The Milkman

𝑿𝑽𝑰𝑰 - 𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒎

「𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗」

Francis woke up shortly after I ended the phone call with the D.D.D. agent who had called. Seeming quite tired, he just pulled on his shirt, slowly buttoning it up as he was still not fully awake. My eyes wandered down to his chest almost automatically. It was almost like a reflex to look there, I couldn't help it.

« Not so shy, I see. » Francis's playful yet raspy morning voice made me snap out of my thoughts.

I immediately turned red and let out a laugh of embarrassment. « Sorry. » I quickly apologized, looking down, my face still red.

He laughed and finished buttoning his shirt. « Was it the D.D.D. on the phone? » Francis asked, walking towards me with that same tired look in his brown eyes.

I nodded in answer to his question. « They said that the doppelganger had been taken care of and that we were free to leave the apartment safely. » I told him. « Would you like some coffee? » I proceeded to ask him, already starting to coffee machine.

He shook his head. « No, thank you. I'll be going back to my apartment now. » He told me, taking his hat and smiling at me as he looked at me briefly.

« Oh... alright, then. Well, I'll see you later. » I said, smiling at him as he walked towards the door and put on his shoes.

« See you later. » Francis told me, looking back at me one more time before opening the door.

« Stay safe.. » I said, but he had already stepped out of my apartment and into the hallway, which left me hoping he had heard me before leaving.

As he closed the door, I sighed quietly and went back to making my own coffee since the coffee machine was already on. I grabbed a mug from the cabinet and waited until it was ready.

「𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒔'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗」

Taking out the trash later that day, I headed downstairs, but something caught my attention as I reached the first floor, on my way outside. Two police agents, a D.D.D. agent, and two paramedics stood outside of the Peachman brothers' apartment room. I had a bad feeling about this but started by going outside to take out the trash first, the smell of the trash bag and its content starting to reach my nose and gross me out.

Once I was done with this, I headed back inside of the apartment building and, out of curiosity, tried to see what had happened in the apartment. Taking slow steps towards the apartment room where the two police officers and the D.D.D. agent stood, I tried to listen to what they were talking about, but all three of them stopped talking when seeing me approaching. What did I expect.

« Sorry, sir. This a crime scene, step back, no one is allowed here for the moment. » One of the police officers told me, putting his hand out in front of himself to stop me from stepping any closer, his voice strict.

« ... but what happened? » I asked, furrowing my eyebrows as a strange, putrid smell filled my nose.

The other police officer answered my question. « The scene is still being investigated, but our guess is a doppelganger attack again... » She explained, her own nose scrunching at the smell.

I was tempted to see what had happened in there, but with the officers stopping me, I couldn't do much apart from standing there or going back to my apartment... or again, asking more questions. Which I did.

« Is the victim deceased? » I asked, my hopes not really high.

It wasn't very common for someone to survive a doppelganger attack. I knew it was the room in which Albertsky and Robertsky Peachman lived, but I wondered who the victim was.

« Well, he most definitely is dead in the state his body's in... » The police officer said, glancing inside the apartment room.

I quickly changed my mind and didn't even want to see it anymore. The way they looked inside the room and the smell made me believe that it was possibly worse than the murder of Mia Stone next door. I was about to ask who it was but didn't want to bother the officers more and let them do their job. I held myself back and headed back towards the staircase. Once back on the third floor, I went straight to my apartment room.

...