Larson was on his way back home later that evening. He figured he'd spent enough time at the station. The roads were empty. No one was out at this hour. He glanced at the picture of his family again and sighed. He missed them. He missed them so much. Why did he have to ruin anything? Why couldn't he have just taken some time off to spend more time with his son? He didn't know how he was doing in school anymore. He didn't even know if he's trying out for baseball this year.
His wife... he missed her too. They used to be so in love with each other. Over the years, Larson's job only got more and more demanding with every disappearance that occurred. He knew she hated him now. That much was obvious after she did everything in her power to keep him away from their son. He wanted to know how her job was coming along. There was nothing he could do now. It was too late to get his family back.
As he continued driving, he heard a scream. He immediately stopped the car and got out, drawing his gun. He watched a man run out of an alley.
"Hey! What's going on?!" Larson shouted at the man. He kept running, completely ignoring Larson. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Larson heard a noise coming from the alley.
He ran towards the alley with his gun drawn. He hid behind the wall and waited, listened for anything unusual. There it was again. Someone was rooting through the dumpster. Larson slowly walked into the alley. He saw someone wearing a hooded trench coat removing a doll from a garbage can. It stuffed the doll into a bag. It turned and looked directly at Larson. He recognized it. This person, this thing, was the Stitchwraith. He knew it to be true. The description was a perfect match.
Larson pointed his gun at the Stitchwraith. "Freeze!" He shouted.
The Stitchwraith held its hands in the air. Larson was confused. That was easy, he thought. Suddenly, the Stitchwraith's head twitched for a moment. It smacked the gun out of Larson's hand. It almost lunged at him, but its head twitched again and it ran away. It climbed up the fire escape and went onto the rooftop.
"Hey! Come back here!" Larson yelled. He grabbed his gun and followed it up the fire escape. When he went up to the rooftop, the Stitchwraith was nowhere to be seen. Where could it have gone? Larson looked around and saw nothing. He put his gun away and went back down the fire escape.
***
Later that night, Larson sat in his office, pondering what he just encountered. That was definitely the Stitchwraith he saw in that alley. It was... stranger than he expected. He half expected to be dead right now, but it didn't kill him. It just... left. That didn't make much sense. The Stitchwraith, to Larson's knowledge, killed whoever was a threat. With Larson, it smacked his gun out of his hands and ran away. Maybe it just wanted to warn Larson instead of attacking him since it knew he was a cop. Something was amiss about it though. Larson noticed its head twitching when it attacked him and before it ran away. Why did it twitch? Larson kept looking through the files to see if he can find anymore clues.
***
Nothing. Not a single clue. Well, maybe Larson would find something if he could actually concentrate. Ryan had been all he could think about the whole time. Instead of connecting the dots, he was sitting in his office, looking through pictures of his family.
He remembered the time Ryan was seven and he took him fishing. They had a lot of fun that day. Larson caught a fish and Ryan stared in awe at how big it was. It was so big that Angela was afraid to cook it. They ended up giving the fish to Monahan and his family, and they just got a pizza. Larson chuckled to himself. Larson remembered his first date with Angela. It was so awkward. He used to have a stuttering problem, so he really had trouble getting out the right words. Angela wasn't like the other girls he dated. She was patient and funny. She gave him another chance. After that first date, Larson realized that Angela was the one for him. He got into speech therapy and that helped a lot.
He thought about Ryan's first baseball practice. Larson watched as many games as he could. That was when his job was less demanding and he had more freedom. He remembered being so proud of Ryan when he won his first game. He really needed to take a break. He couldn't keep thinking about all that stuff. It only clouded his mind and distracted him. The only thing he could do is go to the bar for a while. He hoped having a few drinks would clear his head.
END OF CHAPTER VII
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THE CYCLE OF TORMENT
FanfictionMillie Fitzsimmons barely survived the attempt on her life made by Funtime Freddy. Now, she is traumatized by the attack. She has constant nightmares. She cannot get any sleep. One day, she decides that enough is enough and that she had to find a wa...
