The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 12

After a week of analysing and deducing the article and the crime, I soon had no more ideas. Yes, I had recorded lots of information down on paper, but they were more or less just maybes. Not hard, solid answers.

Deciding to write out a new summary of our group findings so far, I wrote the following:

Henry Allen:
Charged for murder of wife, Nora Allen. Innocent?
Only Allen and son Barry Allen present.
Killer unknown-
Fast and easy escape- know where Allen lives and entrances and exits.
Hand-to-hand combat. Hard to see- blur?
Expert- hard to stop
Covered up and careful- no evidence he/she present.
Set up?
Human?

I was clearly getting tired and bored when I wrote the last comment. But they were all the findings I had. Going over all the information in my head just seemed to baffle me and doubt my idea that he was innocent, but I could just sense that something was wrong with the case. Even the article itself was riddled with uncertainties.

Feeling myself drifting off to sleep, I decided to wind down and listen to my iPod. Listening to music had officially become one of my hobbies, the new addition of iTunes to the world making my life complete. And I especially hated the sound of silence, how it made me jittery and expect something bad to happen. Merlyn seemed to have abducted me whenever silence came.

Jamming in my earphones and lying back onto my gorgeous, Italian silk adorned bed, I closed my eyes and started to see blackness... And then I was rudely interrupted by my associate.

---

'What is it?' I asked with clenched teeth, refusing to turn and look at his face. Now I was annoyed, more than I'd ever been. Well, except for when Harper...

Feeling tears welling up in my tearducts, I decided to turn my sadness into more anger. For one, blissful week, Merlyn had disappeared from my life, and now, here I was, awaiting his next instructions. I felt like screaming and shooting him with an arrow. But then I wouldn't be able live with myself. Even if I had murdered a man so twisted as Merlyn. No one deserves to die like that.

That awful silence filled the room I was held in again, making me want to blast out the loudest song I could bear to listen to. When there was silence, there were no distractions, a long wait until danger started. Not that it already hadn't started.

And, to make things worse, I was tired too. My head hurt with sleep deprivation and my eyes stung with lack of shut eye. If I was supposed to make a deal or take part in a brain boggling task, I would probably make mistakes due to my current state. I just wanted to go to sleep.

'Hello again, Aria,' Merlyn said in his robotic voice and in his assassin outfit. He mustn't have wanted anyone seeing him here. But then, he was risking my cover. I had no mask. If we were found here, I could be in serious trouble, whereas Merlyn would be unidentified. Unless I spilt the beans.

'Why are we here?' I asked him, desperate to know why. That was the thing with curiosity; it always made you want to know, and would frustrate you if you were clueless.

'Why are you working on the Henry Allen case?' he demanded. Of course, he was tracking my every move.

'Its none of your business,' I said quietly, mysteriously. I know I wasn't hiding anything, I just wanted to see what he'd say. People tend to tell you why they're asking something if you give a remark like that. They like to act the opposite to what you wish for. Reverse Psychology.

'In fact, Aria, you'll find it is,' Merlyn retorted strongly. 'I watch you 24/7. I already know why. But you tell me; why are you working on the Henry Allen case?' Gosh, he was persistent.

'It's only for a project,' I blurted out, words stumbling out of my mouth. 'And anyway, Blake found the case, not me!'

And then I realised. I had just dropped Blake into all this, an innocent life amongst so many other dark ones.

'Blake... Blake...' Merlyn muttered, as if he recognised the name but couldn't his finger on how or where from. It seemed bad news for Blake. And whatever happened would be my fault.

'Blake Smith?' Merlyn asked rhetorically. He already knew the answer. Maybe if kept quiet he would move onto another subject.

'I asked you a question!' Merlyn boomed. I guess I was wrong about it being rhetorical. I couldn't just ignore him after that.

'N-no,' I lied nervously. It was my fault Blake was involved. Hopefully my deception would make Merlyn forget about Blake. I didn't want him to end up....

'You are such a bad liar,' Merlyn remarked, clearly amused at my incompetence. I guess I was wrong about being able to lie too. In a normal world, not being able to lie would be valued, but this wasn't a normal world, trying to navigate my way through untruths and lies. 'I need to train you up.' Lucky me. One thing was for sure; I was going to hold on to my personality as much as possible before my soul was finally consumed by the ever growing darkness of the world. I wasn't turning into a mini Merlyn.

'Just what's Blake got to do with this?' I asked impatiently. I had had enough. And I needed to know the truth for once. And if Merlyn was deeply involved in the case, it spelt trouble.

'Blake's a clever kid, especially since he thought the case was strange,' Merlyn started. 'From the moment the case opened. At fifteen.' he added.

'And?' I asked. 'Sure, he's clever, what's that to you?'

'If you submit the research you've found, the killer could be found out,' Merlyn stated. 'And his... associates.'

So he was involved. Why did Merlyn always have to get involved in such affairs and try to jeopardise anything that goes on in my life?

'It's theoretical research,' I answered back. 'And it's only a case study.' If I didn't complete this study, I know I would inevitably fail. I needed to prove I could deduce and work out a case to pass this course. Or else Merlyn's threat would become reality.

'But it's still proof,' Merlyn muttered, his voice laced with that fatal fear he seemed to suddenly possess. 'The consequences would be great.'

For Merlyn. Not for me. Every single time he opened his mouth it was for his own benefit, not mine. And even if what he said came true, that could mean I could get my old life back. Get my family back.

I wasn't going to stop my work. I wasn't going to fail my group, either.

I would interview Barry Allen. And defy Malcolm Merlyn.