@withkindncss said “ breathing seems so difficult now “
he’d found solace outside the school, far out to the edge of the parking lot where his cruiser rested. the familiar vehicle now almost haunting as he made yet another appearance on these grounds, the distant chatter of students subtle and soft as the murmur about the past events that had taken place. another attack -- one more gruesome than those found before, this one seemed to have a message tacked to it something that he could peg from simply reviewing the autopsy and photos taken at the crime scene. body had been tossed back behind the tree line a ways away from the schools parking lot entrance and while his comrades had long since taken away the yellow tape, he’d been posted on watch duty during school hours. he didn’t mind, yet there was a lot of silence and thinking to be had in an 8 hour day.
his fingertips itch to pull the pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket, the deep urge to smoke something he battled with now the more of these attacks kept appearing. perhaps it was the worry that pushed him, the familiar fear that lingered in his gut when he thought about how these kids and people were killed that draws him back to when he’d been abducted. -- snapped from his inner thoughts his green eyes shift to look at the figure who’d drawn to his side in his mental splurge, the soft features he’d seen before flashing a name behind his eyes. Angela -- weber, ministers daughter. He knew her from the questioning that had taken place, if anyone had seen anything strange they were to report it and while she’d come in speaking of a huge black wolf lingering around town -- no one in the precinct seemed to take her word serious despite the far away wonder and fear in her eyes.
she didn’t remind him of someone who’d lie for attention, not even in the circumstances -- or at all really. yet the words she whispers now seem haunting, lingering in the air between them as his gaze shifts to look at the tree line once more. a gentle frown taking his lips before his brow furrows and he can only map the features on her face seeking any detection of her emotion, but all he can read is a gentle sadness. “ it gets easier. “ he says this not out of habit, not out of some obligation forced on him by the badge he wears or the uniform he presents -- he says that out of experiences. he’d once been his own man, confident in the world around him -- but it only took one event to reduce him to someone that looked over his shoulder at any sudden twitch of sound. turned him into a man that had nightmares for months and struggled to even leave his own home, but somehow -- it became easier.
lips form a thin line as he glances over his shoulder to the school itself noting the teens filtering out to load up their cars and disappear for the afternoon. brows raise as he looks back to her curious for a moment, “ ms. weber, i’d like to hear more about that wolf encounter you had. “