4338.210 · July 29, 2018 AD
The Vigil
Karl Jenkins returns to Luke and Jamie's house for an all-night vigil, alone in his car after striking his partner Sarah. Hours pass beneath the eucalyptus trees—no lights flicker, no shadows move—but Karl cannot leave, certain that Luke is inside, watching him back. This isn't investigation anymore; it's obsession crystallising into something far more dangerous
Detective Karl Jenkins sits in his car outside Luke Smith and Jamie Greyson's residence in Berriedale, maintaining a vigil through the freezing Tasmanian night. He returned here after striking his partner Sarah—not with a warrant, not with backup, not with a plan. Just with the terrible certainty that Luke is inside, aware of his presence.
The house refuses to acknowledge him. No lights flicker behind the blinds. No shadows shift. The silence is absolute. But Karl cannot leave. The whispered "Bye, Karl" from earlier grows louder in his memory with each passing hour. His body aches, the cold seeps through the windows, and rational thought died sometime around midnight.
This is what obsession looks like: a detective destroying his career one hour at a time, sitting alone in the dark, needing to be right about what's inside that house. Because if he's wrong—if Luke isn't there, if the whisper was imagination, if his instincts have failed—then he's sacrificed everything for a delusion. He's crossed lines that can't be uncrossed, hurt people who trusted him, all for nothing.
How long can you watch nothing before nothing starts watching back?
