Ambiguous and bereavement(Fruk)

5

"Ugh! What am I missing? What is this ribbon? Why does it have to do with anything?" I said to myself. "Maybe try taking a break? You don't want to hurt your brain!" Francis spoke. He was walking back and forth as I scratched my head, annoyed. He was helping me figure out why this whole situation reeked foul play.

The lights suddenly shut off, and I looked at Francis worried. "I'll get it! Don't worry!" I reassured. I quickly opened the drawer on my desk and grabbed a spare flashlight. I turned it on, but Francis was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey? Where did you go?" I called. However, he didn't answer. Maybe he tried to beat me to turn on the lights. I quickly left the room, and the door was still open. I walked down the stairs and began shining the light around. "What is going on?" I spoke.

I tried turning on the switches, but they didn't work. "Damn it!" I spoke. I will have to restart the fuse. I shun the light toward the back of the house and saw the door was wide open. "FRANCIS?" I called, terrified. The cold air began to blow in, and I shivered. I looked around outside and slowly closed the door. "Francis?" I called again. Where the hell did he go?

I began to open the fuse box, and I started to mess with the switches. "What the hell?.... FRANCIS?" I called.

"Hey! I'm here, sorry, don't freak out," he spoke. I looked around, and I saw his shadow in the corner. "Where did you go?" I asked, annoyed. "Sorry, I heard the door open and came down, but I heard banging noises by the front; it was after you left."

"What?...."

That was a whole lot of nothing.

I looked at him suspiciously and turned back to the fuse. I continued to mess with it, but nothing. "Damn it! I wonder why this is happening," I spoke.

BANG!

I jumped at the noise and went in front of Francis, worried. "Stay here; I'll check it out," I explained. He nodded at me, worried, and I slowly walked to the front door.

I was near the staircase again when the banging noise continued. I held the flashlight close to me and decided to call out. "Who is it?" I asked. However, there was no response.

The door suddenly burst open, and the shock threw me on my ass. I opened my eyes, trying to look for the flashlight, but instead saw a shadowed figure standing there. "What the shit..." I spoke.

The figure stood there and I watched them, horrified. The person stepped into my home and stood for a few seconds before suddenly sprinting at me. My eyes widened, and I quickly began crawling up the stairs to get on my feet.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" I cried.

I felt the person grab my shirt and pull me toward them. "Let go of me!" I yelled. They held my wrists, but I started to fight them by flaring around. Well, at least I told Francis to stay there.

The person pushed me against the wall, and I used my leg to kick between their legs. For that split second, they let me go; I pushed the person to the ground, punched them in the stomach, and began to run off.

I quickly went inside one of the closets, locking it. I began to rock myself back and forth, terrified. My heart was beating so fast; I didn't know what to do. Here I was, a detective, yet I was feeling terrified?

I pulled my knees close to my chest and shoved my head down. "Just make it go away, just make it go away, just make it go away," I spoke. I continued to rock myself back and forth as I tried to think of something else. I felt tears starting to fall down my cheeks when I suddenly heard a gentle knock.

"Arthur?" I heard Francis call. My eyes widened, and I finally looked up. I quickly reached for the knob and saw him standing outside the door, concerned. "Francis!" I cried.

The lights were on and working, and I struggled to stand up. "Oh my god, there was—there was this man... and I didn't know what to do! He started chasing me and I was—I was so scared!" I cried.

Francis came down to me, looking worried, and he held me. "Hey, Arthur, it's okay; no one was here; you just imagined it," he spoke. What? I couldn't have! It was so real!

I looked at him nervously, and he continued to hold me. "Francis, something isn't right, I don't know what, but I haven't felt myself lately; I'm scared," I began to cry. He looked at me sadly, and tears began to fall down his cheeks.

"Arthur...I'm not..."

He stopped.

"What?" I asked.

"Huh.... Come on, let's get you to bed," he spoke. I nodded at him shaking, and he picked me up. "Don't worry, I'll stay with you till you fall asleep," he spoke. I nodded at him, and he began to place me in the bed, and I was still shaking. Francis pulled the covers over me and gently kissed my forehead.

"Get some rest; I will be here with you, don't worry," he reassured. He began to lay in bed beside me, and I grabbed him and started to hold him. I felt myself beginning to cry and knew that I would not stop anytime soon.

I shoved my face into his chest, and he continued to hold me tightly. He didn't say a word to me as I tried to go to sleep. This was so weird. This whole thing was strange!

Tomorrow, when Francis goes to work, I'm going to go through all my things and get to the bottom of this. That way, when Alfred comes on Friday, I will show him that it was right for me to look back into this strange case. I'm not crazy! Someone was here in my house, and I know it! I will show them that my hunches are not something to undermine!

I'll show them!

All of them!