HOME COMING

26

The two cops stared at him as he said all he knew.

"If he took your mum, he must have tried to contact you someway I am sure" Roxy said

He nodded "Yes, he did" he replied, taking out his phone. "I am not sure how, but this guy seems to know everything about me and what I do" he looked like he was about to go into seizure.

"Calm down Steve! Calm down" Roxy said rushing up to pat his back.

"You don't understand Roxy, its way complicated. He will kill my mum" he said shaking his head "he had sent   in some messages to me before when I tried to contact the cops..." He stopped and when Sydney looked up at him, he was pale as ghost.

"What was on the message? Can I have a look?" He asked.

Steve hesitated "No, you can't. Please just arrest me and..."

"If we must help you, we must know everything going on here" Sydney added "Can I have the phone please"

Steve swallowed nervously and handed the phone to him.

Sydney began looking through the phone, Roxy  looked at him and frowned deeply. "Why didn't you report your mum as a missing person?" She asked.

"He asked me not to"

"Asked you? Have you seen him before, Even once?" She asked.

He huffed "No of course! I don't know how this dude got my details. He sends me messages on my phone...creepy messages"

"Roxy" Sydney suddenly stiffened

The woman turned to look at him "What's that?"

He raised the phone so that she could see "Take a look"

She leaned closer and set her eyes, ready to feed them with whatever had scared Sydney shitless. Once she leaned closer, and the video began to play she felt her blood go colder.

As she looked into the phone, she saw a woman tied to a chair. Blood was dripping down her forehead. You could have sworn she was dead, if not for the slow falling and rising of her bosom. Suddenly a man came in view, it was so carefully edited that the man's image was so blurry and his voice muffled. He looked into the camera and gave a bloodcurdling throaty laugh, causing Roxy to fight so hard to remain strong and not break down in front of the young man. She looked further as the man walked in a circle round the room. She peered closer, nothing could be made out of the room. Everything was expertly blurred, apart from the woman sitting down and the sharp blade of the knife he held. They watched further as he went out of view and then returned, this time with a bucket of something which he emptied on her head. The woman jumped and winced.

Even in her state, the resemblance between her and Steve was just so striking.  They watched as the woman stared at him, then at the camera.

"What are you doing?"

"Shut up" he slapped her "Blame this on your stupid incompetent son"

The woman spat on his face "If my son was incompetent, he would never be reduced to what you are today"

That earned her a blow to her mouth and blood poured from it. The man took up his knife and flashed it at the camera.

"I warned you didn't I?" He asked into the camera.

"What's he talking about?" Sydney muttered.

They kept watching as he slowly went up to the woman and with the hands cursed with expertise like that of an artist, he slowly and carefully set the blade on one of her fingers.

Roxy swallowed, it was all like she was seeing a horror movie except that she knew it was all real.

With the ease of someone about to chop carrots, he raised the knife and chopped off her fingers. The room was filled with a bloodcurdling scream again, causing Roxy to nearly drop the phone. Then he came straight to the camera and said.

"I warned you never to go to the police, didn't I? I was lenient this time, next time I wouldn't be so kind"

          In a bus

He stared at the video as the two police officers watched his video. It gave him some kind of pride, but hadn't he warned this boy not to tell on him? He had chopped off a finger the previous time. He had sincerely hoped he would've realised that he wasn't one to bluff and joke around. He should have known better. Maybe, he should consider taking that female cop. What was it the boy had called her? Roxy? He laughed. What kind of a ridiculous name was that?

He loved the look of fear that video had imbibed in her. He loved feeding them fear and she seemed to digest it just the way he loved it.

He shifted his attention back to the boy. He frowned, he could feel himself boiling up inside. It wasn't like he hadn't warned him. He was useless to him now, and so was his mother. He heard a car honk and came back to reality, smiling at a young hottie winking at him he drove away.

It were some other day he might've stopped to say hi and maybe take a peek at her cleavages, but not today. He had something more serious to handle.

And he had to do it right away.