With Ears to See

“In recent news, investigators and police are still on the lookout for the possible suspect of the murder of Andre Gomez, after his body was found in Autumn Creek Sunday morning. So far, there have been no leads on this case. We advise everyone to proceed throughout the town with caution.”

I turned off the TV and sat in silence.

To think…that such an incident could happen here.
And worse, no one knows who it is.

“Aus, what are you doing?”
Kellin stood in the doorway of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel.

“N-Nothing, just lying here.”

He smiled and found his way to the bed, sitting down next to me.

“So, what do you want me to get from the grocery store?”

I remembered the recent news and hearing that, I feared for the worst.
I quickly sat up.

“O-On second thought…Why don’t you stay here, Kellin? I’ll get the groceries this time.”
He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Do you not trust me to buy food anymore, Aus?”
I bit down on my lip and placed my hands on his shoulders.

“You know it’s nothing like that, Kellin.”
“Right…I’m sorry…”

I pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose, and then another to his lips.

“It’s okay. Just stay here and relax. I’ll buy the essentials, and how does vegetable stir fry sound for tonight?”
He nodded with an excited grin on his face.

“Alright.”
I got up from the bed and pulled on a random pair of jeans and dusted off the shirt that I was wearing before I put my shoes on.

I grabbed the keys to the apartment and kissed Kellin one more time.

“Stay safe. Don’t answer the door for anyone except Mei-Xing. I love you.”
He gave me a weird look, but soon brushed it off.

“I love you, too. Hurry back!”
“I will!”

I opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind me.

He’ll be okay. He’ll be okay…

x x x

“Hm. Vegetable stir fry for dinner tonight, Austin?”
I nodded with a small smile on my face as Tanya rung up the items and placed them into the bags.

“How are things between you two?”
“Everything’s great. I can’t complain.”

“You sure look happier than when you first came here.”

She handed me the bags as we said our goodbyes before I headed towards the apartment.

Was I really that miserable when I first came here?

I shrugged off the thought as I waited for the streetlight to change.

Wailing sirens and flashing blue lights soon sped past me.
Usually, I would have thought nothing of it.

But…

Something didn’t feel right.

The light changed and I didn’t hesitate to sprint home.
I reached the entrance and there they were.

Flashing blue lights, groups of people clamoring around…

…and the front door of my apartment was open.

I dropped the groceries and tore past the yellow police tape, reaching the room with a couple of protests from the officers.

I slowly stepped inside, and inched my way through.

The place was a mess. It was obvious that there was a struggle.
A couple of picture frames shattered. A chair was knocked over.

I froze when I reached the living room.

Droplets of blood stained the wood floor.

“K-Kellin…?”

I carefully made my way to the bedroom.

“Kellin?!”

I became frantic and searched the bathroom, then the closet.

“No one’s in here, sir.”
I turned around to face one of the officers.

“We already did a search. There was no one here when we arrived.”

I shook my head, tears threatening to spill from my eyes, and knelt down on the floor.

“You’ll have to leave, sir. The forensic investigators are on their way.”
“N-No…”

“Sir—”
“Austin!”

I looked up to see Mei-Xing dashing towards me and kneeling down next to me.

“Mei-Xing…! What happened…?! I…I…”
“Austin, please. We have to leave. We’re getting in the way of the investigation.”

“B-But…what about Kellin?! What happened to him?!”
She didn’t answer.

She tugged my arm up so that I would move, and this time I complied and followed her out of the room.

As soon as I reached her apartment room, I collapsed onto the couch and bawled, resting my head in my hands.
Mei-Xing and Haneul both sat next to me and tried to comfort me.

“They’ll find him, Austin. Kellin will be home soon.”

I shook my head and continued to cry.

What went wrong? What went wrong?

Then it hit me.

I forgot to lock the door when I left.

“It’s my fault…It’s all my fault…”