Chapter 1- The Red Dress
“Don’t do it,” I murmured to myself.
I could see the male, about six feet, light skinned - no, more like pale, with black hair, wearing jeans and a college t-shirt fidgeting by his car as police officers talked to him.
He appeared almost erratic, with his eyes searching rapidly around him. His body twitched at every sound. He had unnatural movements of his arms as he swung them as if they were moving at double speed.
He swayed on his toes as the two police officers, one of them being Alice, my friend, began to search the car.
“Don’t do it,” I murmured again as I placed my hand on the car door handle.
My partner, Malcom, said, “He’s gonna do it.”
When Alice opened the back door of his car, our suspect's eyes shifted down the street, and he rolled onto his toes again.
Malcom whispered, “Here we go.”
“Blast it!”
I swung the door open as our suspect took off down the road. Malcom turned the car on, spinning it around. I sprinted behind the suspect, my braided blond hair bouncing behind me. His head turned and he caught sight of me. His body jerked and twisted almost as if he was gonna heave, but instead his body moved incredibly fast.
I pushed myself harder, my lungs taking in controlled deep breaths.
Malcom swung the car in front of our suspect. With the window already down, he pulled out his gun.
“Stop!” He ordered. “NPD”
The suspect twisted low, and ran without hesitation on all four legs towards the back of the vehicle where he leaped over the top.
My head jerked back, surprised. But I effortlessly slid across the back of our black vehicle and continued the chase.
The man was headed for the woods. He was strange enough to act like some demented creature. I made a sharp left down a lane, taking an angle towards the forest. Cutting off several hundred yards, I rounded a corner just as the suspect came to it. I clothes-lined him. His body swung back as he hit his back on the ground. His force threw me off, causing me to stumble several steps.
The suspect quickly twisted on the ground, going from his back to his feet with incredibly unnatural speed. He lunged at me, swinging a punch. I ducked just in time to his fast movements, countering with a swift jab to his ribs.
The man staggered but recovered quickly, grabbed my arm, and tried to twist it. Using his momentum, I broke free and landed a sharp kick to his knee. He buckled and fell to one knee. I twisted my leg around him, flung my body downward while spinning around him, forcing his body forward and onto the ground.
Quickly, I placed my knee in between his shoulder blades. Malcom pulled up, jumped out the car and helped me handcuff the man. Malcolm's narrow, but athletic build was easily able to restrain the man. The moment the silver cuffs were around him he seethed in pain and he wiggled furiously.
“Take them off! Take them off!” He screamed.
“Not a chance,” I said. “You’re under arrest.”
The police cruiser pulled up with sirens. Alice jumped out with her gun, blowing her brown hair away from her face. But when she saw the situation, she put it away.
“Wow, impressive catch Detective.”
“Please take them off.”
Alice and her police partner picked the man up in his arms. His eyes were bloodshot and his body twitched again. Alice’s brown skin next to him made his appearance like there was no color to his skin, no pigmentation. He twitched.
Malcom said, “Apparently, he got himself into some hard drugs.”
“Let’s go!” Alice said. She looked at me. “Hey Adira, girls night, Friday?”
“Sounds good to me,” I answered back.
They shoved the suspect into the car.
“Take these off!” He screamed from the car.
Alice rolled her eyes and entered the vehicle. I turned to Malcolm as I rubbed my throbbing arm.
“That guy was solid.”
“Why do you always accept her Friday night invites and not mine?”
I smirked. “Because she is far more entertaining.”
He shook his head, causing his shaggy brown hair to bounce with the movement. “Really? Albetos is not entertaining for you? That’s by reservation only, and I can get those if you’d just go with me.”
“Maybe some time.”
He rolled his eyes. I ran my hands through my blond hair that fell out of its braid cringing at the ratty knots in it.
“I think I’m ready to go home to take a shower.”
He nodded his head towards the vehicle, opening my door.
“Let's get back.”
I walked past him to the car, our heights almost matching with him at six feet and with me only three inches shorter at five feet nine inches.
On the road back to the precinct, I couldn’t help but think about the erratic behavior of the man.
“Do you think that man we caught was acting… strange? Unnatural?”
“Drugs can be unnatural. Probably on some kind of cocktail.”
“Yeah.” Drugs can cause twitches, strange movements, and bloodshot eyes. But his eyes didn’t seem natural, they almost appeared haunted. Or the way he ran on all fours without slowing down or missing a beat in his stride. A chill crept down my arm. Something was not normal, or right.
We arrived, but I had not left the car. Malcolm opened my door.
“Hey, you’re just tired. I’ll do the report, you go home and take that shower. I’ll see you tomorrow again at five pm sharp.”
I nodded, glancing at the clock, still an hour before sunrise. I exited the car.
“I owe you, take care, Malcolm.”
He lifted a hand as he entered the precinct. I rounded the side of the building to the parking lot, finding my own vehicle. I entered the dark blue medium-sized car and left the precinct.
The road out of the city was still dark with shadows casting onto the road playing with my headlights. The city scenery blended into forests and woods.
My tired mind would find shapes and creatures lurking among the trees. I even thought I could see the man we arrested hunched on all fours, with his cold eyes, and pale face staring at me.
I yawned, momentarily closing my eyes. As I opened them, movement in the distance came through the trees. I gripped the steering wheel, trying to focus on if what I was seeing was real or a shape formed from shadows of the forest. The movement was still there crawling from the high grass. I slowed, unsure if it’s an animal or… something more sinister.
A figure staggered onto the road. My heart pounded. I grabbed my gun and slammed on my breaks as the figure swayed and limped towards my car. I looked around realizing I was completely alone. I had not seen another car.
As the figure came into my headlights, I recognized it as a female with long brown hair wearing a red tattered dress. She fell against the hood of my car and I jumped clutching my gun. She didn’t move.
I stepped out of the car, holding my gun low and ready for any movements from the woods if this was possibly a trap.
“Help…” The female whispered.
She rolled off the car to the ground. I knelt beside her looking at her pale face and her dress tattered and destroyed. I pulled out my phone and called 911.
