Adrian Parker

**As part of a round robin collaboration found at: Halloween Collaboration**
Introduction is here: Erin Gainsborough

“Pick up I know you’re there!” I listen to my partner’s frustrated voice growl over the answering machine. “Come on Adrian, I know you hear me! I swear man I’m buying you a cell phone for Christmas! You’re joining the 21^st century whether you want to or not!”

“Ugh,” I groan at the crackling of that stupid speakerphone. It was bad enough that I had to program it to stop beeping at me. And now for some reason the volume was loud with no apparent way of adjustment. 21^st century, only if they got rid of all the technology. Who needs it? I sigh and stare at the gadget as it beeped the end of the message. I had just laid down to rest and now it seems another case had just hit my desk. 

It’s my fault I know. As lead detective on some of the most high profile cases I have top priority. And with a nose for the unnatural, anything ‘weird’ hits my desk first.  2 am, “Perfect.” 20-hour shifts weren’t fun and it only makes matters worse when I do try and close my eyes to have them awaken for a new case.

I roll out of bed. No use putting it off. My partner said there was something funny happening in Twinbrook so I’d better get over there and take a look. I glance down and see the image that has haunted me since I first became a homicide detective. Twin girls, Harmony and Prudence. They went missing shortly after their 13^th birthday party.

They had spent the night at their friend’s house and were excited about becoming teens. They were on the way home from the neighboring town and just disappeared. Someone said they saw a dark red truck stop near the girls sometime after they had reached Twinbrook city limits around dusk. The mother reported them gone during the dinner hours but of course action couldn’t be taken for another 24. 

The name is Adrian Parker. I’ve been a homicide detective for twelve years now and I love my job. In my line of work, I’ve seen it all. Monsters with human faces. Men and women who walk the streets like average citizens but hide a darkness within them. Sadness. I toss on my clothes ignoring the formalities of a shower and head out to my truck. 

Another gloomy day, could I expect anything less? Twinbrook was a quick ten minute drive from my apartment and because of this it was part of Shining River’s jurisdiction. My partner said their witness was staying at some motel and the suspect may have had a room there also. Motel 1. That would be my first stop. 

Arriving I found the place had a lack for cleanliness. Not like I expect a Hilton out here in the swamp but these places should have some standards. I knock on the first door. No answer. Instead I enter the room near the stairs the suspect previously occupied and have a quick look around. No blood. Nothing out of place. No overt signs of a struggle. They’ll have to get their tech boys out here to check it out. Tech boys. That sounds funny coming out of my mouth.

Hmm that’s strange. I had only been inside the small motel room for the space of five minutes. Doesn’t seem like enough time for the entire lot to have cleared out. Shrugging it off I get back behind the wheel of my truck and head towards the Aurum. It’s the place my partner said they heard the cries of a small child. It was believed that she was possibly a kidnapped victim. But when officers arrived on scene, they found nothing.

As I neared the building I heard someone cry for help. I push my way inside and immediately a sense of dread filled my gut. The hallways are empty except for the rats. In the silence I hear something calling for me. Could it be the little girl I’m seeking? I rush ahead through a set of double doors and jump back from what I find.

In my haste I came upon something grotesque…something unnatural. It’s munching on the remains of a human body. I step closer. It turns its head. Does it see me? A low growl emerges from the man and slowly it begins to crawl towards me. Get out! Something shouts nearby. Rather than wait to find the source, I heed the dark voice and move. I have seen monsters, humans - this I was unprepared for. My legs are burning but I make it to the front door. That’s impossible, I think. The door is gone yet I am certain this is where I entered.

GET OUT!  The voice yells again. I turn to peer down the hall and couldn’t explain what I saw next. My heart sank to the floor. There was no way this was real. Again I ran but not far enough. I stop near the elevators and immediately regret it. There’s something dragging down the hallway and it sees me. The entity is skinless; bloody. It has no head. In fact I’m nearly certain it has an extra set of legs growing from its neck. It stops beside me. I remain as quiet as possible. Whatever that thing is…it can’t be friendly. 

Hideous creatures crouched in the darkness. I could see them whenever my eyes closed. But found that frighteningly enough they were still there when opened as well. I envisioned their clinging tentacles wrapping around me sucking me deeper into that darkness I struggled so hard to get away from. My mind sought consciousness; a hazy and distant aspect of reality I was sure was buried somewhere in my subconscious. It was hidden deep. But I was too afraid that if I dug far enough I’d awake to find this nightmare was actually my reality.

Shadows danced across the lit areas of the long hallway. Undulating like flames in the wind beckoning me forward but I hesitated to follow. Turn back now, I screamed with the voices in my head yet my body betrayed my thoughts. And even as I felt my feet moving it seemed as if I was floating aimlessly into the evils I believed awaited me behind those rusted metal doors.

Just beyond the busted and dirty glass windows I can see the street. Rainy afternoon light billowed into the room but did very little to brighten up the gloom in which I found myself standing. I take a step forward and right away regret it. The sound of the metal creaking beneath my movement must have alerted that thing I’d seen before because I heard a door slam behind me. I’m too afraid to turn around, afraid of what I might find. But I know it’s there, breathing down my neck.

I can feel those cold red eyes on me again and I shrink in fear hoping it’ll go away like before and leave me to my solitude. My eyes slam shut and I can hear my heart pounding away in my ears. Go away, I begged. And as if this creature could read my thoughts, the door again slams behind me and I’m once more standing alone in this dank, dark place. Slowly my eyes open one by one and I turn to confirm I am indeed still trapped within this nightmare.

Help me… I hear those whispers again. The little girl’s voice I’d followed that brought me into this trap was still calling for me. If I’d ignored it, if I’d have turned around before allowing myself to step across the threshold I’d be safely in the confines of my own bedroom. Safe from whatever was following me; safe from my own nightmares. Please! She sounds desperate and close. 

Maybe she’d seen that skinless monster that I had. Maybe it had her trapped somewhere she couldn’t get out of. The sounds are coming from just beyond the metal doors before me. I’ve come this far. No turning back now, I try to convince myself but it’s a lie. Deep down I want to turn back. But I press ahead.

The silence in the room is overwhelming; the anticipation palpable. My hand reaches out and grips the doorknob. It’s warm to the touch as if someone or something was just handling it before me. Perhaps it’s a warning; my subconscious telling me something’s not right and I should turn back around and leave this place. And go where? Yet I’m inexplicably drawn forward. I hear the cries again, the little girl sounds more desperate this time and I can’t help but to go to her and help ease her pain.

Swallowing hard I open the door. The hinges yell at me when they move as if they are bending for the first time in a long time. I take a breath and prepare myself for the horrors that await. The room is just as dark as the previous hallway and I pause a moment to let my eyes adjust to the change of light. The wallpaper is ripped and peeling from the browning, decaying walls. The carpet is ragged and stained with various liquids; some of which I’m sure is blood. Putrid gases quickly meet my nose and I hiss in a breath turning my head to alleviate my burning nostrils.

The room reeks of decay and mold. The air is old and stale and hasn’t been ventilated in ages. I expel the bad air hoping for a fresher breath but it’s in vain. I move a foot into the room and am instantly met with the sound of the door slamming behind me. Trapped…again. Movement over my shoulder draws my attention and I turn quickly. My eyes lock on a tiny figure in the corner. It’s the little girl, I think. She sits with her back to me and appears unaware of my presence. 

A small doll rests at her feet and she seems content playing with it. There is something familiar about her. The ceiling above her is spattered with large spots of blood, still fresh and dripping to the floor beneath. There’s a busted television set beside her. A broken wooden table and a couch in the center of the room with candles burned down to nothing on top. “Hello?” I call to her. She doesn’t move. Still sitting silently in the corner playing with an eyeless doll that’s seemingly staring into my soul. “Are you hurt?” I try again but am left without reply.

I move forward trying to get a better look for myself. Still she doesn’t move. I let out a deep moan and drop wordlessly onto the torn couch in the center of the room. My head hangs in my hands as I contemplate my situation. There’s just one door and one window in this tiny space. And if experience serves me well I know neither will open. I am stuck in here until the room shifts on me again. “You shouldn’t be here.” She finally speaks. Her voice is tiny and frail. My head pops up and I look at her. She hasn’t moved from her spot beside the wall. She is still playing with her doll and hasn’t turned to look at me. “My sister doesn’t want you here.”

“Your sister?” I inquire. I hadn’t seen anyone else in this place. Then again I believed the little girl sitting in front of me to be a thing of my imagination. Before she gives me an answer the television set I believed busted turned on and white noise fills the tube. I jumped to my feet and watch the static skip across the tiny screen. The crackling of the electronic fills the room and my ears are agitated with the low buzzing sound.

Suddenly a hand reaches from out of the tube. My eyes must be playing a trick on me. I rub at them in a desperate attempt to regain my sanity but nothing works. The hand has become an arm that led up to a girl’s head with hair as black as coal. Not possible! And yet I remain unconvinced as surely I am witnessing this. The tiny one in the corner still has not turned. I don’t think she is aware of what is happening. “I told you,” she says and gets to her feet.

By now the other one had crawled her way into the room. My heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest. My breath gets caught in my throat. My hands are shaking and my mouth is very dry. I can’t think; I can’t speak. I can’t make sense of what I’m seeing. The first little girl turns to look at me and her face…I know her.

She started towards me; her and her twin. My heart sinks to the floor. My eyes close again and I hope for that teleport thing to happen but nothing. I can hear their feet dragging towards me. But I can't even move. I feel paralyzed by my own fear. The walls feel as if they are closing in on me. I’m completely trapped.