Chapter 208: Puzzle Skin XI
7 Eastbourne Rd.
It was a few days later when Levi found himself sitting in his dimly lit living room, rereading the files on the victims. One of the details that had been bothering him was on the second victim, the body was burnt, however, there was a small part of the chest and right shin that the skin remained intact.
On the chest, a partial image of a flower, and on the shin was a geometric pattern--something he couldn’t seem to recognize.
The pattern could mean several things, but what he found odd was that the tattoos weren’t done with a tattoo gun but seemingly with a single needle, something he could easily contemplate as to the traditional way. A few ideas came into his mind, but the only way to be certain was to ask an expert’s opinion but that could wait in the morning.
Waiting for any news from Anna had been honestly pissing him off, and he couldn’t help but remember why he was so annoyed by her mere presence. She was five years his senior, something she had always reminded him of when they were younger, bossing him around, telling him what he should and shouldn’t do. And then, she just left home. Disappeared one day without even telling him anything.
She was twelve when she abandoned him, no, abandoned them. His mind drifted again to the past, Jason Murdoch’s existence plays as the constant reminder of the past that still haunts him to that very day.
....
1986, Doonbeg
It was just another day for seven-year-old Levi, after attending school, he rode back his bike on his way home. He passed through the open fields and he entered the wooded forest, tall oak trees, ash, Scots pine, birch, even rowan and willows. All in different shades, from brown, deep brown, red and dark green. The air was turning colder, considering it was mid-autumn and any months now it could start to snow.
The cold breeze fanned his small pale face, his uniform covered under a thick black coat. His legs and chest burning as he pedalled quickly, his small hands gripped the handles tightly. He had chores to do home after all. Something he must do, or else. So he quickened his pace, hopping off his bike in a familiar part of the woods before his bike even came to a stop. And he marched towards the familiar fallen ash tree and he bent down and extended his arms to reach towards the concealed box.