Lies Beneath the Truth

“Do you know true fear?” A solitary man hidden in the shadows, standing in the middle of the dark and empty street asked. His low and eerie tone echoed through Justin’s very bones. 

The sky was dark as the moon and the stars hid behind the clouds. A sudden gust of air blew dried leaves and specks of dust making Justin cover his eyes with his hands and lose focus on the man on the far end of the street. When he looked back, the man was gone from where he was standing.

A cold breeze brushed Justin’s nape and he felt a presence standing just behind him. “Do you want me to show you?” That low and eerie voice whispered near his ear, sending shivers to his spine.

When Justin looked back, the shadow figure grinned at him.

The loud ringing of his phone woke Justin up in the middle of the night. He had cold sweats and he felt his heart racing in fear.

“Chief, where do I have to go?” Justin asked, still breathing heavily when he answered the call.

Justin was promptly sent to a motel just a few minutes away from his apartment. The parking lot of the motel was lined with medic, police, and media cars.

The scent of blood invaded Justin’s nose the moment he opened the door. The whole floor leading to the bed was filled with shoe prints painted with blood. And inside the room, one of the most gruesome crime scenes was waiting for Justin.

Before approaching the body, Justin inspected the shoe prints on the floor. It was baffling how the prints suddenly ended by the door. No trace was left outside, nothing at all. 

A pool of blood formed at the foot of the bed, as the unnamed victim lied on edge of the bed, bathing in his own blood, with a knife stabbed right into his heart.

There was no sign of a struggle. Nothing at all.

With the perplexing circumstances of the crime scene; the CCTV of the whole establishment malfunctioning just a few minutes before the estimated time of death of the victim, and nothing to properly identify the victim himself, the case was promptly handed to the Unusual Crimes Division of the Topaz City Police Department.

Even after a whole day of trying to identify the victim, Justin’s search came to nothing.

The following night, Justin got a call from Andrew Gilberts, Justin’s friend that was working at the coroner’s office.

“He was stabbed twice on the same spot. The first one killed him and made him lose all that blood. I guess the second one was to make sure he was really dead. We took samples of the blood on his body and some swab from his fingernails. Nothing out of the ordinary came it. Only his DNA was present..” Andrew told him as they entered the examination room where the body was.

“You didn’t ask me to come here, just for that, did you?” Justin asked.

“Come here.” Andrew said and then lifted the white cloth covering the body. 

“It’s always the innocent looking ones who end up dying so painfully.” Justin said and started examining the body. “Wait a minute…” The moment he saw the scar on the corpse’s chest, he was confused. “That doesn’t look like. Did it got smaller?”

“According to the measurements, it is.” Andrew replied. “It’s not just getting smaller, Justin. It's closing up, it’s healing.” 

“Healing? That’s impossible. He’s already dead.” Justin said as he examined the body. He took a closer look at the scar on the chest, and as he touched the cold skin, Justin was suddenly shocked by static electricity coming from the body itself.

It was a strong one that made him recoil immediately. “What the hell…?” Justin muttered. He had never experienced something like that before. Not from a dead body.

“What happened?” Andrew asked him as he approached the steel bed.

“Andrew, is it just me, or is it getting colder in here?” Justin asked as he felt a cold breeze creeping from his feet up to his whole body.

“Maybe the thermostat is bro...” Andrew couldn’t finish his sentence because they heard something move on the steel bed where the dead body was. “What was that?” Andrew asked as he turned his head.

“I swear if this is one of your sick jokes, Andrew…” Justin warned as he walked back towards the corpse. “Alright, how did you…?” He asked as he looked around the steel bed.

Justin’s eyes suddenly widened in shock as the corpse right in front of him suddenly opened its eyes and sat up.

As Justin fell back on the floor and Andrew screamed in horror, the once-dead man gasped for air. Slowly, the once-dead man started regaining his color and the wound on his chest closed up completely.

With trembling hands, the man inspected his body and then looked around. “What the hell…” He muttered.

Justin slowly and carefully turned his head to Andrew and saw his friend petrified in fear. He wasn’t any better. His whole body felt numb and he could feel his heart beating in fear. “What… What are you…?” Justin managed to ask. “Don’t move!” Justin warned as he stood up and pulled out his gun.

“Go ahead, shoot.” The man said as he wrapped the white sheet around his waist. “It’s not like it would be the first time I would be killed tonight.” He scoffed.

Two weeks had passed and everything about that gruesome case at the motel remained a mystery. No suspects were identified, no concrete evidence found, and no witnesses. To make things worse; the victim’s dead body suddenly awoke and was now living with a police detective.

“How long do I have to stay here?” Tristan, as he introduced himself, asked Justin during breakfast.

“Until you can explain to me what happened that night.” Justin replied.

“Which one? The one where I was killed or the one where I came back from the dead?” Tristan asked in a sarcastic tone.

“Both.” Justin replied dismissively. He was confident that Tristan wouldn’t run away. Aside from his name, Tristan couldn’t remember anything about himself at all.

He doesn’t look like he was lying, so Justin agreed on helping him.

“Can I at least go out? I promise I’ll come back.” Tristan told him.

“Your face is all over the news. Multiple police officers saw you. And right now they are still actively searching for anyone to identify you.” Justin said as he took his bag. “If you want to risk it, then you can leave. Wait a little more, I’m arranging everything so that you can at least have a life outside of this apartment.”

“Fine.” Tristan replied defiantly.

As soon as Justin arrived at the precinct, he was immediately called to a meeting regarding a new case.

It was a missing person’s case. 

“Leila Queens was reported missing three days ago.” Chief Helena Duran explained. “TCPD had been searching for her ever since.”

“Why is this case transferred to us, then?” Det. Denver Castillo asked.

“Leila’s last known location was at an old hotel near the mountains. A few hours away from here. There was CCTV footage of her going out of the hotel late at night, but no footage of her returning. According to a few witnesses, Leila was there to join a paranormal tour of the hotel and the mountain. Now the paranormal investigators are claiming that she was spirited away by ghosts.”

“Isn’t it more likely that she just got lost in the mountains?” Det. Yvonne Rosenbaum asked. “There was a similar case at the same location last year where two hikers got lost. The male was found dead a few weeks later at the bottom of a cliff, his female companion, though, was never found and is now considered dead.”

“I think I know what’s happening here.” Justin said. “They kept on giving us a potentially unsolvable case, so when the board review comes, we’ll be first on the chopping board.”

“That’s why you have to solve this case.” Chief Helena said. “The same team of paranormal investigators would conduct another tour of the hotel and mountains this weekend, I want Justin to join them undercover. Yvonne would investigate Leila’s friends and families for possible suspects, and Denver would give support from here as usual.” Chief Helane said. “I want a definitive answer as to what happened to her.”

Justin agreed to the assignment immediately, but he soon realized a major problem.

“I’m not going to babysit him.” Andrew rejected Justin’s idea the moment he heard of it. “Look, that night still gives me nightmares. I don’t think I can spend a whole weekend with him knowing that he came back from the dead.”

With him going away for the weekend, he needed someone to make sure Tristan wouldn’t run away.

“What am I supposed to do with him then? I can’t leave him, he might run away. If he gets discovered by the TCPD, we’re all in trouble.” 

“Bring him with you, I’ll pay for his expenses if I have to. Just don’t leave him with me.” Andrew told him.

“I can’t just bring him with me. It’s not like I’m going there for vacation.” Justin protested.

It’s not like Justin had any other choice. In the end, Tristan became his unwilling tag-along.

“First time in two weeks, I got to go out, and I end up going to a freaking haunted house.” Tristan complained as they drove down an old road on a gloomy morning. 

The sky was dark and the clouds were heavy and it looked like it would be raining anytime soon.

The road towards the hotel was empty and quiet and the side of the roads was filled with trees. The only other structure they saw along the way was concrete remnants of what was once a church.

As the Justin and Tristan parked their car outside the hotel, they noticed a few cars already parked. 

“Good morning, welcome to Crowley Hotel.” The receptionist with the name tag ‘Valerie’ welcomed them. “Do you have a reservation?” She asked.

“Yes, we actually signed up for the paranormal tour. It’s under the name of Justin Smith.” Justin replied giving his alias for the mission.

The first thing that Justin noticed about the hotel was how old it was. The wall near the reception desk had various pictures hanging on it. They were old black and white pictures, all depicting teenagers and children.

“White Angels Orphanage.” Tristan read on one of the pictures. 

“Is that this building?” Justin asked.

“Yeah. The Crowley family owned this property for many years. In the 1900’s it was an orphanage, then in the 80’s it was turned into a hotel.” The receptionist replied. “They say the spirits of the orphans still remain here.” She added. “Here’s your key. Enjoy the tour.” She said.

“Enjoy the tour.” Tristan repeated mockingly.

“For someone who’s itching to get out of the house, you’re complaining a lot.” Justin said as they walked up the wooden staircase. Each step they took made a sound and it echoed throughout the silent hall.

“I have a bad feeling about this place.” Tristan told him. “There’s like an evil presence lurking somewhere.” He said.

“So you’re a psychic now? You came back from the dead and now you have supernatural powers.” Justin replied patronizingly.

“If you mean like the frauds running this paranormal tour, then no.” Tristan replied proudly. “I’m sure none of them had come back from the dead like I did. I’m legit. For a brief moment, I was part of the spiritual world and I gained a strong connection with it.” Tristan replied sarcastically. “Seriously, though, this place just doesn’t feel right. You of all people should know what I mean.”

“Hate to admit it, but you’re right. My guts are telling me that we just walked into dangerous territory.” Justin admitted.

The hallway of the hotel was disorienting, it was filled with antique decorations and old paintings of various people whose eyes seemed to follow you everywhere. It was clear how the hotel had embraced its haunted status and made it the main attraction.

“Yup, this is a great room to get murdered.” Tristan said as they entered their room. Everything inside the room looked old but well maintained. It was filled with wooden furniture with intricate carvings. “Not like that dirty motel room.” He added.

“Could you stop talking about death so lightly? Not everyone can come back from the dead like you did. For everyone else, death is permanent.” Justin said. As a police detective who had seen many dead bodies and grieving family and friends, he knew how serious and heartbreaking death could be.

 Justin was unpacking bags, his back was turned away from Tristan. It was then that he heard a grim chuckle.

“You talk like death is such a bad thing.” He heard Tristan say, and when he turned around, he felt gutted. 

Tristan was grinning and he reminded Justin of the shadowy figure in his nightmares.