Insanity Stains Red

twenty one

The night had well and truly settled into the streets when we finally began to make our way home. So it made sense that it wasn’t obvious to either of us immediately as we pulled into the driveway of the cosy house. But neither of us could miss the sticky substance on the walkway to the front door. Detective Samson went into cop mode, just like that. The good mood drained from him until it was replaced with a tension in his shoulders and a stern positioning of his head.

He touched my shoulder and drew me behind him, his gun clearing its holster in the same moment. I hadn’t even known he was armed – some observer I was. But I let him take charge. After all, this was more his area or expertise than mine. Though even I knew that wasn’t lemonade spilt on the pavement at our feet. The metallic tang in the air whispered of blood, and the very solid form on the doormat hinted at the source. The darkness was too thick; I couldn’t make out what it was from where I stood. I couldn’t even tell if it was dead or alive, but I didn’t dare move until the detective told me it was safe.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It occurred to me that whoever had done this could still be out here. My back was to the open street and they could be sneaking up on me right now. But that was ridiculous. Whatever this was before me, it was obviously Aizen’s work – I was pretty sure Detective Samson didn’t have any enemies sick enough to cover his doormat in blood, and pretty much everyone I knew was in jail. Aside from that, I knew that Aizen wouldn’t be stupid enough to hang around long enough to risk being caught. Sure, he’d want to see our reactions, but his survival instinct was much stronger than any of that. No, he’d be long gone by now. Still, I waited until the detective had realised that also, and gestured me forwards. We walked the rest of the way together and stared down at the lump of meat that barred our way. It was definitely dead.

“What is it?” I ventured. I had a strange urge to squat down and poke it, but somehow I just knew that Detective Samson wouldn’t approve of that. So I stood staring, and let him get down there to investigate it.

He wrinkled his nose in disgust and glanced up at me. “It appears to be a puppy. Or, what’s left of one. Poor thing, it’s all but shredded.” I made a non-committal noise, unable to take my eyes off of the mangled form. Was this some sort of message? I wouldn’t put it past Aizen to send me some sort of code. ‘Dog food’, that’s what it seemed to be saying to me. After all, it was the most convenient way to dispose of a body. Maybe Aizen was telling me that the predator had become the prey. Or, maybe I was reading into this too much, maybe I was giving him too much credit. Maybe it didn’t mean anything specific at all. I shook my head. I needed to stop thinking so hard.

“I need to call this in.” Detective Samson said, drawing me out of my thoughts.

“Is it okay for me to go inside?” I really didn’t want to keep staring at the blood. Part of me felt guilty that an innocent creature had died to prove a point, whereas a different part of me liked the blood a little too much. The detective nodded at me and unlocked the front door. I stepped carefully around the mess and slipped inside. It had nothing to do with me, not anymore. I just had to keep telling myself that. I stuck my head inside the kitchen to look at the clock. It was approaching ten o’clock, which explained my exhaustion. I decided I would head to bed and let Detective Samson deal with it; nothing to do with me. I was expecting to have trouble getting to sleep, but found myself being pulled under easily. I didn’t fight it, but I didn’t expect what came next. I don’t think anyone ever expects nightmares. That’s probably part of what makes them so horrible.

I was alone in my father’s study, and my white dress was stained with blood. There were bodies all around me. They were faceless masses that meant nothing to me. I was content, a slow smile spreading over my features. I wanted to lie down and roll in the blood that pooled at my feet, and there was nothing to stop me from doing just that. A small noise drew my eyes to one corner of the room, and I found myself walking towards it, my feet finding space between the endless bodies as if they were moving out of my way. The noise came again, and I recognised it as a whimper, a combination of fear and pain. There was something familiar about it, and I hesitated for a moment, uncertain. But I was so close now; I couldn’t help but move the rest of the way to investigate.