𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡

𝟏𝟑 | 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫

"W-what?" I asked whispering, even though inside I was screaming like hell. Holding my breath, I waited, not knowing what to do. I prayed quietly to hear Otto's piercing laugh or for him to tell me, he was just screwing me over. Telling me that David was still alive.

Why did it bother me? Why should I care if there is less of a killer on the planet?

Because David had the answers I needed to know. And because that would mean I really killed someone.

For a moment I didn't fully realize what had happened. Then, as if someone had turned on some kind of switch, a light bulb lighted up in my head, and I understood. If David, my mother's potential kidnapper, was dead, how do I know where she is? And if she's still alive?

I took a step back, uncertainty and confusion taking over my body. One step more. And another.

At first, I dragged myself back slowly like a snail, unaware of what Otto was telling me. Then I ran to the old building, whose walls were peeling off like dry skin. With a rumble, I opened a metal door decorated with rust and illuminated the body in the middle with a flash.

It reminded me of the first memory of this building. I was sixteen and went on a family trip with my father. After a long time, I naively thought that this trip was an attempt to behave like an ordinary family. But it wasn't. Again, it was a pretext for Lucifer to show me the atrocities and secrets of our family. If only he took the secrets with him to the grave and never consecrated me into them.

The building in not so good condition was a playroom for my father. Or rather a torture chamber. The place where he killed. You know what? Call it whatever you want. Abominations have taken place there, and no other naming will change that. Even if you could wash away the blood and the screams could subside.

I don't know exactly what my father needed to know back then. All I know is that he needed that information badly, so he was very angry when he got nothing. The man, who my dad was trying to get something out from, apparently didn't realize what dirty deeds his prisoner was capable of. And maybe he knew, he was just silent. Maybe the victim worked for an even worse monster, so he had to be killed to avoid punishment for revealing something. Who knows?

Are you familiar with the game Hangman?

Wrong answer = one increasing limb in the picture. If you exceed the limit of bad answers – you hang.

Lucifer also liked this game. He liked to play it on living creatures. And he let his daughter watch. As if it were something that could prepare me for life. As if it could make disappear all the nightmares waking me up at night. It was fun, wasn't it?

But it differs in Lucifer's game. No answer = one limb in the picture. If the doll was done and he didn't have what he came for, there was nothing to deal with anymore. Human life was taken. Game over. My father didn't win. But he also didn't stop in further interrogations. Until he turned this room into a mass crime scene. Just like I did now.

I gazed at the motionless man and squeezed his body hard as if I could bring him back to life.

"Ria," someone said my name. Otto. To my right, I saw his shadow. He had to support the door with something because now the whole room came to life with the shining light. Except for David. He still showed no signs of life.

I didn't listen to him. From the very desperation, I could not perceive the surroundings. I didn't know what to do. My chances of saving my mom vanished.

"FUCK!" I shouted, running my dirty hands through my sweaty hair. "Fuck," I said once again, looking at the corpse's bulging eyes with a glassy look. They reminded me of the Clarks. I didn't decide to push them back, just as I had done before. Nothing would change that. David would still be dead. And I would be the one who killed him.

"Ria, are you listening to me at all?" I finally turned my attention to Otto. He noticed and continued, "It's about time, I was starting to feel like I'm talking to myself." I parted my mouth, not understanding how he could think of himself in this situation. "Before you snap at me saying I'm selfish," (apparently the thoughts partly reflected on my face), "you should listen to me. I found something important."

"What is more important than the information to find my mother?" I blurted out. "David knew where he was. And he could have told us. Except now- "

"David didn't know," he said. I could've sworn a smile had appeared on his lips.

"What?" I asked in shock.

"David Jensen was not one of those who kidnapped your mother. While you were talking to him, I investigate a little. He knew nothing at all, so his death didn't change anything in saving her. On the contrary. I found a clue. Something that will really help us," he announced. I tried to slow down my heartbeat even though I didn't know what clue it was yet, a hope filled me. I trusted Otto more than anyone else and something whispered to me that we were on the right track. We had to be. Otherwise, I would mean that I had deprived a person of their life for nothing.