Living Witness [1]: Lizbeth's Curse

Perhaps it was because my dad was a policeman, I had a strong sense of justice as a child. I always believed that the truth always prevailed and lies were evil, that all criminals deserved to be punished for their crimes and the world would be better if no crime existed.

I grew up admiring fictional detectives like Conan, Holmes and Poirot. I loved the way they exposed the truth in a cool and precise manner and my dream was to be just like them once I was grown up.

I practiced my deductive reasoning during my childhood years and soon enough, a chance to solve a crime like the detectives I idolized presented itself.

I was in sixth grade at the time when the funds everyone contributed for our class trip was stolen. I eagerly jumped on board and solved the case in front of the whole class, revealing the culprit in no time at all.

It was a scholarship student in our class who stole the money with the intent of buying food for his little siblings who hadn't eaten in days.

We had him return the money and I suggested we resolve the case quietly without involving the school—that way, he could still keep his scholarship.

Thinking back on it, that was the start of my hell.

The case was among the students so the culprit wasn't punished by the school. However, from that day on.....the bullyings started.

It started with something small like kicking his desk or hiding his bag, but soon escalated to more malicious pranks.

Shoving spoiled fish in his locker, vandalizing his desk, torching his clothes, they even went as far as egging his house and using him as a punching bag knowing he couldn't do anything to oppose them since they had information on his crime to use as leverage.

Each day, the pranks became more daring and the bullying from all sides—boys and girls alike. In spite of all that, I stood there and just let it happen. Like a little kid, I was afraid of antagonizing the whole class. I hesitated and was waiting for someone else to step up. I averted my eyes from a problem I caused by revealing the truth to everyone, I was just a pathetic coward.

Then on the 18th of the month, I watched the boy commit suicide by jumping off the building. No matter how I tried persuading him, he didn't listen.... His final word were

"This is all your fault...my blood is on your hands, Elizabeth"

And he was right. If I'd handled the situation differently, that may not have happened. If I'd stepped in to stop the bullying....no, even before that— if I'd approached him quietly and asked him to return it instead of revealing the truth to the whole class, he may not have gotten bullied and he'd still be alive.

My problems didn't end there though. The month after that on the 18th, I watched someone get hit by a truck and die. The month after that, I witnessed a murder and after that, another murder.

Murder, accident, suicide.... The pattern was random. It didn't follow a specific trend and the number of deaths I saw had no pattern either. The only thing constant was that it always happened on the 18th of the month.

That's right. My curse, living witness is this— every month on the 18th without fail, Lizbeth Andrews will see at least one person die.

No matter what I did or how I tried fighting it, I was cursed to see death every month on the 18th.

I tried locking myself in my room, but my little brother fell down the stairs and died.

I ran away to the mountains, but I witnessed a woman beat her husband in the head repeatedly with a shovel then bury the body.

I sent my family on a trip and locked myself at home alone, but a burglar who broke in accidentally died while trying to escape.

I tried every secluded area I could think of but someone else also coincidentally chose that place to commit suicide or kill someone.

I even tried looking at corpses at the morgue on the 18th if that will fill the quota but I still witnessed death. No matter how I tried to persuade suicidal victims, they never listened and killed themselves anyway.

There was no way I could avoid the curse— strangers, family members, neighbors, classmates and even my close friends from school. I watched them all die on the 18th.

Once I'd exhausted all ways of trying to avoid my curse, I made a decision. While those who died by accident or suicide might be unavoidable, those who were killed deserved justice. After all, they didn't want to die and no one has the right to take the life of another, no matter the reason.

They deserved justice so their souls could rest, and I intended to make sure they received it.

I immersed myself in learning all I could, filling my head with knowledge and practical skills that could be useful during a case— from knowledge in forensic science and criminal psychology, to biology, anatomy and other disciplines such as physics and chemistry. Shortly after, I started helping solve murders I was involved in to at least help the victims find some peace

In addition, I wanted to protect those around me so I tried distancing myself so they won't be anywhere near me on the 18th. I was entering middle school— a place where no one knew me or what I was like in elementary school.

I avoided people who tried being my friends and ignored everyone entirely. I didn't care if they called me arrogant, snobbish and other insulting names, I didn't care if everyone hated me or thought I was on a high horse. As long as they could lead safe and happy lives, that was good enough for me.

I immersed myself into solving cases. However, almost like throwing mud in my face, the times I witnessed more than one person die increased drastically. Sometimes 2 in the day, sometimes 5 or even 10..... Even so, I kept moving forward doing what only I could do.

Despite it all, there was always a question at the back of my mind which always haunted me.

Does my curse only place me in a position to witness death or do the people I witness die because I'm there? Am I really just a witness or is it my fault they are dead?

That thought completely devoured me after a certain case in my second year of middle school. There was this guy I met as a detective who was being targeted for a murder, Mikey. He was the first person who broke down my walls and tried getting close to me. Despite my numerous attempts to make him hate me, he never did.

He was my first love and I wanted to protect him. I wanted to figure out the person targeting him and stop him, I wanted to fight my fate. However, just because you want to do something doesn't mean you can.

I was able to solve the case but only after he was brutally murdered on the 18th of March.

I lost my mind after that and wanted to end it all.

I went to a bridge to see what I decided to be my last view, it was where Mikey brought me for our first date. The sea there looked so beautiful, almost like it was calling out to me. I jumped inside to drown myself—To meet my love on the other side.

"Perhaps with my death, maybe... just maybe, a few less people will have to die because of my curse"

Those were the thoughts I believed would be my last.... However, an officer I'd met a couple times while solving cases also happened to be at the scene. He was the one who jumped in to save me without a second thought.

He was Alan Smith.

Alan told me Mikey wouldn't have wanted me to die and not to beat myself up over those I wasn't able to save. Rather, I should focus on those who's lives had gotten a little better as a result of my detective work.

"If you're feeling guilty about the death of a single person, then save the lives two people to compensate. Mikey fell in love with a detective working to save lives, so do it in his honor"

Those words of his gave me a reason to live.

It was at that moment I became a real detective. I started solving cases outside the ones related to my curse in order to save as many lives as I could and Alan was with me every step of the way.

Even on the 18th, he was still there....he promised he'll be by my side and he won't die—and he kept that promise for almost 2 years.

But now he's gone.... And on the exact same date as Mikey, ironic, almost like the universe is trying to tell me it's pointless to move forward.....

"And.....done"

I had just finished disabling the trap stationed at the east side of an abandoned research facility located deep in the woods— And inside that facility was the chameleon....the real chameleon.

I checked the time, it was 6:02pm

"They've probably caught the accomplice by now, so I guess it's my turn.... I'm sorry Adam, but I can't keep my promise"

I can't risk putting you in danger again. I remembered the words he told me during our last call.

I'm still alive!, He said. If I was even five minutes late, you most likely would've died..... And that isn't even the worst part, the worst part is you even accounted for your own death when formulating your plan.

If I'd arrived too late, you expected me to check your phone where I'll see the movements of your assailant after leaving the warehouse and use it to capture him.

You're the one who broke your promise first, baka.

I snuck into the building to arrest the chameleon. The building had three floors connected by a long spiral staircase. The first floor was filled with multiple aquaria although, the fishes had long since died. The second had rooms with different chemicals and other apparatus while the third was mostly heavy equipment.

According to my tracer, both the chameleon and the trojan horse were on the third floor. I had 6 smokebombs in my backpack, a taser, rope and tools for disarming traps. I also had a gun and one final last resort.

I ascended to the third floor while reviewing the case in my mind.

The chameleon was actually under our noses this whole time managing to fool everyone— including Adam....

Adam might be the ultimate lie detector but even he has limitations.

First off, his mind reading has a range of about 150-200m give or take. 250 if you really push it, which means he can still be sniped and killed by someone outside that range.

Second, what he reads are thoughts, not memories. To get the truth he has to ask all the right questions to get his opponent to think about the truth for even a fraction of a second before answering or formulating a lie.

Third and most importantly, if his opponent genuinely believes his thoughts to be true, that is the 'truth' Adam will read. An example of this was the case with suspect D who didn't know the person he stabbed was an imposter.

That's also the case with the chameleon, more or less. The main reason why he's able to don so many disguises and go by unnoticed is because of a certain condition—one the police didn't even know he had. However, after reviewing his crimes from 5 years ago, the prison tapes where he was held and cross referencing it with the events of this case, it's the only logical conclusion.

Dissociative identity disorder or split personalities

In the case of the chameleon, each identity is independent of themselves and truly believe they are the actual people they are disguised as.

They make independent decisions without realizing they are unconsciously following the plan of the murderous consciousness—they unconsciously place themselves in the prime position for the chameleon to take over and execute his crime.

The chameleon was disguised as an officer and so where his thoughts. He was carrying out his duty as the real person would with those real intentions which was why Adam wasn't able identify a mole.

The officer placed himself exactly where the chameleon wanted and the chameleon took over to commit the crime.

I pointed my gun at him

"Freeze Chameleon..... Or will you prefer to be called Sean Bright?"

Sean turned to face me

"Impressive, I'm surprised you figured out it was me and also that I had an accomplice, detective....after all the police just found out a few minutes ago"

"It was mostly just a hunch, I'm glad it paid off"

"Don't be like that, detective.... dazzle me with your brilliant deduction!"

"The first time I got a strange feeling was when you returned to the precinct, wounded. You said you were hurt while chasing the culprit, however, I recognized those bruise patterns. I've been with Alan for over two years and I've seen him get into a lot of fights..... His opponents usually had similar bruises after"

I didn't think much of it at the time since Adam didn't react to his statement. After all, it was possible the chameleon had a similar fighting style. However, Alan had defensive wounds on his body and they weren't similar to Sean's raising the probability of Sean's attacker being Alan. I stuck a tracer on him just in case.

The second thing was something Adam couldn't have noticed since he only read the case files and didn't watch the interview tapes when the chameleon was caught.

"Your accomplice used the filler words " y'know" and " kinda". Filler words are habits developed over time that's quite difficult to break. The real chameleon never used those filler words. He mostly used "I mean" and "sort of" during his interrogation...."

The wound on Adam's body added to my suspicion so I went off to investigate. I checked the prison logs and realized the chameleon wasn't the only one who broke out. His cellmate, Mike Rory, a small time arsonist also broke out with him, however, because he wasn't really a high profile criminal he went by unnoticed.

"That isn't enough for you to chase me down though"

"I also looked into the real Sean Bright, he never made it to Stone Valley, it was you the whole time. I got in touch with his previous branch and we've found the body. I also noticed that you met up with the culprit of the conman case after Adam let the accomplice take him, so I knew without a doubt"

"What made me even suspect me in the first place?"

"Call it intuition. Unlike the other officers, the first time I met you was last week during William Munroe's murder. I didn't have any prior information I could use to confirm if you were an imposter unlike the others who I know pretty well. If they'd been replaced by an imposter, I would've been able to tell...."

Even if the personality believes he's the actual person, their behavior is still based off of the chameleon's profiling after interacting with them for a bit, It can't be 100% perfect.

"... That and your callouses are missing"

"Huh?"

"Callouses on the tip of the thumb and forefinger consistent with repeated use of a gun. Even if you're a rookie detective, you should've undergone marksmanship training at the police academy developing those callouses, however you don't have them which means you've hardly used a gun. On the contrary, there a callouses at the base of your fingers consistent with use of a knife"

That could also be from repeated use of baton, so I ignored it. However, once several coincidences start piling up, it starts to stink

"You are quite the detective. Too bad you're also a foolish girl. Look around, I'm sure you can see the bombs spread all over this floor. If you shoot carelessly, you could die"

He's right, there were large bombs strapped on the supporting pillars and smaller ones in some of the heavy equipment.

"I'm confident in my aim. Besides, I don't mind dying here if it means I can take you with me"

"That's not something I expected from a detective.... You're fine with this guy dying as well?"

He asked, pointing at Munroe's brother.

"Doesn't really matter to me, I'm not here as a detective anyway. Just an emotional bi*ch seeking revenge. Come quietly if you don't want to die"

"Hahahahaha....."

*BOOM

Just then, a tiny bomb hidden in one of the equipments behind me exploded. It hardly caused any damage but I distracted me for a second— that was enough for him to pull out his gun and shoot. I reacted in time to dodge but he used that chance to close the distance.

He knocked my gun away and kicked me in the stomach like a striker hitting the winning goal in a soccer match. I flew into the wall.

"Well, that's sorta disappointing, de.tec.tive"

He pointed his gun at me. I was going to die...which meant I had to use my last resort.

I had a DIY bomb strapped to my chest under my clothes. It had a blast radius of about 3-4 meters. While that wasn't impressive by itself, this room was filled with bombs.

The blast from my bomb will set off a chain reaction causing the others to explode simultaneously and level the building, that was guaranteed to kill everyone inside, including the chameleon.

"If I die, I'm taking you with me.... This is for Alan..."

He was about to pull the trigger and I detonate my bomb, this is where the detective's story ends...

"I'm sorry, Alan, Mikey.... I just can't....take it anymore. I'm tired of my painful existence. Adam, I'm sorry for breaking my promise, and even if it was for a short while, thank you... for being my friend"

*Purrffffshhhh

At that moment, someone threw smoke bombs at us, distorting visibility. The sillohuete charged in slapping Sean's gun away then following up with a swift kick to the chin, pushing Sean back a couple meters with his back flat on the floor and his gun right next to me.

The sillohuete then charged at me. I picked up the gun and shot but he dodged it then tackled me.

Wait— This wasn't a tackle.... More like.... He picked me up and was carrying me on his shoulder like a sack of rice?!

He ran with me on his shoulder escaping the smoke and I was finally able to see his face. No way, it's...

"A-Adam?!"

"You almost blew my head off, you little freak!"

"W-What, H-How...."

"What do you mean 'how'? if I couldn't read minds I'd have a bullet where my brain's supposed to be!"

"N-Not that. You're supposed to be with the hostages right now, how did you find me?"

"Oh, that? You'll have to get on your knees and thank your psycho president later"

"Psycho?... You mean Sara?"

"Yeah.... She told me where to find you"

***************

★★★ 9 minutes earlier ★★★

My last hope to save Lizbeth Andrews picked up the phone.

"Your favorite supernatural buff here...."

"Sara! I need you to tell me where Liz is"

"Oh, Adam.... How are things going over there?"

"It's an emergency. Liz could die if I don't find her now"

"Fufu—what makes you think I know where she is in the first place?"

"You have a tracer on her don't you?"

Most likely in her phone. Unlike clothes, you don't change phones frequently.

She also has one on me— she probably put it in when I slept on her lap at the amusement park last month.

"Oh? What makes you think that?"

"I don't have time for this!"

"C'mon, just humor me, it's the only real fun I get to have with you. The sooner you answer, the sooner you can get what you want"

She said in a provocative tone. So you really want me to work for it? Fine.

"There were three things, actually"

"Fufu, do go on"

"First, when you talked to me on Monday, you said I went on dates with Rachel and Liz in the same week"

"Someone saw you, obviously"

"No that's wrong. If you had an actual witness, you wouldn't have referred to my time with Liz as a date..."

Ofcourse, she didn't have much to go on since Liz made sure details of the case that day wasn't released to the public in order to catch the culprit today, she couldn't have known I was helping with a case.

".....Also taking into account just how much you love getting on my case, it was strange you didn't mention anything about how much Liz hated my guts for stalking her that day. You deduced I was on a date with Rachel because you saw my tracing tag frequenting shops I couldn't go alone, then heading to Rachel's home before mine. Since I and Liz's tags where together at the shopping district later that week, you assumed we were also on a date"

"There are several other ways to interprete your observation but I'll let you off the hook since you're short on time"

She was still as condescending as ever.

"My observations seem more like fact when you consider my second reason"

"Do go on"

"This morning, you told me you spoke to Liz and she told you she'll be at the amusement park. However, when I met her, she asked 'how did you find me'— twice. I've seen her abilities first hand, if she really did chat with you today, she would've instantly figured out you were the one who told me but I didn't get a hint of that even in her thoughts"

"Hmmm?... And the third?"

She asked in anticipation

"Oh, that? A psycho control freak like you would want to know where all pawns are at any given moment to utilize them effectively"

" Fufufufuhahahahahahahaha— you really got me with that one, I'm dying over here, hahaha"

"So? Can you tell me where she is?"

"Ofcourse... however, it comes at a price. You'll owe me for this and you'll have to grant any one request I ask of you"

"Sure, whatever. Just tell me where she is!"

I felt like I was making a deal with the devil.

*Beep.

"I've sent you her location. Also, I suggest you take the east entrance, Lizbeth has been nearly still for a little while, probably disarming a trap or something"

"Thanks—"

" —Ohhh, one more service on the house! Run down the alley to your right then turn left and left again, you'll see an auto repair shop, tell them you need a bike. The owner there owes me a couple favors so just tell him Sara sent you"

"Thanks for that"

"You don't have to thank me. An IOU from from you is enough for me. Good luck, failed genius"

"Don't call me that"

I cut the call then followed Sara's instructions to procure a motorbike—it was already fully tuned up and the gas topped off.

I then rode at top speed to reach Liz — probably breaking several traffic laws but at least I made it in the nick of time.

★★★★ present ★★★★

Adam sumarized everything that's happened in my absence from how his plan went to how he found me.

We were currently hiding in a room on the second floor.

"Still though, why did you come? I don't want to lose you too"

I asked, tears rolling down my cheeks. His reply was one that surprised me.

"If there was one thing Watson regretted, it's letting Holmes fall at Reihenbach, there's no way I'll make the same mistake..... I am your Watson, always remember that. Also, I'm not just satisfied with not dying. I will break your curse as well, this I swear"

"A-Adam ...."

"What do you think? Did I sound like a shounen mc with that line?"

I punched him in the face

"Hahahaha..... I was serious about that last part though. Your curse was far too cruel a fate to impose on a twelve year old.... The witch who did that is definitely getting a piece of my mind!"

"S-Stupid perv...."

He signalled me to be quiet. Sean had come down to the second floor in search of us.... And he was searching each room one by one.

Eventually, he reached our hiding spot with a gun in hand— the gun I had when I came here.

The moment he opened the door, Adam landed a solid punch, then comboed with a few kicks and succeeded in pushing him down the railing.

Sean fell to the first floor.

"I get the picture of our situation.....can you disarm the bombs?"

Sean intented to lure the police here in search of Munroe's brother then blow up the building killing everyone inside— the same strategy as the accomplice.

"Yes....but I won't have enough time with the Chameleon after us"

"You don't have to worry about Sean, I'll keep him on the first floor. You just focus on disarming those bombs"

"N-No, you'll die, you can't beat him... After all—"

"—The old man was a master of judo and karate but he still lost, I know"

"Then you know it's suicide!"

"If there's one thing I can say with absolute certainty, it's that I won't lose. I don't care if he's Bruce Lee, he ain't getting past me, I'll win"

The look of confidence in Adam's eyes made me want to trust him. I know his curse also gives him foresight in a fight but will he really be alright?

"If you die, I'll never forgive you. I'll kill myself and come beat your ass in pervert hell"

"Haha, you're basically admitting to being a pervert yourself"

What? My face reddened a little. He walked down the stairs to the first floor raising his fist in the air

"I'll win, don't worry.... your Watson's got this. Now go show those bombs what you're made of, Holmes"

I ran to the third floor to do what only I could do, and him to the first to do what only he could do..... There was no time to waste.

"Please be safe... Adam."