Marshall slowed to a halt. He wasn’t sure if he was hearing things or if the sound was really there. Walking slowly to the front door, he perked up his ears while trying to hear the sound again. Marshall heard nothing. Maybe it was his imagination after all. Picking up his speed Marshall paused with his hand on the doorknob. He wanted to open the door but was hesitant. With his hand still on the knob, he looked through the peephole. Besides the accident scene, he did not see any other weird thing of concern.

Marshall heard the creaking of the door as he slowly opened it. When it was wide enough for him to take a good view outside. A little kitten ran inside. Surprised, Marshall did a double take from the little kitten to the door and back.

“Huh. What? OHHH. So that was the sound I heard.”

Marshall shook his head and wiped his face.

“What a strange day,” he muttered.

He looked at the kitten as it ran deeper into the apartment. It stopped by the dining room table and turned to face him. Marshall could have sworn he had seen an intelligent glint in its eyes. He gave the kitten a wry smile before opening the door wider. He had something more important to take care of.

Before stepping outside, he panned his surroundings for any signs of danger. Not seeing anything dangerous per se, he walked out. Before going too far, he closed the door just enough to give the illusion that it was not open.

Marshall, while still being careful, ran to the person. When he got close enough, the first thing he noticed was the person was bleeding badly from his head. As he walked closer to the person, he saw a worrying sight. The person’s arm was twisted at a weird angle almost as if it had broken, and so was his neck.

Not trying to mind the blood, Marshall kneeled to feel the person's pulse. No matter where he pressed, he found no pulse. Marshall did not give up. He scooted closer to the man's wrist and tried again. Marshall still did not find a pulse. On the verge of giving up, he summarized that perhaps from the blood loss, the person had a faint pulse too small for him to feel. Marshall then put his hand on the man’s chest. There was no heartbeat.

Marshall sighed for the man. It was sad that he was dead, but at least he was not suffering anymore. While looking closely at the man’s face, Marshall saw that his eyes were wide open and his mouth slightly ajar. Marshall closed both eyes and gave a small prayer.

After the prayer, Marshall wiped his hands to remove the dead man's blood. Stepping back and getting a full view of the accident scene Marshall sighed. It was tragic. Looking at the closest car to him and the dead man, he saw the window was broken, but the side of the car didn’t seem to be hit. As Marshall walked closer to the vehicle to investigate, it made sense to him why the window was broken instead of the door being opened. When he tried opening the car door, it wouldn’t open since it was locked inside.

It seemed that either the man died from the impact and was incapable of opening the door or was immobilized by his injuries and couldn't open the door. Either way, someone had to break the window to help the person.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Releasing another sigh, Marshall started to walk around the accident scene just in case he could help. Sadly, he was not able to truly help. Marshall saw one female that he believed was alive and could possibly help, but on a closer look, her neck was broken. Marshall walked around the accident twice to confirm he didn’t miss anything.

Finding nothing he could do or help, Marshall had to walk away. Before going back inside the apartment, he looked around to find abandoned cars and a quiet street. It was never this quiet before. Even at the peak of a weekday, there was always something happening. Marshall could not put his finger on it, but the atmosphere felt weird and creepy.

After waiting a minute or two for something to happen, Marshall jogged back to his apartment. Getting inside, he closed the door.

While inside the little kitten stared at Marshall quizzically. Marshall stared back at the kitten thinking about what he would do with it. If he put the kitten outside, would it be safe? The outside of the apartment was a bit too creepy, so putting it out would be inhumane.

Marshall found himself sighing more and more lately. Putting the thought out of his mind, he walked towards the kitten. When he was about five feet away from it, the kitten started to step back. It seemed to be scared of Marshall. When the kitten first ran inside the apartment, it didn’t seem that way. It felt courageous. Maybe it saw something outside that scared it.

Marshall stopped walking and bent down to seem less threatening. After a while, his knees started to hurt. He was not a flexible person at all. The pain got to a point where it was not worth it, so Marshall had to sit on the floor. Getting comfortable, he waited for the kitten to come to him.

The kitten just sat there and stared at him. This went on for a while until Marshall’s stomach growled. He had not eaten since nine PM yesterday. After waiting about ten minutes for the kitten to warm up to him, his stomach growled again.

Marshall deliberated between filling his stomach or waiting for a kitten to warm up to him. Not being a saint, it was an easy choice... Food.

Without waiting too much longer, Marshall got up and headed to the kitchen. Looking in the fridge for something easy to make, his eyes land on the left-over rice bowl from Chipotle. It was a no-brainer between cooking and microwaving food.

While waiting for the food to heat up, it slipped his mind to call the police. Since when he tried calling them earlier and it wouldn’t go through, it was an honest oversight. Not wanting to have bad karma for leaving the bodies unattended, he went to get his phone from where he left it last. Lo and behold, the phone call didn’t go through. There wasn’t much he could realistically do other than bury them himself. Knowing the person that he was, Marshall wasn’t going to do that, at least not now.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Marshall heard the beeping of the microwave. His food was ready. While taking the food out of the microwave, the aroma hit his nose. It smelt great and at the same time made his stomach growl. Marshall first walked over to the dining room table and sat his food down. Then he went to get the TV remote. It was a habit that became ingrained in him. He liked to watch something while eating.

While turning on the Tv, Marshall remembered that his phone had a problem with its connection perhaps the Tv had the same problem. It did not hurt to try again, so he turned it on. When the Tv turned on, it had the no signal screen on. Turning the channel, Marshall ran into the other black and white no signal screen.

As Marshall was about to turn off the Tv, he had a gut feeling he should keep it turned on. Not one to neglect his gut feelings, he left it on.

Walking back to the dining room table, he saw the kitten was close to the part of the table with the food on it. Marshall knew from this that the kitten was hungry too.

As he walked closer to the little kitten, it didn’t back away from him. Taking the lucky chance, Marshall picked it up and sat it on his lap. The kitten surprisingly let him do it without fighting back.

While eating his food and putting some on his lap for the kitten to eat with him, he heard a voice coming from the living room.