Capítulo 203: Chapter 203
The evening started like any other, with streetlights casting their cold, sterile glow over the cracked pavement. Hollow sounds from the distant traffic barely filtered through the fog, muffling any sense of urgency in the air. No one seemed to notice him walking, his feet dragging against the concrete as he passed beneath the harsh lights. It was the kind of night where everything felt out of place, and yet, nothing could be done about it. It was just the way things were.
Eli wasn't sure why he kept walking. Maybe it was the dread gnawing at his chest, or maybe it was because he didn't feel right sitting still in his apartment. He couldn't shake the sense that something was wrong, something far deeper than the usual unease that crept through the city at night. His shoes scuffed along the sidewalk, an uneven rhythm in the otherwise dead quiet. The silence pressed against his ears.
The police car rolled up just ahead of him, its tires grinding against the asphalt. He stopped, confused for a second, as the vehicle slowed to a stop next to him. The officers inside didn't move immediately, just sat there, staring straight ahead, waiting.
"Hey, you!" a voice barked from the window, a cruel rasp cutting through the still night.
Eli felt his muscles tense. There was no reason for them to stop him. He wasn't doing anything. But in that moment, a deep, familiar knot twisted in his gut, one that had been there ever since he could remember.
The officer leaned out of the window. "You got a problem, boy?"
Eli swallowed hard, trying to keep his voice steady. "No, officer."
The cop's grin spread like a wound across his face. His partner in the car just watched, silent.
"You sure about that?" The cop reached for the door handle, the metallic click slicing through the tension. "You know, you fit a description. Not sure what it is, but we got a description. You've been up to something tonight?"
"I'm just walking home," Eli said, trying to keep his voice low, steady, but the tremble was already creeping into his legs.
The officer leaned closer, his breath reeking of cheap cigarettes. "You sure you're not out here stirring up trouble?"
Eli's heart raced, the air thickening. Something about the officer's posture, the way his hands rested on the wheel, wasn't right. There was a strange calmness to it, a coldness, a knowing.
"I'm just walking," Eli repeated, his hands shaking now, but he didn't want to give in, didn't want to seem weak.
The officer's smile twisted, dark and full of something hungry. He turned his head toward his partner, who nodded, just as still.
"You know what happens to people who think they can walk around here, don't you?" The officer's voice dropped low, dangerous, like it had been practiced. The kind of voice that made Eli's bones ache.
"No, officer, I—"
Before Eli could finish, the officer's hand shot out, grabbing him by the collar of his jacket and yanking him forward. Eli's feet slid across the ground, and for a second, he couldn't breathe. His chest felt tight, the air suffocating, his skin crawling under the officer's fingers.
"Now," the officer said, "you're gonna come with me."
Panic surged through Eli, his mind spinning. He couldn't think clearly, couldn't make sense of the situation. What was happening? This wasn't supposed to happen. Not to him. Not tonight. Not here. But the officer's grip tightened, and before Eli could react, his knees buckled.
His body slammed into the hood of the police car, the metal hot beneath his skin. The cold air hit his face, but it didn't feel like relief.
The second officer got out of the car. He didn't say anything, just watched with empty eyes, his hands resting on the side of the car. Eli wanted to scream, wanted to fight back, but something in the way the officers moved, in the way they looked at him, crushed any defiance he had left.
"Now, you're gonna do something for us," the first officer said, his voice still low. "You're gonna entertain us for a minute. You think you can do that? Or should we make it a bit more fun?"
Eli's throat constricted. He could barely speak, could barely breathe under their eyes. The dread that had settled deep in his chest was now a raging torrent, twisting and turning, coiling tighter with every second.
The second officer moved around to the other side of the car, pulling something from behind his back. The metallic scrape of the baton was the only sound in the world, and then it was all Eli could hear. It sounded louder and louder, reverberating in his skull.
"Please... don't," Eli pleaded, his voice cracking.
The first officer leaned in closer, his breath hot against Eli's face. "Don't worry. It'll all be over soon." His smile grew wider, but there was nothing friendly about it. It was the kind of smile a predator gives before it tears its prey apart.
Eli's body trembled, but he didn't know where to run, didn't know where to hide. There was nowhere to go. There was nothing but them. The officers stood like giants, cold and cruel, their presence suffocating the very air.
Eli's mouth went dry. He had nothing to fight with. Nothing to defend himself.
"You didn't think you could just walk around like this, did you?" The officer continued. "You think we just let people like you walk free? Think again."
Eli's vision blurred. His chest heaved with panic, his thoughts scattered. He tried to focus, tried to think of something, anything, to get him out of this, but nothing came. Nothing made sense.
"Now, we're gonna have a little fun," the officer said, and Eli felt the baton strike the back of his knees, hard, sending a wave of white-hot pain through his body. His legs buckled, but he couldn't fall to the ground—he couldn't break the cycle. The pain screamed through him, but it wasn't enough to stop them.
The officers' laughter echoed through the street, hollow, mocking. It made Eli's skin crawl, made him want to tear his skin off just to stop hearing it. But it never stopped. The laughter, the sound of their steps, the deep, haunting rhythm of their voices—it all blurred together until it felt like his body was nothing more than a ragdoll, limp and useless.
A sudden crack of pain split his skull open. A flash of light burst behind his eyes. He couldn't focus on it, couldn't understand what was happening. The world spun, and then the cold pavement hit him hard, the ground scraping across his cheek, but he couldn't feel it.
He heard something snap in the air, like a whip, but there was no sound after. Just an echo. Just the sound of his own body breaking.
The world around him was cold. He couldn't remember when it had gotten so cold, or how long he had been there, but the chill seeped deep into his bones. The officers were no longer laughing, no longer talking.
He didn't know if he was still breathing. It felt like his lungs had stopped working. He could only hear the distant buzz of the streetlights, the faintest murmur of the wind in the trees.
His body, limp and still, lay where the officers had left it, discarded and forgotten. There was no sound. No movement. Only the quiet horror of everything that had led to this moment.
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