tales buried in deep

Tale 2: Slip

Bright sunshine, loud neighbors, with the usual newspaper boy throwing a newspaper at my front gate. This is an awful optimistic morning which I always suffer, living in this sunny village.

"G'd morning, Hershei!"

"A beautiful morning, Hershei~"

"Smile, Hershei! Smile!"

My overhype neighbors start their daily greetings once I step outside. I just want my newspaper and some mails.

"Y'all, good morning too." I didn't need to glance at each of them. They might think I would be glad to be invited over breakfast. As usual, I went back inside, read a newspaper and unnecessary mails, drink coffee, have breakfast with my two cats, and left for work. All things are the same every day.

And I love that.

Suddenly, things become out of order.

Clouds display themselves before the sun. Fresh cool air makes their ways through the whole village.

With news in front of our houses.

Police covered the crime scene. I've heard that an unrecognizable human was lying in the road. They said that the body has been dead for years or so.

I turn my head, looking at Mrs. Roseville. She's horrified as her eyes remain to stare at nothing. Even if I really ask, Ms. Reo came beside me and started to blab.

"She's the only witness. She called the police immediately. But, if I were in her shoes, I would wait for a moment where we can also take a look at the corpse. Together," she blurts.

Mr. Robin joined her discussion and even stood at my side. "Poor woman, if I were her, I'd probably pass out."

"Did Roseville reveal anything?"

Mr. Robin nodded. "She said that the human is naked."

I just let them talk.

"Naked? How did she know when the corpse was dead for years?!"

"Reo, clothes don't rot."

"Is this similar to the case in 1950? A serial killer on the loose."

My eyes met hers, I look at her, wanting to know more about what she said. She avoids my gaze. I know she's uncomfortable.

Mr. Robin said what I want to say. "1950? Is that true?"

"We won't know if this is a serial case when there's just one corpse." She avoids the question.

"I moved here in 1998 with my mother and brothers. I never heard of 1950, Reo. What's the story?"

"Obviously, the village head hid the secret past to all of the new people since 1990. I just know that the victims were naked and has been skinned. And, the suspect has never been found. It's just sandals in the last victim."

"Sandals?"

Ms. Reo nods. She sighs and runs her fingers to her hair. "I've been here long enough. I moved here in 1988 when I was little." She changed the subject to the new people moving in.

"I sold my flat to the new family. They'll be here. And, lucky for me if they buy my lot." Ms. Reo looks at me, smiling.

I pretend to smile at her. "Lucky for them to find space on Earth," I say and Ms. Reo chuckles.

Mr. Robin surprisingly agrees with me. I excuse myself, march towards the police officers. A policewoman grinned at me, and then we bump our fists together.

"You've got really something to do with mischief wherever you go. Long time no see, sister." She tucked her auburn hair string to her left ear. People often say that we don't look like sisters or related at all. She had lively and gorgeous curly auburn hair, contrasting to my dull ash straight hair. She has a lean and womanly figure, while I have a thin pale figure and scoliosis.

I let out a sigh. "I'm the Loki between us, Thor. Did you find any interesting detail about the dead?"

Adelissa laughs for a second and then shrugs her shoulders. "Only sandals." I blink several times. I turn to look at Ms. Reo, but she's long gone in the scene.

"Are you okay?" I nod at her and told her that the same words have been repeated. She insisted to come over to my house.

And I repeatedly refused.

Adelissa rushes before me inside. I heard her tongue click. I guess she saw how neat my living room was. Sarcasm. My house has never been cleaned up since I moved in. Adelissa gazes at me with an eyebrow raised.

"You stood up being messed up in yourself and your house. I felt like I want to vomit. My OCD is irritated, we should talk somewhere organized." she added.

"Bad news. I've got no room for organization. If you wanted, you can-"

"Not again. Don't use that statement again. I've had enough with your.. trashy attitude."

I smirk. "Police officer, you should now go. We don't have anything to discuss."

"We both know that we had this same feeling. Feeling that we can solve the case. When we work together."

"Adelissa, I've quit being your assistant. You should find someone else."

"You never quit. I know it. You just won't admit it."

"One suggestion. Interview Miss Reo before she leaves. You might find a breakthrough. Now, leave." I pulled her outside. She looked disappointed and annoyed.

"See? You already found the first clue. Call me up when something came up in-"

My deadpan face stares at her with a no-thanks-look. She shakes her head and inserts persistently her name card in my hand. "I'll call you too."

I slam the door hard. I quickly walk to my kitchen, making myself a coffee and microwaving the processed noodles. For that moment, I thought I heard a thud behind.

I disregard it.

To my mistake, a loud bang at my door startles my whole system. I sigh while I came to open it.

Miss Reo carrying an old shoebox surprised me.

"Uh, what can I do? For you?" I ask amid my asthma. Miss Reo acted suspiciously. She just stares at me and says, "Wear it."

My hand searches for my inhaler inside my pocket. As I use my inhaler, this old woman speaks one last time. "I inherited this from my mother. Now, I want you to have it."

I was about to reply but she walks away from me. I am supposed to say that I don't need this. Unfortunately, I am currently lifting this box with my hands.

A white flip-flop. I viewed it much closer, holding one, and have been amused at how its all parts are cleaned. I pull the white cloth covering the drawer, carelessly putting the box inside. And then back to dress the furniture with the cloth.

Hours passed by, I'm digging cats' shits in their litter box because I couldn't take the smell. Kissy, female street cat I adopted, grinding her body to my legs. Looks like she's being sorry, but I doubted that. She's making fun of me as I throw her shits.

My second cat, the tamed and quieter, Miko, a male grey cat, just lying on the floor. Suddenly, he's been curious about the door. He meows continuos towards it.

Does he want to s**t outside? I would be happy if he chooses Dalten's backyard or front.

The visitor opens the door before I even could. I almost tackle her, my sister, for intruding.

"Woah, easy, Loki!" She backs away, hands up.

I grunt. "What on earth are you doing in this witchin' hour??"

"I don't know too. My instinct just brought me here. Anyway, I already gathered information on Miss Reo. She's the oldest one here, right?"

Miko becomes sweet to Adelissa. She picks him up and starts to caress. I give them each look of disbelief.

"Is she the oldest here?" She repeats her question. I nod at her while still looking at Miko. He's been nothing but cold to me.

This is the first time I've been jealous.

"She said that she would help when we get the forensics result. Since she knows almost everyone here. Hershei, are you okay?"

I run my fingers through my hair. "Never been awfully okay. By the way, have Miss Reo told you why she gave me the shoebox?"

Her eyes squint. "Shoebox? When?"

"I reckon about thirty minutes after you left. She's weird. I wanted to say that I don't care about her inheritance at all. I don't even care about her, so why would she care about me?"

"Hershei, are you insane? That thirty minutes, I was already talking to Miss Reo. "

That makes it weirder.

"Maybe you arrived when she's not home?"

"She's exactly inside when I came. I remember that she's making a pot of tea. How could she go to your house without my knowledge?"

"Let's say that I got another Miss Reo. What is she wearing at that time? And was she wearing her dentures? "

Adelissa coughs, she does that when she wouldn't believe me.

"Okay, to settle this discussion. She's wearing her caramel polka-dot patterned dress, hairnet, and full dentures."

I couldn't breathe.

Adelissa immediately knew what to do. She helped me to sit, inhale some air, and calm my system.

"What happened? Tell me."

I gulped a sum of saliva. I met her evergreen eyes. My lips got a sudden shiver when I started mouthing words.

"That's alright. Take your time. I'll go get a glass of water." Amidst her OCD, she managed to get inside the kitchen.

My mind didn't forget how Miss Reo appeared that time. I had a photographic memory in which I have been blessed and cursed.

After I drank the water, I open the drawer and slam the box on the table. Adelissa carefully examines it without touching it. She's highly germophobic.

"After you left, Miss Reo wearing a dark purple plain dress, no shoes, no dentures, and mystery, had appeared in my front door carrying that abomination. She said that this box belongs to her mother and now she wanted me to have it. How can I logically explain this s**t?"

Adelissa nods. "I'll go check the cameras if there is a doppelganger Miss Reo. For now, you need to rest and stay out of this case. Got it?"

I sigh. "From the beginning, I am staying out of this. No more crime-solving."

Who am I kidding? This s**t is a mystery to solve. I storm down to my basement where I have done things there. Things called investigating.

I watch the clips of my camera outside my door at exactly 12:30 p.m. My hair all over my body rises, cold feeling crawls inside my body as I watched the tape.

There's no Miss Reo doppelganger.

Thus, there is a black shadow in human form. And that figure faded immediately. I backtrack the tapes to this morning. Every angle, I look into it. I might find a similar shadow figure.

And I did.

The shadow loomed over the corpse. Then, passing through the position where Mr. Robin, Ms. Reo, and I were talking.

Exactly when Miss Reo glanced at me.

I snapped out of it when Miko and Kissy hissed in one direction. They went with me in the basement, and not just them, the box too.

Again, my cats are hissing at it. A second later, they stopped. In sync, they turned their heads to me. With dilated pupils, they continue their hiss.

And went running away.

There is something wrong with the box. Who brought it here? And I got a bad feeling about my connection to it.

This might be a once-in-a-lifetime.

I opened the box on the table, as I sit on my comfortable chair. While my computers are searching for information about this village.

Critically the serial case in 1950.

I smell the flip-flop one by one.  It doesn't smell anything, just plain rawness. And it's weird, my eyes have been deceived by optical illusion colors. Whether it's the same of snow or dirt.

Then something popped.

It's my computer and immediately scattered the files on the whole screen. I forgot to set this damn computer to organize files, on the contrary, I am the owner. The messy owner. I start to scan every detail in the file such as a notable person, place, and even clues. I have the skill to analyze every text material quicker than Adelissa.

No way.

This is insane.

There is a feature article about the lost shoebox in 1949, published in 1952, where it stated that this box was reported as belonging to an outsider/ foreigner whom they didn't know.

And police reports about the sightings of doppelgangers in the village where there happened multiple cases in a day. Especially, the terrifying serial murder that happened in 1950 in which only police records and a journal have existed. 

I feel all the crimes are connected.

I try to search the journal, but I couldn't. Instead my screen flickers, I turn off the main CPU, however, the screen is still flickering.

The lights go with my screen's malfunctioning. In a blink, I see my feet wearing the flip-flops. Another blink, I see my feet are bleeding. Goes on and on with different events happening to my feet.

Between bleeding, losing a toe or two, wearing the flip-flops, wearing and bleeding, and blackening of my toes.

And then, my consciousness has a blackout.

I woke with a start. I feel different than before. I feel exhausted. I get up and have been almost out of my breath when I see my feet.

These are shedding skins. Circular groups of skin sheds. Noticing that the flip-flop is gone. I search my whole house, but I couldn't find it.

Adelissa surprises me when she comes in at the back door. She quickly hugs me. "I knew you're alright!"

"What happened?" I ask, eyebrows knitted.

"I've called you yesterday, but you don't answer."

"I think I passed out."

"Are you feeling tired?"

"I guess so."

"Let's get some breakfast."

I never knew Adelissa can cook. She is a bad cook ever since she tried, but look at her, she's trying her best. And her foods come out good.

"When did you learn to cook?"

"I've got it from you."

"Me?" That's strange. We both suck at cooking. I look at her suspiciously.

She chuckles. "Anyway, you should go out and have some fun."

I snort. "Fun is in my house. Funhouse."

"You should go out and have some fun. Go."

I look at her, getting annoyed at her for no reason. I notice when I look at my plate, I'm eating nothing. She pulls me to the door and pushes me outside.

"I am naked!"

She slams the door at me. How dare her! I feel my skin is covered with something. How did I have clothes on?

This is getting strange.

I walk through the village. No one cares to greet me neither chat with me nor wave at me. What is happening in people?

Adelissa seems weird but she is weird. My magical clothes. And my customized preferred neighbors.

This is paradise!

I could never wish for anything. I walk past a man. I sense his scent. Vintage, old butt tobacco cigars, the smell of a dead body.

I turn my head to him.

Same time he turns his body.

"Go back." He says inaudibly. Yet I know those words. And suddenly, my whole body becomes warp by a spiral force.

Three to five family doing their usual routine. A man riding a horse with a cowboy hat stops in front of me. "What's buzzin, cuzzin?" He says while adjusting his hat.

I know what he asked, simply 'what's new'. And then I reply without my knowledge. "Still kickin' perhaps nowhere."

"Righto. Yer still an oddball. See ya, alligator."

"After a while, crocodile."

I go back inside of a house. Cut a piece of goat's cheese, lie on a bench, and watch television about 'The Lone Ranger.'

"Alone on nowhere. An oddball, I am." I say to myself.

Myself? I am within somebody else. My eyes glance at the nearest reflective thing. I am a man, grody man.

What's happening?

Suddenly, the surroundings shifted. I am holding the same box, but inside, there are cowboy boots. My feet slip into it. And the body has been knocked out.

But I am not. I see the old man's body changing! From his feet, a black liquid crawls above until reaching his head. The liquid is moving, as it seems to be alive and aware.

A lot happened so quickly. In a blink, he becomes the cowboy man earlier. Then, he becomes a lady, a girl, a fat man, a disabled man, and switches back to his original form.

His skin later on disintegrates. Dark liquid eating his skin all the way. Only remains his fleshy muscles.

I search the box, but it's gone. Until the news come up on the television, the unknown doppelgangers occurring in the town. People leaving this village while chatting about the murder case that occurred.

1950's murder case.

I'm panting as I remember that I have been unconscious. Am I going to be a murderer? When I look to my right, a girl is staring directly at me. She smiles and gestures her hands sliding on her neck.

She smiles. "You're next."

I open my eyes. I'm back in my basement. The box is gone, and my cats are still in here. I look at them, carry, and caress.

Thank God, it's a dream. I didn't bother to open my computers, instead, I go up and make myself a bath.

My cats hiss once again.

I look at what they're hissing at, it's Adelissa in the front door. Even Miko has been angry with her.

Suddenly, her body quivers. Falling to the floor, each second passes by, her skin is being burned. Just like the old man's. My lips shiver, and so do my hands.

"Adelissa! No!" I scream at the top of my lungs. I couldn't do anything. I scream for help, but no one has heard.

I immediately call 911.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Shineville. Block 3, flat 6. My sister is in pain. She's hurt! Hurry!"

Tears flood my cheeks. My mind goes blank, I am in total distress. And then, more screams outside.

"Help!"

"Help!"

"He's burning!"

"My wife is burning!"

"What's happening to my son?"

"Help!"

I see my own feet.

Wearing flip-flops.

This cursed flip-flop.

Then, a crimson liquid crawls upon my skin.

Eating all except my bones.

This will be a mystery for a lifetime. For whoever may have hold of the box, don't wear it.