Sunday: 12/2/07
Who: Charlie, Nox (and Fenrir's corpse) When: late Sunday night Where: starting outside What: Charlie finds Fenrir dead while out for a run
Charlie was actually in a somewhat good mood. Ok, so it wasn't all that 'good', but it was a great deal better than he'd felt in recent weeks. He was finally starting to come to terms with what had happened and attempting to move forward with his life. All the running he'd done lately was proving to be the best therapy of all. He could talk and talk with the people in his life, but that didn't work as well as exerting energy and clearing his mind in the process.
It was typical for Cassius to run ahead of Charlie. He was an athletic and adventurous dog. But Cassius rarely ran too far, and he always came back when Charlie called. Tonight, he caught the scent of something and bolted. Charlie was yelling after him, but the dog didn't come. "Fuck," Charlie groaned and sped off in the direction where Cassius vanished. If it was a rabbit in a bush or a cat up a tree, Charlie would send the dog to bed without a treat tonight. Sadly, that wasn't the case. Charlie stopped in his tracks when he caught up with his dog. Cassius was sniffing and nudging a body on the ground.
At first, Charlie didn't recognize the man. It was dark in the forest, and he kept some distance because... well... it was a body. But he shook off the initial shock and approached, crouching down. Charlie sighed and closed his eyes after recognition hit. He rubbed his face and pulled Cassius back. "He's not wakin' up, buddy."
Charlie pulled out his cell phone and sent out an emergency text to all the staff members. It was terrible news to break, but he had to get word out to them before bringing Fenrir's body back to school. He didn't want students to see this, and if they did, he wanted the entire staff on alert to deal with the reactions.
Just as Charlie was about to pick up Fenrir and get this whole gruesome and depressing thing over with, he got a reply text from Nox. "Meet me at the east entrance." It was good to know Charlie would have some assistance.
Fenrir was a big fucking dude, and it was no easy task picking him up and positioning him over Charlie's shoulder. But once the man's body was secure, Charlie gave a whistle to Cassius and started the trek back to TJS.
It was a somber journey, and Cassius was whimpering. He nudged Charlie's leg from time to time, clearly confused by what was going on, and sensing that Charlie was upset. Charlie had never gotten along with Fenrir, but he didin't want the guy dead. There were no signs of trauma to the body though, so Charlie wasn't worried about foul play. It looked as though Fenrir had simply dropped dead. Charlie had no idea how old the man was. Perhaps it was just his time.
Finally, he reached the school, and there was Nox standing guard outside. He walked over to meet Charlie, offering to help shoulder Fenrir's weight. He was calm, but immediately he started asking questions of Charlie about the 'scene'. Charlie knew that Nox used to be a homicide detective, and the man was obviously trying to determine if a crime had been committed. As they carried Fenrir inside the staff building, Charlie answered Nox's questions as best he could. Nox seemed mostly satisfied, but he told Charlie he wanted to examine the scene himself just to make sure. Right now, the most important thing was honoring the dead.
They took Fenrir back to Nox's room, at his request. It felt a little weird just leaving Fenrir there. "You need to start your rounds soon, Charlie. Get me to the scene, and then you can get back to work." Charlie looked down to his dog and then pulled a leash out of his pocket. "Here, take Cassius. He'll be able to find the spot better than me." Nox looked strangely at the dog. They didn't know one another, and the dogs Nox had worked with in the past were not really 'pets', but rather workers. "He'll know what to do, don't worry." Charlie rubbed his hand over Cassius' head and then pointed to Nox, "Take him to where you found Fenrir." Since entering the world of the supernatural, Charlie had learned that his dog understood a great deal more than most humans realized. Nox put the dog on a leash, and then they parted ways with Charlie.
Charlie went back to his apartment to shower and begin his rounds, wondering what tomorrow would bring. It was going to be a sad week.