Evil Within

CHAPTER 1

As the black clouds covered the sky, it will rain anytime soon. Droplets already covering the ground, looking like a sheet made of diamonds is neatly spread on it. Small birds chirping and playing around on the concrete path but fled by tapping on the shoes.

A girl, young, holding an umbrella, quickly crosses the path to head to the cemetery.

She stopped near two of the built graves. The tombstone reads

"Thomas Bancroft  & Sarah Bancroft "

"3 August 2017"

She placed a bunch of dahlias near her parents grave. Emotions take over and flood gates opened.

"I miss you so much, my heart is empty and soul is hollow." Joining her hands she chanted prayer for her parents, "may your soul rest in forever".

She stands on her feet, wiping her tears away. A hand rests on her shoulder, she gasps and turns to see her only brother, the only family that is left. Without uttering any words, she hugged him tightly. He patted her back to calm her down.

"It's been 2 years Lucus, since they left us, sometimes I still feel that they are here, with us." She sobbed, still holding onto him.

"What is done, is done. We can't fix the things that are done in the past. Luna, you have to move on. You have to be brave. Stop being so sentimental. They left us and they are not coming back." Lucus said putting his both hands on her shoulders.

Nodding her head, she wiped her tears and left with his brother.

"I will drop you at home. Is it fine with you?" Lucus concerned, Luna nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, but you didn't inform me that you are coming home today?" Luna asked his brother.

"Well.. to be honest, I just came here because it was our parent's death anniversary and I will go from here back to my flat, after driving you home." Lucus started casually.

Luna smiled gently and the drive to her (theirs) home was quiet. Lucus pulled his car in front of the house.

"I miss you brother," Luna said with watery eyes.

"I miss you too. Take care of yourself, if you need anything, I'm just a call away." Lucus assured his sister and kissed on her forehead. Luna stepped out of the car and he drove back.

She went to the porch when she noticed a police car at her neighbor's front yard. Confused and curious, she went to their house. She saw another neighbor, Mrs. Baxter in her way.

"Mrs. Baxter! Why are the police here?" Luna asked an elderly lady.

"My dear, Ryver family's youngest daughter has been missing since last night. The police are here for investigation." Mrs. Baxter stated

"WHAT???" shocked; luna asked again, "Are you talking about Augusta? What happened to her?

Mrs Baxter shrugged, "I have no idea. Some saying she is kidnapped, some saying she ran away.. who knows? That's why the police are here to find her whereabouts."

Completely startled, luna closed her opened mouth. Augusta was a 17 years old girl, studying in school which was nearby Luna's university. Sometimes, they had shared a local transport which led to a little bit of conversation between them. They don't know each other to that extent to call themselves friends but still Luna's heart dropped down when she found out that girl is missing.

Lots of thoughts wandered in her mind but were interrupted when one of the police officers reached her.

"Excuse me miss? Can we talk? Something about this missing case, if you don't mind?" Officer asked her politely.

Luna invited them into her home. Sitting on the couch, she offered coffee to the officers.

"Thank you very much for the coffee, hi! I'm private detective, Sophia Winter and he is my subordinate, Andrew James. We are here to gather some information about Augusta Ryver. How long did you know her?" One of the officers, asked Luna.

"She is in her last year of high school. Her school is near my university, so we have shared a local transport a few times. I don't know much about her. Her family is conservative and strict, they never let her talk to anyone, unless it was really important."

Sophia nodded her head and warned Luna about the mishappenings, "Ms. Bancroft, we are working under a case related to kidnappings, and I'm not happy to say this but Augusta Ryver's case could be a kidnapping case. If you found anything suspicious,  don't hesitate to call me. This is my card." Sophia gave a business card and both the officers left the house.

Luna's mind was full of thoughts about her neighbor. She tried to focus on her work but some kind of uneasiness surrounds her.

She decided to call her BFF, Carla Simpson. She told her friend everything about the missing girl and what happened afterwards and how her mind is unstable.

Carla advised her to go shopping and she will come to pick her within half 'n' hour. Luna agreed, changed into jeans and top, and decided to take a walk to the nearest park, from where Carla is going to pick her.

She was sitting on the bench when a black sedan stopped. A tall, fair guy stepped out and reached her.

"Excuse me Mam! Do you know where this address is?" He handed her a note, in which an address is written.

She observes the note and suddenly she remembers that the address he is asking her is nearby her house.

"Are you new here?" Luna asked

"Yes, actually my parents bought a house here and gifted it to me, so I decided to shift here. Do you know the place?"

"Yeah.. it's near my house. I will give you directions." Luna guided him to the mentioned address.

"Thanks pretty lady." The guy praised Luna, he suddenly shook his head, "where are my manners, I didn't even ask your name, not even I introduced myself, Hi I'm Peter Parker." He gestured to shake hands with her.

Luna burst out laughing, "seriously? Peter Parker? You're funny." She rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, my name is Peter Parker and I'm not spiderman. I wish I was." He chuckled.

"I'm Luna, nice to meet you P.E.T.E.R P.A.R.K.E.R." Both of them laughed out loud.

"Hey do you know laughing on someone is rude? Sometimes I think that my parents took revenge by naming me but that's my name." Peter  shrugged, "by the way, nice to meet you, LUNA." Peter took Luna's hand and kissed at the back. He looked directly into her eyes. The eye contact was intense, sending a shiver down my spine. Luna felt awkward. She snatched her hand back, smiled slightly at him.

"I gotta go, my friend is waiting for me." She excused herself and started to walk ahead.Peter frowned, but got back to his car and drove away.

Carla was waiting for Luna in her car, smoking a cigarette. Luna frowned and scolded her, "don't you know that this is not good for you? How many times do I have to tell you?"

"I'm sorry, I was getting bored while waiting. Look I threw it away. Happy now?" Carla throws the cigarette and Luna gets into the car. They both drive to the nearest mall.

They visited many showrooms. Luna bought some groceries and some stuff she was running out. They both decided to have lunch as both of them were tired and hungry.

"Gosh I'm starving; please order anything you want to. All this shopping is so tiresome." Carla threw the menu at the table.

"It was your idea to shop, and you were more excited to visit this mall. Looks like your shopaholics hormones are dropping." Luna said while looking into the menu.

"Well I thought shopping means you buying stuff like clothes, footwear and fashion accessories not vegetables and home stuff." Carla jumped and corrected herself.

Luna sighed deeply and asked "want you want to have for lunch, there are too many varieties?"

"Anything you want you want my love" carla grinned

Luna placed the order and sat back at her seat, patiently. Soon after their order arrived and they munched while chatting with each other.

"I'm full now, I can't walk even." Luna stated

"Liar! You did not even finish your food. Let's move now, I have to drop you back." Carla got up from her seat and took a few bags in her hands.

"Yeah, let's go" Luna takes the remaining shopping bags and leaves with Carla.

They went to the place where Carla had parked the car.

Carla squeezed her nose while passing a group of people, "what the hell is this smell, some animal rotting in here?" Both girls were surprised to see so many people gathered near a garbage dunk. They decided to see what is happening there.

"Excuse me what happened?" Carla asked one of the guy

"We don't know, we have called the police? There is something inside in that bag." He pointed to a black poly bag.

Luna's eyes widen in horror, 'what's in that bag? Why does it smell so bad?"

One of the guys decided to open the bag. He took out a sharp knife and tore the bag. An arm came out from it. He immediately puked as the rotting smell was unbearable. Luna holds Carla's hand and closes her eyes.

Another guy came out of the crowd and spilled the bag, emptied it. A head rolled out of the bag and stopped near Luna's feet.

Luna opened her eyes and horror covered her face. She screamed at the top of her lungs when she found out whose head was at her feet.