Chapter 2 - The Call.

“A fateful night, a random call

Innocence lost, a tragic fall.”

Outside the Irisville Sheriff's Station, the night was dark, but the building was bathed in bright light. Sheriff Williams sat at his desk, staring at a stack of files with a disinterested air. A few officers were with him, their enthusiasm conspicuously absent. This was the usual mood during night duty when time seemed to drag on. Sheriff Williams absentmindedly stamped one of the files and set it aside, taking a sip of his coffee.

Sheriff Williams was a middle-aged man with a decent build, golden brown hair, and brown eyes. He had been serving as the Sheriff in Irisville for seven years. Irisville, on the surface, appeared to be an ordinary, tranquil town. Violent incidents were a rarity here, but beneath the surface lay an eerie atmosphere, a darker side teeming with dangerous secrets. Secrets that were about to shatter lives.

The time was 10:30 PM, and it was a slow night. Sheriff Williams kept glancing at the clock, feeling as if the night would never end. Little did he know that the night had just begun. The phone on his desk rang, and he picked it up, expecting a call about the masked men who had been causing a stir in town, notorious drug dealers operating in the shadows of the night.

"Hello, Iris County Sheriff's Station..." he began, assuming it was another call regarding the elusive drug dealers. There had been a lot of buzz about them lately.

But there was no response from the other end. He cut the call. The phone rang again. “Hello…” No one answered. He cut the call. The phone rang again. He waited for several minutes, growing increasingly agitated. It seemed someone was playing a prank on him.

The phone rang again, and Sheriff Williams answered it, his patience wearing thin. He was ready to unleash a tirade on whoever was behind this tasteless joke. However, this time, he heard panting and a terrified voice on the other end.

"Please help me," a girl pleaded.

"Hello... Who is this? Where are you?" Sheriff Williams inquired urgently.

"He's here. He's going to kill me. Please..." The girl's voice quivered. "Oh my God... He..." She seemed to stumble over something. "He has a knife. Don't! Please stop!"

"Hello! Tell me where you are!" Sheriff Williams yelled into the phone.

"I swear… I'll never talk about it again. Oh my God!" The girl continued, "Ch..." Her voice caught, and there was a loud thud. "You?" she sounded shocked, her breathing rapid.

"Who? Who is there? Who are you, and where are you?" Sheriff Williams demanded, his voice filled with urgency.

"What are you doing here? No! Chase, help me..." Another loud noise followed. "I... What did I ever do to you? Please, just let me go. I promise I won't speak of this again, to anyone... I swear..." There was a crashing sound.

The girl seemed to have fallen. "Somebody, please help me. No..." Now there was a thumping sound. Sheriff Williams held his breath, and when he couldn't hear her voice for a moment, his heart seemed to stop.

"Where are you? Tell me your exact location!" he urged, his muscles tense.

"I..." The girl was begging for her life but was fortunately still alive. The question was, for how long... "I..." it seemed like she was running, her breathing so rapid that she could barely muster the strength to speak. "am at Glenn Road, near A..." There was yet another sound and a scream, and then the phone call abruptly disconnected. "Near?" Sheriff Williams kept asking, hoping to get a response. "Hello... Near? Where are you?"

After realizing the call had been cut off, he quickly hung up and ordered the officers to trace the call. Every second counted.

"Yeah!" After what felt like an eternity, an officer finally responded. "The last location of this number was Lane 13, near the Annex Theater on Glenn Road..."

"Let's go!" Sheriff Williams exclaimed as he dashed out of the Sheriff's station and hopped into the nearest patrol jeep. Two of his officers joined him in the vehicle. The red and blue lights on the jeep flashed, and the siren wailed as they sped towards Glenn Road.

Glenn Road was about fifteen minutes away by car from the Sheriff's Station. "Don't die!" Sheriff Williams muttered to himself, driving as fast as he could, though it felt like it was never fast enough. The roads were empty, which worked to their advantage. He made a sharp right turn.

"Keep trying that number," he instructed the officers in the back of the jeep. They complied, but the phone had been switched off. Sheriff Williams made several more turns and soon spotted the Annex Theater.

He brought the jeep to a screeching halt, nearly causing the officers in the back to tumble forward. As the siren ceased, an eerie silence enveloped the area. The only sounds were the flickering lights in front of the theater, combined with the faint hum of insects and the occasional hoot of an owl.

Sheriff Williams exited the vehicle without hesitation and immediately grabbed his torch. "George, go left. Adam, check the right side. I'll head inside the theater, just in case," he directed the officers. They split up, fanning out in search of the girl.

The theater's door was ajar, which was not a good sign. The rusty hinges creaked as Sheriff Williams entered. Without electricity, only a small section of the theater was illuminated by the beam of his torch. As he moved the light around, he saw ladders, paint cans, and various renovation tools scattered about, creating an eerie atmosphere. The theater could have easily served as a setting for a horror film.

"Is anyone there?" Sheriff Williams called out, his voice echoing through the darkness. He was used to this feeling, having experienced it many times over the years. It no longer frightened him. "Can anyone hear me?"

His voice reverberated, creating a spectral ambiance. But there was no response. "Anybody hear me?" he called out again, growing more impatient.

He meticulously checked every nook and cranny of the theater, but there was no sign of anyone. His walkie-talkie buzzed. "Sheriff. This is Officer Adam. There is no one here, and I've checked the entire area! Over and out." The same message came from Officer George.

For a moment, Sheriff Williams thought it might be a prank. But the girl's voice had sounded too real for this to be a joke. Two choices lay before him, venture into the forest at night or return to the Sheriff's station and wait until morning to assemble a search team. But he knew that time was of the essence.

He decided to explore the forest immediately. Just as he was about to inform the other officers, he recalled an area in the theater he had overlooked, the basement parking lot.

He hurriedly made his way to the back of the theater, taking the stairs leading to the basement. The area was vast, and unlike the theater, some lights flickered, casting an eerie glow. The basement was deserted, but large numbered pillars were spaced at intervals.

"Hey... Is someone here?" Sheriff Williams called out. "Can anyone hear my voice?"

He walked carefully through the basement, scanning every corner. Then he suddenly stopped when he noticed a hand and a shoulder partially hidden behind one of the pillars. There appeared to be a person leaning there. Sheriff Williams cautiously approached.

"Hey!" he said, his voice trembling, "Can you hear me?"

He increased his pace, finally reaching the spot. He placed his palm on the shoulder from behind and prepared to see the person's face. But what he saw filled him with horror, and he quickly withdrew his hand.

There sat a girl, a teenager, with a rusty pipe protruding from her stomach. Her pink shirt was drenched in blood, and her pants were torn at the knee, with blood seeping through the fabric. Her eyes were wide with terror, and her body bore the marks of a brutal struggle. The bruises on her neck suggested an attempted strangulation. Sheriff Williams checked for a pulse, but the girl was lifeless.

"This is Sheriff Williams," he spoke into his walkie-talkie. "I'm at the Annex Theater's parking lot. I've found a girl's body. Call the forensic team. We have a homicide case." As he turned off the walkie-talkie, he noticed a phone lying a few inches from the girl. The phone was in terrible shape as if it had been thrown from her hand and shattered into two pieces.

He waited anxiously for the arrival of first the officers and then the forensic team in the basement.