The Beast of Brookville

Chapter 11

When she crested the hill pulling up to their spot, Opal couldn't tell if his truck parked alongside the road was a mirage or not, willed by her desperation and determination to find him there.

The truck, parked diagonally alongside the road, exposed how quickly Forrest had abandoned it, the driver's side door not even closed all the way.

Opal had expected again that he'd be sitting on the front bumper, pissed and breaking down, but her hopes were dashed again as she rounded the truck, fuck, a pang in her chest struck.

She ducked under the crime scene tape and pushed and stumbled her way down the trail, trying her best to remain calm and keep from running and twisting an ankle but something was different this time. Forrest hadn't just been pissed, he'd been enraged, he'd been terrified, he'd been broken. Her nerves were shot and she couldn't tell if it was the added anxiety of a serial killer in town, or if this time something was really wrong with Forrest this time.

Just then, she heard a soft whimper carried on the breeze.

"FORREST? FORREST!" She wasn't far now, she couldn't be, she had to get to him. Opal stopped fighting it and broke into a run, trying her best to avoid the knobby roots and outstretched branches in her way.

"Forrest, I'm coming!" She needed him to hear her, to come back to her, to know she was there for him.

One last branch whipped Opal in the face as she arrived at the clearing around the rocky outcropping to see Forrest kneeling.

His back was to her but she could tell his hands were gently cupped in his lap and from the side, she could tell his face was red and puffy like he'd been crying. As she walked over to him she could see the look on his face now was a deep, accepting, reverence like looking at the surface of a deep, dark lake.

"Forrest?" He hadn't acknowledged her arrival.

Silence.

"I didn't..." he had said so quietly Opal wasn't entirely sure it had actually been out loud.

"I didn't do it...that..I couldn't...I don't remember but Ope I swear. I couldn't...couldn't do something like that." there was no emotion in his voice, he'd cried it all out.

Opal crouched down to meet him where he was. As she came level with him she noticed a small, red button in his hands.

"I found this a few weeks ago - didn't know what it was at first but..." He turned the button over in his hand "I don't...I don't think...I don't think this is mine"

"What do you mean?" Opal made an inquisitive face...wouldn't he know? Then she realized -

"F...Forrest...that button...it's bloody"

"I KNOW!" He shrieked so loudly Opal tumbled backward from her crouching position; she'd just caught herself from fully falling over when Forrest erupted into tears.

"OOOOOPALLLLL?!" Her father's voice made its way down the hill, stealing her attention away from Forrest.

"DOWN HERE DAD, FOLLOW THE TRAIL" she was tempted to rescue her father from having to navigate the trail on his own but there was no way she was leaving Forrest in this state.

Turning back to the mess of a man in front of her, Opal inched herself closer to him - she knew she should be worried but she felt safe with him, she knew him. Even if Forrest's blackout alter ego had committed these horrible murders she knew Forrest would never hurt her. She felt a need to protect him, to comfort him, to help him - people don't just get this way, Forrest had been through so much with that piece of shit mom, this wasn't fair.

Opal heard the telltale signs of her father making his way down the path, crisp ah, dammits! accompanied by snapping twigs made their way down to the clearing as her father crashed down the trail in a hurry. Forrest's weeping slowed as Opal embraced him and his energy ran out. There was a calm that had overtaken them, there in the woods they were safe; incredibly hard, terrible things were to come but for now the truth was out, and they had each other.

For a moment, the world around them was peaceful, the leaves above shuffled gently as a soft breeze passed through the forest and the glittering bits of sunlight swept around the floor.

Opal heard the nearing footsteps of her father coming from behind her and she squeezed Forrest a little harder knowing everything was about to change. Just as she heard the footsteps coming closer to the edge of the clearing there was a distinctive *click* of a gun.