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“S
o, we observed the dash cam footage from the parked cars. As expected, there were no CCTV cameras on the road. Most of the dash cam footage turned in nothing. Except for one, it captured a blurry shot of her walking. Take a look." After saying that, Detective Ocon turned the laptop towards us and clicked play. At first, I could not see what he was talking about. The lighting was minimal, so it was hard to see anything.
At first, all I saw was Max and I walking into the frame and then exiting the frame. Then I saw it. Someone jumped out from behind one of the scenes and began to follow us. She was clad in all black, or maybe she was wearing a long coat that was black. It was hard to tell. Nothing about her features was clear, so I could not make out anything clear-cut. There was nothing distinguishable. She just walked in and out of the frame.
Something on her hand was reflecting. The emerald ring, of course. I sighed and held my head in my hands. “Did forensics check the sight from where she jumped out?” I heard Max ask the Detective. "I sent in the forensics in the morning. They got fingerprints off the tree, and the fingerprints match the ones we have from before. The problem is, we still do not know who is behind this." "What about the number?" I suddenly remembered the number she had given Anthony. "We traced the location to somewhere here in the city. We still do not know who owns the place, but we are working on it. Rest assured, do not worry. I will keep you updated."
We could have taken the bus, but Max and I decided to walk back home. I was skeptical about walking home again. We were walking in silence when Max decided to talk. “I am sorry. I did not consider that walking might be difficult for you, considering what happened yesterday. So yeah, sorry about that.” I refrained from laughing. “It is fine, Max. Yesterday I was scared. But now, it is all back to normal again. She has taken a lot from me. I refuse to hand over my spirit to her too.” From the corner of my eye, I could see Max smiling at my statement.
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Knock, knock, knock. A knock resounded on our door. Max got up to open the door. It was Nathan. He looked out of breath. “Victoria, why the hell were you not picking up your phone?!!” He shouted at me as soon as he entered. I was taken aback by his appearance. Sweat was glistening on his forehead. His tie was hanging loosely around his neck. His hand was shaking as he gripped the door handle. I looked at him, startled. Max was also looking at him with her eyes widened. "Oh my God, Nathan! What happened? Why do you look so startled? My phone is charging in my bedroom; I must not have heard it ringing. Is everything alright?" "It is Anthony. He was reported missing." I could physically feel my heart dropping.
What does he mean Anthony’s missing? “Is this some kind of sick joke? What do you mean he was reported missing? How? There were police officers with him. Tell me everything.” With my heart hammering in my chest, I motioned for him to continue. "I received a call from Mrs. Waltham.
She sounded out of breath and was saying she had called you, but you did not pick up, and she did not know who else to call. She was frantic and kept saying she could not find Anthony. She said he went out to get milk last night and never came back. At first, she was not worried and thought he could have gone somewhere, but when he did not come back today, she thought something could be wrong. I called Detective Ocon on the way here. Come on; we need to go to Mrs. Waltham's."
The car ride was silent. I was so anxious and tense that I kept squirming in my seat. At one point, Nathan had to put his hand on my arm to calm me down. Nathan had not even stopped the car yet when I opened the door, jumped out, and ran towards the door. I could hear Nathan cursing behind me, but I did not care. I could not lose yet another person because of myself again. Before I even knocked on the door, it flew open to reveal Mrs. Waltham. At her first glance, I stopped in my tracks.
Her eyes were swollen like she had been crying all night. Her eyes looked like they were continuously living in a nightmare she could not shake off. I looked at her and saw myself in her. This is exactly what I looked like when I lost Andrew. God, I will not spare whoever did this. She immediately engulfed me in a bone-crushing hug. Fresh tears streamed down her face and onto my shoulder. At that moment, all I could do was wrap my arms around her.
We stood like that till Nathan and Max walked past us. I wiped her tears with my thumbs. “Mrs. Waltham, please do not cry. I will do everything in my power to bring him back. We will all put in our maximum effort. Just wait a little more.” She sniffed and nodded her head. I could see the small flicker of hope dancing in her eyes upon hearing my words.
I felt guilt when I saw that hope. What if we do not catch her? What if she had already done something to him? What if I just gave her false hope and made it all worse? All I knew was that I could not take it back. I had given her hope. Now I am going to have to fulfill that hope. I took her hand and entered the house with her, careful to shut the door behind us.
Inside, Detective Ocon was talking to an officer. It seemed like he was scolding the officer. I set Mrs. Waltham down on the sofa and moved toward where Detective Ocon was standing. “.... dismissed.” All I heard from his conversation with the officer was that he was dismissed. He turned toward me with a tired look on his face. This was the first time I had observed him closely in a long time. He looked tired, so tired. His dark circles were bigger than ever. “Sir, what happened?” He sighed and flipped his notepad shut. "We were too late in taking action, so she chose to do it herself. He went out to get milk, and I think she got him there. I inquired with the milkman about whether he had seen someone suspicious following Anthony.
The milkman said no, there was no one. She must have hidden somewhere and attacked when he was unaware and most vulnerable. There were no traces of blood anywhere on the path from the milk shop to here. I suspect he has not been harmed. I think she drugged him and took him hostage." I decided to voice my deepest fears. “Sir, what if she does something to him?” I took a glance at Mrs. Waltham. I have never seen a living person look so dead. “What if he is already dead?” Detective Ocon immediately began to shake his head. "No. Victoria, I know you are comparing this situation to Andrew's, but you are wrong. In Andrew's case, he had found something she did not want public.
So, she erased both the thing and the brain, which might be able to remember it. But Anthony's case is completely the opposite of that. She took him to lure you out, so you would make a mistake. If your fears were true, then why exactly would she take him? What does she gain from it? Nothing. She needs Anthony. She needs him alive and well. She wants something from us, and she has no chance of getting it unless she can give us something in return." I knew he was right. His words made sense.
But a small part of me could not help but be afraid. What if Anthony had found something out? What if that is why she took him? I felt a chill run down my spine at that thought. “I know you do not believe me right now, but you will see. She will be the one to contact us. She will build the bridge first. Just wait and see.” Does he honestly expect me to wait around when he could possibly be dead?
As I turned around to go and sit with Mrs. Waltham, Detective Ocon’s voice pulled me back. "Victoria, I know you want to save him; we all do. Just do not do anything stupid. I am warning you; it will not end well for any of us, and it will only create more problems. If you end up in trouble, it will not bring him back." He read my expression.
I was staring at Mrs. Waltham. She had not said a word since I came down and sat beside her. She was just staring into space. I had no idea how to comfort her. I settled on one thing. Maybe, just maybe, talking and reliving his memories would help. “Do you remember the time when he came home crying because our teacher would not let us sit together?” I asked her.
I was scared. What if this makes it worse for her? A small smile graced her lips. A sad one. “How can I forget?” “Do you know what happened that day?” She shook her head. "The teacher was mad because we were sitting together and kept laughing. We moved our seats to the back so the whole class would not be disturbed, but she was so annoyed with us already that she refused to even listen to the possibility of us sitting together. Anthony got so mad that he began to argue back. It was so surprising because he was so shy that he never even raised his hand in class. To see such a shy boy fighting with the teacher simply to sit with me was astonishing.
That was the first time I realized how special we were to each other. It is, to date, one of my most precious memories of my childhood." I saw a smile, a real smile on Mrs. Waltham's face. She was looking at me with so much adoration on her face that I was taken aback. The sadness in her eyes was too much for me to bear. It was so raw, so extreme; I did not know what to do except avert my gaze from it. I knew I could not look directly into her eyes without feeling guilt soar through me.
She took my hand and encapsulated it in both of hers, and said, “You will bring him back, will you not?” The way she looked at me, there was so much hope in those eyes. The rational part of me was screaming to say no, to say anything but a promise. “I will.” The emotional part won. She patted my hand three times. One, two, three. Then she let it go. I got up as soon as she let my hand go and got up and turned around. I had not realized I was crying till I touched my face.
Max was keeping an even closer eye on me than usual. I think Detective Ocon asked her to do so in case I do something stupid. He is scared I will do something stupid. His fear is well-founded. I went to the washroom when my phone began to ring. Unknown number. Is it her? I knew she would contact me. With my heart in my throat, I picked it up.
I refused to be the first one to talk. “Hey, Vic,” a female voice said sarcastically. I clenched my fists. The audacity! To be using the nickname he gave me? Unbelievable. “Where is he?” I heard stifled laughter. The audacity. “Oh, honey, he should be the last person you would be worried about. In fact, he is doing very well.” The way she said oh honey, it sounded so familiar. Do I know her? I tried to wrack my brain for where I had heard that voice, but I could not place it for the life of me. “What do you want?” I asked her with as much spite as I could muster. "I want to see you. I want to see you alone. No police, absolutely no one but you, especially that girl you keep around yourself with a leash.
If you try to play any tricks on me, I will kill him first thing, and I will make sure he suffers the most, and I will also make sure that this time, you are here to witness his demise." I felt my blood run cold. The way she said that last sentence was so chilling. I was terrified to my bones. Without waiting for my reply, she cut my call. Hands shaking and heart hammering, I slid down the bathroom wall to sit on the floor. I put my head in between my knees. What am I going to do? Detective Ocon's words ran through my head. "Victoria, I know you want to save him; we all do. Just do not do anything stupid. I am warning you; it will not end well for any of us, and it will only create more problems.
If you end up in trouble, it will not bring him back." Me doing something stupid felt like the only way to bring him back. It is not like I am putting anyone else at risk. Maybe I should not take the decision just yet? Maybe I should wait. Maybe Detective Ocon and his team will come up with something. Maybe I will not have to put both myself and Anthony at risk. I was being a coward.
My mind was so conflicted. Knock, knock, knock. Someone was knocking at the bathroom door. “Victoria, it is me, Max. Is everything okay there? You have been in there a while.” I may be conflicted, but I know one thing, I cannot let anyone know she called me. This was about me and me alone. Letting Max or the police in on this will only put Anthony's life at risk. I refuse to let that happen. “It is all okay. My anxiety is just making my stomach turn. I just need a minute to collect myself.” I heard Max’s footsteps receding after this.
I exited the washroom after splashing my face with water. I heard muffled voices coming from the next hallway. I shouldn’t have, but I stood in the corner to listen. “...we have no leads.” Detective Ocon’s voice. What is he talking about? "I do not think anything will happen to him. But still, it is worrying that we have no idea who this person might be. We are at a dead end and have no way of catching her. I am trying to keep Victoria hopeful, but I am not sure how much longer she will believe me. Besides, the first forty-eight hours of kidnapping are crucial. We are already past the ten-hour mark." It was Detective Ocon. I had no idea who he was talking to. All I knew was he had given me my answer. I was going to meet her, and I was going alone.
“Your father’s grave. Meet me there.” Dad's grave? Why does she want me to meet her there? Is this some kind of sick joke? I left the text on seen and put my phone down to check on Mrs. Waltham. She was refusing to go to sleep altogether, and I gave her sleeping pills so she would get, at the very least, some sleep. I then checked every room.
Detective Ocon was out, and everyone else was asleep except the officers on duty. I had to sneak past them unseen. I picked up my phone and entered the bathroom. The bathroom window was big enough to allow me to pass through. No sign of any officers outside the window.
It took some effort to open the window since it had been a while since it was last opened. I rolled onto the grass outside. I sat there, waiting, listening. A part of me was still telling me to leave it be, to go back. But after listening to Detective Ocon's words, I knew this was the only way. I looked back at the house one last time before heading out.
The graveyard at night was as chilly as it gets. It looked like something straight out of a horror film. The wind swaying the tree leaves and the moss covering gravestones just added the effect of a living nightmare. I was terrified, to say the least. All that was keeping me from completely losing my mind was the thought of potentially seeing Anthony.
I reached my father's grave, but no one was there. I sat down on the ground and looked at his tombstone. It all started with him, and it will end with him. I touched the cold hilt of the knife sitting in my jacket. I sat there, trying not to fixate on my impending doom when I heard it. Click, click, click. I froze. I decided not to turn around. I was going to see her either way. I gripped the hilt of the knife even tighter in my hands. Click, click, click. She is getting closer. "Hello, Victoria." That voice. Oh my God, that voice!
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