KNOCK KNOCK CHAPTER 6 "THE LONGEST NIGHT"

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CHAPTER 6

THE LONGEST NIGHT

JANUARY,1990

T

here were six people in the hideout, two women and four men excluding William, all around the age of 25, when he announced his end with the group. One of the men stood up from the chair, put one hand on William’s shoulder and inquired softly, “What happened my friend? Is there something bothering you?”

William shook his hand away and turning to the other side, replied with an exhausted voice, “No, there’s nothing bothering me, I just can’t carry on with you guys. This whole thing has eaten me from inside. I can’t sleep when I get to bed, all my peace has gone, it…it feels like I am gradually sinking in the quagmire of darkness and soon it’ll consume me completely. Doesn’t this happen with you all? How can you be at peace with your inner self? How can you easily sleep in your beds and wake up in the morning fresh and planning for another hunt?....”

“Enough!!!” One of them shouted, “Enough of your drama William. Everyone here is by his own will, no one is forced to do anything, so just shut up and leave if you think that we’re the bad ones”

William looked around and realized that all eyes were saying the exact same thing he just heard from one of them. A mixture of emotions flooded William’s head and he didn’t know what to say or react, the only thing his brain wants was to leave and get some fresh air, so he left.

“You didn’t have to do this. Don’t you know how important he is in our plan?” One of the girls scolded the man who shouted at William.

The man replied while lighting a cigarette, “Don’t worry baby, he will come back. Who’s gonna pay for his wife’s treatment otherwise?”

Then there was a laughter, an evil laughter and heinous smiles in the hideout.

PRESENT DAY

Sophia Christopher, started her career as a model a long time ago and now was a TV actress, separated from her husband and living with her two children, Edwin and Elizabeth. Coming back home early in the morning, Sophia couldn’t believe in her eyes as she saw the dead body of her son right next to the Christmas tree. It took her some time to get out of the shock and then she got herself together somehow and went upstairs to see her little princess. She was a bit relieved after seeing her doll sleeping in her bed. Now, it was the time to inform the police which she did right away.

*******

*Phone Ringing*

“Yeah John, why are you calling me that early? Everything’s fine?” Charles inquired in a sleepy tone.

John replied with a bit fear in his voice, “Sir there is another death and it is linked to our case. I am sending you the address.”

Charles quickly got up and reached the crime scene as soon as possible. It was actually linked with their case as there’s answer of the KNOCK KNOCK written on the Christmas tree with flowers, WHO’S THERE?  And once again there’s absolutely nothing, no evidence of murder, no fingerprints and no proof of anyone’s presence except Edwin. The body was sent for autopsy and other members of the team were also called at Sophia’s house.

They searched the whole house for any clue but in vain. Charles asked Sophia to stay home as they would need her co-operation. A strange silence was present in the car when they were going back to the office. Everyone wanted to say something but none of them knew how to turn their thoughts into words, so silence was the only available option. Two young deaths within a week and no sign of any murderer, the haunting thought prevailed over their minds.

After reaching the office, Harry eventually broke the silence, “Now you see it is a ghost, as I am saying from the first day.”

Jennifer spoke in his response, “Come on Harry, two kids are dead and you’re still taking it as a joke.”

Charles, reducing the heat of his mind, said, “Remember I told you that it’s not a simple case…so for this moment, let’s believe that it’s a ghost then how are we going to stop him Harry? Or anyone else here have any experience in catching the ghosts?” 

Silence. No one dared to reply to that side of Charles, the aggressive one. Charles continued, “Two kids are already dead and no one wants the death of another innocent soul. So just focus right now so that we can celebrate Christmas Eve without any kind of fear. Tell me what did you get yesterday? Any clue?”

Harry and Madam JJ nodded heads in rejection.

John looked towards Sara as if he was asking her to give the explanation of the yesterday’s investigation.

“Oh yeah. We got one, well I think it’s a clue unlike John. We went to many slaughter houses but none of them reported anything suspicious about pig buying or pig blood except one” Sara spoke up instantly. Everyone was staring at her as if her next few lines were going to change their position in the case. She continued, “The man told that, about a month ago, someone came to buy a pig but strange thing was that he demanded alive pig, I felt a bit dishonored as an abattoir owner that he’s asking for an alive pig from me, so I denied at once but eventually I had to give him that because he gave me double money for the pig.”

Charles couldn’t stop himself’ “Can he make a sketch of that person or how did he look like? Anything?”

John answered this time, “He told that he looked like a white young man of maybe around 25 years of age with a heavy voice but it was a rainy day, he was wearing a raincoat and hood was covering half of his face so he couldn’t see that person properly, also he didn’t get any information from him like name, address etc because it was unusual for him to sell alive pig on double price, so he forgot to ask anything. That’s all. That’s the lead we got sir.”

Charles’ excitement vanished suddenly and he said in a lower tone this time, “Never mind, John, check the CCTV footage of streets around that abattoir and find that person and follow him. At least we know that it’s not a ghost.”

John stammered, “I’m afraid sir, we already looked for CCTV but the camera near abattoir was not functioning due to rain maybe and was repaired later. So that’s not possible to follow him on CCTV.”

Charles hammered his fist on the table with frustration as everything was going against them. Harry changed the topic, “What about the report? You visited forensic department?”

Charles took a glass of water and replied, “Oh yeah, they were also shocked but the report was authentic unfortunately.”

Madam JJ gave her opinion after a brief silence in the room, “Can’t it be serial killer?”

“But madam, if it’s a serial killer, there must be at least something common in Peter and Edison but that doesn’t seem to be the case” Sara objected Madam JJ’s opinion.

“Don’t you see Sara, it’s the same person who killed both Peter and Edwin. First KNOCK KNOCK and then WHO’S THERE?... Do you think it’s a coincidence that two different murderers are playing with rhymes here?” Madam JJ cleared Sara’s objection.

“Jennifer is right Sara, it’s the work of same person and if it’s a serial killer, we have to stop him before his next target.” Charles agreed with Madam JJ’s thoughts. “Also, John I want autopsy report on my table by tomorrow morning. Tell them it’s an emergency” Charles added.

*******

“I’m going to divorce you” Man stammered.

“What? Don’t you love me?” Woman shouted.

“I do, that’s why I have decided this” Man replied.

“We can adopt. Don’t leave me” Woman begged.

“I know how much you love to be a mother and have your own kids. If I can’t give you that then I won’t stop you from having that either” Man explained.

“But I love you Charles…” Woman started crying.

Charles got up in the middle of the night panting and sweating. He took a sip of water and was surprised to see that the time was just fifteen past two in the morning. He had been sleeping for almost three hours but he thought that he had slept for more than 7 seven hours which was his routine. He came up to the window and saw the snowfall outside in the street. Everything was getting milky by these soft and small drops of cream falling from the contrasting sky. By looking at the sky, suddenly it came across his mind that what others were doing at this moment? Were they enjoying the snowfall like him or were they having a peaceful sleep?

            Between the tension of the serial killer, nostalgia of his dream and glee of the snowfall, Charles forgot that it was the longest night of the year. There was something in this night, a strange calmness, waking almost everyone to see the beautiful snowfall. Everyone had dreams. John saw himself as Chief Constable sitting in his office. Sara dreamed herself in a gorgeous red sleeveless dress with matching nails, lipstick and black shoes, sitting in a cafe next to her dream prince and kissing him. Madam JJ dreamed a picture of her happy family with her love and her two children. Coincidently Harry saw the same dream as Sara’s but with only one difference, Harry himself was sitting in place of Sara’s dream prince next to her. All of them woke up from their sleep after the dreams and saw the beautiful snowfall outside.

While everyone had dreams, there was a person who didn’t even sleep at all, standing in the balcony, wearing black track suit with hood covering his head, stretched his arms outside to feel and catch some beautiful snow pearls. Everyone enjoyed the snowfall in the longest night of the year forgetting about the dark days that were going to follow…

TO BE CONTINNIED....

Next Chapter >>> SWINOPHOBIA
Previous Chapter >>> DNA REPORT