Upon the Gaze (Ghostface X Reader 18+)

CHAPTER 27 - Pay No Mind To The Disappearing

I had managed to get to work only a couple minutes late. I quickly scrambled out of my car in the parking lot, and sped walked  through the front door. As I passed the front desk, I saw Shayna and Jarret standing behind the counter both looking into a newspaper. Funny I thought, I didn't take either of them as the type to read the newspaper. I went to the back and clocked in quickly. I sighed once I was in, and walked back behind the counter.
"Morning you two." I said, waving slightly. Neither of them removed their eyes from the paper though. Shayna slowly turned in my direction, eyes still on the articles, and said, "Wow, I really can't believe it. That's so unfortunate." I was confused and asked, "what?"
"(Y/n), have you seen the news or read the paper recently? A police officer got murdered the other day." I immediately snapped my gaze over to them, and hurriedly made my way over, standing closely beside Shayna, and grasping the other end of the newspaper.
"Brent Hopkins. Age 48, and a police officer of the local Borose police station. He was on the Ghostface case, and he disappeared for a couple days. Apparently they found him lying dead in a ditch, 30 stab wounds."
I covered my mouth as I looked at the black and white photo of the man in the article.
This was the guy, I thought. This was the guy who was on Danny's wall. Danny must have killed him. I began putting the pieces together in that moment. The man had been alive and well, a regular at the library before I had mentioned to Danny about him being on the Ghostface case. I felt excruciating guilt in that moment. If I hadn't said anything, would that man still be alive today?
"(Y/n)?" Shayna called my name and I snapped out of it. "You okay? You look pale?"
"Oh-um, yeah. It's just...I can't believe it. That man was a regular at the library. It's hard to believe he's just...gone." I said, thinking back on the number of times I had listened in on the man's conversations from the serial documentaries section on my lunch breaks. Of course, I wouldn't mention I eavesdrops on his conversations. I glanced at Jarret, behind us. He had a sad, almost pained expression. He looked up at me, and seemed to notice I was staring with some concern. "What about you?" I asked, "you look pretty upset by this. Are you okay?" Jarret shook his head.
"He was a friend of the family. A good friend of my mom's. The two of them came to the library all the time in the afternoons, and they'd talk and recommend books to each other." The realization of the impact of Danny's murder fully hit me. That women the officer was always with, was Jarret's mother?
"I-I'm so sorry, Jarret." I felt sick to my stomach. He kept his eyes fixed on the floor, and fiddled with the zipper on his leather jacket. "He was a really good guy." Was all he said. I nodded slightly. Shayna put down the paper and cleared her throat. "Well...let's all try to have a good day, yeah? Things will get better. They'll catch the guy, I know they will! So let's just focus on work for right now." We all nodded and Shayna took her position at the front, while Jarret slowly made his way over to the neverending pile of books. I stood awkwardly for a moment, looking between the two. I thought about Shayna's words.
They'll catch the guy! It was difficult to think about. I walked over to Jarret and the book pile, crouching down and beginning to sort. What should I make of all of this? Truly, the right thing would be to root the police on. To hope they put an end to the merciless killings...but the killer was the man I was...
"Hey, that's the wrong pile!" Jarret told me, somewhat aggressively picking the book back up. "Oh sorry. I'm just a little out of it-"
"You're a little out of it!?" He asked angrily. He went back to sorting books and we remained silent.
The day was quiet. Too quiet, even for a library. Jarret didn't follow me around as much today. His loss was probably taking a toll on him. I was familiar with loss, so I could understand that. As I placed a book on the shelf of a science fiction aisle, I began to think. I knew both sides of this I supposed. I knew the feeling of loss, losing a loved one, but I also knew the feeling of taking someone's life. My hand squeezed the book I had in my other hand. That's right...I was no better. I was a murderer. I had almost forgotten about the events, and then I became nervous. Anxious. Paranoid. I looked down both lanes of the aisle. My breathing began to heavy. I was a murderer and I still had no idea if anybody knew. Things felt so normal, so un-out of place, that I hadn't even questioned if it was a good idea or not to go to work still. Should I be on the run? Flee the state? The country even?
"(Y/n)! I'm going on break!" Jarret's call from down the aisle startled me. I jumped slightly and dropped the book I had previously in my hand. I quickly reached back down to grab it. Jarret came over to me slowly, and looked at me with a concerned expression. He as well looked both ways down the aisle, then leaned in and quietly asked, "are you okay?" I nodded quickly, avoiding eye contact. "Yeah-yeah, I'm okay." I said, trying not to sound frantic. He huffed and put a hand on my shoulder. I tensed up slightly. He didn't say anything, just patted my shoulder before releasing it, then walked back the direction he came.
Was he...trying to comfort me?