Chapter 5: Somewhere Far Along the Road, He lost His Soul

C5: Somewhere Far Along the Road, He lost His Soul

Sometimes, during some brief fleeting moments of soliloquy, I tend to miss the world. Or at least miss some things I was fond of getting into when I was still living in it as free man. Weirdly enough, I don't miss my parents, my friends, the girl I was interested in or any of that pretentious banter we were taught to stock up as 'important'.

I miss the little things. The sand between my toes whenever I'd go out with my pals on the shores of Nekriyon. The warmth of summer's soft lips interlocking with the cool Northern breeze that could last only a couple seconds, but would feel like an eternity to me. But most of all. I miss the…

"Woo-Hooooooo", the dark-haired, young looking man screamed in ecstasy at the top of his lungs as the night's breeze unhurriedly blew past his face. His red convertible was a beast on midnight drives like this one. "You hit the Jackpot Malcolm. You hit the fucking Jackpot" He smiled to himself, grinning from ear to ear. "Look at you now. Where are the haters? Where are they?" He screamed ever louder, but garnered little to no attention in the dwindle of the cold night's seductive process. "Thank you, God. thank you Dad", he quickly reiterated. "I know you're watching me. And if you're not sleeping right now, your boy finally made it. Your boy finally, fucking, made it" He smiled even harder, smacking the horn of his car, honking all the way down the empty, streetlight-infested highway that managed to light up a couple details on the impressively tarred road.

Just then, almost on cue, his phone on the passenger seat beside him rang. The infamous Kanye west's "Heartless" echoed, vibrating on the smooth, light brown leather seats of the car. "Shelby?" He said, taking his eyes off the empty road for a second and reaching for his phone. As soon as he got his fingertips to it, he dragged the phone closer

Then right there and then alarming honk of an approaching beverage truck roared in his direction, jolting him in the process. "Fuck" he screamed in shock, making a quick right turn followed by a quick left one. Evading what would definitely have been a grim impact with the vehicle, but taking the full force of a drunk and infuriated truck driver.

"Get a driver's license before you mount a ride you asshole", the driver cussed, unsuccessfully sending a loogie in Malcolm's direction that eventually smacked across the road anyway.

"How bout I mount Yo mama" Malcolm screamed back, zooming off in the opposite direction. "That's new" He smiled to himself, reaching for his phone that was still ringing, but was now somewhere around his accelerator or brakes.

With his coarse hands finally etching across the screen of the phone, he picked it up, and then answered the call, putting an end to the catchy ringtone it left lingering behind. "Hello" he said with a rather annoyingly cheery voice.

"Malcolm you need to…"

"I know. I know. And I'm so sorry sweetheart" He cut in. "I couldn't wait for you to get home from the office any longer. Like, I couldn't bottle my joy anymore. We finally did it. I mean you finally did it" he quickly reiterated. "After everything, we needed this big break. I couldn't be any happier for both of us, but most especially, for you. So, in the mood of celebration, I went to the…ahem" he coughed, blushing a little. "I went 'that store' to get some 'toys'."

"Malcolm…"

"I know it's technically cheating, but in all honesty, I wasn't gonna use it alone. I bought some stuff for you to" he chuckled. "Looks sophisticated, but I'm sure after some tries, we'll get used to it. I watched a couple videos on it too and, my oh my, this is the shit. Especially the—"

"Malcolm!", She screamed through the phone, grabbing his attention in an instant.

"Are you okay Babe?" He sheepishly asked, finally recognizing the stressed, infuriating and strained sound romancing her once tender voice.

"I'm sending you the details of my location. You need to get here. Right now" she said a little lighter, but still stressed all the same.

"Fuck. What happened?"

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The sound of clicks and clacks of cameras fluttered around the entire setting of what looked like a house for someone in a witness protection program. Their discontinuous flashes from time to time was enough to trigger a bout of photosensitive epilepsy. The numerous officials surrounding the site gave it an even grimmer look. Finally, the crescent in the sky that seemed to be playing hide and seek with the North Eastern Exasthen environment, was the cherry on the cake.

"I'm sorry sir but you can't…"

Without saying a single word, he flashed his badge in the officer's face and he saw the information. "Detective Malcolm. Exasthen Police Department." The emotionless look on his face shut him up in nanoseconds.

Malcolm gradually waked closer to the 'main attraction', the buzz around what was probably the kitchen sucking his attention with every passing second.

And then, there the gory image was. The body of an aging-looking man was lying lifeless and bloodied with pieces of glass almost embalming his breathless figure.

"Fuck" he whispered.

"We weren't even supposed to find him Malcolm" the tender but shaky voice said just beside him. "We got some call about a little disturbance around these parts" she added, looking around the shadily decorated surrounding. "I actually thought it was nothing serious at first. But when Jones called for backup, I knew it something had gone terribly wrong. But I could've never in my wildest dreams imagined it would be something like this".

"Who called you though?" Malcolm said with a concerned look on his face, glancing a little in Shelby's direction. "Don't know?"

"Where you able to trace it?"

"Yeah we were." She dipped her cold, tender gloved hands into her trousers' pocket and brought out a plastic bag that contained a broken phone. It's insides completely severed and it's screen shattered beyond recognition. Alongside it, was a sticky note that read…

"Thought you might be interested in this" Shelby read out loud. "This one's gonna be nutcracker", she added staring with a blank expression at her bewildered lover. "Gonna be all over the news by morning too."

"Fuck" He whispered again. Seemed to be a real fan of that one cuss word. "Well, I'll get to work here", he said, bending down and assessing the lifeless body that gradually grew colder in front of him. "But in the meantime, I have one question."

"What's that?", Shelby asked with tired but concerned eyes.

"Just this morning he seemed pretty okay, don't you think?"

"The same thought was passing through my mind. He did look pretty okay to me. But what's your point?" she said with a more inquiring look.

"Well, things can change in the blink of an eye. But if I'm right, he wasn't alone at the hall, was he?"

"You're right" her face lit up.

"So if there's anyone that can answer our questions, it's her. Diana. Where is she?"