Dark Paradise (Camren)

Maniac Polaroid x Deputy Cabello (39)

NOTE: For a better reading, when I point out during the chapter, listen to the song "Freak" by Lana Del Rey :)

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POV Camila Cabello – *3 Months Later*

*(Play song)*

I felt I was close, very close to getting what I wanted, to discover all that foulness. I know it wasn't one of my best ideas to be following these trails by myself, but I couldn't risk calling Halsey and losing what I already had.

I stopped the car in a remote place, away from my target. Everything around me seemed to be in slow motion, I was tense, I felt the adrenaline rush through my veins, I felt the air entering my lungs and exiting quickly, my accelerated heartbeat. I wanted to scream. Being close to something as great as that, for me it wasn't easy; for an important case, decisive actions were necessary.

"Come on, Camila, you've already faced a warehouse full of armed drug dealers." I said to myself, in an attempt to calm myself down. And it seemed to have worked, I felt confident. I grabbed my gun from the passenger seat, my good luck charm, and kissed it, to then put it into my holster, attached to my thigh.

I opened the car door and got out. I looked around, and it was pretty late, no one passed by that dark, deserted street. Nothing populated this place, there were only abandoned warehouses that once used to be factories. It was a place worthy of a horror movie, there was no sign of civilization for a radius of 70KM. Just bushes, fear and a long road.

With agility, I grabbed my gun and aimed it at the rusty door of the warehouse. It was huge. A chill ran through my body, but I didn't give up, I took a step forward. The dim illumination was due to the fact that today was the Blood Moon; the day when the earth separated the sun and the moon. The dim, reddish glow light forced me to force my eyesight.

I took another step forward, stared at my hands holding the gun, and felt my legs falter. There was fresh blood on them. My breath began to get heavy. I brought my hands closer so that I could analyze them more clearly, and all the blood was gone.

"You can only be going crazy, Camila." I whispered to myself.

Working for the police had been the best choice I'd ever made in my life, but sometimes, the stress was so intense that it could drive you crazy. I focused on my mission again, taking a deep breath, to then push open the warehouse door, which revealed a wide, gloomy corridor.

An unknown smell invaded my nose, causing me chills. I tried to keep going, even though my survival instincts told me to turn around and run. But my job was exactly this: going against my survival instincts. In spite of that, I thought I'd collapse at any moment. I was more nervous than I've ever been on any other mission. Perhaps I was still traumatized because of what happened in Haiti, I thought as I wiped the unusual excess of sweat from my forehead, then wiping my hands on my pants.

I saw an old staircase, rotten, like everything else in that place. I looked around the environment, in a standard police procedure, and walked hastily to the stairs. There was a wooden door there, it was ajar, so I walked in, and that was when a strong smell of fresh blood hit me hard.

I watched, in horror, the scene in front of me. There was a man hanging upside down, and the blood that flooded the place, dripped from him. I looked down and saw a pair of combat boots, but the man attached to the steel hooks wouldn't let me see who was behind.

God, what is this?

"Miami Police Department! Drop whatever you're holding and put your hands behind your head!" I shouted to the person hiding behind the body.