Monster Minds [completed]

Chapter 18

"That is my ambition, to have killed more people-more helpless people-than any man or woman who has ever lived."

- Jane Toppan confessed to 31 murders in 1901. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Chapter 18

Seeing a dead body was not like I had imagined it to be.

You can see them, you can touch them, you can smell them, but at the same time, they are not there. Like an empty shell, their body lacks fulfillment of any kind and the air around them is vacant and cold. Your body feels limp, as if their death had drawn the life out of your own soul and used it to carry themselves to the afterlife.

The police, ambulance, and the forensics had arrived half an hour after the phone call had been made. They were in no hurry; inmates on death row were of the least priority in the eyes of the law. As they lifted his body onto a stretcher, a deep sigh escaped from between my lips, like fog on a winter's day, and I found myself in desperate need of an embrace.

An odd smell clung to air around me, unsettling my giddy stomach to the point where I may have hurled its contents onto the stone floor if I breathed too deep. The officers could smell it too, as they scrunched up their noses while they shouted over the top of one another, desperately trying to figure out what happened to the prisoner.

I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered, closing my eyes in an attempt to rid myself of the image of Even's remains. But, when my lids touched together, I couldn't escape the horrific sense of unease that came with seeing a dead, mutilated body. I knew the image would follow me home, slip under my coves, and wait beside me until I fell asleep, where it would then pounce upon my chest with a ferocity that only nightmares could muster.

A delicate touch of a hand against a shoulder momentarily tore me away from my thoughts and brought me back into the world of the living. Soft fingers squeezed the skin of my shoulder, igniting a line of flames down the slope of my arm and awakening my stiff hands. I placed my own hand atop it, already knowing it belonged to Vans.

"Are you okay?" He asked gently.

Already been questioned by the police and the guards, Vans would only roam free for little while longer. The guards and police were distracted, and even the Welshes didn't seem to notice that a prisoner had been left unguarded, as they were deep in conversation with the paramedics. As soon as the air cleaned and the body was taken away for an autopsy, Vans would be back in his cell.

"Yeah," I managed to croak out, "I'm fine."

I finally managed to pull my gaze from the corpse and focus my attention on the man in front of me. It had been a while since someone had shown an interest in me and it felt good to feel wanted. My cheeks reddened upon remembering our close encounter, only an hour before, and immediately remembered my father's words.

Don't waste your time on him.

I closed my eyes and sighed, the day's events had completely drained me of any energy stored in my body, making my muscles feel lethargic and incapable of movement. But, there was something in my heart that made me want to fight so badly against everything my father said, and trust what I felt in my heart.

The Welshes were no where to be seen, so I took the opportunity to approach one of the police officers and ask the questions that needed to be answered.

As my feet pulled me towards a dark skinned female officer, I noticed the tension that clung to each person in a uniform. I could almost see it clinging to their shoulders and forcing them to slump slightly forwards, dragging down their body with their undeniable weight.