A Vulnerable Broken Mind (6 page)

“Do you ever go inside, Tom?” Hanson asked with a laugh.

Morrison, on the other hand, didn’t laugh. “What do you expect me to do, Hanson; curl up in front of the T.V. and do nothing?” He retorted in a mean and grainy voice. “I’d much rather watch the real world instead of the pretend world on television.”

“Not much to see in this town, Tom, you should know that,” Hanson said.

“Maybe not to you,” Morrison snarled. “People like you never take the time to look around and see how much the real world has to offer.”

“Fair enough,” Hanson said, looking to end the discussion. “Do you mind answering a few questions?”

“You should know by now that I’m open to questions,” Morrison responded in the same mean attitude. Hanson was apparently used to this attitude as he ignored it easily.

“This is Mr. John Robinson,” He began, pointing to John. “He’s here searching for his wife who has gone missing. He believes that she’s here in our town. Have you seen any unusual activity today?”

He then took out the picture that John had given him and showed it to Morrison. “Very pretty young lady,” he said, his tone softening a little. “The only activity I’ve seen today came from that rich prick up the hill,” he said. John looked up the hill. It was actually visible from where they were standing.

John could see that it was a big two story house but could not tell it’s color. It was silhouetted by the moonlight, which was also visible from where they stood.

“He’s been in and out all day,” Morrison explained further.

“Well, he’s a store owner, so that could happen,” Hanson reasoned, clearly not happy that Hunt’s name was mentioned so quickly.

“Anyone else?” Hanson asked hopefully.

“No, other than meeting someone new in Mr. Robinson over here.” Morrison said sarcastically.

Hanson shook his head with irritation and walked away. John, confused, followed him. “Let’s talk to Mary. Hopefully, she can give us something.” He said irritably.

“Who’s Mary?” John asked, trying to keep up with Hanson.

Hanson stopped, took a breath and calmed down, then he began to explain. “Mary Stanton is a widow who moved here a few years ago. Her husband was a Colonel in the Army. He was killed overseas. She’s pretty much set for life because he left her a lot of money but was emotionally scarred from what had happened. They moved here together a few years ago and she decided to stay here after his death. She only leaves her house to go grocery shopping. She’s very sensitive, so I’ll have to be very careful with what I say.”

He then knocked on the door. “Who is it?” Said a light, young voice from inside the house.

“It’s Officer Hanson dear, just have to ask you a few questions,” Hanson replied.

There was a moment of silence on the other end. Then they heard her fumbling with the lock. The door then opened slightly. “What is it Officer Hanson?”

“Hi, hon, can you please step outside for a second?” he asked kindly.

She hesitated but then eventually opened the door. She was much younger than John was expecting. She only appeared to be in her late twenties. She was a very pretty, hazel eyed, brunette woman. She had a very short and petite build to her. It was very hard for John to imagine a beautiful woman like her living alone in distress.

“Thank you, hon. I just have a few questions for you,” Hanson explained. Mary nodded but her rather blank expression didn’t change as her eyes roamed from Hanson to John on several occasions. “This is Mr. Robinson and he’s here looking for his wife who has gone missing. He believes that she is here in Tuxton.” Hanson handed Mary the photograph of Amber. “Have you seen her or any unusual activity today?”

Mary’s eyes lingered on the photograph of Amber, much longer then John was expecting. She was actually staring at it rather intently and stared back Hanson. John was actually anxious as it looked like she might have seen something. However, the answer that came out of her mouth was, “No, I haven’t.” John’s spirits plummeted.

In fact, Hanson slouched a bit as well, expressing his disappointment. “You’re sure that nothing unusual has happened today?”

“I’m sure.” Mary assured them and was already walking back inside. “Sorry, I couldn’t be of any help to you,” she said quickly and closed the door.

“What was all of that about?”  John asked, stunned.

“That’s just how she is,” Hanson replied. “She’s very anti-social.” He walked off of the porch and back towards the street. Once there he shouted, “Son of a bitch!”

“What’s the matter?” John asked.

“I really wish she had given us something. Now all I have is Morrison’s statement, which leads to that asshole up there,” he shouted, indicating to Hunt up the hill.

“Well, let’s go talk to him then.” John said. He was feeling a little impatient.

“NO,”
Hanson shouted, unexpectedly losing his temper. John was shocked into silence. “Listen to me, I’m going to level with you. Questioning Hunt or accusing him could cost me my job.”

“Why is that?” John asked curiously.

Hanson stopped himself for a second and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. “A couple of years ago I falsely accused him of committing a crime he didn’t. He’s a very powerful man and I ran his name through the mud. My captain wasn’t happy. I have specifically been told not to deal with him. One more false accusation and I end up on the unemployment line.”

“But he’s the only name we’ve been given,” John said, his desperation growing by the second. Amber was somewhere and he needed to find her. That was his only goal.

“I know”, Hanson snapped. He thought to himself for a bit. “Let’s go back to the office. I think I know how to solve this.”

Hanson remained silent for the entire walk back. Once they got there and were seated, he finally explained himself. “Okay, it’s going to be ten in an hour, and that’s when my shift gets off. Replacing me is another officer, Ken Sparks. He gets along slightly better with Hunt than I do. You can go up there with him.”

This infuriated John. “THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! That’s an hour away. My wife is out there somewhere and the only name we get you won’t question because you’re afraid of him!”

Hanson combatted this by standing up and giving a glare of anger that actually silenced John. “I told you to trust me. I do want to help you very much. But I’m not going to put my job on the line to falsely accuse someone. If you want help finding her, you are going to have to trust me, period.

“Look, I’ve been doing this for twenty years and I’ve seen plenty of cases like yours. So I know what you’re going through. I also know that it’s tough for someone like you to hear someone like me say ‘be patient’ but that’s what I need to tell you now, be patient.”

Hanson sank back down to end the conversation. John, while reluctant for the conversation to end, agreed and sat down as well.

The room remained silent after that. The combination of the silence and the hours of wondering through the woods were actually starting to make John drowsy. He didn’t want to sleep but his body was not going to let him stay awake.

The world became a blur as his eye lids became heavy. The colors from the room turned gray and then into complete blackness.

Deep within the blackness, John knew he was standing on something. He didn’t know where he was until light began to shine through a set of cracks in the distance below him. The cracks formed a square, which told John that it was a door. The light shone on what he was standing on, which he realized was a set of stairs, which led to that door. He began to walk down the stairs and towards it.

              “NO!” He was stopped in his tracks by a woman screaming. A woman whom he knew instantly. Amber was screaming. “Leave me alone! John help!” Her screams pierced John’s ears like a knife to his heart, stabbing him repeatedly until it felt like his heart was going to stop; he panicked when he heard her.

“Amber!” He screamed back, and ran down the stairs and towards the door. He ran right through the door, which fell apart once he made contact with it. He ended up in a small hallway. It was dim lit with blood red walls. There was a door on each side of the wall.

“Leave me alone! Get away from me!” He heard her scream again but he couldn’t tell which door it was coming from. He rammed his shoulder into one of the doors and it burst open. He was greeted by a small square room, just a shade bigger than a closet. The walls were gray and the light from the ceiling flickered, giving the room a foreboding look.

He didn’t see anything in the room at first. When his eyes fell onto the floor, though, they stopped instantly. He set his eyes on a small object that laid in the middle of the floor; a brown teddy bear. It was covered in blood. He then leaned down to pick it up.

The bear actually looked familiar to John. He knew this bear and knew who it belonged to. It belonged to Amber. It was a bear that she had gotten when she was a little girl from her father. Her father had kept it, even after she had grown up.

A day before his passing, Amber had visited him in the hospital. He had lost the battle with lung cancer and knew he was going to die. Unbeknownst to Amber, he kept her teddy bear with him in his hospital bed. He kept it as a symbol of his love for her and her love for him. He gave it back to her the day before his death.

After his death, Amber kept the bear close to her. It lay on their bed all day and all night. It was there when they woke and it was there when they went to sleep. It was a never-ending reminder of how she looked up to and loved her father. It meant everything to her.

But seeing it here, in this very room and covered in blood was haunting to John; an image that was engraved into his memory; whether he liked it or not, he would never be able to look at that bear the same ever again.

While he was looking at the bear, the light stopped flickering and went out completely. The door slammed shut behind John. He dropped the bear and went to the door to try and open it but it wouldn’t budge. The only source of light in the room was the light coming from the hallway.

John backed up as far as he could. He took a deep breath and ran as fast as he could towards the door. He ran shoulder first into the door, which gave away. The force also drove him off of his feet. He lost his footing after he hit the door and was now face to face with the floor.

“NO!” The screaming had begun again and rang in John’s ears. There was only one door left; it had to lead to Amber. With all of his energy, he pulled himself to his feet. With no strength left to run, he walked to the door.

When he was finally standing beside it, he reached for the doorknob and turned it. Much to his surprise, the door swung right open. Once he managed to catch his breath and regain some of his strength, he pushed the door open and walked through it without looking to see what was there.

He walked through the door, only to feel his feet leave the floor that they were standing on.

He then found himself falling into, what appeared to be, a never-ending black hole. He had nothing to grab to stop himself from falling into whatever ground or pit lay at the bottom. But deep in his heart, he wasn’t entirely sure that he would deny himself that fate.

Chapter 4: The Mental Limits

              When driven to your lowest point, you wish that the only thing left to do is die. Death seems so welcoming next to being down the hole that you’ve currently been driven into. You lie there in the cold, dark, and cruel world that you have been subjected to and will never be the same again.

Amber could feel herself waking up but her senses were not yet fully there. The first thing she felt was the cold, hard floor pressed against her still nude body, as well as her face; she shivered.

She pushed herself off of the floor as soon as her mind was clear. Her wrist, while still in slight pain, had numbed. He had not handcuffed her this time. Her eyes opened slowly and what greeted her was not the blackness of the blindfold but a small room. The room, which was no bigger than a walk-in closet, had gray concrete walls and a similarly gray ceiling. It was lit by a fixture, which hung from the ceiling.

She looked around and behind her were the chains that she was cuffed to earlier. They hung from the ceiling and lightly swung, which gave them a very eerie look. To the left of her was a big black steel door. The door alone was intimidating. Amber’s pitiful reflection stared back at her from the door; she could now see her own humiliation.

Sitting next to the door was a small tray with a sandwich on it. While hesitant to accept, seeing it made her very hungry. She didn’t know how many hours had passed. She crawled over to the tray and took the sandwich.

She looked it over before actually taking a bite out of it. Coming to the conclusion that there wasn’t anything wrong with it, she finally took the first bite. She was so hungry that she ate it so quickly that she didn’t taste the sandwich at all.

Almost immediately after taking the last bite, the door opened. Amber crawled into the nearest corner in the room. Expecting to see her kidnapper, she braced herself. However, she did not see his face. A man entered into the room but was wearing a mask; a mask that scared her greatly.