Noah, City of Von 2067, Sunday, January 12th
Noah is just standing there, hearing the sirens grow louder. After a couple of seconds, he just sits down and looks down at the ground.
'Who was she? How did she know about Amelia Ashford?' Noah continues to think, 'Are the butterflies connected in a way?'
While still stuck in thought, someone screams Noah's name. Looking up, Noah sees that it's Rudolph.
"What the hell happened, kid?" Rudolph glances behind him, looking at the storm drain and A-3 standing over it. "How were you the one to find Amelia Ashford?"
Noah slowly looks up at Rudolph. "It's complicated."
Rudolph spits his saliva out towards the ground and clears his throat.
"No matter how you found her, make sure to tell Lucas so he can write it down in his report."
"Yeah, I will."
Rudolph rubs his hands together, "For now, go home and rest, it's only going to get colder out as the night continues."
Noah, looking up into the sky, breathes out cold air.
"Yeah, and the snow isn't helping."
Before Noah can stand up, he notices A-3 standing ominously to the side of Rudolph.
"What's the matter, A-3?" Noah asks A-3, whose eyes are glowing bright white in the dark.
A-3 stands there for a second, then finally says, "I believe we are dealing with another killer."
Noah and Rudolph freeze, then look over at A-3.
"What do you mean we might be dealing with another killer?" Noah asks worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing, A-3? How can we possibly be dealing with another killer?"
Lucas walks up to them, overhearing that there is possibly another killer on the loose.
"What makes you say there is another killer out there, A-3?"
The three of them just stood there looking at A-3 anxiously, hoping to hear his reasoning behind his answer.
"It's the MOs, they're different. With Winter Rose, her skin that was protecting the stomach was missing, exposing her organs. She also had Christmas lights wrapped around her neck, penetrating her, and, lastly, the mask covering her face and the poison that helped kill her. Now with Amelia Ashford, none of this happened to her; it just seemed like she had multiple stab wounds across her body."
A-3 paused to make sure everything he was saying was right.
"The stab wounds were weird. It was like the killer deliberately missed her vital organs."
"So what are you saying, A-3? That the killer watched her die." Rudolph chuckles nervously.
"Yes." Says A-3.
Noah, just standing there, doesn't bother to question A-3, because in his gut he knew he was probably right. That there was another killer out there, taking innocent lives.
"One more thing." A-3 speaks again, "The body was also placed weirdly. It was placed in the corner of the storm drain with her head tilted up towards the sky. I can't understand why the killer would do this?"
Noah, struggling to get the words out, says, "It—It was like Amelia Ashford was turned into a form of art."
The others just stand there, not saying a word, with a disturbed look on their faces, except, of course, A-3, who remains expressionless.
The snow begins to drop from the sky even faster than earlier.
Rudolph closes his eyes, then takes a deep breath in and out.
"Look, whether or not there is one or two killers out there, our job is to catch them. And we won't rest until we do."
Noah, just standing there, can guess at what Rudolph is going to say next, and he knows he won't like the answer.
"Noah, go home. The rest of us will stay behind and figure out this mess."
Without arguing, Noah starts walking toward the police and ambulances.
While walking back, a cop car comes to the scene at full speed and then stops.
The person who exits the vehicle is none other than the chief.
Noah, not being able to do anything, just stands there and watches the chief run across the snowy pavement, yelling the words, "Amelia! Amelia!"
Once the chief reaches the storm drain, he plumps his knees on the cold ground.
"Amelia?" Long strands of tears start to run down the chief's face.
Before the chief looks over into the storm drain to look at his dead daughter, Rudolph bends down to him and puts his hand on his shoulder, and simply shakes his head at the chief.
The chief ignores Rudolph's warning and looks over into the storm drain.
"AHHHH!" The chief let out a howl of agony.
The chief stumbled across his words:
"Why—Why did they do this to her?" The chief puts his hand up to his sobbing face, "She—she was only seventeen!"
The chief lies bent forward on the snowy pavement, sobbing into his hands with Rudolph gently rubbing his back.
Noah, who is just watching, is unable to do anything and wipes the tears forming on his face.
Noah walks to the busy road where cop cars and ambulances flood the scene. Noah, sauntering, step by step, finds himself in the middle of the chaos where flashing lights from ambulances, police cars, and even reporters blind him, but not enough because he is still able to see another butterfly fly through the cold, thick air.
'Another butterfly?' Noah thought.
Suddenly, the butterfly lands on Noah's nose and just sits there, slowly flapping its wings.
Noah just stands there, as if the world has frozen in place. He can hear his heart beating louder, the coldness in his fingers and on his face, the gusts of wind across his body.
'What's happening? My vision is getting blurry, the ringing in my ears has returned!'
Noah falls to the ground and curls up, holding his hands over his ears.
'Another vision.'
The flash and film rushed through Noah's mind again, this time he sees the karaoke room again with the same teenagers he saw earlier, only this time he sees Amelia Ashford, who seems to be just standing in a corner by herself. Her face was towards the ground, bruises going down her arms and legs. She appears to be in a school uniform. Suddenly, Noah hears a voice. It's the girl he saw in the karaoke room last time.
"Hey? Can you lift your fucking face up! If your face is down towards the ground, no one can see your pretty face."
Amelia hesitantly lifts her face from the ground.
Amelia's face is smeared with makeup: red, black, white, purple, almost like she was made to look like a clown.
The girl on the couch smirks.
"Hah! How fucking ugly!"
Mike, who is sitting next to her, chuckles, while the other boy sitting across from Mike just sits there, high on drugs.
Mike speaks up, "You're right! She is fucking ugly! Although she does still have some hottness to her." Mike gets up off the couch, licking his lips.
Mike walks over to her and grabs Amelia by the hair attached to her head, and drags her to the couch.
Amelia tries to get away, but Mike is far too strong for her. Amelia even tries screaming, but shortly realizes that nothing she does will help her.
Mike forces her face forward on the couch and whispers into her ear.
"I'm going to make this the best night of your life," Mike says with a disgusting smile on his face.
Before Noah can see the rest of the vision, he hears someone screaming in his ear.
"Sir! Sir!" A paramedic is standing above Noah, "Are you okay?"
Noah, finally waking up from his vision, tries to gasp for air, his eyes wide, then he starts gagging as if he tries to throw up.
The paramedic slowly steps back as they watch Noah get up and stumble.
"Are you okay?" The paramedic asks again.
"Yeah—Yeah, I'm fine." Noah starts walking in the direction of Luminara Square, where the karaoke place is.
"I-I just have somewhere I have to be right now."
The paramedic just watches Noah walk past the flashing lights into the snowy darkness.
Noah, finally finding himself at Luminar Square, walks past the enormous crowds of people who seem to be watching the clown Noah saw earlier performing tricks.
Noah, walking with his arms crossed, stares blankly into the distance.
'Those bastards deserve to die, right? They were horrible to Amelia! Especially Mike! I'll fucking kill him for what he has done to her!'
Noah walks one foot in front of the other until he finds himself in front of the karaoke place.
'I'm finally here.' Noah thinks, looking up at the LED sign once again.
Noah opens the door, and as he walks in, he sees the same person who was here earlier still working.
Noah walks up to the worker, "Are those teenagers in room seven still here?"
The worker looks up at Noah, "I believe so, but you can check if you want."
"Alright, thanks."
Noah strolls down the narrow hallway until he finds himself in front of room seven.
Noah hesitantly places his twitching hand on the doorknob and turns it to open the door.
'What the fuck?' Noah thinks as he stares into the karaoke room lit up by a bright red light from the ceiling.
Noah's breathing starts to pick up.
"Just what happened?"
Noah walks into the room to get a closer look at what he is seeing.
Noah comes to a stop, his eyes widen.
'Are they dead?'
Noah, just standing, looks at the three teenagers, their bodies plopped sitting up on the couch—plastic bags covering their faces with smiley faces on each one of the bags. The foreskin that protects the stomach is missing, exposing the organs.
'Why are there Christmas lights around Mike's head but not the others?'
The Christmas lights are tied tightly around Mike's neck, with some of the lights impaling him and the other lights left out.
You can hear the blood dripping onto the floor from the chairs, and you can see some of the intestines hanging off the couches.
Noah runs out of the room and starts to gag again as if he might throw up, but doesn't.
Noah, finally regaining his composure, stands upright.
'Maybe they got what they deserved.' Noah thought.