Stygian: The Silence Of The Whisperers.

31. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING??

{Marigold}

"Hey child, what happened to you?" He heaved, a cloud appearing from his mouth.

My legs almost tumbled due to the cold and the shock of actually seeing him up close and the sight of him approaching me in slow snail-like steps.

I compelled myself to put on a smile, "Oh, this is nothing. I can just wear it like a bracelet, ha-ha." Although, my wrist did hurt, hanging up like that.

I felt the footfalls from a while back die down to a standstill, "I thought it'd be good to talk to my daughter before I turn myself in. And she's handcuffed..."

"Ah, no. Wait, I can...try and..." I shook the handcuffs to no avail.

"The damned ghoul-mane whisperer wouldn't stop pestering me for more human identities. It devours one and isn't satisfied still because according to it, the mane's conscience is stronger and is trying to rule the ghoul's instinctual traits. And it doesn't want that gone." Mr. Lucas spoke in a low gravelly tone, eyes down on the pebbly ground.

Oh? The one haunting the forest cave is that ghoul-mane? The mix of a minor ghoul and Dr. Oliver Creed's soul identity... No wonder it hasn't caused any visible harm to people working in the forest for environment preservation or whatever.

"Ms. Fritzace had pressured her department to find out the motives of making minors work in a psychic detective researching agency because she deemed it was way more than what was seen from the looks of it. I knew I had to prove myself a worthy employee because those colleagues looked down on me. And so I planned to propose a plan to infiltrate the B-PI agency but before I could do that, someone stole my idea and suggested it to her."

"Ah..." I didn't know how to comfort him. My situation did not help the best. I eyed the gravestones before me behind which I could see armed people in masks and uniforms, peeking out.
Whoa.

"That wasn't the worst. It was the worst when I asked her to make me her agent but she dispatched two other men, one of whom had stolen my idea for it instead. But their ways did not work, one failed by kidnapping you and the other by masking as a parent of a student from your school but he was caught by the authorities and the matter was forever closed...," He paused, rubbing over his dark mustache and then plucking it out.
It was a fake, I knew it and behind that mustache was a smooth stubble chin and a stubby nose.
He looked up at me, smiling a smile I had never seen before, "I was desperate..., you should understand. I had only gone to the B-PI agency in 2013 sometime after the employee attrition news..., when I saw an old-something security guy who was planning to quit, according to a resource and I talked to him if I could take his position and he said it wasn't for outsiders. And that the people there themselves recruit employees and no one applies. We got into a scuffle and I ended up slashing him with an ax that was lying around."

What...?

My hand felt sore but my mind ran a million thoughts. Those dreams that I had which had something in them always, that didn't make sense or did not connect with the incident at all. The ax in the case of the woman from the farmhouse was one of them.

"I panicked and buried him in the forest below the cave before taking his badge and his fingerprints. But when I came to know they were gonna look after the forest and hand it over to the forest officials, I knew it was troublesome. So I had to shift the body to a different location. And the ideal location was the football arena's locker room. The one where they found you at. Perfect to suspect you." He looked at me from the corner of his eye.
"And...that...that forest spiraling cave was infested by a ghoul and its lot. It approached me to devour me but instead asked me to make a deal with it if it spared me and I had no option but to agree...,"
What is Mr. Lucas thinking, why's he admitting to every detail of the incident from two years back... I was sure Jack and his team were already here and spying on Lucas' confession to me and I'm certain both the parties are aware of each other's intentions or atleast, plans. And, I was the bait...,
"But that took a wrong turn for it. When it devoured the mane that emerged from Dr. Oliver Creed's soul and memories, it obeyed me alone and could barely function on its own. I gave out commands and it obliged and when it was in its sane self, it asked me to bring another one else it'd take me."