Bound to crime

A flash of a camera streamed through my open window. It was nighttime here in the UK, and this was definitely NOT expected on my usual peaceful evenings. Sure, Cleveland is not exactly the safest place in the United Kingdom BUT it's what I have to deal with for now until I move out of my cruddy suite without my annoying roommate to bug me all the time. Speaking of roommates, here he comes now. "Rocky we're out of biscuits-"

"DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE, KENNETH? Go slither back under a rock, I'm busy brooding."

He makes a swift exit, flopping back onto the sofa and continues watching trash TV news while drinking a gallon of milk straight from the jug. I shudder at his terrible manners, everything about Kenneth Turner makes me want to puke, but I have bigger things to worry about right now than his grotesqueness. There was another flash and I peek out over my window to see a hooded figure lurking in an alleyway between a cafe' and a clothing store. The figure makes eye contact with me and suddenly bolts into the clothing store. I wasn't exactly dressed for outside action but who cares anymore. Climb out of my suite through the window and slides down the iron wrought fire escape stairway. Running to the store and opening the door, I scan the aisles of clothing trying to identify the hooded figure.

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I wasn't concerned about what Rocky was doing. He was always making some kind of racket. Although this time, I could feel that something was...off. I peek over back into his room to see him crawling out of his window and down the fire exit stairway. Now this is different. He doesn't just suddenly go somewhere without telling me, (Which he's been doing a lot recently) but he never leaves out his window like some sort of cliche' thriller. I watched him race frantically into the clothing store and I arched an eyebrow at his odd behavior. Rocky's an overall weird guy but, not anything like this. I leave the suite to follow him but then a cloaked person comes running out of the store and is sprinting down the smooth cobblestone path. Rocky appears and flips me off with chasing after the mysterious hooded figure. "DON'T FOLLOW ME, KENNETH!" he yells from afar and I roll my eyes at his usual dramatic comment. But then I remember seeing those familiar piercing green eyes from the stranger. "Casey?"

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It wasn't easy trying to catch them but soon I had them cornered. "Who are you?! Why did you take a picture of me, stalker?"

The figure scoffs at me, "Oh, but haven't you heard, Rocco McDaniel? You're a wanted criminal." This surprises me and I recoil back in shock. "What? I haven't done anything wrong! Even if I did do something wrong, do you even have proof?" The figure looks over at him and chuckles darkly while pulling back the cloak's hood. My eyes widen and my jaw drops. "C-Casey??" Casey smirks and nods. "Hey mate. Long time, no talk."

"Why are you here?"

"I think you might be connected with a recent crime."

"What, when, why, who?"

"It happened yesterday, the crime was arson, but we don't know the who or why."

"How can I help?"

Casey holds out his hand, "You can help us capture the arsonist."

I hesitate, "You said 'we' earlier, who are you working for?"

"Rufus Knight."

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Kenneth had convinced me to let him come along with Rufus and Casey. Safety in numbers, right? Casey points into the forest, "We suspect that the arsonist lives somewhere in there." Kenneth pursed his lips into a grim line, and I chuckle at his nervousness. "What, are you scared, Ken?" He grimaces at me but says nothing. Rufus and Casey march into the thicket with no sign of fear, though I think I looked pretty brave at the time, I wished that I felt as fearless as they looked.

By the time we were able to find the run-down cottage, both me and Kenneth were covered in scars and bruises. Casey and Rufus were unscathed, of course. "So, is this it-" I couldn't finish my sentence because an arrow crashes through the cottage's window and it scrapes Kenneth's stomach. He hisses in pain and Rufus immediately goes into action to help him. The arrow, now tipped with Kenneth's blood, was stuck in a tree. A paper was impaled in the arrowhead. Casey notices this and looks at the paper, reading it aloud. "Fool you, look behind you." We all turn around and see that our suite is on fire. In my panicked state, I run to the building. I see a person wearing gas mask and an all-camo outfit. "YOU!" I strangle the figure's neck. "PUT MY SUITE OUT RIGHT NOW!" The masked stranger shrugs and I throw him to the ground. When I did so, the suite crumbles to the ground as well. I rummage through the rubble in vain, trying to find something in particular. "Casey, remember when you said that I was connected to a crime?" Casey nods. "Are you looking for this?" In my hand, there was an ancient papyrus. The group's eyes widen in surprise. I chant the curse, and corpses from the building has risen up, groaning.

"Rocky, what have you done?!" Rufus yells at me and I roll my eyes.

"I've done something good! You wanted the papyrus, didn't you? Come here and HAVE IT!" I throw it into the flames, and they watch as it disintegrates.

"I've been living...with an arsonist." Kenneth mumbles in shock.

"I'm no arsonist, Kenneth. That's my little brother Wesley. I'm the mastermind behind this plan."

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?! WE TRUSTED YOU!" Casey roars in an absolutely livid tone, but his eyes were full of anguish.

"How didn't you realize that I was a wolf in sheep's clothing?" I scoff

"You always seemed so wacky but angsty, I never... I never thought that you'd actually end up being some sort of criminal." Kenneth mutters.

"WELL, YOU'RE WRONG! LOOK WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, KENNETH!"

He lunges at me and puts me in a choke hold, but I do a backwards German Supplex on him. Kenneth lets go, momentarily stunned by the pain and just for good measure I punched him the stomach where his open wound is.

But then, to my surprise, Kenneth grabs me by the hair and smashes my head into the rubble and my skull bleeds. This is exactly how I planned it. He'd snap and kill me. Soon everything went black.

"Goddamn it, Kenneth. Now we can't interrogate him."