corrupted-trees

[corrupted-trees]

[corrupted-trees]

SMITHSVILLE (CHAPTER 1)

   Jacob sat in the small jail cell, staring up at the ceiling, wondering how long he’s been in there for. An hour. Maybe two. It felt like forever. 

    He was lying on a small bed which he hoped didn’t have bed bugs because that would suck. He couldn’t say that it was the most uncomfortable bed but it wasn’t the most comfortable one either. 

    He tried to change positions but his arm screamed in pain and he winced. He sat up and held it. But then his ice pack fell off his face, exposing his dark black eye. He sighed heavily before taking in deep breaths. In and out. In and out. In…and out. He remembered Maddie teaching him how to control his anger by using breathing exercises. It honestly worked. 

    “Jacob,” Jacob looked up at Isaac, “Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital? I don’t want you complaining that you’re in pain later.” 

“I’m sure, sheriff. I probably just pulled a muscle or something.” Jacob said, avoiding Issac’s eyes. “Okay…but if you’re ever in pain, tell Milo to call me and I’ll take you to the hospital.” Issac said. Jacob nodded, still not meeting his eyes. 

    Silence. 

    “Is Milo almost here?” Jacob asked, breaking the silence. “I’m not sure, let me ask him.” Issac said, checking his phone. 

    Jacob got up, stretching his legs and stood against the bars of the cell. He didn’t understand why Issac always puts him into a cell. It wasn’t like he was going to try to escape. He never tried to all the times he was brought to the sheriff’s office. 

    “So, Milo said he had to get Evelyn since his bike got a flat tire.” The sheriff said. Ugh, great, Jacob thought. “They’re almost here, don’t worry.” “Alright, sheriff.” 

“Are you sure you don’t need another ice pack, Jacob? We have a lot of ice packs.” 

“I’m okay, sheriff, I really am.” 

“Your eye still looks really bad.” Issac said, walking up to the cell. “It’s fine. I’ll put a cucumber on it. That helped last time.” He said. 

    Silence.

    “Jacob, why do you get into fights with Mike’s gang?”

“I already told you. They threaten my friends.” “But do you think they’ll really do something?” 

“...I don’t know. But I don’t want to risk it.” 

    The doors then swung open and Milo walked in and shouted, “I AM HERE!” He then froze. “I didn’t interrupt anything…did I?”

“Of course not, Milo. I’ll be back, let me get the keys.” Issac said, walking towards the small room next to the cell.     Jacob looked at Milo who smiled at him. Issac came back and unlocked the cell, letting Jacob out. Jacob gave Issac the ice pack and looked at Milo. “C’mon, it’s game night, dude!” Milo said, already walking towards the door. “I’m going, I’m going.” Jacob said, walking after him. “You boys have fun.” Issac said. 

    “Jacob, one more thing.” Jacob stopped before exiting the building. He caught another ice pack from Issac. “Remember what I said.” He said. Jacob nodded, putting the ice pack to his eye and walked out. 

    “What he say?” Milo asked. “Same thing as last time.” Jacob sighed. “Anyways, you didn’t tell Maddie, right? She would kill me if she found out I got into another fight.” 

“So, I didn’t tell her but…”

    They both heard a honk. They turned and saw a familiar van parked in the small parking lot. Evelyn sat in the driver’s seat, shooting daggers through her eyes. “Evelyn told Maddie. She’s not with us but she does know.” “I am not getting into that van with her.” Jacob said, turning and walking into the opposite direction from Evelyn. Milo looked at Evelyn who was angrily gesturing for them to get in. 

    “Uh…Jacob?” Milo said, turning to Jacob but he was already halfway across the street. “Jacob, she’s not…that bad.” Milo shouted, running after him. He caught up to him and tried to convince him to ride with Evelyn. “It’s already sunset and you know Andy will kill all three of us if we stay out after dark.” 

“I can make it to Andy’s house if I run. I’ll be fine.” Jacob snapped. “She’s leaving the parking lot…and now she’s driving towards us.”

    Jacob turned and Evelyn was driving next to them. “And now she’s right next to us.” Milo said. “Jacob, just get in.”

“Evelyn, we can walk. Thanks.”

“You two better get in or I’m calling Maddie.”

    Jacob froze. He wondered whether it’s a good idea to call Maddie because she may take his side and yell at Evelyn or she’ll take Evelyn’s side and he’ll be dead. 

    He groaned. She’ll probably take Evelyn’s side since he did just get into a fight.

    The two climbed into the backseats of the van, Jacob avoiding Evelyn’s angry eyes. 

    “Sooooooo, did you guys hear that it’s legal to hunt unicorns in Michigan? Pretty weird, huh?” Milo said as he was crushed by the awkwardness. 

    Silence. 

    “It’s also legal to-” “Milo, not helping.” Evelyn said, through her teeth. Milo closed his mouth, looking at Jacob, who was feeling the same thing. 

    Jacob took in a deep breath. “Look, Evelyn, Mike and his gang were on the outskirts of town and they could have-”

    The van jerked to a stop, catching Milo and Jacob off guard. “Evelyn, what the hell! Are you trying to kill us?”

    Evelyn didn’t answer. “Evelyn?” Jacob asked. He scooted up to see Evelyn staring at something in the middle of the road. A small neon blue notebook. 

    “Evelyn, it’s a notebook. You’re not even going to run over it, it’s okay- Evelyn!” Jacob shouted as she jumped out to grab the notebook. Jacob and Milo exchanged confused looks. She picked it up and opened it to the first page. She gasped and looked at the two. Milo mouthed “what”. Evelyn looked at the notebook again before running back into the van. 

    “Evelyn, what is that? It’s just a wet notebook…” Jacob trailed off when she opened the sketchbook. Property of Elliot Allan. 

    Milo and Jacob stayed quiet for a while. Evelyn did a U-Turn and headed towards the main police department on the outskirts of Smithsville. 

    “But Elliot’s been gone for ten years.” Jacob said. “Milo, call Andy. Tell her that we’re heading to the police department and to meet us there.” Evelyn said. “ASAP.” She added.

[corrupted-trees]

PROLOUGE OF MY STORY

“WHERE’S MY SON?” The woman in the police department lobby shouted at the receptionist, who was trying to calm her down. “YOU PROMISED THAT YOU WOULD FIND HIM!” She continued to yell. The receptionist stepped back and said, “Ma’am, I can assure you that the police are doing everything they can to find Elliot! They will find him!” 

“It’s been a week and you still haven’t found him!”

“Ma’am, please-”

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down again! This is my son we’re talking about! If I have to, I will go out and find him myself!” 

The other people in the lobby stared at the women as she continued to make a scene. They knew exactly what was going on. Elliot Allan. A ten year old boy who has been missing for days. There were no signs of anything missing in his bedroom so not everyone believed he ran away. The family’s surveillance system didn’t pick anything up either so they had no proof that he left in the middle of the night. His mother believed that he was kidnapped by someone she had met in college years ago. The woman’s husband tried to make said person confess but they hadn’t been in town since 1986. The police had nothing. No leads. No suspects. Nothing. The chances of finding Elliot were very low. 

The front doors of the department opened and the husband along with Evelyn ran in. The woman ran to her husband for comfort.

“Have they found him yet?” He asked. She shook her head against his chest. Evelyn looked at the receptionist. “Why haven’t you found my best friend yet?” She asked. “You have to find him. He’s supposed to come to my birthday party. I’m turning nine!” Evelyn said, putting up ten fingers. The husband stomped over to the front desk and started shouting at the receptionist. “WHY HAVEN’T YOU FOUND OUR SON YET? IS IT THAT HARD TO FIND ELLIOT?” “Sir, we don’t have any leads or a place where he could have gone-” “CHECK MAX’S APARTMENT AGAIN! I KNOW HE HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH ELLIOT’S DISAPPEARANCE!” He shouted.

The receptionist opened her mouth to say something but a police officer came from the back and walked towards the family. 

“Did you find our son?” The woman’s eyes lit up. The officer looked at the family and Evelyn. “We did find Elliot-” “OH THANK GOODNESS! Where is he? We want to see him!” The woman sighed relieved. 

The officer looked down. “...I’m so sorry but Elliot’s dead. We found him at the bottom of a ditch.” 

The room stood still. “No…no, no, no no!” The woman cried, falling to her knees. The husband knelt down with his wife. “Who did this?” The husband asked, holding back his tears. “We’re not sure, Mr Allan. No fingerprints. No footprints. Nothing. But our investigation will continue.” The officer promised. 

The parents cried for their lost son. They looked back at Evelyn who looked like she was about to burst out crying as well. “You’re lying!” She shouted, startling everyone. “He can’t be dead! Please bring him back!” She cried, looking at the officer with pleading eyes. Ms. Allan grabbed her little hand and pulled her in to embrace her. Her husband held them both and whispered, “It’s going to be okay…it’s going to be okay.” 

[corrupted-trees]

Home

I have this weird feeling sometimes. You know how you long to go home when you’re away for a few weeks? That’s how it is with me. Except my Home doesn’t exist. I don’t know what it looks like but I know I’ll never see it. I’ll never have a feeling of Home. It will always be a substitute for what I want my Home to feel like.