Halloween Night: A Short Story, Page 2
M.J. Fontana
1 Year Prior to Halloween Night
“You ever get laid,” a kid across the cafeteria table asks. James fumbles and then looks the kid in the eyes, “Yeah a few times.” “Yeah? With who?” “You wouldn’t know them.” “They go this school,” the kid asks in a mocking tone that pierces right through him.
Present
James screams in frustration at the top of his lungs in the guest room the Davis family had provided him; he starts crying and punches the wall in anger. “Fuck,” he says to himself, his hand now in pain. A slight knock on the guest room door, “Honey is everything alright,” Mrs. Davis asks in her motherly tone of hers. James opens the door. Mrs. Davis stands in her night gown. “I had a bad dream. Sorry.” “No it’s okay, just wanted to make sure you were alright.” “Good night,” James says abruptly closing the door behind him. “Ohh. Yes good night honey, get some sleep.”
3 Days after Halloween night
“No signs of anything going wrong in the house,” Detective Brown informs Lee putting down a folder on his desk. “Did you really think that kid could have killed his parents?” “I don’t know if he had anything to do with it, but if he did, it wasn’t at the house. I don’t know, did he seem a little strange to you?” “His parents are missing, very well could be dead. I think we should be more worried if he was acting perfectly normal,” Lee says. “We confirmed that they indeed did leave the party early.” Lee goes through the folder Brown placed on the desk. “They made a credit card purchase at Barbeque Grill restaurant at 8:45 that evening.” Brown takes the piece of paper in Lee’s hand, “Let’s go to the restaurant, we’ll send another detective to get a glimpse of who this kid is.”
“We just want to have conversation with some of his teachers, get an idea of who the kid is,” Detective Silver tells the school principal. The principal nods her head along.
“Mr. Brooks, you were James Hue’s math teacher last semester. How did he act in class? What kind of student was he?” “He was a very quiet student, rarely spoke to anybody, never participated, but he did get good grades so I never got on his case about it. Not a kid who really stood out,” Mr. Brooks informs Detective Silver. Silver nods his head and writes notes in his pad. “From what you saw, was he ever bullied or made fun of by other students,” Silver asks. “No. Not from what I saw. More of they didn’t acknowledge him. What’s this about; I thought his parents were missing. What does this have to do with him or the school,” Mr. Brooks asks. “Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions,” Silver gets up and extends a hand.
“Mrs. Rivers, you were James Hue’s English teacher two semesters ago. How did he act in class? What kind of student was he?” “He was a quiet kid, never talked to any other students in class. He never participated, but I never got on him for that because he seemed very shy and got good grades,” Mrs. Rivers shares with Detective Silver. “From what you saw was he ever bullied or made fun by any students?” “No.. wait there was one time the students were lined up to get into a class and I saw him talking to another student, who he later pushed onto the floor. It stood out to me because it was the first time I ever noticed he was really with us. I don’t know it just stood out to me. It never escalated beyond that. May I ask what his parents missing have anything to do with school?” Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions,” Siler gets to his feet and extends his hand.
Detective Silver pulls his car into Mrs. Davis’s driveway, where James insisted he should stay for now. He knocks on the front door only once before Mrs. Davis opens it, letting the cool November air into her house. “The boys are at school right now, James will be back within the next hour. “Mrs. Davis, I actually just wanted to have a few words with you, if you have the time.” She looks at the man with a sign of curiosity, “Yeah, I don’t know how much more I could help you though,” she says leading the detective pass an aroma of fresh food cooking in the kitchen to the living room where they both take a seat on the couch. “You were close to James’s parents, is that correct?” “Yes, we had gotten close over the years, we both moved into this development when it was just starting to get built up, we both lived here since the beginning.” Silver nods his head to let her now he was following along. “Did they ever talk about their son?” “Like most parents, yeah, why?” “They mention any trouble they were having with their son Mrs. Davis?” “No, I mean not like that. They struggled because he was different from other kids his age, and they felt bad that he wasn’t making any friends. I remember in his elementary years they told me how they had to go to the school on a number of occasions because they were worried about him not participating in class, and interacting with the other kids. But as far as I know he was always well behaved.” “Is there anything else you could share with me to help me get insight to how life was in their household,” Silver asks. “I don’t know why you’re focusing on him; he didn’t do anything to his parents.” “Mrs. Davis, we’re not just focusing on him, we have two other detectives getting a timeline together on the whereabouts of his parents that night, but it’s our job to cover all angles, please understand,” Silver pleads. “They loved and supported James; they just always felt sorry that he was missing out.” “On?” “Life,” Mrs. Davis responds. “They loved him so much, but you could see the internal struggle with them, anytime they spoke of their son.” “How is he doing here?” “He’s doing well, he woke up screaming last night though, said he had a bad dream.” “It was a very nice thing you did for him, I spoke with his Aunt and Uncle, if something did go wrong that night, they have to take him, but for now, this is good,” Silver gets up from the couch, thanks Mrs. Davis for her time and walks back into the cool fall air to his car.
“We found the parking lot footage confirming that they left the restaurant with takeout, probably for James,” Detective Brown throws himself into his chair, leaning his head up to the ceiling in tiredness. Brown notices Silver walking past, calls for him. “Anything?” “I found out that the kid was quiet, a loner, kept to himself. His parents struggled internally on how to deal with him, felt sorry for him.” “Alright, Lee and I are going to ask around the development, see if they noticed their car in the driveway.”
Lee walks back to the car. “Did they,” Brown asks. “No.” “So no one knows if they noticed their car there, and no one noticed anything suspicious. Did his parents just decide to leave?” “Doubt it; I think we have to look more into their son at this point. Nobody noticed their car, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t go home.” Lee turns to Brown, “You really think that kid is capable of killing his parents, then hiding the evidence, like the car and bodies?” “I think we have to assume they made it home, we checked every avenue so far, we still have people searching for their car, but yes I think we have to start taking the kid seriously, bring him in, ask him a few questions.” “He seems like a kid with a few words, let’s not waste any time exploring this avenue, let’s search his computer too, and see what he’s been searching.”
Mrs. Davis peeks out of the small window behind the kitchen sink as the school bus slows to a stop, letting her son and James off the bus. The autumn breeze blows James’s hair in all crazy directions. Was the kid walking with her son a killer? Did we really know what was going on inside his head? Who was James really? He never shared with anyone, so how could we know if he’s capable of killing? No, he just isn’t, stop thinking like that. His parents never made it home, what did James do with the car and the bodies, he’s not a killer, his parents were the only ones he had, and he wouldn’t do that. She watches James and his expressionless face walking alongside his son with a smile on his face, enjoying life. But James is not going to be smiling, not when his parents are missing, but come to think of it even when his parents were around, he always had that expressionless face that begged the question, what is going on inside your head, what were you thinking about James? The front door opens and the two boys walk into the kitchen, “How was school,” she asks them. Yeah James, how was school? Yeah James, what di
d you do to you parents who did nothing but love you and want the best for you? Did you have anything to do with their disappearance, did you?
4 days after Halloween Night
Detective Brown heads toward his office with a 16oz coffee in his right hand, taking small sips along the way. “Good morning,” Lee greets him taking a sip of his own coffee on his desk. “Good morning,” Brown says back. After they share pleasantries, it’s back to business. They plan on asking James if they could examine his computer as evidence. They would say it in a way that didn’t sound like they were suspicious of him. They really were grasping at straws, they had no good leads. How James reacted to them wanting to see his computer would also give them insight, if he refused, then why?
“It’s in my bedroom,” James tells the two detectives anxiously. They follow James across the street from the Davis residents into his house and up the flight of stairs into his bedroom. “So Halloween night, you just watched some television and fell asleep.” “Yes,” James reassures them. “Did you notice anything suspicious that night, anything at all, I mean even the tiniest thing could help us,” Lee says. “No.” But of course he thought of the girl he had his way with that night, but no, that never happened. He didn’t have a life, and he didn’t really have sex with a girl like that. He’s got to stop confusing the two. You can’t pretend you have a life you don’t, the girl never happened, there was no girl. “It’s okay; it’s our job to just make sure. You’re not under any under suspicion either, like I said it’s something we just have to do.” James hands over his laptop to Detective Lee. James reassures himself that he always clears his history, the websites he visited, and what he searched for would not come up. They most likely have a way to still find that stuff, but what was he suppose to do? He replays the scenario in his head and thinks he should have told them he didn’t have one, then sneak into the house and get rid of it. He curses at himself for not doing that, but then he tells himself that would have been too risky, what if he got caught?
“Anything,” Lee asks Barry who had a look at the laptop. “No searches for how to kill parents without getting caught if that’s what you mean,” Barry laughs to himself, notices Detective Lee and Brown not laughing and then gathers himself. “Well like I said nothing like that, but besides porn and some sport sites, and illegal movie streaming sites, he seemed very interested in autism. For instance, he searched what it is, symptoms of it, and if it’s treatable. He looked this stuff up a lot,” Barry tells them. “Contact the Aunt and Uncle see if he was ever diagnosed with autism,” Lee demands, rising from his chair with a purpose. “I’m going to contact his doctors, see if they referred them to any specialist.” “May I ask where you’re going with this,” Brown interrupts Lee who’s already got his fall jacket on. Moments later Lee rushes out of the office.
Later that day, Lee walks toward his office with a fresh cup of coffee from the mornings. “I talked to the Aunt, she says that her sister never said if they got him evaluated, but she had suspected that. She also says she got off work and will be staying with James at the house until we find her sister,” Brown informs Lee as soon as he walks in. “I spoke to James’s doctor when he was 5, the parents did get a referral to a language therapists. Care to come with?” “Why, how is this related to his parents disappearing?” “The kid seemed interested and self aware about his short-comings, what if lonely on a Halloween night while other kids his age were going to costume parties, he takes his anger out on his parents. I’m not saying he did, but let’s find out what happened 11 years ago.”
Detective Lee and Brown drive down a rocky back road for 6 miles, retracing the steps of family with a son they did not understand. They were confused, worried about his future, and they wanted answers.
A middle aged overweight woman sitting behind the receptionist’s desk smiles and greets the detectives as they walk in. The lobby they pass through is already decorated for Christmas. “Hello, I’m Detective Lee; this is Detective Brown we need to see a file on James Hues.” “We can’t just give you that information,” she tells them. “I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news, but James Hues parents have been missing for 4 days, you could help us a lot by giving us access to those files,” Lee pleads. Another middle aged woman with long brunette hair enters from behind the receptionist’s desk, “What could we do for you?” “Two missing parents came in here 11 years ago, regarding their son, evaluated for autism; we need to know what happened.” “How could that possibly help you find them,” the lady asks confused. Lee slams his hand hard on the desk silencing them all, “Tell me what happened when they came in, is that so fucking hard,” Lee shouts, his face turning red. “Lee, relax,” Detective Brown attempts to calm him down. “Fucking obstruction of justice right here, unfucking believable,” Lee storms through the lobby. As he paces outside to calm himself, flurries come down as light as feather from the clouds above, melting as soon as they hit his face.
A few minutes later Brown opens the passenger door. “It’s already starting to snow, can you believe this,” Brown turns to Lee who has his eyes closed. “I’m sorry what happened back there, I’m not usually like that.” “Yeah, I know that but you sure scared the shit out of them, they were willing to give me the file and explain it to me. James was screened for autism here, and he was diagnosed with it. They offer therapy; you know to try helping the kid out, making it easier for him for when he gets older.” “Does that even help,” Lee interrupts. “They said they have seen autism symptoms improve. But they also told me the parents opted not to do it. I asked why. She told me that some parents deny it, and don’t want their child to be labeled.” “That’s stupid,” Lee says looking out his window. “Could you tell me what we are really doing here and what that was about inside.” Lee shuffles in his seat, looks over at his partner then starts the car.
Lee steps foot inside the comfort of his own house at 7:30 pm, as always greeted by his wife at the front door to ask him about his day and to tell him dinner was ready to be warmed up. He leans in and kisses his wife like it was the first time, like he always had. Tucker, their 5 year old son is rolling his favorite fire truck on the carpet in the living room. Lee enters the living room and kisses the top of his sons head, as he continues rolling the fire truck back and forth on the carpet. In the kitchen he takes out a readymade plate of his wife’s delicious homemade meatloaf with mash potatoes and places it into the microwave for two and half minutes. “Honey, I think we need to talk about Tucker.” “No, we’re not doing this again; he’ll break out of it. That’s the end of it, please,” his wife slides her hand down her husband’s face. “Honey, I seen kids like this, I have researched it, and it won’t get better if we avoid it. When he gets older it will be like putting a square peg in a round hole.” “Stop I’m not going to have our son labeled, he’ll get better,” his wife interrupts. The microwave timer goes off. Lee takes the plate out of the microwave, takes a seat at the kitchen table. His wife pulls out a chair, “I want to be alone,” Lee tells his wife. “I go to work, cook you and our son dinner, and now you’re what not going to talk to me,” his wife gets up from the chair. “I don’t like what you’re doing to our son, we need to do right by him, not be in denial because he’s not the son you wanted, is that what it is, you wanted a normal son, is that what it is,” Lee raises his voice. “Lower your voice he could hear you, there is nothing wrong with him, stop being paranoid.” “You know what honey, I won’t eat, I’ll leave,” Lee gets up from his chair and storms out of the kitchen.
6 days after Halloween Night
James was getting off at the bus stop as he regularly did, but this time he sees his Aunt waiting for him. He didn’t remember the last time he had seen her, but it had been awhile. “Hey,” she says to him after he gets off. “Hey Aunt Jamie,” James says back. “How was school?” “Good,” James replies. “I’m going to be staying with you at the house at least until your parents come back.” “Are they ever coming back,” James asks eve
n though he was certain of the answer, they were never coming back. They were dead and forever gone from his life. Together James and his Aunt walk into the empty house, the house full of memories of his parents. That evening Aunt Jamie took James out for pizza at a local pizzeria ten minutes from the house. They sat in silence while they waited for their order, and ate in silence when the food finally came.
8 days after Halloween night
“Detective Lee, Detective Brown, we found the Hue’s vehicle with them inside,” says Detective Silver standing in the doorway. “Where,” Lee asks in shock, he never believed they would actually find it. “In a lake 6 miles from the house. It wasn’t on the route they would have taken from the restaurant.” Silver informs them. Brown and Lee rise from their chairs, get their coats from the coat rack near the office door and in head to their car. “Maybe the kid is not telling us something, maybe it happened when he fell asleep, he said he did so watching television. Or maybe they never went home,” Lee rambles. “Lee calm down, we’re going to the scene first, and then we have to tell the family,” Brown tells him. They make a right hand turn into a park where the lake is, where the vehicle with the two bodies inside were. They get out of their vehicle to talk the man in charge of the crime scene.
Lee and Brown find out that the parents were unconscious when they drown in the vehicle that went into the lake. Lee looks at the two bodies in front of him, at the loving parents, still dressed in their Halloween attire. Dead bodies always had Lee shaken. “Come on Lee, we have to tell the Aunt, she’s been with James the past two days.” “I’m coming,” Lee tells him, falling behind, visibly shaken. Brown starts the car, turns on the heat as Lee slowly makes his way to the car. He always acted a little off when he saw the bodies, as for Brown he had gotten use to it, he envied Lee that it bothered him, should bother him more too, instead of feeling so routine. He wondered to himself how much longer Lee was going to keep doing this job. Secretly he always thought it would be sooner rather than later.
Brown knocks on the door once before he hears someone making their way to answer it. James’s Aunt opens it and looks at them, starts sobbing, knowing what they were going to tell her. “We’re so sorry,” Brown tries to console her, but he knew there was nothing he could say that would comfort her, her sister she had grown up with was gone from this world. James inches closer from the distance toward the door crying. Aunt Jamie tries to hug him but he steps outside into the cool November air, “I did it,” he shouts crying, wiping tears from streaking down his face. “I did it,” he shouts again. Aunt Jamie tells him to stop, tells the detectives he’s shaken from the news. “No, I drove the car into the lake,” he says quieter so only the three of them could hear.
Across the street, Mrs. Davis hears the shouting, so she takes a look out of her kitchen window, “No,no,no” she says to herself. The detectives take James seriously, and not as someone blaming themselves like so many others blamed themselves when something out of their control happened, because they had never mentioned that the car was found in the lake in the park. The detectives lead James, who follows willingly into the back of their vehicle.
At the station they take James into an interrogation room to find out what happened that Halloween night. Well Detective Brown did, Lee did not want to hear it, and so he excused himself.
On that cool and misty Halloween night James’s parents went to a Halloween party. They left the Halloween party earlier than expected, as they wanted to be with their son, who was all alone on that Halloween night. Their son who was screened and diagnosed for autism when he was younger was all alone, and James had felt especially lonely that night. Felt like he had nobody, he struggled with himself, curious to know what was wrong with him, why he was the way he was. Based on his searches on his computer, it was evident James suspected he had autism. Internally he blamed his parents for not noticing what was wrong with him and getting him the proper help when he was younger, so he would be better than he was currently. He hated that his parents refused to be honest with themselves and admit that something was wrong with him. He was confused about whom he was growing up and that Halloween night, he hated himself more than ever and he blamed his parents. Afterwards he walked back to his house from the park, and fell asleep on his couch. When he woke up the next morning, his parents were already dead.
2 days later
Lee heads outside the station for a smoke. He is surprised to see his beautiful wife with her long blonde hair walking toward him. “What are you doing here,” he blows smoke then turns in her direction. “I got Tucker evaluated today, he was diagnosed with autism,” she wipes a tear from her face and continues, “There are things we can do, you know, to help him, I got a bunch of packets too, I think you and I should go over it tonight.” Lee hugs her, then looks at her, “This doesn’t change anything honey, it’s our responsibility to do the best we could for him, this is good,” Lee comforts her. She turns to leave, “I’ll see you tonight.” “Honey,” Lee calls out to his wife who was as beautiful as the first time he met her. She turns, “I love you,” he tells her. “I love you too,” she says back before heading to her car.
Brown joins Lee outside the station, “Everything okay.” “Making the best of it, making the best of it,” Lee tells him.
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“You ever get laid,” a kid across the cafeteria table asks. James fumbles and then looks the kid in the eyes, “Yeah a few times.” “Yeah? With who?” “You wouldn’t know them.” “They go this school,” the kid asks in a mocking tone that pierces right through him.
Present
James screams in frustration at the top of his lungs in the guest room the Davis family had provided him; he starts crying and punches the wall in anger. “Fuck,” he says to himself, his hand now in pain. A slight knock on the guest room door, “Honey is everything alright,” Mrs. Davis asks in her motherly tone of hers. James opens the door. Mrs. Davis stands in her night gown. “I had a bad dream. Sorry.” “No it’s okay, just wanted to make sure you were alright.” “Good night,” James says abruptly closing the door behind him. “Ohh. Yes good night honey, get some sleep.”
3 Days after Halloween night
“No signs of anything going wrong in the house,” Detective Brown informs Lee putting down a folder on his desk. “Did you really think that kid could have killed his parents?” “I don’t know if he had anything to do with it, but if he did, it wasn’t at the house. I don’t know, did he seem a little strange to you?” “His parents are missing, very well could be dead. I think we should be more worried if he was acting perfectly normal,” Lee says. “We confirmed that they indeed did leave the party early.” Lee goes through the folder Brown placed on the desk. “They made a credit card purchase at Barbeque Grill restaurant at 8:45 that evening.” Brown takes the piece of paper in Lee’s hand, “Let’s go to the restaurant, we’ll send another detective to get a glimpse of who this kid is.”
“We just want to have conversation with some of his teachers, get an idea of who the kid is,” Detective Silver tells the school principal. The principal nods her head along.
“Mr. Brooks, you were James Hue’s math teacher last semester. How did he act in class? What kind of student was he?” “He was a very quiet student, rarely spoke to anybody, never participated, but he did get good grades so I never got on his case about it. Not a kid who really stood out,” Mr. Brooks informs Detective Silver. Silver nods his head and writes notes in his pad. “From what you saw, was he ever bullied or made fun of by other students,” Silver asks. “No. Not from what I saw. More of they didn’t acknowledge him. What’s this about; I thought his parents were missing. What does this have to do with him or the school,” Mr. Brooks asks. “Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions,” Silver gets up and extends a hand.
“Mrs. Rivers, you were James Hue’s English teacher two semesters ago. How did he act in class? What kind of student was he?” “He was a quiet kid, never talked to any other students in class. He never participated, but I never got on him for that because he seemed very shy and got good grades,” Mrs. Rivers shares with Detective Silver. “From what you saw was he ever bullied or made fun by any students?” “No.. wait there was one time the students were lined up to get into a class and I saw him talking to another student, who he later pushed onto the floor. It stood out to me because it was the first time I ever noticed he was really with us. I don’t know it just stood out to me. It never escalated beyond that. May I ask what his parents missing have anything to do with school?” Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions,” Siler gets to his feet and extends his hand.
Detective Silver pulls his car into Mrs. Davis’s driveway, where James insisted he should stay for now. He knocks on the front door only once before Mrs. Davis opens it, letting the cool November air into her house. “The boys are at school right now, James will be back within the next hour. “Mrs. Davis, I actually just wanted to have a few words with you, if you have the time.” She looks at the man with a sign of curiosity, “Yeah, I don’t know how much more I could help you though,” she says leading the detective pass an aroma of fresh food cooking in the kitchen to the living room where they both take a seat on the couch. “You were close to James’s parents, is that correct?” “Yes, we had gotten close over the years, we both moved into this development when it was just starting to get built up, we both lived here since the beginning.” Silver nods his head to let her now he was following along. “Did they ever talk about their son?” “Like most parents, yeah, why?” “They mention any trouble they were having with their son Mrs. Davis?” “No, I mean not like that. They struggled because he was different from other kids his age, and they felt bad that he wasn’t making any friends. I remember in his elementary years they told me how they had to go to the school on a number of occasions because they were worried about him not participating in class, and interacting with the other kids. But as far as I know he was always well behaved.” “Is there anything else you could share with me to help me get insight to how life was in their household,” Silver asks. “I don’t know why you’re focusing on him; he didn’t do anything to his parents.” “Mrs. Davis, we’re not just focusing on him, we have two other detectives getting a timeline together on the whereabouts of his parents that night, but it’s our job to cover all angles, please understand,” Silver pleads. “They loved and supported James; they just always felt sorry that he was missing out.” “On?” “Life,” Mrs. Davis responds. “They loved him so much, but you could see the internal struggle with them, anytime they spoke of their son.” “How is he doing here?” “He’s doing well, he woke up screaming last night though, said he had a bad dream.” “It was a very nice thing you did for him, I spoke with his Aunt and Uncle, if something did go wrong that night, they have to take him, but for now, this is good,” Silver gets up from the couch, thanks Mrs. Davis for her time and walks back into the cool fall air to his car.
“We found the parking lot footage confirming that they left the restaurant with takeout, probably for James,” Detective Brown throws himself into his chair, leaning his head up to the ceiling in tiredness. Brown notices Silver walking past, calls for him. “Anything?” “I found out that the kid was quiet, a loner, kept to himself. His parents struggled internally on how to deal with him, felt sorry for him.” “Alright, Lee and I are going to ask around the development, see if they noticed their car in the driveway.”
Lee walks back to the car. “Did they,” Brown asks. “No.” “So no one knows if they noticed their car there, and no one noticed anything suspicious. Did his parents just decide to leave?” “Doubt it; I think we have to look more into their son at this point. Nobody noticed their car, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t go home.” Lee turns to Brown, “You really think that kid is capable of killing his parents, then hiding the evidence, like the car and bodies?” “I think we have to assume they made it home, we checked every avenue so far, we still have people searching for their car, but yes I think we have to start taking the kid seriously, bring him in, ask him a few questions.” “He seems like a kid with a few words, let’s not waste any time exploring this avenue, let’s search his computer too, and see what he’s been searching.”
Mrs. Davis peeks out of the small window behind the kitchen sink as the school bus slows to a stop, letting her son and James off the bus. The autumn breeze blows James’s hair in all crazy directions. Was the kid walking with her son a killer? Did we really know what was going on inside his head? Who was James really? He never shared with anyone, so how could we know if he’s capable of killing? No, he just isn’t, stop thinking like that. His parents never made it home, what did James do with the car and the bodies, he’s not a killer, his parents were the only ones he had, and he wouldn’t do that. She watches James and his expressionless face walking alongside his son with a smile on his face, enjoying life. But James is not going to be smiling, not when his parents are missing, but come to think of it even when his parents were around, he always had that expressionless face that begged the question, what is going on inside your head, what were you thinking about James? The front door opens and the two boys walk into the kitchen, “How was school,” she asks them. Yeah James, how was school? Yeah James, what di
d you do to you parents who did nothing but love you and want the best for you? Did you have anything to do with their disappearance, did you?
4 days after Halloween Night
Detective Brown heads toward his office with a 16oz coffee in his right hand, taking small sips along the way. “Good morning,” Lee greets him taking a sip of his own coffee on his desk. “Good morning,” Brown says back. After they share pleasantries, it’s back to business. They plan on asking James if they could examine his computer as evidence. They would say it in a way that didn’t sound like they were suspicious of him. They really were grasping at straws, they had no good leads. How James reacted to them wanting to see his computer would also give them insight, if he refused, then why?
“It’s in my bedroom,” James tells the two detectives anxiously. They follow James across the street from the Davis residents into his house and up the flight of stairs into his bedroom. “So Halloween night, you just watched some television and fell asleep.” “Yes,” James reassures them. “Did you notice anything suspicious that night, anything at all, I mean even the tiniest thing could help us,” Lee says. “No.” But of course he thought of the girl he had his way with that night, but no, that never happened. He didn’t have a life, and he didn’t really have sex with a girl like that. He’s got to stop confusing the two. You can’t pretend you have a life you don’t, the girl never happened, there was no girl. “It’s okay; it’s our job to just make sure. You’re not under any under suspicion either, like I said it’s something we just have to do.” James hands over his laptop to Detective Lee. James reassures himself that he always clears his history, the websites he visited, and what he searched for would not come up. They most likely have a way to still find that stuff, but what was he suppose to do? He replays the scenario in his head and thinks he should have told them he didn’t have one, then sneak into the house and get rid of it. He curses at himself for not doing that, but then he tells himself that would have been too risky, what if he got caught?
“Anything,” Lee asks Barry who had a look at the laptop. “No searches for how to kill parents without getting caught if that’s what you mean,” Barry laughs to himself, notices Detective Lee and Brown not laughing and then gathers himself. “Well like I said nothing like that, but besides porn and some sport sites, and illegal movie streaming sites, he seemed very interested in autism. For instance, he searched what it is, symptoms of it, and if it’s treatable. He looked this stuff up a lot,” Barry tells them. “Contact the Aunt and Uncle see if he was ever diagnosed with autism,” Lee demands, rising from his chair with a purpose. “I’m going to contact his doctors, see if they referred them to any specialist.” “May I ask where you’re going with this,” Brown interrupts Lee who’s already got his fall jacket on. Moments later Lee rushes out of the office.
Later that day, Lee walks toward his office with a fresh cup of coffee from the mornings. “I talked to the Aunt, she says that her sister never said if they got him evaluated, but she had suspected that. She also says she got off work and will be staying with James at the house until we find her sister,” Brown informs Lee as soon as he walks in. “I spoke to James’s doctor when he was 5, the parents did get a referral to a language therapists. Care to come with?” “Why, how is this related to his parents disappearing?” “The kid seemed interested and self aware about his short-comings, what if lonely on a Halloween night while other kids his age were going to costume parties, he takes his anger out on his parents. I’m not saying he did, but let’s find out what happened 11 years ago.”
Detective Lee and Brown drive down a rocky back road for 6 miles, retracing the steps of family with a son they did not understand. They were confused, worried about his future, and they wanted answers.
A middle aged overweight woman sitting behind the receptionist’s desk smiles and greets the detectives as they walk in. The lobby they pass through is already decorated for Christmas. “Hello, I’m Detective Lee; this is Detective Brown we need to see a file on James Hues.” “We can’t just give you that information,” she tells them. “I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news, but James Hues parents have been missing for 4 days, you could help us a lot by giving us access to those files,” Lee pleads. Another middle aged woman with long brunette hair enters from behind the receptionist’s desk, “What could we do for you?” “Two missing parents came in here 11 years ago, regarding their son, evaluated for autism; we need to know what happened.” “How could that possibly help you find them,” the lady asks confused. Lee slams his hand hard on the desk silencing them all, “Tell me what happened when they came in, is that so fucking hard,” Lee shouts, his face turning red. “Lee, relax,” Detective Brown attempts to calm him down. “Fucking obstruction of justice right here, unfucking believable,” Lee storms through the lobby. As he paces outside to calm himself, flurries come down as light as feather from the clouds above, melting as soon as they hit his face.
A few minutes later Brown opens the passenger door. “It’s already starting to snow, can you believe this,” Brown turns to Lee who has his eyes closed. “I’m sorry what happened back there, I’m not usually like that.” “Yeah, I know that but you sure scared the shit out of them, they were willing to give me the file and explain it to me. James was screened for autism here, and he was diagnosed with it. They offer therapy; you know to try helping the kid out, making it easier for him for when he gets older.” “Does that even help,” Lee interrupts. “They said they have seen autism symptoms improve. But they also told me the parents opted not to do it. I asked why. She told me that some parents deny it, and don’t want their child to be labeled.” “That’s stupid,” Lee says looking out his window. “Could you tell me what we are really doing here and what that was about inside.” Lee shuffles in his seat, looks over at his partner then starts the car.
Lee steps foot inside the comfort of his own house at 7:30 pm, as always greeted by his wife at the front door to ask him about his day and to tell him dinner was ready to be warmed up. He leans in and kisses his wife like it was the first time, like he always had. Tucker, their 5 year old son is rolling his favorite fire truck on the carpet in the living room. Lee enters the living room and kisses the top of his sons head, as he continues rolling the fire truck back and forth on the carpet. In the kitchen he takes out a readymade plate of his wife’s delicious homemade meatloaf with mash potatoes and places it into the microwave for two and half minutes. “Honey, I think we need to talk about Tucker.” “No, we’re not doing this again; he’ll break out of it. That’s the end of it, please,” his wife slides her hand down her husband’s face. “Honey, I seen kids like this, I have researched it, and it won’t get better if we avoid it. When he gets older it will be like putting a square peg in a round hole.” “Stop I’m not going to have our son labeled, he’ll get better,” his wife interrupts. The microwave timer goes off. Lee takes the plate out of the microwave, takes a seat at the kitchen table. His wife pulls out a chair, “I want to be alone,” Lee tells his wife. “I go to work, cook you and our son dinner, and now you’re what not going to talk to me,” his wife gets up from the chair. “I don’t like what you’re doing to our son, we need to do right by him, not be in denial because he’s not the son you wanted, is that what it is, you wanted a normal son, is that what it is,” Lee raises his voice. “Lower your voice he could hear you, there is nothing wrong with him, stop being paranoid.” “You know what honey, I won’t eat, I’ll leave,” Lee gets up from his chair and storms out of the kitchen.
6 days after Halloween Night
James was getting off at the bus stop as he regularly did, but this time he sees his Aunt waiting for him. He didn’t remember the last time he had seen her, but it had been awhile. “Hey,” she says to him after he gets off. “Hey Aunt Jamie,” James says back. “How was school?” “Good,” James replies. “I’m going to be staying with you at the house at least until your parents come back.” “Are they ever coming back,” James asks eve
n though he was certain of the answer, they were never coming back. They were dead and forever gone from his life. Together James and his Aunt walk into the empty house, the house full of memories of his parents. That evening Aunt Jamie took James out for pizza at a local pizzeria ten minutes from the house. They sat in silence while they waited for their order, and ate in silence when the food finally came.
8 days after Halloween night
“Detective Lee, Detective Brown, we found the Hue’s vehicle with them inside,” says Detective Silver standing in the doorway. “Where,” Lee asks in shock, he never believed they would actually find it. “In a lake 6 miles from the house. It wasn’t on the route they would have taken from the restaurant.” Silver informs them. Brown and Lee rise from their chairs, get their coats from the coat rack near the office door and in head to their car. “Maybe the kid is not telling us something, maybe it happened when he fell asleep, he said he did so watching television. Or maybe they never went home,” Lee rambles. “Lee calm down, we’re going to the scene first, and then we have to tell the family,” Brown tells him. They make a right hand turn into a park where the lake is, where the vehicle with the two bodies inside were. They get out of their vehicle to talk the man in charge of the crime scene.
Lee and Brown find out that the parents were unconscious when they drown in the vehicle that went into the lake. Lee looks at the two bodies in front of him, at the loving parents, still dressed in their Halloween attire. Dead bodies always had Lee shaken. “Come on Lee, we have to tell the Aunt, she’s been with James the past two days.” “I’m coming,” Lee tells him, falling behind, visibly shaken. Brown starts the car, turns on the heat as Lee slowly makes his way to the car. He always acted a little off when he saw the bodies, as for Brown he had gotten use to it, he envied Lee that it bothered him, should bother him more too, instead of feeling so routine. He wondered to himself how much longer Lee was going to keep doing this job. Secretly he always thought it would be sooner rather than later.
Brown knocks on the door once before he hears someone making their way to answer it. James’s Aunt opens it and looks at them, starts sobbing, knowing what they were going to tell her. “We’re so sorry,” Brown tries to console her, but he knew there was nothing he could say that would comfort her, her sister she had grown up with was gone from this world. James inches closer from the distance toward the door crying. Aunt Jamie tries to hug him but he steps outside into the cool November air, “I did it,” he shouts crying, wiping tears from streaking down his face. “I did it,” he shouts again. Aunt Jamie tells him to stop, tells the detectives he’s shaken from the news. “No, I drove the car into the lake,” he says quieter so only the three of them could hear.
Across the street, Mrs. Davis hears the shouting, so she takes a look out of her kitchen window, “No,no,no” she says to herself. The detectives take James seriously, and not as someone blaming themselves like so many others blamed themselves when something out of their control happened, because they had never mentioned that the car was found in the lake in the park. The detectives lead James, who follows willingly into the back of their vehicle.
At the station they take James into an interrogation room to find out what happened that Halloween night. Well Detective Brown did, Lee did not want to hear it, and so he excused himself.
On that cool and misty Halloween night James’s parents went to a Halloween party. They left the Halloween party earlier than expected, as they wanted to be with their son, who was all alone on that Halloween night. Their son who was screened and diagnosed for autism when he was younger was all alone, and James had felt especially lonely that night. Felt like he had nobody, he struggled with himself, curious to know what was wrong with him, why he was the way he was. Based on his searches on his computer, it was evident James suspected he had autism. Internally he blamed his parents for not noticing what was wrong with him and getting him the proper help when he was younger, so he would be better than he was currently. He hated that his parents refused to be honest with themselves and admit that something was wrong with him. He was confused about whom he was growing up and that Halloween night, he hated himself more than ever and he blamed his parents. Afterwards he walked back to his house from the park, and fell asleep on his couch. When he woke up the next morning, his parents were already dead.
2 days later
Lee heads outside the station for a smoke. He is surprised to see his beautiful wife with her long blonde hair walking toward him. “What are you doing here,” he blows smoke then turns in her direction. “I got Tucker evaluated today, he was diagnosed with autism,” she wipes a tear from her face and continues, “There are things we can do, you know, to help him, I got a bunch of packets too, I think you and I should go over it tonight.” Lee hugs her, then looks at her, “This doesn’t change anything honey, it’s our responsibility to do the best we could for him, this is good,” Lee comforts her. She turns to leave, “I’ll see you tonight.” “Honey,” Lee calls out to his wife who was as beautiful as the first time he met her. She turns, “I love you,” he tells her. “I love you too,” she says back before heading to her car.
Brown joins Lee outside the station, “Everything okay.” “Making the best of it, making the best of it,” Lee tells him.
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