The Mind of a Hero

Chapter One: Meet and Greet

Mentions/Descriptions of sexual assault. Look in the comments for a skip moment!

——————————————————————

He turned to the camera, staring at the red laser-like light glaring back at him, the lens of the camera zooming closer for a better look. The scraping of a chair scratched his eardrums, disturbing the sound of his foot tapping the floor repeatedly. His orange shirt was uncomfortable. Albert would've killed everyone in the room for it.

Elmer jumped at the sound of the door shutting, watching as two officers and two plain-clothed men walked into the room. The officers moving behind him and the men sitting across of from him pulled their chairs closer to the table, scraping the floor, making him wince. Albert wouldn't have liked that either.

"Hi", one of the men greeted, a terrified smile on his face. Elmer watched as he sat a notepad onto the table between them, blocking any access Elmer had to get to them, as if the handcuffs weren't enough. He cleared his throat. "I'm Davey Jacobs. This is my partner, Jack-"

"Partner." Elmer looked at Jack, who sat quietly, defensive. His green eyes pierced into Elmer's head, as if he wished he could shoot him dead, but a familiarity lied in them, a sorrow that Albert would've laughed at. "We went to high school together."

"Sure", Jack mumbled, glancing at a confused Davey. He smiled softly at him, an assurance Elmer was sure burned prettily through his skin. "It's good to see you again."

Jealousy filled Elmer's chest, rushing throughout his body like snakes surrounding an attacker, unable to kill him as they pleased. Elmer rubbed at the silver chains holding his hands against the table, tossing his head back to remove his hair from his eyes. "It's not."

They sat in silence as Jack set up his tripod and placed the camera on it, twisting and cursing it into place. He looked silly, Elmer noticed, but Davey didn't seem to care much about it, even as his partner angrily grumbled his name. Married was more like it for them, even if they wanted to be considered partners.

"The case of The Manhattan Murders", Jack sighed out, pulling his chair out and sitting in it, one hand on the leg of the tripod, "August 16th, 2023. Questioning criminal, Elmer Kasprzak."

"We're here to interview you about a series of murders", Davey began, tossing open his notebook. Elmer stared at him blankly, blinking. "The Manhattan Murders. You and Albert DaSilva worked together to kill, roughly, four men and three women."

Elmer nodded. Davey cleared his throat. "I suppose we're just curious."

"About?" He turned to Jack who stared at him quietly, judging him through the fear in his eyes. "Maybe I've got answers."

"I guess 'Why?' is what comes to mind", Jack answers, chuckling softly. Elmer glanced over at him again, focused on his less than intentional demeanor. He bet with himself that this man was high from adrenaline, threatening him quietly, describing how he'd kill him. Yet he sat, patiently, fearful, waiting on Elmer's every word. "Why did you kill all of those people?"

Elmer blinked, his hands crossed in his lap. He remained emotionless, blinking at his nonverbal answer. "I didn't kill anyone."

"You...didn't kill anyone?" Davey scribbled into his journal, Jack's brows furrowed confusedly. Elmer merely nodded, unbothered. "You had to of had. There's people left in graves and families grieving the loss of-"

"Monsters?" Both men stared at Elmer's lifeless green eyes. He was doll-like, docile, as if he'd been trained to sit this way, legs turned forward and arms turned to his stomach. He was a freak. "Those were hardly people. They were monsters—victims or whatever you want to call it, but we never killed anyone just to kill them. We helped a lot of people."