Luis Writes a Book
The fourth of July came and went with little fanfare. That’s not to say there wasn’t a celebration for it. It just didn’t matter much to Alex. The only good thing about the day was the fact that he was getting holiday pay from the department for working.
Alex walks through the precinct with a file in hand, on his way to the commissioner’s office. As he walked past several officers, he laughed to himself how hungover some of them were. He wasn’t a big fan of his coworkers, and seeing them dealing with the consequences of their actions was nice.
As he walks through the precinct, Alex walks past someone clutching his forehead at his desk. He groans softly and seems to sway as if he’s going to fall asleep then and there. Alex smacks them gently with the file and says, “Easy on the beer, Hill.”
Before Alex fully walks away, he hears Hill snore softly. Alex turns back and looks at his coworker, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Tyler,” he calls out, trying to get the officer's attention. All he gets back is another snore.
Alex shakes Tyler’s shoulder and tries again. This time Tyler stirs and inhales deeply. “I’m up, I’m up,” Tyler says. He lifts his head, but keeps his eyes closed. He has large black bags under them. The rest of his face seems to sag.
“Jesus, you look like you’ve had a rough night.”
Tyler chuckles weakly. “Several, actually. Haven’t slept in days.”
“You okay?” Alex asks, genuinely concerned. He doesn’t like a lot of his coworkers, but he can’t help but worry.
Tyler sighs. He nods. “Yeah, I will be. I just can’t sleep.” Tyler yawns.
“Talk to the chief. Maybe he’ll give you time off.”
Tyler laughs. “Yeah, and have to spend more time with Mary? God, this pregnancy has made her so annoying.” Tyler shakes his head. “I’m fine. I just need to find a quiet corner and get some sleep whenever I can.”
Even though Tyler can’t see him, Alex nods. Alex doesn’t think Tyler’s right, but what else can he do? “Good luck chief.”
“Yeah, thanks Erodus.”
Alex turns around, confused at the name. Then, he dismisses it. He’s tired, he’s probably just making names up, Alex thinks. Alex keeps walking, and puts the interaction— and the name— behind him.
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Towards the end of July, Alex comes in on a really early morning. He had a late night before, but he still left work unfinished by the time he finally went home. Alex had a cup of coffee earlier that morning, but this was one of those days one cup wasn’t enough. He hobbles into the breakroom, yawning.
Sitting at the table is Tyler, who’s holding a cup of coffee in his hand. The cup is shaking, as is Tyler, who seems very jittery. Alex intends to approach him when he hears Tyler saying something. He’s mumbling something Alex can’t quite hear. Alex takes a step closer, trying to figure out what.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up,” Tyler mumbles. He rolls his head slowly and seems to be shaking completely. His free hand keeps opening and closing.
“Uh… you good there chief?” Alex asks.
Tyler jumps from his seat so fast he knocks over his chair and the table, spilling his coffee on his leg. Tyler doesn’t seem to notice however. Or if he does then he just doesn’t care. He turns around to face Alex, holding a knife Alex hadn’t seen before.
Alex immediately raises his hands and takes a step back. “Woah, easy there Tyler, easy,” Alex says, trying to keep his voice steady.
“Are you one of them!” Tyler asks. He doesn’t wait for an answer before yelling, “Are you!”
“One of who?” Alex asks. He’s trying to stay calm, but he’d be lying if he said that knife didn’t worry him.
“Don’t play stupid! One of the demons! Which one are you? Are, are, are, are you Corson? Are you Dana? Jeriel?” Tyler takes a step forward and quietly asks, “Erodus?”
“No, Tyler, I’m Alex!” Alex tries. “Demons? There are no demons, there’s no such thing!”
“Yes, yes there is. They, they, they get inside your head. They take control of you, they, they make you do things.”
“Tyler, look, I’m not a demon, lower the knife, okay?” Gathering all his courage, Alex tries to take a step forward.
“Stay fucking back!” Tyler yells. He holds the knife out as far as he can. “I am warning you.”
“Tyler, lower the goddamn knife, I’m not a demon.”
“How can I trust you?”
“Because this is stupid, you don’t even believe in demons.”
Tyler breathes heavily. “I… I don’t… but… but the voices…”
“The voices?” Alex asks.
“It’s Erodus, he… he’s talking to me…” Tyler pants out. The knife starts to shake.
“Tyler, if demons take control of you, then how are you in control right now if there’s one inside you?” Alex asks.
Tyler breathes heavily for a moment. Slowly, he lowers the knife. “You… you’re right.”
The knife falls onto the concrete floor, clattering for a moment. The sound seems to fully snap Tyler out of whatever trance he’s in and he falls back onto the ground. He stares at the knife, clutching behind his ears.
Alex lets out the breath he was holding in. He’s at least gotten Tyler to be less of a threat. “You need to get serious help, Tyler.”
“Yeah, I’ll… I’ll go talk to the chief,” Tyler says. He looks from the mess up at Alex. His face is still frozen in shock. “Sorry.”
Tyler rushes past him, still very jittery. Alex looks at the mess in Tyler’s wake: the overthrown table, the spilled coffee, the knife at the center of it all.
“Don’t mention it,” Alex mumbles to himself.
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The car comes to a halt in the suburban neighborhood and Alex steps out into the cold night air. There were half a dozen police cars already on the scene before Alex arrived. Alex walks up to another officer, not taking his eyes off the house, illuminated by the flashing reds and blues of the squad cars.
“Joe, what the hell happened here?” Alex asks as soon as he reaches another officer.
“It was Hill. Murder suicide.”
“Jesus.”
After Tyler’s breakdown in the breakroom, he talked to the chief about seeking help. The chief just gave Tyler two weeks off to regain his footing.
That was three days ago.
Another officer comes up, carrying something. In the poor lighting, it’s hard to describe his expression other than dark, which seems oddly fitting for the occasion. “He left a note.” He hands it to Alex and Joe to read.
Joe’s eyes scan over the paper twice. Afterwards he raises his eyebrows in shock. “Fuck…”
“You can say that again,” the other officer says. He looks at the house. “Didn’t know Hill was the religious type.”
“He wasn’t,” Alex mumbles, still in shock from the note.
“We put a BOLO out on Erodus. Figure with a name like that, there won’t be too many to sort through.”
“Don’t bother,” Alex says absentmindedly. He clears his throat. “I talked to Tyler before he left, in the breakroom. He said Erodus was a demon.”
Joe raises his eyebrows again and shakes his head. “This shit.”
“We’re still going to anyway, see if maybe Erodus was someone blackmailing Hill,” the other officer says. He shrugs. “Or maybe a drug that made him go crazy.”
The officer walks away, leaving Alex and Joe alone to talk.
“See, what gets me is why would he shoot his wife too?” Joe asks. “Twins. Twins.”
“I don’t know,” Alex says. “And blaming it on a demon? That’s like those homophobes who say they’re doing the lord’s work or those shooters who say ‘the devil made me do it’.” He sighs.
“Something’s not right,” Joe says. He bites his lip. “I’m gonna go talk to Bennett, see if there’s any drugs in Tyler’s system. I’ll let you know.”
“Yeah,” Alex mumbles. Joe walks away, towards another squad car surrounded by officers.
Alex holds up the note and reads it again. He takes a picture when no one’s looking. Something isn’t right here, Alex thinks to himself. Not by a long shot.