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Davis
Instinct rules me, and I shout at Miri to stay put, dashing out the door before I consider if it makes sense to leave her behind. There is no thought, it’s a necessity for me to find out what’s going on. There’s a pull, something tugging in my gut, forcing me to push through the fleeing crowd, moving against the wave of scampering party-goers.
People are screaming but it’s easy to tell which direction I need to go. It’s the opposite of everyone else. By the time I reach the library, the crowd has cleared. All but a few onlookers who are too curious for their own good. I stop dead in the street when I see what’s caused the uproar.
There’s a man pinned to the ground, arms and legs splayed out on top of a symbol burned into the grass. He’s bloody beyond recognition, his skin holding a host of cuts and his ribcage cracked open. I take a step closer and almost stumble. He’s not unrecognizable, because I know exactly who he is. That’s my father.
A whole torrent of emotions barrages the thick barriers of my soul that I’ve only started to pull down for Miri. Relief that he's finally dead, worry over what the hell happened here, dread that this might just be the beginning. Somewhere in there, buried down deep, is the smallest bit of disappointment that this was the father I was given.
“Get back!” An angry voice shouts me out of my stupor, and I turn in time to see Scott Marsten, Wild Haven's sheriff, Rhys and Lena’s father, and all-around asshole, approaching.
“Wanna tell me what the hell happened here?” Scott sneers at me, shining his flashlight in my face before snapping it over to the murderer displayed in front of us. Scott visibly blanches, stumbling back a few steps.
“What did you do?”
“I just got here. The crowd started panicking and I came to check it out.”
“Instead of running in the other direction like the rest of the people?”
I don’t bother answering his rhetorical question.
“You answer me, son.” Scott gets up in my face, the angry slant of his mouth reminding me that this man is a piece of shit who beat his children for years. He had the protection of his badge and Anthony, but he’s just as much of a monster as my father.
“I’m not your son, and I don’t know what happened here.” Scott backs off, shining his light over the ruined remains of my father again. Something chimes annoyingly in the back of my mind, the feeling that I should be somewhere else. I shove it away, unable to pinpoint where the unease is coming from.
“I suggest you take yourself out of here unless you want to come down to the station.” Scott shines the light in my face again, and I take a step back, wincing at the brightness.
“I was just leaving.” Without another word, I turn and head back toward Miri’s shop. The same pressing need that sent me running out of her store now, sending me back. That whisper in the back of my mind is there again, but this time I try to focus on it. This push, this need to keep running from place to place, isn’t natural. This is magic at work.
My feet barely touch the ground as I sprint the rest of the way back to Miri’s shop. A pit forms in my stomach that tells me something is very wrong. All the lights are still on inside her store and when I pull at the door, hoping against hope that it’ll be locked. It swings wide open.
My stomach drops, and fear spears me through the chest. The store is empty. This is fucking bad.
