บท 43: The Next Night
Night had fallen on the city, and news of a certain horrible event had reached the ears of most of the inhabitants.
While it could not be said to be a perfect city, it was far from being one where two murders were common news, especially when the victims were an ordinary couple.
To some extent, they were horrified by this, and regretted that they had left behind a daughter, with the only consolation of this being that the daughter was already in her twenties, which meant that she could take care of herself.
Of course, with regard to this, the concerned person in question could not differ any further.
After the events of the previous night, a heavy atmosphere was present throughout the farm, something made worse by the lack of light produced by the refusal of the sole remaining resident to turn on the lights.
"..."
Inside the dark wooden house, in one of the rooms, a figure could be seen in a bed, covered in sheets from head to toe.
In this small mountain of sheets, only the protruding face of a young woman could be seen.
In spite of the darkness, it was possible to distinguish certain features of her, the most striking being those that showed her present state.
Which, needless to say, was terrible.
Her eyes not only had dark circles under her eyes, but were also painfully puffy, the product of having poured out all her emotions during the course of the day.
A day she would never in her life forget for being not only the most horrible, but the one in which her whole world, from one moment to the next, completely collapsed.
Never, not even in her wildest nightmares, would she have imagined that after a short trip to the city for a serious ailment that her pet seemed to have, something so atrocious would be waiting for her when she returned.
That in just one night, her whole life would change for the worse.
Faced with the scene she witnessed, she cried and cried until she could feel nothing more, with only the warmth of her dog being the only thing that assured her that this was real and not a nightmare.
After that, with shaking hands and not knowing exactly how, she managed to call the police, who arrived in no time and secured the scene.
However, even as she answered questions and was reassured again and again that she was now safe, she was still a mess.
She was offered the option of staying elsewhere, but she could not leave, not while she continued to feel like her parents were still nearby, in the same house.
So, with no other apparent option, they could only finish cleaning up the crime scene before retreating to, in their own words, analyze the clues.
As to whether this was the correct procedure or if there was something strange going on with the officers, she didn't care.
Although the young woman appeared to be alone, her dog, curled up on one of her sides, kept Elisa company in her grief.
The dog in question was the same one that had made her go out the night before, who suddenly, in the middle of the night, began to cry desperately while banging his head against the walls.
This had been unusual behavior, as the dog rarely complained even when hurt, being of an unknown breed but large and strong, as well as being in excellent physical condition thanks to his abundant meals and exercise.
This visit to the vet was what had caused her to be away when it all happened, preventing her, perhaps, from being able to change the outcome of what happened the night before.
However, even with that, the woman did not blame the dog at all, because she knew that this had simply been a horrible coincidence, and that the only ones to blame were those who broke into her farm the night before.
Besides the fact that now, this was the only family she had left.
"..."
Suddenly, a glow coming from her side caught her attention.
It was a notification from her cell phone that a message had arrived, with the sender being "Mark", her boyfriend.
The message consisted of a question and an announcement, "Have the police left yet? I'm coming down the road."
Seeing this, a grimace of annoyance formed on Elisa's face, making it clear that she wasn't too thrilled about having to deal with him.
The morning had been when she had relayed everything that had happened to her parents to him, who in an incredible display of indifference, had merely asked questions not about her condition or otherwise, but about the police.
By this point, she really didn't even want to see him, at least not for a good while.
In the midst of the silence and darkness, it was some time before Elisa heard footsteps coming from the entrance to her farmhouse.
The footsteps continued until they reached her door, before someone started knocking on it.
"..."
Despite not being in the mood, Elisa had no choice but to get up and go open the door, as she knew Mark wouldn't stop knocking.
Moving slowly, almost like crawling, the young woman reached the door and opened it.
Standing in the doorway of the house was a tall, thin young man with a face that had slight dark circles under his eyes but that didn't really hide his attractiveness.
He had both hands tucked into his leather jacket, as well as a somewhat hunched posture that Elisa could easily recognize from her boyfriend, Mark.
"Hey, sorry about-"
The man was about to speak, but before he could even finish the sentence, a figure shot out from inside the house.
Bam!
"Argh!"
Throwing itself at Mark with considerable force, Elisa's large dog had managed to knock the man over before leaping backwards as it let out threatening growls.
Normally, in this sort of situation Elisa would have scolded her dog about this, as it was something he often did when she met with Mark, apparently with him not liking him.
However, the young woman said nothing as at the moment, as all her concentration was elsewhere.
"..."
Having fallen to the ground, Mark, so as to find a place to lean, had pulled both hands out of his jacket, revealing an object that was slightly reflecting the moonlight.
It was an ornamental knife, long and presenting on most of its surface stains of an unknown substance that seemed to have tints of red and brown.
Perhaps at another time, Elisa would have given Mark the benefit of the doubt, helping him up so he could explain what it was.
After all, the young man already had a history of making jokes that were considered by most, including her, to be in very poor taste.
However, with the death of her parents having just happened yesterday, this was definitely not another time.
Moving quickly, Elisa didn't even bother to close the door before backing towards her parents' room, throwing herself down off the bed.
"Shit, Elisa, wait!" Shouted Mark, getting up as he put the knife away and attempted to enter the house, only to be stopped by the barking and threat of a bite from the woman's dog.
Although Mark was of prominent height, the dog was no slouch, being large enough to properly block the entire doorway.
Barely a couple of seconds passed, but Elisa had already finished searching for what was under her parents' bed, this being nothing more than a long wooden box containing a shotgun older than herself.
Opening the box without the slightest hesitation, the woman grabbed the shotgun along with the small box of unnamed ammunition next to it.
Then, with a fluidity that showed she had done this dozens of times, she loaded the shotgun, slipped the small box of ammunition into her pocket and headed for the door.
"You'd better get the hell out of here right now, I'm not in the mood for your bullshit." The woman said, pointing directly at the young man, her finger on the trigger exerting a slight but determined pressure.
"E-Elisa, put that thing down, I'm sorry, ok?!" The young man exclaimed, raising both hands in the air.
However, the young woman couldn't care less what he had to say, holding the gun in place, "Get out, I won't say it again."
Crash!
At that moment, the unexpected sound of glass being shattered alerted the woman, coming from the back of the house.
"!"
Elisa quickly turned toward the source of the sound, her kitchen.
As she did so, despite the darkness, she could see how through the back door of the house, which had a small square window at the top, an arm was trying to open the door.
Seeing this threat, Elisa didn't take a second to head to the kitchen with her gun pointed at the door.
BANG!
Then, without a hint of hesitation, she fired at the arm, which quickly withdrew from the door, but not before having received a great deal of damage that had undoubtedly disfigured it.
Reloading her weapon, the young woman advanced, ignoring the disaster she heard behind her.
As for what was going on, although she couldn't see it, she already knew what it was.
Mark had tried to break into the house, and her dog had done what he had been threatening to do if the man did just that, bite him.
"ACK, SHIT!" Exclaimed Mark on the floor, being held there by the oversized dog that was chewing on his leg, "Elisa, get this damn dog off me!!"
He was squirming and struggling to get free, but the dog's strength had proved too much for him, making him simply wonder what they had been feeding him to make him so strong and heavy.
Already in the kitchen, looking through the door with the broken glass, Elisa then began to speak, "You know, I've been wondering how it all happened. How my parents were killed... so easily."
Each of her words contained a deep tone of melancholy, but also, a cold anger that seemed to escape from time to time.
"Especially when my mother was better with this than I was, and my father could smash someone's head in with his hands if he wanted to." She continued, looking out the kitchen door window, watching figures move in the darkness.
Returning to the entrance with slow steps and an indifferent expression, the young woman focused her gaze on Mark, "Whoever did this, they must have done it like cowards. Surprising them...in a moment of vulnerability, letting into the house who they didn't know, was going to be their killer."
Standing directly in front of Mark, Elisa brought the muzzle of her shotgun to the young man's head.
"It was you, wasn't it?" The woman said, pressing the trigger of her shotgun.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?"
Noticing that she was about to shoot, Mark immediately abandoned any facade and called for help, to which figures that had been moving outside the house responded.
Rushing through the door, several people wearing robes and hoods appeared.
Quickly raising her gaze, Elisa could see how outside her house, now several figures were moving in the darkness, their numbers being at least a dozen.
Demonstrating enviable dexterity, the woman instantly changed her target and fired toward the door.
BANG!
The bullets landed on two of the three people who entered, shredding not only their clothes but also their flesh, causing them to fall to the ground, who knows if already dead or on their way to being dead.
But apparently not caring about this, more people came through the door, with the third person who had been behind the first two rushing toward the dog.
Firing again at this last person, realizing that this situation was not good for either of them, Elisa then gave a command to her dog.
"Come on, Brutus, let's get out of here!" Shouted the young woman as she fired again toward the door, knocking the people off her pet.
Brutus, without hesitation, left Mark's back and jumped Elisa before they both started running toward the kitchen.
Bam!
Crashing into the door, Brutus, the large dog of unknown breed, knocked it down, leaving the way clear for him and his owner to leave the house.
Before that, however, as Mark was just getting up, he felt a shiver run through every part of his body.
The next moment, he felt something pierce his body.
BANG!
Unable to understand exactly what had happened, the man's body fell to the ground motionless.
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