The Darkness Inside Us

A drunk woman walked along the path that winded along the main road. It was the night of December 24, just a day before Christmas. All these 4 years, the lady held everything within her, not wanting to burden others. Somehow she knew deep inside that besides getting a few pitiful stares and vain words of consolation, nothing is going to reduce her pain, sorrow and frustration. The maiden, in her late 20's, with her speech slurring occasionally, reminisced about her past. She clearly visualized rushing down the stairs, wearing her favourite dress - a white silk gown with shades of glitter and a slew of raffles. That day marked her 23rd day of existence. It started going complete downfall from that day on.

Sunday, June 24th

11:48 pm

On 24th June 2015 fell Charlotte's birthday. The drawing room was tastefully decorated with balloon bouquets and colourful paper buntings with floral wall frames of roses set up by expert event designers. The birthday cake had been placed on a small table with twenty three candles arranged upright on it. It was a moderate, yet simple two-tiered cake- vanilla flavoured, and with swirls of strawberry frosting surrounding it. She had recently moved to Alvania, in Kravoni. She had a fabulous jamboree with her new found friends. There were different cuisines and drinks. Up till then, everything went fine. It was when she returned back from there and half-awoke opened the front door to her extravagant 24 floored apartment she stumbled on the doorstep. One reading this might think this led to her life taking a whole turn. But no. She woke up in the morning and staggered towards the restroom. First, she was nauseated and dizzy. Next, it popped in her head that without even bothering to check is she locked the door, the young prosecutor slept there on the cold, hard floor. Suppose someone entered her house and stole her $200,000 necklace? She bolted towards her dressing table. Upon finding it in its place, a wooden box with a humongous lock on it, she left a sigh of relief. Laughing at her silly antics, she saw a number of letters at the bedside table.

Thinking it was the bundle of birthday wishes for her, she did not bother to open it. The next day she returned to work, with her juniors bowing at her courteously as she walked with a slight smile. Her loyal colleague, Terrance, was a fellow prosecutor too. The duo was the expert in Alvania. Terrance walked in with a mug of black coffee, exclaiming, "Wait, wasn't your birthday yesterday? This is unlike you. Last year the great Charlotte did not come to work for a whole two weeks!" He was dressed in a navy blue suit, his signature style. The youth's hair was messed up perfectly and he possessed a sharp jawline. "He should have gone for modelling. Not looking through criminal cases and giving me tough competition," Charlotte often thought. She was quick to dispute that. "Well, last time my parents came to visit me. Every year they cannot come as they are usually occupied with their business. Hey! Did you forget that we are 153km apart?" "Alright, you win. Our security has been trying to fend off this man who keeps blaming us for his daughter's death. I just dealt with that. Can we now look through today's case?" She came back to her serious work mode. The case they looked through was the Cadier Disappearance in January 18th, 2015. They skimmed through newspaper reports, articles by the most reputed journalists, words said by the influential people in the country, etc. At 10pm, their eyes drooped down to such a level that they almost closed and they were taking the biggest yawns one had ever seen. This was when they ultimately made the decision to set for home.

Charlotte lived quite a distance from her workplace, a good distance of 9km. She boarded the last bus of the day, which seemed to be strangely empty that day. The 23 year old brave lass shared her house with her younger sister of 14 years, who had come to Alvania in pursuit of good quality education. Turning the keys of the door is a clockwise fashion, she did not see her sister leaping at her. She called out several times, but each time it was just an eerie silence. Charlotte broke out in a cold sweat. Dashing here and there just to find no one, her last possible course of action to call her parents was chosen. But before she could press the last number, she saw blood on the corner of Ava's study table. There was evidence of a struggle that happened there, but it wasn't visible to a common person's eyes. Immediately Charlotte's fear of her sister being kidnapped came true. The restless girl thought to not to call her parents nor the police. She took the matters in her own hands. She knew that one can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.

Saturday, October 29th

She spent day and night, trying to track down her sister. One day, while sipping her vanilla frappe and scrambling with the case records of 2014 on the rickety old shelf, a yellowed flimsy file fell down. Flipping through it, she realized it was the cold case of Justin Jose, the man who singlehandedly had abducted, killed and disposed 13 bodies in the state lake. She realized whether he had returned back after his jail sentence of 30 years. The next few days, she hired two people, a forensic scientist and an analyzer. The next week, on Tuesday, Terrance and she, along with the two professionals has already uncovered a lot of information. Justin, now 53, was very much alive and living on the outskirts of Kravoni. With two police vans, they caught Justin in an armed encounter.

Wednesday, November 2nd

Charlotte was aghast as she identified her surroundings. She saw the old man dressed in rags, his trembling, veiny hands barely able to hold the plastic glass of water. Moreover, she was stupefied to see his hands and legs bound with thick metal chains. He cried out to her, "Listen I know you that you came in search of me for what I have done in the past. Please help me. Take me out of this mental asylum. The very fact that I speak English so fluently without talking to anyone for past 3 years surprises me." She left and gave the work to the gathered police. Charlotte went to her house, and rested her head on the table. She suddenly felt an urge to open the letters.

The hot blooded youth was stunned! How could she have not noticed? She read a letter written to her by a certain anonymous. The words on it said - 'The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from enemies. It comes from your trusted ones.' She rushed to her workplace that instant and saw Terrance talking to someone on the call. Though sleep deprived, she was sure that he used words that somehow sounded like, "Bring them to the warehouse tonight. I am coming. Nah, she wouldn't know a thing. DO AS I SAY!"

She followed him quietly. He drove his Bugatti La Voiture Noire to a desolate steel warehouse. The place was in ruins. Moreover, Terrance's driving exasperated Charlotte. She followed him to the warehouse where he was standing all equipped, with a gun and all. Before taking any action, he turned around and dialed the numbers on his phone. The ringtone of Charlotte's phone echoed all around the abandoned site. She stumbled forward unexpectedly and fell down. Terrance was no fool. He walked towards her, in a slow yet daunting stride. She quietly told him, "Since your next target is me, might as well take my phone from me." Terrance spoke with a crooked smirk on his face, "Oh save it! You won't even be alive after today. Why bother?"

What happened next, no one had expected. The crafty man pulled a young girl by her hair. Ava! Before any exchange of words could take place, he shot her sister. Charlotte did leap forward, only to miss by a few inches. She was dazed and took her time to respond. Not long after, she started laughing loudly. Terrance was shook. He made an effort to yank her hand, only to be hit on the head. Her saviors, the police, had arrived! She switched on her location and voice record option!

The police took over from her. Ava was rushed to the hospital, but she was proclaimed dead on arrival.

Charlotte was devastated to a point where she drank so much that it led to her health deteriorating. Later, resting on a hospital bed she was surrounded by doctors and medical staff. She opened her eyes widely and said, "It's rare that there is a good sister and the best prosecutor. I could not be both"

Next moment, the ECG waves dropped into a straight line.