Eleven

CHAPTER 11

SANTIAGO

"Did you hear that?" I asked Martha.

I ran my fingers through my neatly parted hair as I stared straight ahead of me then slowly at her, both of our hearts racing, at the moment it wasn't just the feeling anymore, this time it felt real— so surreal.

Time was far spent yet I was unable to kick start what I was supposed to do before all of this was happening, the possibility of someone trying to pull a prank flashes across my mind but I was quick to put it away from my mind.

My mind was disorganized and I needed time to pull myself together else whatever I set out to do, the result would be negative.

"What is that noise?" Martha asked, scared herself.

With each passing minute, I found it more difficult to concentrate and so I tossed my pen on the table and then reclined on my chair before getting up.

I really didn't know what I was doing , at this moment it felt certain that another time when I heard a sharp noise which had jolted me and scared the hell out of me— I realized I had been right.

Martha who had been standing was totally in panic, she was scribbling incoherent words on a paper and I was grateful it wasn't an official document else I would have begun to run helter skelter to rectify the issue.

My mind returned to the sound again and stared straight ahead.

I heard the sound of a thud, at the minute it was unclear to say if it was my heart or as I thought one of my belongings which had rolled off the table and then made contact with the floor so I decided not to bother myself.

But after a few seconds of reviewing the possibility in my head, I began to run my fingers through my hair —

I had decided to take a look at my fallen item and so with a well calculated step, I walked around the table.

When I got there, I didn't see anything lying on the floor and so I was a bit confused.

Thinking it was all in my imagination, I returned to my previous position but once again, I heard the noise.

This time around, I didn't waste time dashing out of the room and into the hallway.

From the intensity of the sound made, I concluded it was down the hallway and so I began to walk briskly in that direction.

Despite my hastiness, I was cautious in my movement.

I don't know what made the sound nor do I know what was ahead of me and so I have to be extra careful.

As I walked, my lab coat flapped against my body posing a little disturbance.

Without thinking twice, I took it off and then began to roll up the sleeves of my shirt to make walking less difficult for me.

I was still on my second sleeve when Martha, my colleague, joined me in the hallway.

It seems she had heard the sound too and this was confirmed when she spoke.

"You heard the sound?" She asked, trying to catch up with me.

"Yeah." I replied not flattering my movement.

"I was about to come to your office to find out what the issue was when I saw you in the hallway. What do you think made that noise?" She asked, we were walking at the same pace now.

I didn't need to turn around to know that she was shivering as usual.

I wonder how she became a medical practitioner when little things threw her off balance.

"I don't know, that's why I am out here." I replied and almost immediately, I heard her gulp.

Ignoring her action, I continued to walk cautiously as she trailed behind me like a puppet.

We halted at the last door on the hallway.

"What?" She asked

"I guess this is where the sound came from." I replied as I took the fire extinguisher that was hanging on the wall.

It was going to serve as a makeshift weapon in case of an emergency.

"Do we need that?" She asked

I was getting pissed by her questions but I chose to ignore her.

Armed with the fire extinguisher and with a seized breath, I held onto the knob and after a silent count of three, I turned it and then pushed the door in as slowly as possible.

The door was wide ajar yet we couldn't see anything inside the room.

Running my hand on the wall, I searched for the light switch and immediately I found it, I turned the light one.

When the fluorescent light came on, I was expecting to see the source of the sound lurking around but to my dismay the room was empty.

Martha, who was standing behind me, wriggled herself into the room and then began to run her eyes through the length and breadth of the room just like I was doing.

Once again, when I didn't find anything incriminating in the room, I thought it was my imagination and so with a sigh, I turned to leave.

"Let's go." I said with a firm voice but Martha didn't budge.

"Wait." She said when I reached out for her hand.

"What are we doing here? There's nothing inside so…" I left my words hanging.

When she didn't make any move that she heard me, I turned around to leave for the second time.

And just as I was about to step out of the room, she pulled me backwards causing me to lose my balance.

"I'm sorry." She apologized quickly realizing what she had just done.

I wasn't angry about losing my balance and so with my gaze fixed on her wondering what she was up to, I asked,

"What?"

"Over there." She replied pointing at the window.

Slowly, I shifted my gaze to the window she was pointing at, I didn't see anything spectacular and so with my voice over the edge, I said,

"There's nothing there."

"There is." She replied with a persistent voice.

Sighing I stood upright and then fixed my gaze on the window hoping to see what she was staring at.

"I still haven't seen it." I snapped after a few minutes of staring at the window.

"Look at the window. It's broken."

"Broken?" I asked in my head as I zoned in closely. It was then I saw the broken part of the widow I had failed to notice for over ten minutes.

The dent on the window was enough to accommodate a human, no doubt, we had a visitor but now he or she was gone.

"Someone was here." I said aloud and she nodded in agreement.

I decided to take a look at the broken widow and as I made my way towards it, my eyes caught a trail of blood.

The blood looked fresh which implies it hasn't been long since it appeared there.

"Blood." I announced and immediately, Martha ran to my side.

I pointed at the trail and at once, her eyes widened as she wrapped her mouth with her palm.

"Oh my goodness. What's this all about?" She asked but didn't get a reply from my end.

On my part, I was brainstorming on what must have led to the trail of blood appearing in the room. The more I thought, the more I got confused about the entire issue .

Sighing, I waited till Martha took a few steps ahead then stopped abruptly turning back to face me.

"I guess the blood belongs to an animal." She said after a while and immediately I cast her a mocking glance.

"What are your reasons?" I asked

"Because…" she filtered off and I guessed correctly that she had nothing to back up her claim.

Suddenly, my eyes caught a stool that was upside down.

I haven't noticed it up until now and I guess she hasn't either and so I decided to point it out to her.

"Not an animal."

"Then what?"

"An animal can't break the glass not to talk of climbing that height. A human did." I said to clear the air.

"But the window is high." She whispered still in a very low voice.

"That's why the person made use of that stool over there." I said pointing at the stool which I guess she was still yet to notice.

"But what is his mission here?" She wondered aloud and since I had no response, I kept mute.

Suddenly, she tapped my shoulder and I turned in her direction.

"We can't just stand here doing nothing." She rapped

"What do you suggest then? The person is gone and there is no way we can get who was here."

"We have to involve the cops in this. We can't just let this scene slide like it is nothing." She rapped again and I nodded agreeing to her words.

"Call them then." I said

"Help me with your phone. I left mine at the office."

"Same here." I replied.

She didn't waste more time before she dashed out of the room as if she was being chased by demons leaving me behind.

The room was quiet, giving me the opportunity to think.

She returned minutes later with my phone and after pushing it into my hand, she disappeared again.

Tucking my phone away, I crouched beside the blood trails, observing the pattern it had made.

I decided to go further and so I used my thumb to touch a patch of the blood and then brought it to my nose to have a sniff of it.

Well, I don't know what to say apart from it being fresh blood.

Wiping my hand with the napkin I had brought along, I rose and then began to follow the trail the blood had made.

The trail ended on the window pane.

I didn't believe this was the end so I decided to continue my investigation.

Jumping over through the broken part of the window seems like a better alternative but I decided to go around.

The blood trail continued outside the window but this time around, because of the soft soil, I saw footprints of a human.

The footprints did nothing but to add to my misery.

I continued my walk using the footprints as a guide.

Just when I got to where the footprint ended, Martha called me.

I wanted to ignore her call but when the thought that she might have seen the visitor flashed through my brain, I picked up.

"Hey." I said

"The cops are here." She announced.

True to her words, I began to hear the cops siren.

I had no choice but to return to the building, although disappointed, I retraced my steps back to where I had come from.