The Murder Of 1998

Chapter Nine

Catherine Ottoson stood at the doorway of her brothers room, watching him getting ready for work. She pressed herself against the wall as Walter pulled up his pants. Walter slid his belt through the loops of his pants. He looked up at Catherine.

"Something the matter?" He questioned. She shook her head and Walter continued to get ready. He slid his feet into his dress shoes. He wanted to wear his sneakers but Seth always told him it was too unprofessional and would constantly scold him. So in order to avoid that, he dressed like Seth would. A watered down version of him. He moved over to his drawer, putting his watch over his left wrist.

"I'm scared." Catherine whispered. Walter turned to look at her and sighed. She acted like a child.

He shuffled his feet over to her, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "It's ok. You'll be fine. I won't be gone for long." He smiled and gently patted her shoulder. He moved over to place his badge on his belt, followed by his gun into his holster. "I'll be home much earlier today. We can do whatever you want."

Catherine frowned. She shook her head and grabbed onto his arm. It was painful to watch his young sister go from being so confident and happy to being terrified of her own shadow.

She looked up at her brother. "Promise?"

Walter hesitated for a moment. He looked at his sisters crystal blue eyes before nodding. "I promise."

-x-

Richard pushed open the door, looking inside the room that his brother was in. It felt like the whole hospital was quiet because of Raymond. He bit down on his bottom lip and walked inside. He saw Raymond laying on his side, turned away from him.

"Ray?" He called out. He raised a brow and moved closer to him. "Raymond?"

"I forgot what day it is."

Richard let out a sigh of relief. He looked down at his cheap watch. Eight in the morning. He was late to work.

"Its Tuesday, August fourth," Richard said.

Raymond nodded and pulled his knees closer to his chest. He felt exhausted. A patient down the hall ended up having a seizure and died right after. The commotion kept him up all night but he was sure that even if none of that happened, he would still be tired with zero sleep.

"You don't have to be here," Raymond said as he ran the back of his hand across his nose.

Richard moved closer to his brother and sat on the edge of the bed. He slid his hand across his back with the intention of trying to comfort him. "I want to be here." He looked down at his watch again.

"How's the job?" Raymond asked.

"Great. Its paying pretty well." He cleared his throat. "What about your job? When do you go back to teaching?"

Raymond fell silent. He thought about his answer. He didn't remember. It was already August and getting closer to back to school.

"I actually don't know." He closed his eyes. His job as a teacher was alright. He did work at a high school as a fairly new teacher. Being an English teacher was in the middle. High schoolers were bitches. At least thats what Raymond thought. But the fact that he was a young, likable teacher made his job easier. The students always talked highly about Mister Hunter. Some were annoying and mean to him, but for the most part, everyone really loved him. There was always talk about his eyes though. His right eye was blind and white. Everyone had their own conspiracy theories. A gas leak, a birth defect, and even going as far as to say that its possibly supernatural. But it was none of those things.