The Way I Loved You

The next day.

A police car stopped in front of the Coffee shop, outside a sign 'Soon to be open' was hanging on the glass wall.

Barney got out of the car and walked towards the entrance of the cafe. He was wearing his uniform with a gun on his side. He came alone to interview the person who claimed that a pervert naked man was running around, scaring people.

He knocked on the glass wall and found a familiar face. A small girl carrying a skull and a pad opened the door for him. She was wearing a black long sleeve dress reaching her feet, she had a black bandanna on her head and a lollipop in her mouth.

He remembered her, she was the kid in the Market with Selena, the one hiding under the table. He finds it abnormal that she likes the creepy human organs and skeleton as her toy.

"Hi. I need to speak with Mr. Evan Su?" he gave her a neutral smile.

The girl lowered her doll to write on her tablet. When she was done, she showed it to him.

"Where is Mr. Stingy? Is he looking after my toys?"

Barney's expression became flat, he stared at her, confused why she was asking about his friend.

"I don't know. I will ask him later," he replied, confusion was in his voice.

Then the girl wrote down, "Tell him to be gentle when polishing the spinal cord. It's very delicate,"

Barney nodded as a response and was about to ask her about her father when the girl showed him what she wrote in her pad once again.

"Can you tell him, I can also clean it if he's busy. He doesn't need to pay me."

To finish the conversation, Barney just nodded and said, "Can you get your father?"

The girl stared at him, he was standing in front of her.

He felt uncomfortable by her gaze. She was deeply staring in his eyes that he felt as if she's trying to dig into his soul.

Then, he saw her pupil dilated, followed by her iris changing from brown to black.

(!)

Shock by her eyes, Barney took a step back. Both eyes went wide as he watches her eyes turning into green.

(What the!)

(Monster!) he exclaimed.

He scratched a hand on his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming. When he opened his eyes and look at her, the girl's eyes had already become brown.

(Follow me!) the girl wrote down and started walking away.

Barney was feeling scared. He wanted to leave but, he needs to stay and finish the job. So, with his knee-trembling in terror, he followed her upstairs.

When he finally reached the living, his face went pale in fright. The place was dark and cold, the window was covered with a thick curtain.

Hanging on the ceiling was a small circular chandelier surrounded by different ears and eyeballs, and by the distance, he could see that they were human's eyeballs.

There was a hand inside the glass jar on the shelves and he shrieks silently when he saw a foot under the center table.

The floor was full of red stain, which seems to be blood. There were red handprints on the white wall and a huge portrait of a monkey was pasted on the wall

(Where am I?)

He swallowed hard, he was panicking in his mind. The place looks like a slaughterhouse with all the human organs and blood stains around, though a sweet vanilla scent was lingering around.

Then he heard footsteps, his pale face turned to his right and saw one more stairs. Despite all the little fingers with bloodstains hanging on the stairs rails, his eyes caught a woman walking in a slow pace, her white dress was full of mud and one hand holding a shovel while the other was a sack.

Based on how the woman was struggling to carry the sack, he figured that there was something heavy inside.

"Hi, I am- we ahm, we received a report last night," he paused to swallow hard, he felt as if there was a rock in his throat, making it hard for him to continue.

Just like the girl earlier, the woman's eyes had suddenly become green, and it was like glowing in the dark.

He tried to compose himself and continue, "I need to speak with the victim and the witness" he could no longer hide his fear. His voice broke down as he said those words.

"Isa, where is the man?" the woman asked the girl.

Barney also looked at the girl, the girl was sitting on the floor, holding the feet he saw earlier.

The girl looked at him and pointed a finger at the closet next to the thick black curtain. The woman holding a sack walked towards the closet and dropped the sack and the shovel onto the floor.

All the things inside of the sack came out, and the skulls and fingers skeleton he saw was enough to lose his consciousness.

Daniella and Louisa were shocked when the police suddenly fall to the ground. Daniella immediately went closer to check his pulse.

A loud sigh came out of her mouth, relieved that he only lose consciousnesses. She thought he collapsed because of a heart attack.

"Phew! He's alive," she ran a hand on her forehead, wiping her sweat. She was cleaning Louisa's room and found out that she kept some of the toys she supposed to throw or sell, and it's consuming the space in her room.

When she saw the disappointment in Louisa's face, her brows creased in confusion.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

Louisa got up to get her pad, then she showed her what she wrote in it.

"I want to see a real dead person, mommy,"

After reading it, Daniella's face went blank.

"Once your uncle Matthew visit us. I will let you touch his dead body," she stated jokingly and asked Louisa to get Evan.

In the other side, Barney only lost his consciousness for some time. When he smelled something sweet next to him, he remembered the place he was in and how creepy it was. He has then decided to pretend to be unconscious.

After he heard the woman saying the words 'dead body' he thought that it will be his last day.

(What kind of family is this?) he thought.

He heard faint footsteps, it must be the little girl leaving to get her father, he said in his mind.

"You can open your eyes now," he heard the soft voice of the woman speaking in his side.

Fearing of what she will do to him, Barney opened his eyes. He got up and took a step back.

"What – who did you kill?" he tried reaching for his gun but, it's no longer in the holster.

He looked around, his mind was panicking.

"Looking for this?" he turned at the woman in front, she was holding his gun.

His eyes followed her as she walked towards the curtain. A screeching sound followed by a blinding light coming from the window made him lower his sight to the floor.

"I apologize if we scared you officer Cruz. Don't worry, all the things around are fake. I am Daniella Su."

"Also, my daughter took your gun. You probably didn't notice it. I am giving it back,"

Daniella said while handing him the gun.

Barney was still in shock, he didn't even know that the little girl took his gun. His brain could not process all of her words.

When she snapped a finger in his face, Barney blinked and looked at her. She has the same face as the creepy girl he met earlier.

"So, these aren't real?" he asked, pointing at the human parts around.

"Yes, they are all my daughter's collection, Creepy right? We already sold some of it but, there are just so much, ugh!"

When he heard her giggling in between her complain, Barney felt at ease. His body started to calm down.

(Whoa! I have never been so scared in my life) he blurted in his mind.

Then he remembered her eyes, the glowing green eyes she had earlier.

"Your eyes! They were green earlier," he said faintly, afraid of offending her. And once again, fear overtook his mind.

Daniella clicked her tongue and wave a hand in the air, unbothered by how confused he was.

"We have a rare eye disease. My two daughters have it too. They re glowing since it's dark. Again, I am sorry if we startled you."

"Oh!" that's all he could say but deep inside, he wanted to ask more.