THE MAGNIFICENT TALE OF THE BALDS
CHAPTER 3: THE JOB SEARCH
Denial after Denial after Denial.
Jack was struggling significantly to find and hold down a substantial job, only finding temporary work at best to keep him going. This was not going to suffice if he wanted to get his life back on track. His skills were all in journalism, but after the fiasco at his previous newspaper, no other agency would take him on in any position.
He realised he had hit rock bottom.
Jack fell back into a depressive episode, far worse than the last one, consuming more and more alcohol just to numb to pain.
as he lay on the floor one night, soaked in alcohol, sweat and some of his own blood, he gave up on life. He accepted that he would never be allowed to see his kids ever again, and he broke down crying.
But then the radio transmitted a message that would save his life.
"Breaking news this evening. another man has been found to have committed suicide in a deadly new trend sweeping the area, due to the identical circumstances of death police have ruled that 16 of these suicides are connected".
Jack rolls over to listen more intently to the story, and pick himself up. He reaches for the nearby set of shelves using them to pull himself up, the shelf falls from the wall crashing to the ground, smashing the vase that was placed upon it. Jack's hands were cut open by the ceramic, but he didn't care, he pulls himself up the stairs and into the bathroom. He blacked out before he could get into the shower to clean himself up
Jack woke up in a small pool of blood, and the worst headache of his life. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and remembered he was on a mission. he climbed into the shower and got cleaned up. headed back to his room and got dressed. he grabbed his old expired press badge, a notebook, and his camera phone then climbed in his car and headed to the street where the suicide had taken place.
He had no idea which house he was going to, but luckily for him, the police were still taping off the area meaning it was obvious which house to go to. He arrived at the house where the latest man was found and used his old expired press pass to get through the policemen posted at the scene.
"I think you might be a bit late, pal, all the other reporters have been and gone, don't think you'll find anything that hasn't been found already," the policeman told him.
"Maybe, but it's worth a try" Jack replied.
Jack entered the house and went upstairs to the man's room. the body looked around 18 years old and before his death, he had been living with his parents. Jack noticed that the curtains had been left open, and found this disrespectful, as according to tradition you should draw the curtains in a house that someone had died in. He knew that the mourning family would not want to be pestered with such a stupid question as "do you want me to close your curtains", so he took it upon himself to do it. he drew the curtains and the room fell dark, apart from a strange light coming from behind a set of draws.
Jack approached the draws and realised that the victim's phone had fallen behind the draws, and was not only still plugged in and fully charged, but unlocked too. Jack knew he had to turn the phone in, but he wasn't about to lose the chance to get some additional intel that the other journalists didn't have, so before he handed it in, he was decided to look through the phone. As he went through the texts to see if he could find any sort of motive for the suicide, all he can find were messages between the victim and several different women who he appeared to compliment and then berate when they did not reciprocate his goodwill.
The victim was a “nice guy”.
Jack wasn't sure if that was a connection to the cause of death, but he knew building a profile around the deceased was essential to getting into their head and working out what made them decide to take their own life.
He looked towards the desk in the room and he noticed that even though the screen was black, the fans on the PC were still running indicating it was switched on and potentially unlocked. "I wonder why the screen was switched off" Jack suspiciously whispered to himself. He approached the PC and wiggled the mouse, waking up the sleeping computer.
quite suddenly a pair of eyes were staring into Jack's, giving him a fright. It was a picture of a fat Bald man glaring at the camera, his head oval, 2 chins and wearing a pair of reading glasses. Jack felt like this man was staring at him through the camera, into his soul.
"What the hell was wrong with this guy, why would anyone want that as a screensaver," Jack thought.
He took photos and handed in the phone before heading home. He decided to investigate the other suicides that the police believed may have been linked. Jack still had a few friends, and one of them worked in the police detective department. His friend was able to send him some photos of each crime scene, and Jack noticed something very suspicious. At each house was the same picture of the Bald man on every computer screen. Jack asked his friend if he thought it meant anything.
"well, it's one of the reasons why we think that these cases are connected, there are three distinct similarities between each case, that picture of that freak. all of the victims were harassing women online to be their partner or get some other kind of sexual gratification, and they were all discovered by the parents of each victim who only found the bodies when they went upstairs to ask their kid to turn down the music" explained the detective
"Any similarities in the songs?" asked Jack "Same genres, same lyrical meanings? maybe this is some kind of suicide pact or cult?"
"Oh no it's much stranger than that, most of the parents were to grief-stricken to remember what the songs were when we asked, but those who could answer all said that it was the same song" the detective revealed
"really? What was the song" Jack asked
"Sweet Caroline"
Jack drove to his old work office and confronts his old boss, showing his findings and evidence with excitement.
"LOOK RIGHT THERE, EVIDENCE JOURNALISM, IMAGINE THIS ON THE FRONT PAGE TOMORROW 'THE SWEET CAROLINE MASSACRE' I MEAN I KNOW THE HEADLINE COULD USE SOME WORKSHOPPING BUT THE STORY BOSS, THE STORY" Jack pleads.
The boss called security before Jack could even beg for his job back and Jack had made the mistake of being too trusting of his old boss, he had left all of the physical evidence on his bosses desk when he stormed in.
"FUCK YOU OAKLEY, YOU BASTARD" Jack shouted as he is thrown off the front step of the office once again. as he walks back to his car he is bombarded by balls of paper and abuse such as "specky prick" and making fun of his dead relatives, Gareth even threw a brick at him while laughing hysterically.
Jack felt so defeated and betrayed, but as he pulled up at his house he saw Amanda sat on the front doorstep.
"Amanda? What are you doing here where are the kids" Jack asked excitedly.
"There in the car. I may have acted too hastily when I left" Amanda explained without standing up.
"It's alright, I know I put you under a lot of stress with losing my job" Jack replied
"No see that's your problem Jack, you have to apologise for everything, it makes you look so goddamn weak and pathetic, if you were a little less nice and if you didn't roll over and show your belly at every hint of conflict you wouldn't be in this situation. WE wouldn't be in this situation" Amanda shouted
"I-I'm sorry"
Amanda Glared at Jack
"You just did it again" Amanda sighed. "I know you just mean well, and your honestly a great guy. I want to try again, but if we do, we take things slowly" offered Amanda
Jack thought about it for a moment
"I'd like that, Thank you"
Amanda walked round to the car and opened the door, the kids rush out and embrace their father. Reunited, the family went back inside and Jack prepared a meal for them all. Everything was looking up for Jack again, he knew that with or without the physical evidence he would be able to sniff out some more news on this suicide cult case "the sweet caroline killer", and now with his family back, he felt like everything was getting back on track. The family finished the meal and sat down to watch the evening news. The first local news headline began to play.
“Frozen Mersey man begins to thaw, scientific informants conclude he is actually sleeping and had not been fossilised"
Jack's jaw dropped.
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