January

Their voices were distant to him. They sounded more like echos as they all sat in Hanes’s office, speaking about the new patterns in the occurring murders. “Something had to have happened. Before there were no similarities in victims. Now?” Cali exclaimed.

Hanes sighed and put his chin in his hand “Now they’re all…Young, brunette..” He rubbed his eyes.

“Not only that, but we have actual traces.” Cali looked over to another woman in the room, she was of similar age, tall, pretty conventionally. 

“Have you done anything with said traces?” 

The woman’s voice brought Anderson back to reality, back to the room he sat in “We’re working on it.” He finally spoke. “They have children or- a child. But they would never kill a child so..” 

Cali blinked, she sighed “So they get as close to killing a kid as they can.” There was a mutual and simultaneous exhale of frustration that echoed through the room.

“How are you feeling after all of this?” The woman walked beside Anderson, her hands in her pockets and her hair swaying against her shoulders and back.

“Complicated.” Anderson’s brows were furrowed.

“Complicated?” She asked, with full knowledge Anderson didn’t enjoy speaking about his own feelings.

“You’re not my doctor Margot.”

She frowned “I'm not your doctor but I am your friend.” Anderson grit his teeth.

“Barely.” He mumbled.

Margot’s reaction being a soured expression that mixed with shock “Seriously Michael? What has been up with you?” Her tone was stern and accusatory.

“I’m just-” He glanced around, watching as people stared with unease as they passed by the two “I haven’t been sleeping.” He spoke in hushed tones.

“...Why? Why haven’t you been-” 

“Because. Just- because.” She stood there as Anderson continued walking in a huff, her face held a certain amount of guilt as she stood there in the hall. Something wasn’t right.

I change but in death. 

He stared at the body, the same cards being dealt. Carved skin and muscle, clean and neatly contorted. This theme of animals was growing a fear within Anserson the more he had to look at them. Bird, Rabbit, and now a deer. Fit with antlers made with the woman’s own ribs forced through her scalp and skull. He stared at the missing organs, the lungs stripped clean from her chest as if they were never there, replaced with the same flora as the other two. His eyes closed as he knelt beside the body, only the smell of metal and sweet florals coating his lungs once again. He could feel her bones snapping under the weight of his hands, he could feel the ugly squish of her organs closing in on his fingers as they grabbed hold on her lungs, he could feel her fear even after her death. 

He was brought back to reality by a hand on his shoulder, “What’ve you got?” Hanes’s voice rung in his ear.

“She was alive when he broke her bones.” Anderson said, his eyes still closed as he thought through everything “Every time, they’ve been alive.” He turned his head to look at the hand on his shoulder.

“...And yet no one hears them? No one can hear something like that?” 

Anderson stood up with a stumble “They can’t move, they’re paralyzed..” He looked ill, his face having gone white and his hands shaking as they held onto Hanes’s arm “We’re not looking for a hunter or- a butcher-” Hanes could feel the dread rise into his throat as Anderson’s eyes held a certain amount of panic “This is medical.” 

The four stood in silence, staring at the body once again forced to lay flat on a cold metal table in a stark white room. Medical, the entire time it had been, the entire time they were looking for someone who simply knew how to cut meat but never did they think how all of this was being done without a single soul hearing a scream or seeing an intruder prior to the calls. 

Hanes felt ill thinking about it, he felt ill knowing Anderson was seeing all of this with no outlet, no ease to his mind when he would go home at night. 

“What exactly should we be looking for now?” Cali spoke with an anxious and exasperated tone. 

“What did you find in the debris?” Margot’s eyebrows were furrowed into a worried bow.

 “Mostly metal slivers, surgical steel. There wasn’t any DNA aside the…Victim’s.” Cali swallowed harder than she would have liked, feeling the lump clog in her throat.

 Hanes rubbed his face, his hand lingering on his mouth and cheek “Anderson?” He had been staring at the body with a thousand yard stare, no words spoken, no movement made. “Anderson…?” Hanes called his name once more.

 “I…I don’t know, a Veterinarian?” He finally pulled his eyes away from the mangled corpse “It would explain how they have access to any sort of anesthetic, and- surgical supplies.” 

The two women looked at him, they shared a look, sharing their equal concern for the man it seemed they held closely. “Maybe you should head home Michael.” Margot finally spoke after a long silence had drawn over them. 

“I’m fine.” 

This time all three shared a look, the two women more so looking towards Hanes in the situation. "Go home Anderson." His face said it all, the worry and anxiety that teetered on the edge of being fear spoke volumes in his silence. 

Anderson exhaled "Yeah, yeah alright." He rubbed his eyes "Okay." 

Anderson and Margot sat in her car in silence, they had long since stopped in his driveway but hadn’t spoken a word, yet neither moved or exited the car. “Michael.” Anderson turned his head, his temple firmly placed in his hand as his shoulder found any grounds to be propped up on the window “I know there’s more going on so please just-” 

He inhaled roughly, his feelings on the rising matter speaking for themselves “I don’t want to have this conversation.” Margot turned her head, the look she gave him made him equally want to shrivel down and hunch, and to bark back and yell. 

"You have been- someone else. You've been staring off- you haven't been sleeping and you look like shit!" She waved her hands around tightly as her frustration grew.

"I said I don't-" 

"I don't care what you want Michael. I care about what you need."

Anderson felt his jaw clench, holding in the shouts he'd rather keep to himself and his empty house "And what do I need Margot. What does the doctor prescribe!" Words that were initially intended to be calm if not sarcastic, came out in a yell, a bark.

"Therapy Michael! You, need, therapy!" After it was said and out in the open, the two sat in that car in silence once more. The only sounds being the heated breathing, the anger that dared to fog the vehicle's windows. "You need, therapy." Margot repeated, Anderson leaned into the passenger seat with a deep exhale.

 "...Okay."

Therapy, he had thought about it before. He thought about how it would be beneficial, but his only excuse was that he didn't have time. He sat at his desk once more, looking through tabloids and staring at the pictures some have been able to snag of the various scenes. He found himself staring at one in particular, it wasn't special in fact it covered everything that had already been said. But the picture they had taken, a bird's-eye view of the rabbit. He leaned back in the chair with folded arms tight against his chest.

Why animals? All of which were prey, a bird, a rabbit, a deer. What would be next? The question rung in his ear like a siren, what would be next? His eyes locked on the screen, what would be next? He could feel his breathing quicken and his heart race, what would be next? He could smell it's breath beating against his back, what would be next? He could smell the rot, the vile smell of unskinned carcass and sliced bowels, what would be next? He felt the liquid at his feet, the thick and heavy feeling that warmed his skin, what would be next? He felt the feathers brush against his arms as long fingers wrapped around to his abdomen, sinking their sharp nails into his clothing and in turn his skin, what would be next? As he felt his organs being clawed and plucked, as he felt the feathers grind and itch the inside of his chest, he woke up. 

The only sound to wake him being his own yells, his own cries of horror. He sat up, his hands gripped onto his sheets with pale knuckles and shaken arms. He heaved and gasped for air, his lungs scraping against one another to retain anything they could. He sat there, in the light of the gray casted sun. What would be next?