumulation of regret over everything that could have been, everything that should have been. It was my companion from childhood, guiding me, holding my hand when my father wasn't alive to do it anymore. So, I befriended grief, letting it hide in my heart for a little too long and when life was painful, I would let it crawl out again, overtaking my mind and spreading its wings of numbness.

This time, I decided, I would use the grief as a tool, utilizing the numbness to my advantage. The Solemn Serpent thought he could beat me by breaking me. What he didn't know, however, was that I functioned best when I was broken.