Bound

  BOUND

  THE REAPER SAGA

  Book 2

  K.H. KATE

  BOUND

  Copyright © 2021 by K.H. Kate

  All rights reserved.

  First Edition: JUNE 2021

  All rights preserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  We’re all crazy sometimes, the best people always are.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  This is a dark romance which contains psychological abuse and self-harm. Please proceed with caution.

  Don't just look at it, look through it. Try to understand.

  The man who taught me that was ordinary by every means but he lacked something crucial from every one of the neighbors we had. He didn't hide behind cowardness in the name of concern.

  "Detective, what do you think?"

  “All of you wanted to see an evil, I'll happily show you what it means to be truly evil. Help me, please. Save me from this monster." I read the lines word by word, looking at the cop only when I heard him cough. “What do you think?”

  "I can't even imagine what they felt in their last moment." Another cop spoke up before he could, this one much younger than the first one and more emotional. "Whoever did this must really want to see this place burned to ashes.

  This place being Godfrey Sanatorium.

  Now nothing but ashes.

  "Do you really blame them?" I wondered aloud, scoffing when no one agreed. I knew the question was inappropriate in a time like this but everyone in the town knew the sanatorium by name. Especially the owner and the rumors circling around him.

  “Don’t blame Mr. Valentine.” Clenching my jaw, I turned to the cop who called me in the first place. “You think we didn’t look into him first? He has a solid alibi, he has no reason to ruin his own business.”

  My gaze went to the wall again to see the words. This could have been a simple case of wrong time wrong place if this graffiti of blood wasn’t found.

  "Doesn’t mean he didn’t have enemies who’d love to see him dead. If you didn’t notice before, this is the staff quarter. All the patients are safe where all the staff is dead as we are speaking." I huffed in annoyance. Besides the cops carefully skirting around the broken glasses mixed with melted skins away from them to collect evidence, others were taking photos of the walls where Mr. Tim from the forensic department was taking the blood samples from the floor.

  How could they not see revenge written all over it?

  “Hernandez?”

  Aaron.

  Seeing him not far away, I excused myself to go see him. Usually, he’s fast enough to notice the unusualness every crime scene had but for some reason, it took him hours to get my attention today.

  “A bit late for your brain to kick in, isn’t it?”

  “Haha.” He rolled his eyes, definitely not amused with my tone. “Look what I found.”

  I let out a whistle, snatching the thing before any of the cops could. The diary in my hand looked torn and old, the brown texture almost fading away. “A diary. Fascinating.”

  “Yeah. Something isn’t right here. Apparently, someone called 911 right before this whole thing happened and reported a possible escape. When they asked for a name he couldn’t remember it. He also informed that staffs kept going missing for the last three years so many of them wanted to resign but Mr. Valentine didn’t let them. I would have loved to ask him more in person but he’s one of those who passed away.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “You should have seen the patients, they look far too happy, Hernandez.”

  “I know what you are talking about. I talked to a few of them. They didn’t like anyone here but a specific nurse-”

  Before we could discuss this matter any further, one of the cops cleared their throat, making me hide the diary. If they get their hands on it now, I’ll never be able to find things on my own. Thankfully, the cop only smiled at Aaron, offering his hands like a gentleman.

  “I believe we met before. Aaron something...”

  “Aaron Jeller.” He spoke up, shaking his hands. “Partner of Detective Hernandez.”

  "Guys, I’ll be at the roof, you two…talk." Ignoring Aaron’s glare on my back, I walked faster, making sure no one was following me. It didn’t take me long to find a blind spot since everyone was too busy cleaning the messes left from the fire.

  Finally.

  "Dear diary,

  Killing a human should be easy. But taking their life force to actually live on it? Give me a freaking break. I’d rather burn the world instead. Not that I didn’t try to, I did only to die alone in a freaking tub cause someone couldn’t get over a stupid misunderstanding. If you are curious, who am I? I'm 5132 and I am really starting to hate being a Reaper."

  I stared at the page for too long, long enough to hear footsteps near me and then ripped it to shreds, pocketing it like a good Samaritan would. Looks like, some secrets were better buried to the ground.

  A burned sanatorium.

  A mass murder.

  One patient to connect it all.

  Yeah. I was already starting to hate my night.

  "Want to tell me why did it go unnoticed by the cops?" Aaron asked me with a scowl. He wasn't just my partner, he was one of my best friends for the last six years. In fact, when I first moved here, he was just trying to get better. Stop being a hoodlum. Everyone wanted to put him in Juvie, I wanted him to use that smart head of his to help me solve cases. In a way, we were two peas in a pot. We both had secrets and we both hid it well.

  "Personal reasons," I replied, staring closely at Aaron. There was it again. The look of fleeting anger in Aaron's eyes. So, it was safe to assume that he looked far away from agreeing with me.

  "You don't agree."

  "No shit!" Standing up from the couch, he was quick to be on my side to snatch the diary from my hands. "Since when do you hide evidences?"

  Sighing, I dropped the old case file on the table. "Since this diary belongs to one of the patients I knew. It was my first unsolved case and I was told to look the other way. Looks like we are back to square one."

  "W-What?" He looked shocked only for a minute before it clicked. "Is this the same one from four years ago? Someone was arrested though, wasn't it? The mysterious fire that no one can explain…just like this."

  "They were referred to a sanatorium in the end, Aaron."

  "Shit. You got all of that in a day and didn't tell me? What about the nurse? Did you talked to her?" He angrily handed me the torn diary.

  I forced out a half-assed mumble. "The cops already took her statement. There was nothing I could’ve done.”

  "But we’re going to, right?” He looked hopeful but he had to have known that I was counting on him to do it so he sighed, changing the subject. “Fine. I’ll deal with it and you deal with that patient of yours. Maybe we can find something out-Shit!”

  “What?” I asked curiously, glancing up to see him messing with his phone.

  “Uncle Jimmy got busted again. I’ll have to go bail him out.” Shit, indeed. One of these days that man was going to drag both of us down. Fuck. “Can I at least come over later? Maybe discuss the case together?"

  "Yeah, just make sure uncle Jimmy stops gambling and ruining your life." I opened the laptop, intending to make a report but shit, maybe I needed a break first. Collect m
y thoughts and go from there. “On second thought, let me clear my head first. Valentine being involved is messing with me.”

  "Let’s go to your place then. We’ll both get shitfaced if you want. After dealing with Jimmy I might need it too."

  I paused, hearing him toggle with the lock. Shit. "Hey, I won't be going home for the next few days. Ivy is staying there and let's just say, we hardly talk nowadays unless one of us is bringing up our past mistakes."

  "Your sister is here..." He trailed off, laughing. "And Valentine’s sanatorium just got burned. You sure it’s just not her getting revenge on him?"

  "She won’t just destroy his property, Aaron. She’d kill that motherfucker in cold blood. But since he’s still alive and being a pain in the ass…no, it wasn’t her." I replied dryly, hearing a booming laughter behind me along with the sound of a closed door. The moment he was out, I picked up the diary, brushing my fingers over the long forgotten tear marks on the pages.

  "Dear Samara,

  We are graduating this year, bitch. Yes, finally senior year is almost over. Don't even dare to think that it means I miss you any less. I think I have started to miss you even more. Kyle doesn't show it but he misses you too. Did you know he was going to propose to you at our senior prom? Yeah, me neither until today at lunch he blurted out. Times like this makes it harder to forget what happened. So, I'll keep writing here until I can finally forgive myself..."

  I could barely hide my interest as I practically sat on the edge, finding anything new that could help me. There were no records of this Samara person before and I couldn't help but want to know more.

  "Dear diary,

  I can't bring myself to ignore this anymore. Thank heaven I got to keep you. I owe this to you, Samara. You'll be shocked to know how my life has changed drastically. We are all in college together and I thought that was supposed to be the most challenging part of my life. But here's the real curveball life threw at me. Mom bailed me out of prison today. I bet you are rolling over in your grave to know why. I've been accused of murder. Do you even know who died? My Zach. Can you believe I am capable of killing Zach out of all people? If I ever loved someone, it's him. The pain of losing him is still fresh when every day I've to hear taunting from the people that it was me.

  Someone killed my boyfriend and I was the one taken to prison. Not only that, the cops think to hide his body, I set fire in our cabin which spread into the woods that killed a lot of people in return. Mass murder is what they are telling it. I wish I could hug you right now.”

  Intrigued, I went to the next page, only to find it empty. I didn’t know much about the Gills but I knew Roth Gill fought hard for her daughter. She had someone bribe me to not continue to case. When I refused, there was pressure from higher ups and the devil in disguise himself. Just for that reason, I didn’t seem to ever move on from this case. Even I would admit how she could have gotten away if not the case was reopened. Rushing to find the next entry, I finally found it right after two months from the previous one. October 19th. The day she was admitted.

  "Dear Diary,

  They reopened the case and referred me to an asylum or sanatorium, whatever, sounds pretty same. Can you believe it? A.S.Y.L.U.M aka the heart and soul of the crazy bunnies. I don’t know what’s happening, Samara and I’m so so scared. I’m missing time, waking up in places I have never even seen before. Not only that, people here are so different. I can’t explain it. It’s like I’m in a whole different world. Every one of them have secrets that can kill them and…me. So, the first chance I get, I’m going to run. Run far away from these weird people and their obsession with darkest secrets.

  ***

  If things would stop there, I would happily die. But something changed Samara, I don't know what but it just did.

  Remember how you used to say if ghosts were real and I'd laugh at your face? Well, color me surprised, I have started to see Zach everywhere. Once mom visited and Zach appeared out of nowhere. I had to tell her the truth but she thinks I’m having a breakdown. But ghosts don't feel as real as he's starting to feel."

  "What are you reading?" I jumped at the sudden voice. The diary slid down to the couch and dropped to the floor with a thud. Whirling around, I was met with the sight of Aaron freshly showered.

  "Holy shit! You scared me! How did you get inside?" I took great pride in being in tune with the area around me so I wasn’t amused as much as him. It meant slacking and I couldn’t afford that.

  "You and scared? Right... You gave me your spare key, remember?" He shrugged, dangling the key chain from his fingers with an innocent smile.

  "Yeah. I just didn’t expect you to be back so soon."

  "Well, here I am. Turned out, Aunt Casey already bailed him out. Any progress?" He asked, taking a soda from the fridge. I swore sometimes it looked like this was Aaron's office, not mine.

  "Progress for me, sure. For the Chief, not even close. You?"

  "Oh, you’ll be real happy to know what I found. The ‘nurse’ doesn’t really exist. I searched through every database in the precinct only to come up blank. There are holes in the confessions we got from the patients. Every person that said they saw her, described her differently. From the looks to her mannerisms. It was weird as hell, man. Now, let's talk about progress from your point of view. What did you find?" Just as he said that there was a notebook in his hand, probably to take notes for later. Meanwhile, I hurriedly picked up the diary from the floor.

  "You were right. Something definitely isn't right with this place.”

  "You think Valentine was messing with their mind?" Aaron asked, confused.

  "See for yourself," Instead of saying anything stupid, I handed the diary over to him. The page I showed him was filled with scribbles but it didn’t take him long to understand what it was.

  Byron hurts me.

  Byron hurts me.

  Byron hurts me.

  Remember, dammit!

  Aaron took his sweet time to read before giving it back to me with a curse. "Shit, Hernandez, this Byron’s name is all over it. Who is that?"

  "That’s what I’m trying to figure out." My hands were tied, there was nothing I could do if there was evidence all over the asylum.

  Especially evidence that could destroy the world I have finally built for myself.

  "Let's play a game, yeah?"

  I found a gentle touch on my cheeks, reminding me where I was. I wasn't in my office anymore but in a long hallway, holding something cold in my hands. A dagger?

  My lips moved suddenly. "Hide and seek?"

  "Hide and seek." A woman whispered, finally kissing my lips.

  "Wake up, Hernandez!"

  Someone screamed in my ears, tearing me away from the woman. No, it’s too soon. I was just about to see something! Just as my eyes snapped open, those blurry ones met Aaron's.

  "Aaron." I gave him a perplexed look before noticing that his eyes were red and he was holding a loaded gun in his hands. "Fuck. What happened?"

  He looked just about ready to drop on the floor the way he was swinging from one foot to another. Even then he managed to keep eye contact with me. "I'm afraid. For the first time in my life, I'm afraid."

  No shit. "Dammit, Aaron, you're scaring me!"

  "No, no. Tell me this. Do you even care about your life?" His sudden change of tone had me startled. Before I could say something, he gestured toward the door. "I can't find Mr. Deilon downstairs, your front door is broken. What do you want me to think?"

  I poked my head a little to see that Aaron was right. The door was barely hanging from the hinge and some of the files were scattered around the floor. How did I sleep through that?

  "That's not even half of it. Last night I went home to find the same warning writing neatly in my bathroom mirror! What do you think went through my head that time, Hernandez?"

  I shrugged, calculating how I was going to explain that one. "That you should have called the cops?"

  He opened and closed his mouth a few times,
choking out a laugh. "Seriously? I thought the killer finished you off and I'm next on their list. What's wrong with you?"

  Good question because even I was struggling between imagination and reality. Especially when my temple suddenly started to feel warm and my eyes closed on their own only to see her again.

  "Something is gravely wrong. I think I'm sick. I am thirsty all the time but can't keep anything down. I think this place is changing me. What do you think?"

  What did I think?

  That I was getting insane. Seeing things that I shouldn't see.

  Like her past memories.

  "You are the one who opened your mind to me. See this? This is what I went through. Months upon months. There's no one coming to save me."

  I'm here, can't you see me?

  "I'm dying, love. I don't know what to do with this thirst. It doesn't even make sense. Nothing makes sense these days. I'm so afraid about the fact that one day I'm going to lose my sanity in real."

  Where am I?

  "I told you. Didn't you listen? You're in my head, searching for answers that you'll never find. I can't let you."

  No!

  "Back to earth, Hernandez! What the hell?" I blinked, only to get the shock of my life to find a gun in my hand. When did I reach for my gun?

  "Lower the gun." He rasped, taking his own down slowly. "Let's talk, yeah? You were rambling a number. 5132."

  Keeping the gun where it was in the first place, I shook my head. My muscles were already sore and my bed was calling for me but going home felt like suicide at this moment. Also, the spooky thing I saw was just a cherry on the top.

  "Did you forget to take your insulin?" He asked suddenly, seemingly afraid of the answer.

  "No, that’s not it." I murmured, aching to get my hands on the diary again. Whatever I read before, she showed me in person. You are the one who opened your mind to me. Was it even possible?

  "What happened then?"

  "I don't know. I really don't. That's new. Have I ever told you what happened in that first case?" I wondered aloud for the first time. "Why was I fired?"