• A slight breeze flew through my bedroom window. The curtains blocking the windows had flowed in the wind and let the morning sun shine bright on my face. I slowly got up and rubbed the night away from my eyes. Another night of almost no sleep. The nightmares didn't scare me anymore, just caused restlessness.

    I got up and closed the window as i glanced outside. Everything was the same as usual. My neighbor, Hank Walberg, had his sprinklers going off. Hank was the only guy I trust with anything. He's like my right hand man. Our families knew each other since my parents were alive. Since I didn't have any close relatives, his family was the one who took me in. He's been like an older brother to me. He's the only person who I would ever tell my secrets or plans to. He's even helping me hunt the man who killed my family even though the risks are high.

    Further down the road a bus had appeared to pick up all the elementary school kids around the corner. Then the front door at Hank's place flew open. His daughter, Jackie, was running late again. She had a poptart held in her mouth while she was stuffing her homework into her backpack. She took off down the sidewalk to try and make it to the bus until Hank came running out the door with her lunch money. Jackie turned around to pick up the lunch money and quickly headed back towards the bus. Hank waved goodbye as she went out of view and headed inside.

    Just after he was inside, I realized that I was running late. I had to be at work in a half an hour or I would get chewed out again by my boss. Quickly I threw open my closet and grabbed one of my several suits. As soon as I was dressed I grabbed my cell phone and briefcase then headed straight for the car. I started her up and began to leave the driveway until Hank came runnin out to me, "Hey, today's my day off so I'll be looking for you man." I nodded and took off down the street, knowing that today was probably no different than any of the other days we went searching for the killer.

    By the time I reached the bank, I was already fifteen minutes late. I could already hear the bosses voice ringing through my ear 'Where were you Josh Donavan?'. Sure enough I got to my desk and there was a note meet me in my office NOW!. I set my things down and my desk phone went off. I wasn't in any rush to see the boss so I answered it.

    "Hello?"
    "Josh, You won't believe this, but I think I've found your man," Hank told me proudly.
    "What? Are you sure he fits the bio?"
    "Yea, he fits it well. He's tall with red hair," Hank replied.
    "What about the scar across his eyebrow? If he doesn't have that, then that's not the guy."
    "Well, I was reading his background. Says he had a scar removed from his eyebrow and a couple of facial reconstructions. This could be our best bet. He even worked with your dad when he was alive."

    I had never met any of my dad's work associates, but with that kind of background, I was certain it must be him.

    "What's his name? Where does he live? Where does he-"
    "Hey, hold on there. I'm not a criminal man. You don't need to interigate me." Hank said as he cut me off.
    "Sorry Hank. Just a little, excited, I guess."
    "Yea I would be too. So anyways, His name is Art-"

    There was a pause.

    "Hank?"

    No response. The phone line died. I yelled his name a couple of times until I realized that everyone in the bank was staring at me. I attempted to grab my stuff so I could get to Hank's place and find out whats happening. Footsteps started to sound across the other end of the bank until they stopped right in front of my desk. By the time my stuff was collected and I was going to go, the boss was right in front of my desk.

    "To my office now, Mr. Weber," she yelled.
    "But, my friend-"
    "NOW!!!" She yelled over my voice.
    I didn't see any other option so I took my things and headed into her office.

    The bosses office felt like walking into hell. Everything looked nice and organized. It was cleaned and completely spotless as if nothing was wrong. The only thing was that there was something wrong. I took a seat across her desk as she closed the door behind me. She took a seat in her nice office chair facing away from me and let out a sigh.

    "Joshua, this is the fifth time you've been late this month," she started. "You and me both know that this is unacceptable, and with that sudden outburst out there, thats uncalled for."
    "No, Ms. Rosa, You dont understand. I think my friend is in some serious trouble."
    She turned her chair to face me as she rubbed her forehead like she had a migrane. "You always have an excuse, don't you?"
    "No, I really mean it this time. I really think that something is wr-"
    "Joshua, how can I trust you anymore? Everytime you do this it's just another way for you to get out of here. I don't understand why you are even here anymore. If you hate this job, then leave."
    "I don't hate my job Ms. Rosa. I enjoy being a teller."
    "Then why do you have so many issues with coming to work?"
    "I-"

    There was a small silence.
    "I have business that must be taken care of before my career."
    She stared at me for a little while trying to figure out if this was just another excuse or the real truth for once. "Go," she said frustrated.

    I looked up a little surprised and quickly ran out the door to my car. The drive home seemed like forever. It felt like I was never going to make it.

    When I finally drove up my street, Two black cars just passed me. I pretended to act normal. There was a wierd feeling about those cars. It was then that I began to notice that I was too late. I drove past our houses and noticed that all his lights were off inside. I was prepared for the worst.

    As soon as they left the area, I turned around and parked the car. I ran towards Hank's house. The door had been kicked open. I pushed it open quietly just in case someone was still there. "Hank, where are you?" I whispered. I tried to turn the lights on, but they wouldn't turn on. The power must have been cut to his house. I went into his kitchen and grabbed a flashlight he kept in a drawer for storms and instances like this and turned it on. I slowly scanned the room. There was a bloody footprint leading into the kitchen from his study room. Slowly I followed the prints step by step never taking my eyes off of the study room door which had been closed. By the time I reached the door, I was breathing a little bit more heavily. I grabbed the doorknob slowly and turned it slowly.

    Suddenly, movement came from down the hall and I let go of the doorknob quickly. The killer never left. It moved into his daughters bedroom. I whispered his name one more time, "Hank?" but nothing replied. I reached his daughters room and scanned it with my light. Nothing was there. My heart was beating faster as I whispered his name once more, "Hank, It's Josh". I figured that it was just my imagination. I turned around until the closet door creaked. I flipped back around ready to use my flashlight as a weapon. I shut it off and walked towards the clsoet door. My heart raced as I turned around the corner and swung the flashlight into the wall in the closet. There was nothing there. I quickly turned the flashlight back on and found their cat running out of the closet under the bed.

    I walked out of the room and closed the door to keep the cat out of the way and went back to the study hall room. I turned the doorknob slowly and opened the door. There was blood all over the floor, but no body. As I opened the door more, it ran into something preventing me opening the door fully. I shined the flashligh onto the ground and found Hank. He was dead. There was writing on the wall next to his body in his own blood. It wrote out Nosta, the name of the company that my dad had worked for. I turned the flashlight to his computer, but it was gone. All his notes on the possible killer was also taken.

    I called the authorites a little while later and went to Jackie's school to pick her up. They said he was shot 3 times, once in the arm, once in the leg, then fatally in the chest. Jackie kept asking me, "Where's daddy uncle Josh?" I kneeled over and told her "Your daddy is with my parents, in a better place."