[right][color=lightgray][sub]TW: Hit & Run End of Day 1: Timeskip post[/sub][/color][/right] [center][color=white]____________________________________________________________________[/color][img]https://i.imgur.com/g5vMCxn.png[/img] [img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/221101/9ec59c61b495d768e1f77da2a9b82d95.png[/img] [color=white]____________________________________________________________________[/color][/center] [indent][indent]Well the Southside lead had been a bust. There were really two major issues with the core of this case being David O’Hara. One was the fact that a lot of people had done to Davey what they eventually did to Charlie Decker; they had erased him. They had cut him from photos, torn out pages from books where his name was written. Anything they could possibly do to make it so that John and Lizette’s oldest child ceases to exist in the hearts and minds of Edenridge, they could and would do it. The second was that those that did want to remember, those that did want to help, had nothing they could offer. Clay had spent the entire day and night talking to parents, old friends, former girlfriends, he even spoke to some people in Pinehurst and still, nothing substantial that he could use. Even Clayton’s own memory was failing him. He tried and tried to think back, to see if there was another clue he had missed that he might’ve seen or heard. Something, anything that could help him find out what really happened to his best friend. He wasn’t going to give up though, he couldn’t. He had promised Jamie. David and Jamie had just always been in Clay’s life. He couldn’t remember a time up until the day that David died that they weren’t. He remembered how cute the town thought it was that there were two sets of twins on Scott Street at the same time. He remembered all the old gossiping ladies salivating at the potential that David and Lamb might be a couple and that Clay and Jamie could be too, especially considering how close they were and would become. He remembered Duke’s first basketball game and he relented Jamie’s first breakdown. They were more than friends, they were more than Elite, they were family. He had to do this for them. It seemed like the storm was at its apex now. The wind was furious, the rain was hitting the ground harder than a punch from Tyson and the thunder and lightning flashes were near constant. Why on Earth was God's favourite idiot still out in it? There was very little chance at this point Clay was going to make it home that night. He tried to think of whether he knew anyone on the Southside where he could stay until the morning. The reality of the situation though was that anyone he could stay with was someone he shouldn’t stay with due to a very specific type of history and he wasn’t going to put Cat through that. Clayton just wanted to be with her but at least he knew she was safe. He wondered if he could chance a run to the Afterlife? It wasn’t that far from Southie. He was stuck on Terrace Place but he could make a dash through the woods to Lyon and then it was a straight shot to the former St Paul’s Cathedral. He knew Lamby was there considering he had interviewed her not too long ago in the evening. He knew at least then that he had some company to wait out the storm with and well…. he could spend some time with her. This whole situation of dredging up old memories had really gotten under Clay’s skin. Whispered thoughts from faces from his past had gotten him to really think about and take stock of his life and where he was in it. Laura was his twin; they were born two minutes apart. They were raised together and they were raised well; things should be better between them. [color=BCDD81]“Fuck it,”[/color] Clay wiped away some of the rain from his face as he shot off into the woods. The trees were a good shelter for the most part but the ground was soaked right through to the roots. Anyone looking at the scene unfold would think this was the beginning of a douchey Halloween horror movie where the preppy rich boy gets gutted by the psycho clown that was secretly his girlfriend's sister the entire time. Edenridge had too many horror stories and Clayton didn’t want to end up being one of them. Luckily for the police officer, he had grown up in that wood and pretty much knew it like the back of his hand. Clay remembered playing with David and Jamie, camping out and building forts. He had taken so many girls to a certain make out spot that it wasn’t even funny how many of the trees had his initials in them. Clay Costigan; fool for love. Emerging onto the corner of Lyon and Carlisle, the former basketball star was really starting to struggle to see through the rain. It was eerie how the sun had been shining over Edenridge town when he finished his late shift earlier that day, when he bumped into Jamie and this whole maelstrom of horror began. As if it mirrored his own sanity, the weather transformed as the day went on; the sun replaced by black clouds, followed by a light drizzle that evolved into a hurricane. Amongst it all, standing on the edge of town, Clay with three pieces of a five piece puzzle. In the distance, a lone car came towards him from down Lyon. [color=BCDD81]”What’s this prick doing?”[/color] He muttered through the drops of rain filling his mouth. Besides interrogating half of his childhood friends, Clay had also spent the day trying to keep people off the roads. The irony that he now stood on the side of one looking like a drowned rat was not lost on him. He was still in his uniform and had his badge so stopping this guy should be a piece of cake. Reaching into his back pocket, Clayton took out his gold shield and began flashing the torch in his shoulder, signaling for the car to pull over. [color=BCDD81]”PLEASE PULL OVER THE VEHICLE!”[/color] He called out through the wind, hoping that the driver would take note. The car turned on its indicator and drifted off to the side, pulling up just in front of Clay. There was a moment of silence as the young officer tried to peer into the driving seat but could not see anything through tinted windows and rain soaked eyes. He couldn’t see the licence plate but recognised the model. [color=BCDD81]”I’M GOING TO APPROACH THE DRIVER WINDOW! KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL!"[/color] Clay had no intention of arresting this lesson so he didn’t draw his gun. He simply wanted to warn them of washed out roads ahead and that they might need to seek shelter back Pinehurst way. He brushed a hand through his hair to get rid of the hair blocking his vision as he got to the door. He rapped on the window and waited for the driver to bring it down. Without warning, the door pushed open as Clay leaned forward, hitting him with force square in the head. Stumbling back, he tried to correct himself only to be tackled into the centre of the drowning road. The ferocious downpour of fists completely took him by surprise that he could barely defend himself and the sheer volume prevented him from opening his eyes to get a good look at the person assaulting him. Unable to use his eyes, Clay tore the torch off of his shoulder and used it as a hammer, cracking the assailant in the side of the head. Rolling onto his stomach, blood pouring from beneath his hair and under his left eye, the Foundling glanced to his side to see a very large and tall male. He tried to absorb the details of the man but between the blood, swelling and rain, Clay couldn’t make anything defining out about the attacker. Before he could react again, the shadow man took another run, leaping to his feet he penalty kicked Clay right in the face: knocking him down to the ground once more. He used his size to pin Clay to the floor and began to throttle him, squeezing his hands around the police officer's throat. In that moment, a thousand things sailed through Clayton’s mind. He thought of Cat, Laura, his parents, David and Jamie. He thought of the life he had led up to that moment and just how much business he hadn’t finished yet. This was everything that everyone had always warned him about. The life of a cop. He wasn’t going out like this, not a chance. With as much might as he could muster, the Scott Street boy flung his knee up, hitting the shadow in the stomach and causing him to let go. He fell upwards to his feet and took off back towards his car. Clay dragged himself to his feet, coughing and spluttering as the headlights illuminated him. He didn’t even feel it when the car struck him. As if floating in mid air, time slowed down. He knew that if he struck his head then that would be game over. He tucked his chin against his chest as he slid over the roof of the car and off the trunk, hitting the ground spine first whilst the suspect vehicle sped off towards Edenridge. Face down on the ground, barely conscious with water filling his mouth, Clay tried to pull himself up. His eyes were getting heavy, in the distance a light coming towards him fast and a woman’s voice. He didn’t want to go yet. He wasn’t done. [center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/221101/a583a42fcd88070e25db96496bb767e4.png[/img][/center][/indent][/indent]