THE CYCLE OF TORMENT

CHAPTER XIX: FAILURE

Knocking came from Larson's door.
"Who could that be this early in the morning?" Larson asked.

He walked over to the front door and peeked through the peephole. It was Tabitha. He opened the door to greet her.

"Oh, good. I heard they sent you home and I wanted to see if you were okay." She said, hugging him briefly.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a few broken ribs, but I'm doing fine otherwise. You didn't have to stop by to check up on me, you know?" Larson said.

"Well, sorry for caring. Just thought I'd stop by and catch you up on what you missed." Tabitha said. Larson noticed her looking past him, towards his computer.

"What are you looking at on there?" Tabitha asked. Larson tried to cover her view of the computer. "Nothing."

She walked past him to look at it. "You're looking at missing person cases?" She asked, looking back at him.

He could then see the moment it finally clicked to her what he was doing. "This is about the Stitchwraith case, isn't it? You're still looking into it while you're injured?!" She said disappointedly.

"To be fair, I am working from home and not at the station." Larson shot back.

"Don't give me that! Why can't you just take a break sometimes? I swear, trying to negotiate with you is impossible! It's like I'm talking to a brick wall!" Tabitha argued.

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm not just sitting idly by while some monster is out there hurting people! I'm sorry, but I need to figure this out! There's so much I don't understand and I need to try and make sense out of all of it!" Larson snapped. He walked over to the couch and sat down, putting his face in his hands and sighing deeply. Tabitha walked over and sat next to him.

"Do you want to talk about what's going on?" Tabitha asked. "You wouldn't believe me and you'll just end up slowing me down." Larson answered.

"Aren't I already slowing you down?" Tabitha smirked. Larson returned a small smile. "I just... don't want you getting hurt. Whatever is happening in this town, whatever I saw that night... I don't know if it'll come for me next." Larson said.

"I don't understand." Tabitha said. "I don't think I do either... but I know what I saw in that junkyard. I know that someone was there that night." Larson said. Tabitha's curiosity was peaked. "Wait, you saw someone at the junkyard?"

"Yeah... no. I-I don't know. I'm still wondering if anything I see nowadays is real anymore." Larson said, frustrated.

Tabitha put her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. "You can tell me. I promise I won't think you're crazy or anything like that." Tabitha assured.

"I honestly wouldn't mind if you did. What I'm gonna tell you might make you question my sanity." Larson admitted.

Tabitha was starting to get concerned. She'd known him for a long time, but she'd never seen him this sure about something. If he was hiding something, she needed to know. She couldn't let him go through whatever he was going through alone.

"Everette... please just tell me what happened. I need to know." Tabitha said. Larson sighed before nodding.

"Alright. Please don't tell anyone else, though. You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone else." Larson pleaded. Tabitha sighed before nodding. He was putting his trust in her. He couldn't break that trust. "I promise."

And so he told her everything. He didn't leave out a single detail of what transpired that night. He kept an eye on Tabitha's expressions throughout the conversation, and they ranged from confused to surprised. He didn't really expect anything less.

"So, you believe this... lady... might be connected to the Stitchwraith and these weird incidents that have been happening lately?" Tabitha asked, trying desperately to wrap her head around this.

Larson simply nodded in response. "And you're sure you weren't just... I don't know... suffering from overworking and stress?" Tabitha asked.

"Look, I know what I saw." Larson said, annoyed. "And, I get that it's hard to understand, trust me, I don't even understand it myself, but you just have to trust me." Larson continued.

"I do trust you!" Tabitha exclaimed. "But that doesn't mean I believe you about this. Listen, Everette... I'm your friend, and I'll be there for you whenever you need me... but just... please... take a break. For once, just give it a rest. I mean, robots being possessed? A clown lady making people disappear? Do you hear yourself? These hoaxes are starting to get in your head! You've been so distracted by your divorce, that you only dove deeper into your job to forget the pain it was causing you!" Tabitha argued, and stopped when she noticed the look on Larson's face after she mentioned his family. That same look of grief and sorrow that she had seen so many times before reared its ugly head once again. Tabitha's face softened. "Everette, I-"

"Just go. I... I need some time by myself, please." Larson said, bitterly.

Tabitha lowered her head, got up from the couch, and slowly walked out of his apartment. Larson shouldn't have been so harsh with her. She was right in a way, like she usually is. Larson looked over at his family photo. He tried desperately to push the memories out of his mind, but they kept coming back; memories of his wedding, his son's birthdays, him constantly showing his family just how many times he can fail them and disappoint them. He hated failure. It was all his fault that he was even living in this small, filthy apartment in the first place, another testament to what a miserable life he lived. Time and time again throughout his life, Larson had proven that he could do nothing right.

To make it worse, he usually couldn't fix his mistakes either. He failed as a husband, as a father, and now, he was failing as a detective. In anger, he flipped over the coffee table. He could do nothing but shout in anger and let out his pent up anger for his mistakes as a person. After that, he laid on the floor and cried. He prayed that if there was a god out there, that they would answer his prayers and help him fix his life.

After a while, his phone rang. He wiped the tears from his eyes and picked it up. It was Tabitha. What did she want? He decided to answer it.

"Hello?" After his greeting, what came after was Tabitha's voice, radiating panic and terror.

"Everette! Please help! Someone's after me! They chased me into this pizza place! Jeff's pizza! I'm sorry for how our talk ended, but you have to come here now! I don't know how much longer I have until they find me! Oh god, they're coming... save me, Ev-"

All that followed was static. Larson dropped his phone in a state of shock. Tabitha was his friend. He would never let her get hurt. Was the Stitchwraith after her? How dare that creature attack his friends? It will pay. "Jeff's pizza..." Larson said to himself. He quickly picked up his car keys and ran out the door.

"LIKE A FISH AFTER A WORM, HE TOOK THE BAIT JUST AS I HAD PLANNED. EVERYTHING IS STARTING TO FALL INTO PLACE. AND NOW, MY DEAR TABITHA, BE SILENT AND AWAIT YOUR KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR."

END OF CHAPTER XIX