Falling Into Ruin.

The Mystery Behind His Death

[Briar’s POV]

A shiver races down my spine as I turn my key in the lock to my apartment, causing me to freeze while I wonder if someone is cursing me. Deciding that I was probably overthinking things and being a little too paranoid given the events that just happened, I quickly scurry inside, where I find my roommate, Crystal, lounging on the couch with a drink in one hand and the TV remote in another.

She’s dressed in nothing but a long t-shirt and underwear with her long, dark, curly hair tied in a bun atop her head, and by the look on her face and the questioning gleam in her dark eyes, I know that she has been waiting for me to get home.

“Hey,” I announce, strolling forward while keeping my expression blank. “Whatcha watching?”

“Oh, you know,” she responds, her gaze narrowing. “A show about a girl whose best friend randomly disappeared from her night gig and was unable to be reached.”

“Wow,” I smile, knowing that I was in trouble from the annoyance in her voice. “That sounds like a good show; maybe you should…”

“Cut the shit.” She snaps, turning the TV off and sitting up so she can get a better look at me. “Spill.”

“Spill what?” I ask innocently, knowing there was no f*****g way I could actually tell her what happened and wondering whether or not Jeffrey’s death was already available information to others even though that handsome psycho swore his buddies would deal with it. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Damian called here demanding to speak with you.” Crystal huffs. “He said that you dipped out on the VIP guest that you were meant to see.”

Dipped out on. Did that mean that the thing with Jeffrey was handled? Wow, I guess that crazy bastard did work miracles.

“He’s pissed, you know.” She continues. “And I had to get an earful since I’m your roommate and friend.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, leaning forward as exhaustion slams into me. “It has been a crazy night.”

“Crazy how?” Crystal asks, eyeing me. “I’m going to need a little more context than that.”

“In a way that I don’t feel like explaining right now.” I respond. “For now,” I continue, standing and stretching. “I’d like to get a hot bath and then some sleep. You know that I have that job interview tomorrow.”

“You mean at that detective agency?” She asks. “You’re really going to go through with it?”

“Of course,” I smile. “I can’t shake my ass and t**s forever, can I?”

I mean, I would like to continue doing it since I still didn’t have the answers I was seeking about my brother, but after everything, was it really such a good idea to go back there? I was warned to stay out of that man’s sight, and if he came back, then I was in danger of what… being f****d? Would that really be so bad?

Yes, Briar. I hiss inwardly. Think with your head instead of your p***y.

No. I couldn’t go back and risk running into him again. I was certain that nothing good could come from having a relationship with a man like that. If I so much as let myself get closer to him and his world, I knew that he would lead me to ruin.

“It’s time that I got serious.” I say now, moving forward and giving Crystal a quick kiss on the forehead. “Since I haven’t been able to find the answers I’m seeking in the strip club, I’m going to have to resort to other means, and police systems are the next best thing.”

For a moment, Crystal doesn’t speak as she stares at me with so much worry in her gaze that it damn near kills me.

“I’m just really worried for you.” She huffs, throwing her arms around me and resting her head against my stomach. “What if something happens to my bestie? What am I going to do then?”

“You’ll replace me.” I respond, earning myself a smack on the ass. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop joking. I promise you that nothing will happen to me.”

At least, I would promise it outwardly. However, after my run-in with Jeffrey this evening, I now had a general idea of what I might be facing.

Note to self: I think, untangling myself from Crystal’s embrace. Sign up for more self-defense classes and pick up weight lifting.

“Anyway,” I say now, letting another yawn escape me. “I’m heading to bed. Don’t stay up too late watching trash TV, alright?”

“No promises.” Crystal responds, shooing me away. “You know that’s my favorite type since you’re so boring.”

Rolling my eyes, I don’t bother responding before I head to my room and collapse on my bed so that I can finally let the weight of reality slam into me.

“s**t,” I hiss, realizing what I was running headfirst into. “There really are monsters living amongst us and pretending to be humans.”

From the day of my brother's death until now, I had an inkling, but sometimes I couldn’t help but find myself second-guessing and wondering if I was just exaggerating things in my head. But now, well now that I saw Jeffrey for what he truly was, I knew that wasn’t actually the case. Monsters existed, and they took on the form of humans, which meant that they could be lying in wait anywhere.

“Was that the reason they killed you?” I murmur, rolling over and pulling a pillow against me. “Because you discovered them too?”

Closing my eyes, I try to ignore the excruciating pain that is starting to build in my chest as I try not to recall the day the only family I had left was yanked away from me, but now that I have even acknowledged that wound, it is coming, pulling me as hard as it could to that day, that time, and that pain that I thought I wouldn’t feel so many years later.

Back then, I was still a freshman in high school, working to be at the top of my class so that once I graduated, I could get into a good college and get a degree that would allow me to have a career that would make a lot of money.

All I wanted to do at that time was support my brother so that he didn’t have to continue to work day in and day out to support us. I just wanted to relieve his burden; that was all I wanted to do.

That day, I was called to the principal's office to be told that I was offered a place in an advanced course class that would allow me to begin taking college classes. I was so excited to tell my brother that I rushed home and even made a delicious dinner, then I sat and waited and waited and waited some more until midnight rolled around and he still wasn’t home.

Of course, I didn’t think much of it since he would sometimes work late into the night, especially when he had a particularly difficult job. That was just how it went.

Deciding that was the case, I wrapped up the dishes I made and placed them in the fridge, then headed upstairs to finish my homework and go to bed. However, when morning came, my brother still wasn’t home. By this point, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, and when I called and texted and he didn’t respond, I began to really panic, even skipping school in hopes that he would appear.

It was later that afternoon that I received the call from the police station that someone with my brother’s phone and wallet was found, but since he was so mangled, they couldn’t get a definite ID. They needed me to come to the hospital so that they could run DNA tests, and once they did, they got the confirmation they needed.

They said that it was an animal attack, maybe a bear or a mountain lion, but the scratches were too big and too deep. It was clear to even me, a student who didn’t know much of the world that wasn’t the case, but despite my protests, that was what the police put down as his cause of death, and they ruled out foul play.

For days and weeks after that, I tried my hardest to get them to further investigate, to push for more answers given the circumstances surrounding his death, like where he was found, the length between each scratch, how deep the scratches went, and how whoever was truly responsible tried to keep him from being recognized, but they wouldn’t, and eventually they threatened to arrest me.

After that, I was on my own. My grades started slipping, and I went from being a shining star in school to an outcast who didn’t have any family and who was considered bad luck because everyone around me died so tragically.

Fed up with it all, I quit school, got my GED, and began to research the world that my brother was working in, and after I found businesses associated with these people, I started working and searching for the answers I desperately sought. And as more time passed, I realized that this wouldn’t be enough. That was when I joined the police academy and started training to become a private detective.

“And now,” I announce, opening my eyes and staring at the window in front of me. “It’s time to put all that hard work to good use and end this mystery once and for all.”