We spent the next few days finishing up the employee alibis and another few days contacting the families of the victims for their alibis. It ended up being about a week in total.
For the most part, everyone checked out. Everyone had good alibis, something that honestly surprised me. I always thought that if someone tried to frame me for a crime, I'd have a terrible alibi and the discussion would go something like this:
Where were you on the night of the crime?
At home.
Was anyone with you?
Nope, just me... unless my pets count.
No, they don't. What were you doing at home?
Ummm... watching anime. :)
Can... can anyone confirm this?
Sadly, no.
Either it'd go like that or I'd have a breakdown because I can barely ever remember what I ate for breakfast by the time lunch rolls around, so how would I know what I was doing several weeks prior?
Anyway, after the detective and I finished contacting everyone we could, we found ourselves in a stalemate. There wasn't anything that could hint us towards who committed the murders. I was so frustrated.
To ease my anger, I went to the training room and proceeded to release my anger onto the punching bag. Cliché, I know. But I just couldn't stand the idea of the people who killed my aunt getting away with it. I punched as hard as I could, sweat pouring out of every pore.
"I have to avenge her." Punch. "I can't let those monsters get away with this." Punch. "Fuck, I'm so pathetic." Punch. "I can't even find a scrap of evidence and what am I doing about it?" Punch. "I'm punching a fucking punching bag when I should be getting out there and finding the people who've caused my suffering!" PUNCH. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" Punch. Punch. Punch.
My punches slowly got weaker and weaker until I stopped punching altogether and fell into a heap on the floor. My shouts of anger slowly turned into sobs of anguish and hurt.
Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?
I continued to sob on the floor for another few minutes before I was interrupted.
"Are you done now?" The voice of the detective asked.
I jumped and whipped around to see her standing by the door with her arms crossed, staring at me with disappointment clear in her eyes.
"I- I- when... when did you get here?" I asked, vigorously wiping the tears from my eyes.
"I've been here the whole time, (Y/N)," she responded flatly.
"Oh... sorry...." I replied.
"Sorry is right. (Y/N), it isn't your fault we don't have any evidence. It isn't your fault your aunt died. Nothing is your fault. There's no use in being angry. Anger just clouds our judgement. Being angry will only bring you to the same level as those criminals. Instead, you need to take a few deep breaths, calm down, and look at the situation logically. Okay?" She stated, walking over to me and offering her hand.
I sighed and grabbed her hand, allowing her to help me up.
"Okay. I just.... I just don't know where to go from here. Why isn't there any evidence? Are these people that good? Never in my life have I heard of someone leaving zero evidence behind! What's even weirder is there was evidence! The DNA! But as far as we know none of that DNA belonged to the people who did it. How did they manage to only destroy their own DNA?" I questioned, trying to think through it all logically, trying to find an explanation, and trying to calm myself down.
"I'm not sure, (Y/N). I'm going to go back to my hotel for now and look through some things, okay? I think it's best you head home yourself. If you want, you can come with my to ask the chief if he's received any information, but I really do think you should go home and relax for a while," she responded, giving me a quick hug.
"Okay, yeah I'll go home. You can talk to the chief and let me know if you find anything out tomorrow. I'll relax for tonight and tomorrow I can see what information I can find from home, but if you do find anything, call me and I can come in," I stated, gathering my stuff and walking towards the door.
"Okay, will do," she replied.
I went to open to door when she interrupted me.
"(Y/N)? Be safe, okay?" She said.
"Thanks, you too," I responded as I opened the door and walked out.
I needed to clear my head.
Instead of going home, I decided to go for a walk. There was a park nearby with some trails and I figured being in nature might bring me some peace.
It wasn't too dark out, I probably had a few hours before the sun set. I zipped my jacket up and headed for the trails.
I felt like I was being watched.
The feeling grew worse the further into the woods I found myself, but I brushed it off. Being in the woods makes everyone feel like they're being watched. I was just being paranoid.
I pulled out my headphones and started listening to music to ease my mind. Once the music reached my ears, energy flowed into my body and I decided to start a light jog. The music combined with jogging lowered my anxiety and I began to feel much better.
I decided I wouldn't stay out too late, though, just to be safe.
Eventually, I turned around and began the journey home. Once there, I decided to take care of myself. By that, I mean that I took a long, hot bath, and soaked in the water until it lost its heat. After that, I combed my hair, brushed my teeth, and got ready for bed.
I went around the house and checked that all the doors were locked and that all the blinds were shut. I hesitated as I entered the kitchen and peered out the window. I looked for any sign of life, but I saw none. However, just as I went to close the blinds, I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be the light of a flashlight somewhere in the woods.
I quickly shut the blinds and turned off all the lights. I didn't have time to deal with that. Instead, I hurried to my room, shut the door, locked it, and tucked myself into bed. A part of me hoped someone would break in. That way, I could take out all of my anger on them and call it self defense.
With that thought in mind, I fell asleep.
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