The Awakening

by Ryan Sova

  “No Garry, you’re coming on stage with me,” Detective Grant said, signaling him to the stage.

  Once Detective Grant and Garry had reached the stage, Detective Grant approached the pulpit and began his speech, “Garry Henderson, where do I start. I have to confess that this is not like any retirement that I ever imagined. You never spent a day in the academy, never took a single course in criminal justice, never took a criminal investigator’s certification program. Hell, you never even wore a badge.” Detective Grant started getting emotional, but continued his speech unhindered, “To the rest of the world, you are just an average nobody. But you are anything but average Garry. You’re a hero! To this department as well as many other departments and to all those around you whether they know it or not, you’re a hero for us all! You have managed to do things in just ten years that most detectives can’t do in their entire careers. You have solved seven-hundred and forty-eight violent crimes ranging from murder, attempted murder, torture, rape, and abduction. Six-hundred and twenty-two of these cases ended in a conviction. On sixty-eight different occasions, you led us away from prosecuting an innocent person and your tips have led to the rescue of one-hundred and fifty-six missing children. In the entire time that I have known you, you have never been wrong about a single case. Every detail you have ever relayed to me has been perfect, every description flawless. You were my strongest lead, my most useful witness, and anytime that I ever listened to you I was never wrong.

  You are one of us, Garry. I want you to know that and we will always be in debt to you for many sacrifices and contributions that you have made to this and many other police departments. Now with that, I would like to present you with something.”

  One of the officers in the congregation brought a picture frame and an envelope to the pulpit and handed them to Detective Grant. Detective Grant addressed Garry once more saying, “First, I would like to present you this in memory of all the work that we did together over the last ten years and as a reminder to you that no matter what you ever do in life, you will always be one of us.”

  Detective Grant handed Garry the picture frame. Garry looked at it. It contained an enlarged picture that showed Garry standing next to Detective Grant. Below the picture was a black poster board signed in white by every officer. Below that was a police badge. Garry examined the badge through the glass of the picture frame and noticed that his name was inscribed on the badge. Tears welled up in Garry's eyes and softly he said to Detective Grant, “Thank you.”

  Detective Grant continued “Now, most police officers have a nice retirement that they can look forward to when their many years of service are over. While we can’t give you an official retirement, many of the officers in this room have chipped in so that we can offer you this.”

  Detective Grant handed Garry an envelope. Detective Grant continued, “Inside the envelope, you will find a check for five-thousand dollars.”

  Once Garry had finally regained his compositor, he addressed the audience and thanked all of them for this unexpected act of kindness. After being presented with his gifts, the entire group migrated to the basketball court/gymnasium of the church. This gymnasium was filled with tables and chairs. The meal for tonight’s celebration was professionally catered and the food was already lined up on several long tables at the left side of the gym. Pitcher of sweet tea, beer, and water were already prepared at every table.

  On one table, just past the food tables, was Garry’s retirement cake. He walked up to examine it. After taking a quick look at it, Garry laughed. The cake featured a police badge right underneath a glowing crystal ball. Garry’s name was just below the police badge and underneath his name was the following phrase, “in remembrance of 10 years of dedicated service.” These images and words were the most prominent features of the cake. However, there was also a background image in the frosting showing a wooden table with an arrangement of tarot cards on it.

  The rest of the evening went by very nicely. The food was great and the company was even better. The celebrating feast lasted for about two hours, after which time the buses started arriving and the officers started saying their goodbyes. Garry took this as his cue that it was also his time to go. It was getting late now and he was getting tired. He said goodbyes to Detective Grant and many of the officers, and then made his way to his car.

  On his way home, Garry reflected. He was going to really miss all his friends from the police department. He was not sure when he would be able to see any of them again, now that he had officially retired. Once Garry reached his apartment, he found his way to bed and quickly fell to sleep.

  ****

  Detective Klaben was going to be pulling another overnighter tonight and she knew it. I have to be missing something, she kept on telling herself. Two nights ago Jessica Karslow drowned two of her three children in the bathtub and then ran with the third. She was in the middle of a custody case and faced the possibility of losing custody of her three children to her ex-husband, Ron Karslow. The two children that were drowned just happened to be Ron’s children from a previous marriage, the child that she didn’t kill was her own biological daughter.

  Yesterday, Detective Klaben had the painful task of telling Ron that two of his three children had been killed at the hands of his ex-wife. It did not go well.

  Detective Klaben was desperate to find some lead that could point her in the direction of where Jessica had taken her daughter. So far she had nothing solid. She knew the car that Jessica had originally taken, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she was still driving that car. The fact that Jessica’s license plate hadn’t flagged anywhere yet also reaffirmed that suspicion. She had hoped that the Amber Alert would provide some insight in locating Jessica, but so far the tips she had received were nothing but garbage. She had watched Jessica’s bank card transactions but got nothing there either. She had also pulled security footage from various places that Jessica was known to visit within the city.

  This is what she was doing right at the moment. It was a long and tedious task, watching hours and hours of footage hoping on the off chance that she might get lucky. Fortunately for her, the computer was doing most of the work. Facial recognition software was analyzing every person from the videos looking for a match to Jessica’s face.

  Detective Klaben’s eyelids were getting heavy. She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times while getting her eyes back into focus. She was so tired but was determined. She was not going to let this monster get away. Tomorrow, Detective Klaben was planning on interviewing several more of the family and friends for both Jessica and Ron. In the meantime, though, she was hoping to be able to rule out all of these business establishments.

  Everyone at the precinct had already gone home for the night. She was alone skimming through hours and hours of footage. Randy is going to worry about me again, she said to herself. Detective Klaben had turned her phone off hours ago because she knew that her husband Randy would try and talk her into coming home. She had sent him a text message letting him know not to wait up for her, but that would not be enough for Randy. He knew what kind of danger Detective Klaben was putting herself in by staying up all night a second time in a row.

  She had considered the possibility that he might come to the precinct and try to talk some sense into her. But after some thought, she decided that he probably wouldn’t. For one, there was no guarantee for him that she was even at the precinct. For all he knew, she was out late at some crime scene. For two, getting up this late meant having to wake the boys up and she knew that he would not do that unless he was truly desperate.

  “I’m so tired,” Detective Klaben said just before she let out a long yawn.

  She tried harder to focus on the computer monitor in front of her, but the task was getting to be impossible. She paused the video. Let me just rest my eyes for a moment, she said to herself right before falling completely into a deep sleep at her desk.

  A sudden sharp pain came to her neck and traveled down her spine. Dete
ctive Klaben was wide awake in an instant. The pain was unlike anything that she had ever felt before. Her left hand clawed uselessly at the desk in front of her and her left leg kicked frantically. She wasn’t moving though. Something was holding her there in place.

  She had been sleeping with her head on the desk which was facing towards her right hand. All she could see was her right hand lying on the desk next to her head, just the way it was when she had fallen asleep. She tried to move her right hand, but it would not move. She could not even feel it anymore. She soon also realized that she had no feeling in her right leg either. She fought more frantically with her usable limbs, pushing with her left arm and kicking with her left leg. She still could not move. Something had her pinned there.

  The pain in her neck was now unbearable. Her whole body trembled because of the pain and tears welled up in her eyes. She started feeling a strange wetness on her left side of her face. That same feeling also started seeping into her blouse. With horror, she realized that the wet feeling was her own blood. She struggled even more frantically but still, something held her there in place. She felt someone lean in over her and then she heard a whispered voice in her ear say, “Don’t worry Kelly, it will all be over soon enough.”

  The frantic struggle had left Detective Klaben gasping for air. She tried to take a breath. It was like sucking air through a straw and the only thing that she managed to breathe in was liquid. The feeling was awful. She wanted to cough and vomit all at the same time. Her body painfully went through the coughing motion, but she had no air in her lungs to cough so what she ended up doing was more of a dry heave. Her body instinctively gasped for air again and more blood entered her lungs. The feeling was pure torture. She wanted to die. She wanted it all to end rather than go through another moment of this suffering.

  Another uncontrollable gasp for air came, and with it came more blood. Now she could taste blood in her mouth and she was drooling blood on the desk that her head was still pinned to. The only thing that was going through her mind in the end was, make it stop. Please make it stop. Then there was nothing.

  Garry stood up and walked through the desk. His body passed effortlessly through Detective Klaben’s desk. Then Garry stood there for a moment still very confused at what had just happened.

  If this is a murder vision, it should be over by now. I always wake up just as the victim dies. Why am I still here? Garry looked down at his body. There was nothing there. He had no physical form to speak of. Garry had no clue as to what was going on but somehow knew that what was about to happen next was going to be very important. Garry turned and faced Detective Klaben and her killer.

  Detective Klaben was lying lifelessly on her desk. There was a pool of blood under her head and a knife had been plunged through her neck, pinning her to the desk. All of the objects on her desk had been carefully removed and were now on the floor several feet away from her desk. There was also a large number of cleaning supplies that had been placed on an adjacent desk.

  There was a man standing over her and still holding the knife. Garry recognized him as a police officer but was not very familiar with who he was other than that. He appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties. He was overweight, but not obese and he was also somewhat muscular, but not overly athletic. He had brown hair that was starting to turn grey and a thinning hairline. He wore a grey Dallas Cowboys tee-shirt with blue jeans.

  Garry watched as the man waited patiently, making sure Detective Klaben was dead. After a short while, Detective Klaben reached her right hand behind her head, grabbed the knife and pulled it out of her neck. As soon as Detective Klaben moved, her killer got out of her way and backed up a few paces.

  Detective Klaben stood up, still holding the knife in her right hand. Garry took a closer look at her neck, it looked gruesome. He took a few steps closer to take a closer look at it and was horrified by what he saw. The wound was healing itself rapidly. Over the next ten seconds, Garry watched as a neck wound that had just penetrated clear through her neck healed itself completely, leaving no trace that it was ever there.

  Detective Klaben turned and faced her killer. The man retrieved a garbage bag from a nearby desk and then spoke to her saying, “Put all of your clothes and the knife into this bag.”

  Without a second of hesitation, Detective Klaben followed her killer’s instructions. Garry could not help but look as she removed her clothes. He had been infatuated with Detective Klaben for many years now and never had this opportunity before. It also started to dawn on Garry that the Detective Klaben that he had known was now gone. He didn’t know who this person was, but he was positive that this was not the Detective Klaben that he had known. This knowledge was heart-wrenching to Garry, but he knew that his dreams were showing him all this for a reason and he needed to pay attention.

  Once Detective Klaben had finished removing all of her clothes, the man took a wet washcloth and started cleaning her off. Despite the fact that Detective Klaben had a very good figure and was completely naked, the man didn’t seem to take notice in the slightest and was totally absorbed in his task of cleaning the blood off of her body. Once the man had finished cleaning Detective Klaben off, he handed her a set of clean clothes and told her to get changed.

  Detective Klaben responded, “My husband will know that these are not my clothes.”

  The man answered, “Then you are just going to have to figure out what you are going to tell him then. The same goes with the knife mark on your desk, sorry about that.”

  While Detective Klaben was changing, the man went to work at cleaning her desk off. After which time, he then started replacing everything that he had taken off of her desk. By this time, Detective Klaben had finished getting changed and she then started helping her killer return everything to her desk in the same order that it had been in originally.

  By the time that they had both finished cleaning up the crime scene, the man turned to Detective Klaben and said, “It is 3:00 in the morning right now. People are not going to start showing up for at least another three hours. I am guessing that you are going to have a few questions for me before we part ways.”

  Detective Klaben paused for a moment, thinking about what she was going to say and then answered, “I have been dead for less than three minutes and yet I know exactly what I am. How is that possible?”

  The man answered, “The same magic that brought you back to life also reprogrammed your brain. Think about it this way. Think of your mind as a computer. When we took over that computer, we left all of the files on your hard drive intact. Every single bit of data, every single memory that you ever had in life is kept perfectly intact. The only thing that we have changed is the operating system. We have replaced your old operating system with a new system that is loyal to the Master and can be bent and shaped by his will.”

  Detective Klaben thought about this and then asked, “Why haven’t I heard the Master’s voice yet?”

  The man laughed, “Because you have only been dead for three minutes. Give it some time. When the Master speaks, you will hear his voice, just like the rest of us, and you will obey.”

  Detective Klaben asked, “How long have you been dead Officer Casy?”

  Officer Casy reflected, “For me, it was about two months ago. I was seduced and killed by Sarah Strong. You probably remember her. She and her husband Dalen were brought to the station because of a 911 phone call that she made while her husband Dalen was stabbing her to death.”

  Detective Klaben was surprised, “So she was killed then? The 911 tape that we heard was real?”

  Officer Casy answered, “Yes it was real. Apparently Dalen made quite a mess of things when he killed her. He should have never let her make that phone call. He risked exposing all of us.”

  Detective Klaben asked, “Why should it matter if we are discovered? They can’t kill us, right?”

  Officer Casy answered, “Any wound we take instantly heals. Even severed limbs, including our head will just grow back, so I
really can’t see how anyone could kill us. For some reason though, the Master wants us to be careful for now, so that is what we are all going to do. You don’t refuse an order from the Master. There are things worse than death. Anger the Master and you will become intimately acquainted with my meaning. I’m sure that once we outnumber them, it will only be a matter of time before it will be open hunting season on all the living.”

  Detective Klaben answered, “I can’t wait for that glorious day! We should not have to cower in the darkness like worms. We should be actively carrying out the Master’s will. The living should learn to fear us. They should be the ones cowering.”

  Officer Casy laughed, “You remind me of myself when I was newly dead. I thought back then that I could single-handedly bring about the Masters glorious plan all by myself. Just be careful, nothing angers the Master more than incompetent servants.”

  Detective Klaben answered, “Thanks for the advice. I should head home now.”

  Officer Casy answered, “Okay, I will see you later.”

  Detective Klaben started walking away and then paused. She then turned and addressed Officer Casy once more, “What have we done about Garry Henderson?”

  Officer Casy answered, “Garry who?”

  Detective Klaben continued, “He is a psychic that had been helping the department for the last ten years. His retirement party was tonight. I am concerned about him.”

  Officer Casy responded, “Why?”

  Detective Klaben continued, “When Dalen was brought in for killing his wife, Garry was there too. He had apparently been feeling this strange horror every time that Dalen came near him for more than a month leading up to the 911 phone call. So Detective Grant brought him in and had him observe the interrogation through a two-way mirror.”

  Officer Casy looked confused and then asked, “Why is that important?”

  Detective Klaben answered, “Because he can sense us. That is why this is important.”