Saved!
***
Episode IIWO : Piano Black
Rain stood staring at the glimmering number seven on the door. He frowned slightly, glancing down at Chanson, who was looking right back up at him.
"You really want me to try this again, huh?"
Chanson frowned and nodded.
He sighed, ringing the doorbell.
A minute passed by.
There was nothing from inside. No one answered the door, no footsteps, no angry shouts of ‘Go away’.
Nothing.
The sound of the wind blowing up dust and scattering littered paper whistled in the warm morning sun.
Rain put his finger on the doorbell again, but before he could press it, the door opened. Dent stood firm, gripping the bat in his hand, twisting his hands around the handle as if he were getting ready to strike.
"I thought I told you to go away?" Dent gritted his teeth, "Can’t you hear?!"
"Yes, I hea-"
"Then
go away."
"I was a friend of your daughter’s." Rain quickly spoke out the first thing that came to his mind. He glanced down at Chanson, who was looking up at Dent, who, in turn, was using his eyes to search Rain from head to toe.
"She never told me about any friends." Dent muttered, ignoring what he had just said a few minutes ago about not having a daughter. He moved to slam the door for a second time.
"She never spoke."
The man looked down, keeping the door open. Rain looked down at the little girl at his feet. She looked up at him with a tiny little smile on her face. Chanson nodded once, slowly. Dent turned around, leaving the door open. He took a step further inside.
"Come in…" He sighed.
The Grim Angel smiled to himself.
That was easy. Rain stepped over the threshold.
"Oh! Um, thank you."
He didn’t know what it was that he felt right then; all he knew was that he didn’t like it at all. It felt like an electric shock, running up from his heels to his hips. A cold shiver ran up his spine; something he had not felt in a long, long while.
"Why did you come here?"
Whispers from everywhere.
Something was here. Rain felt the presence all through the house, but it felt very strong near the door. The whispering didn’t come from Chanson; she had already made a second dash for the upstairs. Dent made his way a little further into the house. Rain ignored the whispers for now and followed; there was little he could do without knowing anything. Mr. de Noir sat on a chair in the living room. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and putting both hands together.
"So…you knew Chanson before she…um…died, Mr…?"
"Seraph, Rain Seraph. Call me Rain if you like." Rain extended his right hand.
Dent just nodded, looking down at Rain’s feet, ignoring the extended hand. Rain slowly retracted his hand and looked around.
Inside the house wasn’t very amazing. In fact, it was rather dim with the thick, dark red curtains. The floor was carpeted in a light red--
What is with this guy and the colour red?-- but the living room chairs were done in flowery cloth, although they were a bit faded.
The ghost girl ran downstairs, sat under the picture at the door for a few seconds and then ran back up again.
"So how did you know Chanson…Rain?"
Rain took a seat across from Dent, leaning back and resting his left ankle on his right thigh.
He had to make up an answer for this one, fast.
Looking around, Rain guessed that the de Noirs probably didn’t have enough money to afford tuition for a private school, and it’s not likely that Chanson would have been home-schooled…so a public school nearby would have been the best bet.
One lie spawns another.
"I met her at…school." Rain began, looking at Dent’s face for any sign of disapproval, "But I didn’t know her for long, though. I…um…moved away. I’m back in town for the first time in a long while, so I thought I’d check on her. That’s when I found out that she was um…de-"
"Yes...she was murdered." Dent sat further back into the chair, "It’s been fourteen years…"
Chanson did the same thing as before; running down the stairs, sitting under the picture by the door and then running back up again.
"She was an amazing girl," Dent continued, "The only time she cried was right after she was born. She never shed a tear after that. Chanson never said a word to anyone, she always smiled, frowned or giggled. She would nod, shrug or shake her head to answer questions. She even refused to say ‘mommy’."
Dent chuckled softly at his last sentence.
Chanson kept repeating her act with the stairs.
"She started playing the piano at age five. I know it sounds a bit early, but it was as if…as if age was no barrier. She played perfectly, she didn’t even have to learn to read the sheet music, she just gave it a glance and then started playing."
At that very moment, Rain heard piano music floating out from under his feet. It was soft and soothing, but it was the same tune over and over. It seemed to be something only Rain could hear, like the constant whispering of the house, because Dent didn’t notice either of them.
Chanson wasn’t running up and down the stairs anymore.
"Mr. de Noir,” Rain interrupted, “where is her piano now?"
"I-…In the basement." He responded, stuttering and trembling slightly, "We-…I moved it there about month or two afterwards…"
"May I see it?" Rain asked with a small smile.
The basement door creaked open. Dent stepped down into what seemed like a black hole. Rain followed, not too bothered by the darkness. Being nocturnal really is useful, you know. The music Rain was hearing got louder and louder, but another sense started to pick up something too. There was an odd scent of old paint and paint-thinners filling this room.
Dent reached up and pulled on a string, a small yellow light that was hanging on the ceiling clicked on.
"Geeettt ouuuttt!" It felt like something flew up and hit Rain smack in the face, making him see white for a few seconds. Whatever it was that Rain felt throughout the house, it was the strongest down here.
The whispers were louder and more threatening now. After the white faded away, Rain looked over to an old, dusty grand piano, with Chanson sitting at the bench. Her hands were on the keys, but she wasn’t playing anything now.
"She’s an old beauty, isn’t she?" Mr. de Noir smiled slightly as he stood over the dark piano, "It was my grandfather’s. I dare not sell it."
Rain scratched his ear, dazed because of the sounds and smells.
"Yeah…"
Suddenly, Chanson began pressing on the keys, making an even louder noise that drowned out the whispers. She began running her hands from left to right, pressing the keys down hard as she did so. The voices in the basement seemed to scream and writhe in agony as Chanson continued to play the piano.
They let out one last high pitched scream before dying out. As soon as they did, Chanson broke the wild piano playing down into that repeating tune that was being played while Rain was upstairs. Dent watched closely as Rain took a few steps toward the piano. He lifted the cover slightly, letting an old, musty piece of paper fall to the floor. Picking it up, he read what stood out the most at the top of the page.
"
Greenbird." That’s what it said.
Dent watched in awe as the visitor sat on the bench, stretching out his hands over the keys. What Rain was really doing, was following Chanson’s fingers with his own. He began playing the tune almost perfectly, just by pressing the keys right after her.
"This was your favourite song?" Rain whispered softly over to her.
Chanson just nodded, still playing the piano.
"How do you…? You know that song?" Dent interrupted, "That was her favourite song!"
"I know." Rain responded, turning around with a small smile on his face, "Mr. de Noir, I have a question. Why did you make her start playing at such an early age?"
Dent sighed, looking away from the piano, "It wasn’t me, really. It was my wife, Percia. She forced Chanson to start playing the piano…"
Dent inhaled, rubbing his face before continuing.
"She made her play the piano so Chanson would stop killing."
Rain’s eyes opened wide. Chanson struck a wrong key on the piano, but she continued to play as if nothing had happened.
"Stop…killing?"
Dent nodded. "Mm…It started off small at first. With small insects, like ants and rain flies. Then as she grew older, she started killing bigger things, like butterflies and small animals...We had a small aquarium once, but she poisoned all the fish. Then a few weeks before her fifth birthday, she took a wire and strangled our dog."
Chanson started playing really badly now. Rain caught a glance of her face.
She was no longer looking at the keys she was pressing. Instead, her eyes were opened wide and glowing, looking intently upon the wall. Her pupils were like slits, like cats’ eyes. She was gritting her teeth and grinning at the same time, with trickles of saliva running down her chin. A second passed, and the saliva turned to blood.
"Right after that, Percia got scared, so she forced Chanson to play the piano in every free moment that she had. Chanson…wasn’t sad. She didn’t even frown…she giggled and smiled all the way through."
Rain glanced at the girl again, she was normal again, with her pretty little fingers playing the piano perfectly once more.
This is getting too freaky for my health.
"Mr. de Noir, what of Chanson’s mother?"
Again, Dent let out a heavy sigh, "She went missing on the day of the murder. There was no ransom call or anything…I never saw her again."
Missing…But Set was a serial killer, not a kidnapper.
"Mr. de Noir," Rain sat up, walking over to him, "what if I said that I may be able to find your wife, would you help me, if it would give you some closure?"
The man looked up at him with sadness and anger in his eyes.
"You’ll never find her. Even the police gave up after a month of searching."
"I’m not the police." Rain responded with a small smile.
Dent looked away, not prepared for an argument, "Fine. There’s a small box under the piano…take it. Look through it, burn it, I don’t care. Just take it and go."
"Don’t you dare touch that box!"
The whispers from before, but they were much weaker now. As soon as they started speaking again, Chanson played the piano louder, once again drowning them out.
Rain picked up a small, dusty shoebox from under the piano.
Once again, he was staring at that shiny number seven on the front door as it slammed once more in his face. Well at least, this time, he had this shoebox full of information.
Rain chuckled and walked out unto the sidewalk. He sat on the edge of the concrete, stretching his both legs out unto the road. He put the dusty box on his lap, opening the cover without even blowing it off.
"Paper," Rain smiled slightly, "lots and lots of paper."
The one at the very top was an old newspaper clipping.
Serial Killer Surrenders!
The infamous serial killer, Set, walked into the twelfth precinct police station today and handed himself over to the police. At first, the police were skeptical, but after questioning the man, they found that everything matched, and that this person was indeed the serial killer Set.
The man even went into the details of how he stalked each victim, how he entered the houses and how he committed each murder. Set basically admitted to all of the crimes except for two; the kidnapping of Percia de Noir and the murder of her daughter, Chanson de Noir.
However, the murder of the girl bore significant resemblance to the crime scenes that Set left behind.
-The beating of the victim.
-A knife from the kitchen of the victim’s house which had the victim’s fingerprints on it.
-A single stab through the chest.
-And the position the body is left in after the murder: Leaning against an object (in this case, a wall), directly facing the front door.
Even though Set did not admit to the murder, he will be held accountable for it. The kidnapping of Percia de Noir has yet to be solved.
Rain put that piece of paper aside, looking at the other right under it.
Serial Killer Set Declared Insane.
Rain skimmed through the details on this one, he didn’t read all the hullabaloo of the court ruling. Instead, his eyes found where Set was sent to be held; Vridia Insane Asylum.
He sifted through the rest of papers, looking for more clues about what happened to the serial killer. But that was it; just those two newspaper clippings.
"Looks like we might get lucky." Rain whispered as Chanson appeared next to him. He packed away the clippings and stood up.
"If Mr. Set is still alive in Vridia, we’ll have to visit, won’t we?" Rain looked down at the girl who only smiled and nodded in response.
*** *** ***
Episode THR3E : The Cube’s Fifth Corner
There was a heavy, cold wind as grey clouds floated in overhead. Some instances of white clouds were in between, making it look as if some of the grey clouds had cracked, letting in the light from heaven above.
The building before him seemed to rise up, touching those clouds. But at the same time, it wasn’t at all.
"Vridia
Mental Hospital," Rain read out those large, silvery letters above the glass door entrance, "Looks like they made the asylum look nicer to the public."
Chanson began skipping around Rain in circles as he moved toward the door. She went through various people and objects, even in and out of the building as Rain walked closer.
The doors opened automatically.
Inside the building wasn’t dreary and grey as one would expect a former insane asylum to be. It was bright, white tiles, white paint, even the receptionist there wore white. She even stood behind a white counter.
Rain put his hand to his face and rubbed it, ruffling the front of his hair and speaking into his palm.
"Good God. Does another colour-obsessed de Noir live here, too?" He chuckled slightly, remembering the overall red colour of the inside of Dent de Noir’s house. He walked up to the receptionist, who was sitting quietly behind her computer. Rain put his elbows on the desk and rested his chin in his hands, smiling down at her.
It took a few seconds before she looked up at him.
She was pretty cute, light green eyes behind a small pair of glasses and long, very dark green hair with a dark purple set of strands that hung down in front of her right cheek, touching her shoulder.
"Hi, hi." She smiled back up, turning away from the computer and facing him, her silvery nametag gleaming from the light of the monitor. "Can I help you?"
Rain glanced down at her nametag, "Hi…um, Jessie?"
"That’s right!" She kept her perfect smile. She was obviously being paid to do this sort of thing.
"Fourteen years ago, a serial killer nicknamed ‘Set’ was sent here because he was declared insane."
"Oh! I know about him! Here, let me pull up his files…" Jessie turned away and began tapping away at the keys, searching the screen with her eyes. Rain saw the reflection of what she was doing on her glasses and on her nametag.
After a few seconds, she frowned slightly and turned to Rain again, "I’m sorry, but you have to submit a written letter stating that you have the police’s permission to see him. It has to have the police chief’s signature and stamp."
Chanson ran behind the woman and giggled, peeping out from either side of the chair.
Rain continued smiling, "That’s okay, I got it."
Jessie looked down, exiting the windows she had opened on her monitor to close off the files. "I’m really sorr-" She looked up and looked around. She even stood up and walked around the desk, looking for Rain who had just disappeared without a trace.
He knew the number of the room now, having seen the reflection of a ‘1’, a ‘0’ and a ‘6’ in Jessie’s glasses.
Rain had searched almost the entire building in a few seconds for the room with the numbers ‘106’ on the door.
It took him a second run through of the first floor to realize that all the numbers on the door were above ‘110’.
Which means, everything lower than room one-hundred and ten would be underground.
But the elevators in the building didn’t go below the ground floor.
Rain went through a door which led to a spiral staircase. The flight of stairs that led downward was blocked off by a padlocked iron gate with a white sign that had big, red letters.
'ENTRANCE IS PROHIBITED'.
Unfortunately, they didn’t bother to secure the center of the room with the whole spiral staircase, which was a straight drop to the bottom. Rain looked down; Chanson was already down there, staring straight back up at him.
She looked down and ran off to one side.
Rain walked through the last floor, passing door one and moving on. Now this place was what you expected an asylum to be; dark, creepy and in some areas, moist. Water dripped from the pipe network that was exposed throughout most of the underground darkness.
When he reached the door of room one-hundred, he started to hear chuckling. For every footstep that echoed, there was a chuckle. Rain reached a corridor where there were a few doors on the left and on the right. At the end, there was the steel door with the numbers ‘106’ on it.
There arose another problem. How was he going to open the door without breaking the lock on it? He certainly didn’t want to let an old, insane serial killer out.
Subconsciously, Rain put his hand on the door, and then suddenly stepped back as the door creaked open.
The chuckling that was there before stopped, replaced with an angry, scared voice.
"No! What are you doing?!" It shouted from beyond the door, "Close it back! Close it!"
Rain slowly stepped into the room, leaving the door open behind him.
"I said close it!"
There was a man cowering under a dirty bedsheet in the corner of the room.
Rain looked back at the door; he put his finger on it and slowly pushed it back in. His eyes fell on Chanson who stopped just outside the door, frozen stiff, just staring straight ahead. She refused to step into the room.
The room was a dull grey, everything was almost the same colour. The bed was made neatly, the only thing that was missing was the bedsheet, which the man had with him in the corner of the room.
"Close it!" The man covered his face with the bedsheet, "Don’t look at me. I’ll tell you how everything was done, just don’t look at me! Don’t open the door, otherwise
she will come for me!"
He had a rough, hoarse voice, muffled slightly by the thick cloth he was hiding under.
"Are you…Set?" Rain asked, staring at the man.
"Yeess…I know you…You’ve come for the answers to life…I saw you before you woke up this morning…" He sounded as if he was smiling.
"I…see…you." Set said in a sing-song voice.
"I know all the answers…I know all the secrets…I keep them in the fifth corner of this room and only
I know where that is."
The man laughed in a dry, hoarse way.
"You’re quiet, so you’re not here. That means I’ll have to start talking about everything to have some company."
Rain sat on the edge of his bed, facing him.
Set wriggled under the bedsheet, sitting up. He was still covered from head to toe.
"I will take you into my mind. I will take you into the black."
*** *** ***
Episode 4OUR: Seeing Sounds
"Heh heh…It started when I was young... ‘bout thirteen or so. I used to love the sound of a beating heart as it slowed to a stop. I didn’t start off small…No, no, no, no…I started off with large dogs; Pit-bulls and Dobermans.
Hahahah…the neighbour’s dogs…Large, filthy things. They used to keep them tied with chains, with muzzles over their mouths. Don’t see the point of keeping huge guard dogs if they’re not allowed to bite. Anyway…the mutts were annoying, always whimpering and panting. I always heard them, especially at night when almost everything else was quiet.
I heard them…I heard each one of their hearts beating. It drove me crazy. So when I couldn’t take it anymore, I beat the bastards down to nothing, the sound of their hearts were so…soothing as they slowed down.
I slept peacefully after that; remembering the sounds of the slowing hearts like a lullaby.
About four years later my mother took in bad with a sickness. Any time she coughed, I heard her heart beat furiously before slowing down. When she coughed, I always heard her, even if she was on the other side of the house, or if she was trying to muffle it with a rag or something.
About a month later, I heard her heart slow down drastically over the sound of water falling. She was filling the bathtub with water, but she never made it into the tub. Her heart stopped…and when I checked on her, her heart was…stuttering…like it wanted to start up, but couldn’t.
It drove me crazy. I couldn’t stand hearing it anymore. I took a knife and…you can guess what came next. I think…just as the blade touched her skin, her heart started again, but it was already too late, I was already listening to it slowing back down again…to a complete stop this time.
Man…it was…sweet. That’s when I couldn’t get enough of it.
None of my victims had anything in common…Hahahah! You want to know how, right? Ahahaha! You want to know how I chose my victims? Hahahahah! Mm…You’re still quiet…like a good little hostage. Alright, I’ll tell you.
The phonebook has its uses.
Ahahaha!
Closing my eyes and picking a person at random…that’s all there was to it.
I used to find their houses and listen in on everything. Every conversation…every message left on the phone…I heard the times they showered, the times they went to bed, I even heard the times when they took a dump…hahahah…But mostly, I heard their heartbeats…their pretty little heartbeats.
I kept listening to them each time they talked, just to find out when they might be alone. And the day I knew that they’d be home alone, or they were coming home alone, I found myself a way into their little homes…the chloroform that I stole from my high school Chemistry laboratory never let me down.
Ohhh…but the women were something…I used to love to hear them scream a little at least once before I knock them out or finish them. It used to rattle my ears a lot, but man…it was like a drug. You know it harms you, but it still feels so good…
Everything was perfect…the cops were stumped. Hahaha…I watched them run around like headless chickens with little or no leads. Everything was going so smoothly… I left the people who found the body a little present too…I set the body up so that they‘d be looking right at it as they came through the front door! Hahaha…I don’t know where I got that idea from…but it was so much fun to set up.
I used to be one of those onlookers when they were taking the bodies out of the house…I enjoyed watching the police run around and people freak out.
Then one time, after my fourth score, I think, I was one of those onlookers again. But there was something different. I was standing behind a little brat girl who was looking at the scene…and there was this annoying piano music in the air, it kept looping over and over and over…
I think this kid’s dad was some kinda detective or something back then. The guy was there for all of the crime scenes ‘cept for the first one. He used to walk up to her and tell her that ‘Percia’ and some other person was expecting her to go to school or be at home or wherever.
Anyway, after that time, I started seeing this kid more and more often. Right after my seventh one, I caught her staring at me when I came to look at the police taking out the body. I dunno…but it looked like she figured me out or suspected me or something.
But she was a kid, what could she do? What could she know? Right?
I was so frickin’ wrong in thinking that. On the night of my ninth score, she was right outside of the house where I just killed a woman and set up the body. I don’t think she saw me leave, but she skipped away after a little while.
Then, when I was about to set off to my tenth one, I caught the little ***** staring at my house. What in the hell...? Was she following me? I don’t know…I waited until she left so I could move out to my tenth.
Then I saw the little wretch in front of the exact spot I planned to use to enter the house.
It was like she was waiting for me."