The middle-aged man was pacing around the room slowly, explaining the situation and evidence dramatically to his fellow workers as he scanned a couple pieces of paper.
"This was an incident recorded six years ago." The man looked up from his papers, staring at the confusion on each other person in the room, sitting at the long table. "This case was known as the 'Waffle' incident. It involved a mass murder in this very town. This might just be what we're looking for."
"Looking for what, sir?" one of the men spoke up, shrinking mentally as all attention landed on him. The presenter gave him a slightly chilling look. "I beg your pardon?"
"Well..." The man reluctantly stood up. "I've seen this case floating around in the files before. No one has ever been confirmed as the cause of the havoc. The only suspect was a child that has never been found, nor had a recorded identity file for their disappearance."
The presenter, who hadn't listened to the man's reply whatsoever out of pure stubborn belief of righteousness, had decided to speak on.
"There was a report accusing a fellow classmate of the missing child." He set a folder on the table in front of him, opening it up to take out a sheet of paper. "It was a report in early 2018, a couple months after the incident. This information might be useful to us."
The head worker had snatched the file away from the middle-aged man, scanning with large eyes to see the fuss himself.
---
Pennsylvania Police Department, "Waffle" CASE: Report taken FEB. 18, 2018.
WITNESS CLAIM: Cameron Laurie Jones, AGE 12, Bucks County
WRITTEN INFORMATION by WITNESS:
I would like to say that I think I know who is behind all these murders. All the other kids at school didn't know this, but I used to call her "Waffle", due to her odd mentions of facts about them in mornings.
I believe this is my friend that had gone missing a couple weeks ago. Her name is Faith. Faith Maria Chevrette. But I'll call her Waffle in this, considering she would like that, and there's evidence of the murderer being called, "Waffle".
I should start off with how I last saw her. She has wavy and thick hair, with golden highlights– her hair is really long. She is slightly tanned, looks a bit menacing, with the shape of her eyes looking like a cat's, but it doesn't really bother me. Her eyes are like a gray and green, by the way. She has a bit of a middle tooth gap; ya couldn't miss it. She always wears this oversized, blue sweatshirt, and her also baggy black dance sweatpants. She also wears these ”Fruffy Boots” (She kept telling me that's what it's called). They were hand-me-downs, and she never stopped wearing those boots.
You see, Waffle and I were pretty good friends, and I hung around her a lot. We both liked to draw and write, though my grammar was never really strict. She wanted to try acting and singing, but she never really got to it after she disappeared. Waffle was always nervous and fidgety with her hands. She was into dark humor, and was always really stuttery. She was even a bit perverted, and boyish. I knew even of her favorite things, like pizza and especially Swedish Fish. She called everyone sweet names like "hon" and "honey-bunches", but they sounded so lacking of enthusiasm when she didn't take her pills.
She had a perfectly normal life when she moved from Colorado to here for 5th grade. She had a few close friends, and an odd and secretive motherly relationship with a little girl the age of eight in the Williams family. Her life spiced up with her winning art competitions and some family issues, such as half of her family here in Pennsylvania, and the other half in Alabama. What hit her hard was when she heard that the Williams' girl was dead, and one of her other close friends a year ahead that had Tourette's also passed away as well. Maybe that's why she started taking the pills.
Waffle had these yellow and gold pills she took, and I knew it was supposed to make her feel brighter, and it did work. In fact, she seemed to be the biggest ray of sunshine that walked on this Earth.
However, only just two months ago, she started acting strange. Like, really, REALLY strange. Maybe it was something that happened back when she visited her mom for Christmas, or when she fainted on New Year's but I have a feeling it was because of those pills.
A couple days after New Year's, Faith was drooling after taking the pills, and her eyes seemed a bit crazed. She was ever-so-slightly shivering, and I asked the teacher if I could bring her to the nurse. The two of us were in the same math class for 7th grade, which is sometimes helpful.
I was pushing her along when I noticed she tucked her arm quickly under her other arm, covering it. I thought nothing of it, and urged her on.
She had to go home early, and didn't come the next few day. I thought she was just sick, or something along the lines of that.
She did come back later on, and each time she received the damn pills, she injected herself with this mysterious green liquid, which I guess calmed her down for whatever that drooling was.
She was ignoring me for weeks, and it really ticked me off. She ignored everyone, actually. I even contacted her grandmother, but her grandmother had said she's just not feeling well at this time.
The last day I saw her was what really made me believe that this murderer is her, besides the name/word you guys found written next to a crime scene. Don't worry, I watch the news too.
I was pretty late to school that day, and I left late as well. It was a policy that was within the school, and it sucks.
I was finished with my work, and prepared to leave, when I heard this weird growling. You could almost guess it was a dog, but the tone was so low, yet so high. The noise came from down the other hall, and a sudden violent and inhuman shriek of distress rang out, echoing. It terrified me, and I quickly and silently crept up to the corner rounding the hall, getting a quick glance before I sprinted off with audibly loud, squeaky shoes.
The creature– that thing– was shaped like a brown and fluffy big dog, only a bit larger, buffer, and terrifying claws. It turned to me within that short second, when I had turned to sprint off.
Its two eyes were large– the same green and gray eyes and eye shape as my own close friend's. The thing had two, dark horns growing from its mouth, curling upwards. Its legs were slender, long. It had two rows of somewhat sharp, but blunt teeth. The thing is, I believe that, that thing was my friend. My Waffle.
And those goddamn pills probably got to her head, as well as the paranoia in mine.
I did get back home, but I was out of breath by the time, too. It sucked how I missed the bus. Well, at least my house was close to school.
But really, I saw this one kid near the small forest out in the back of our house. The kid had long, a bit beyond the shoulder length of thick and wavy hair in pigtails as Faith did, with a yellow smile mask she wore on Halloween. It was a few days after she had disappeared, too. I ran inside quickly to tell my parents, but who I thought was Waffle was gone already.
I don't know what's up with her, or why she's like that. I just really want her to be back to normal, and for her to get the help she needs. I know that thing wasn't really her. I'm not making this stuff up. You just gotta believe me for all of this.
---
The head worker shook his head in some form of unnacceptance as his voice dripped with sarcasm. "This is such a sob story on the boy's part." He set the sheet down. "Especially when he passed away a month ago."
The room was a dead, awkward silence for just a few painful seconds. The head detective cleared his throat to speak more:
"Unfortunately, it's still not enough proof. Do we have any more evidence?"
The presenter smiled, some form of happiness twinkling in his eyes. "Indeed, I actually do."
He pulled down a projector screen, a beeping noise coming from the overhead machine. The room lights had begun to dim.
"This was footage of the murder in Honovan Hotel a week okay. The surveillance is sharp, since these are very expensive cameras only few own. Luckily, this might connect with the letter as well."
The man looked at the screen, sat down, and pushed the PLAY button on his mini-remote. The footage began to roll.
---
CAMERA 18:
6:54 PM
A couple of kids were running down the halls, screaming their heads off and laughing. A woman stepped out of one of the doors, scolding them as she dragged the children back into her hotel, and the hallway was clear for a while.
7:09 PM
A man was fully bundled up in clothes, sniffing as his boots thumped throughout the hotel hall. He reached an entrance to a room that was two doors right from the woman that appeared earlier. He had a large duffle bag by his side, and he struggled to get the door open with his hands full. The door clicked loudly, signalling the door was unlocked. He quickly forced himself in. The door shut loudly behind the man.
8:53 PM
The elevator opened for a few seconds, then closed without any warning or any one nearby. No one was present or visible in the elevator itself.
9:32 PM
A young man who was looking distraught and nervous ran to his door, frantically attempting to shove the key in to unlock it. He kept looking at the elevator, which was a close-up camera view. He ran in and slammed his door shut. The noise of locking could be heard from his door. He was on the left of the noisy man's door.
10:46 PM
A small figure zoomed out of the camera view once the elevator opened.
10:49 PM
The figure jumped out, holding what appeared to be a bat as it was chucked at the camera, destroying it.
CAMERA 22:
10:46 PM
The camera was located on the elevator. Once the doors opened and closed, the camera had cut out. Only audio was heard: light footsteps that seemed to be pacing. The cameras finally restored, the sound of the door opening and the light footsteps were audibly louder this time.
10:49 PM
The figure stepped out, the figure visibly clear this time. It had two, long pigtails, a slightly blood-stained aqua sweatshirt, a pair of black sweatpants, and a pair of "Bailey Bow" UGG boots. The figure looked just like the girl, Cameron Jones, had described, only this figure was slightly taller, had messier clothes and hair, and wore a yellow, smiling mask that covered her face. The "girl" had prepared a steel bat in a crouching position and swung it at full force towards CAMERA 18. The feed had gone out like a light, the sound of metal and glass shattering. She ran out in the hall quickly. The door closed right after.
10:57 PM
The doors of the elevator were still closed shut. The sound of screaming, inhuman shrieking, clawing sounds, then thumping was heard. Silence was drifting over after a few times of the repetitive sound.
11:13 PM
The door opened and closed, the camera cutting out. After a minute, the door opened once again, and light footsteps were heard exiting the elevator. The camera came back a bit fuzzy, and nothing phenomenal happened afterwards.
---
The head worker nodded his head to the video, slightly speechless. "She's definitely now a suspect. But is it really her? She hasn't grown an inch over the six years. How old would she be?"
"18." The presenter slowly nodded back. "Today's her birthday, June the 8th. I bet her family is dreading this very day."
"Sir, I don't believe it's her." The head worker leaned back. "But maybe the medication has something to do with this. What was she on?"
"A form of anti-depressant," the middle-aged man explained with exaggerated hands. "She was sort-of a sociopath. She never really felt any other feeling besides anxiety, rarely anger, and only once of sadness. She was basically a blank slate. She was superficial, yet very high on her grades. She's intellectual, and could correct anyone on their mistakes. However, it appears she had a soft-side for the Williams girl." The man took a deep breath.
"I knew someone who was a friend of the family. I got to see her a few times. But back to the topic of the pills."
The man began to pace around the room. "We tested the pills she took. As it turns out, each pills delays about a week of her life. She must've been overdosing with that amount."
He paused his pacing.
"Those pills are strong. If she takes four all at once, you could find her twitching on the ground. Wherever she's hiding, she's taking those pills and slowing down her aging progress. I reckon that's why she looks 13 when her actual age is 18."
This put everyone in a state of shock and confusion. His deep thinking always astonished them, but this information seemed to be dipped so casually it almost sounded like an anecdote of a friend.
"So Faith Chevrette is obviously behind all of this, and she's back in Taneytown to haunt all again."
He straightened his coat. "Tomorrow, we'll discuss ways of getting to the girl. Goodnight to all of you. You're dismissed."
Everyone started to gather their things, leaving quickly. All except for the side worker, whom was brave enough to question the presenter in front of the head worker.
"Charles." The worker approached the middle-aged man. "How did you know so much about this girl? Wasn't that your son who wrote the report?"
Charles, who sighed before turning to the younger worker had started a response. "Cameron was basically inseparable with Faith. They always stuck together, even if I thought her harsh judgement and words might be hard on Cameron." He shook his head.
"I have a feeling that the disgusting monster of a friend had at least thought Cameron was an important positive aspect of his life. Finding my source of happiness was the worst thing possible, but..."
He finally faced the young man, his tall figure almost hovering over the worker. "I noticed that the marks on his skin weren't anything like the other murders. I know she can change weapons, but she was caught with a bat, and possibly claws."
His eyes twinkled with a new glint. "Those marks were by some sort of axe or hatchet! A couple other murders were like that as well, only out in the woods near her old home."
The glint disappeared. "Maybe this little demon wasn't the cause of my son's death. But she had mercilessly slaughtered others."
Charles fixed on his coat, walking out the door. "See you tomorrow, Harris."
---
Harris was driving later on the dark night, humming tunes to the car radio. He was driving in the darker part of the woods, where a lot of murders had been recorded and rumored. Yet, Harris was always safe when he took this route, so he shrugged it off. It was about ten minutes into his drive when he noticed something in the middle of the road.
"HOLY–" The car swerved just a bit, luckily not crashing into any tree. He jumped out of his car, unharmed, along with it, but shaken up.
Harris spotted a small girl with long pigtails messily spread out on the ground. A bat was strapped to her back, and a mask appeared to be tied around her face.
Harris got closer to get a better look without thinking twice. The girl was twitching, an opened bottle of gold and yellow pills sprawled beside her.
He quickly got in his car, slamming the door shut as he phoned the police. "There's an a-armed child twitching in the road," he sputtered. "She's out like a light, and I'm afraid if I make contact with her, she'll spring up and run off."
He turned towards the window to check on the girl, but his heart left his body when he saw the girl coughing on the ground, blood spewing down from her mouth.
"Stupid... stupid pills..." she stuttered in a monotonous and hoarse voice. Her violent coughing continued as they started to sound more like shrieks.
Harris decided quickly he wasn't going to wait around for the police to arrive.
He told the police to track his current location, then hung up without a response from the operator.
He slammed on the gas, heading straight towards the girl. She looked up, her eyes large at the car, which made Harris shiver.
However, the girl shrieked and jumped on the car, and the sound of claws at the window started, her face and body going through contortion as the young worker could only watch in horror helplessly. He was slowly losing himself in the large green and grey eyes of the monster, and had grown unconscious when the glass shattered on his face.
---
Police eventually did find Harris dead the next day, covered head-to-toe in shattered glass and claw marks.
Charles Jones was peering out the window of the office. He attempted to entrance himself in the view of the city, but it was interrupted by the head detective's assistant.
"Mr. Jones," she said in a gloomy voice. Everyone was dreadful at the sudden mention of death of the youngest one on the team. "You wanted to discuss the search of Faith Chevrette, correct?”
Charles could only stare out the window, his speech slow and unsteady. "Yes, yes. Just go in the woods where Mr. Arin was last night. I know she's in there."
She nodded, the room silent and she awkwardly stood there. She finally sighed, heaving her breath. "Why won't you attend the meeting, sir? You were the one who came up with the idea."
Charles turned his chair to face the woman. "I'm thinking about how to put an epilogue to this creature. She always told my son, 'There's an ending to everyone, pathetic or not'..."
He stood up. "Like she said, if there's an end to everyone, she's included."
Mr. Jones faced the woman with a burning fury sealed behind an icy determination. "And I plan to bring that end closer than it would be."