“Do you want to talk about it?”
He could already see the answer written on her face before he could even ask the question, but he wanted to help somehow. Sun had been poking at her pancakes for the past ten minutes not saying a word and not eating either. Her eyes were red and swollen from the cry she had and she seemed like a shell of her previous self. He wondered what kind of nightmare she witnessed if it made her do a complete one-eighty on her personality like that. As if sensing his worry and discomfort, Sun made a show of taking a bite of the food in front of her to ease him of his conscience. It only made him feel worse since she was being so considerate about how uncomfortable he felt while he should be the one trying to comfort her.
“Listen kiddo, you can talk about anything to me, alright? I’ve seen some shit and know that sometimes it’s better to get someone else’s help rather than trying to do it all yourself.”
The instant those words came out of his mouth he knew that he needed to come clean about everything to Sun otherwise he would be painting himself a hypocrite.
“I had a family ten years ago, Lisa, my wife, and Tyler, my son. We used to live in a small town in Minnesota, but we moved because I got hired by the Detroit Police Force. My wife stayed at home to take care of Tyler while I was off at work. We lived a happy life; we never worried about where our next meal was coming from and our bills were always paid on time. But I wanted more. I had been at the station for about five years working under a few of the inspectors there and I wanted their lives. They didn’t have to worry about pulling people over for going ten miles over the speed limit or responding to calls about a neighbor being too loud. I wanted my own cases, my own desk, my own partner.
“So when I got word that there was a new gang that was taking over the streets I jumped at the idea to prove myself. I followed up on leads to get some names of the head members and tried to find the places that they met. They got word of my snooping around and threatened my life. The other officers told me to back down because I was getting too close, but I thought they were just trying to get a promotion themselves. I ended up going to the Lieutenant at the time and giving him everything I had so the force could go arrest the members. All of it was enough for arrest warrants so we went ahead and arrested every one of them.”
Roger’s voice cracked as he continued, hating that talking about it felt like it was happening again. Up until now everything in the past could still be changed if he never talked about it, but now that he was listening to his hollow voice tell another person what had happened ten years ago, it was as if he were admitting defeat and now he really couldn’t go back and get his family back. Clearing his throat so Sun wouldn’t catch the sudden wave of emotions he was feeling, he continued.
“That same day I came home to a broken family. Tyler was only six.”
He remembered the stink of iron in the air and the vast amount of blood on the floor. Roger had stood there for a long time needing to process what he was seeing since it seemed so surreal. His wife should have been smiling at him and welcoming him back home and his son rushing up to him to show him the latest picture he drew. What were they doing on the floor?
Roger shuttered at the image in his mind, locking away the images of the people he loved most in the world lying lifeless on the hardwood into the deepest recesses of his brain where they belonged.
“I’ve been hunting down the people that did this since then. The gang members claimed they knew nothing about it, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. The trail went cold and I fell into depression. Luckily, I had people that cared about me to help me to make me think clearly before doing something I couldn’t come back from.
“I hadn’t touched the case for years but then I ran into Red a week ago. They made me promise to do a favor for them and in exchange, they’d lead me to the people that destroyed my life. It turns out that you were the favor.”
He tried to gauge Sun’s reaction, but her face was still a little cloudy from the morning’s event.
“Did you get revenge yet?” Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper.
“Not yet, but I feel closer to the answer than ever.”
“Will it make you feel better?”
“Yes.”
His answer was immediate. He’d read his fair share of revenge dramas and usually the main character would back down before taking his opponent’s life, spouting out some nonsense about how if he killed someone now it would only continue the cycle of hate. Absolute bullshit. He couldn’t wait to pull the trigger on that cold-blooded son-of-a-bitch that killed his wife and six-year-old. They deserved to burn in hell, and if he was going to hell because he wanted revenge, then so be it.
Sun stared down at her plate, floored by Roger’s history. Her problems felt so small now in comparison with his that she didn’t want to admit what had her broken down inside. She knew she had to otherwise it would just fester inside her and she might see the evil creature again.
“I remembered my dad and my home. I was so happy there, but now…”
“Do you remember what your father looked like? Maybe we can find him.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Roger was already across the room grabbing his notepad and pen, ideas coursing through his head. Did Red kidnap this girl? Would Red come hunting after her if she were somehow reunited with her family?
A laugh slipped past Sun’s lips, surprising him.
“Unless you know a nearby colony that has two suns, I don’t think we’re going to find him.”
“What?” Roger asked, incredulous.
“In my memory, there were two suns in the sky. And some sort of purple flower and orange grass.”
Roger shook his head, shaking it free of cobwebs; clearly he heard wrong. Either that or Sun had such a vivid dream that her mind convinced her that it was a memory. Sun must have read the disbelief in his eyes because her face fell.
“You don’t believe me.”
The disheartened expression on her face plunged a knife into his heart. But there was no such thing as a place with two suns. But then again, he recalled, Sun was immune to physical trauma which definitely didn’t happen in real life either. Ignoring his better judgment, he forced himself to believe in her words.
“No, I believe you. But how did you get here if you’re from a different planet altogether?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. I only remember waking up in the river, nothing before. Well, besides my home now, but I have no idea how I got here.”
Sun decided against telling Roger about Alter since that may be too much information to take in at once. Sun only partially believed herself now. Her eyes told her that this world had one sun, but her memories showed her two. Could Alter be manipulating her memories? The image of the creature Alter had morphed into slid into her mind. Fighting back the urge to cry again, she cast it away. Telling Roger about that nightmarish being was going to have to wait too. She did admit that she did feel better talking about what she had seen last night and her appetite was returning.
Wolfing down the pancakes on her plate, she starting getting ready for the day. She could feel Roger’s eyes inspecting her to see if she was really okay, but she was honestly feeling better. Plus, getting some one-on-one training with Leslie would really help her unwind.
Satisfied with Sun returning to her normal self, Roger got ready for work. When he dropped her off at the daycare he made a personal vow to do something fun with her on his next day off. Even though taking care of Sun had been forced on him, he felt that he should take some responsibility and teach her things about this world. Because apparently, she came from a different one. Nope, that one was going to take much more time before his brain fully accepted the fact Sun wasn’t from Earth. All of a sudden he was amused by the name he chose for her, still wearing a grin when he stepped out of his car and was greeted by John. John’s typical smile was gone, however, which was never a good sign.
“I’ve got bad news.”
Roger braced himself. Whenever John prefaced something by saying there was bad news his day usually didn’t end on a positive note.
“Is there good news first?” Roger asked hopefully.
“I have a hot new girlfriend if that counts for anything.”
It didn’t.
“Alright, lay it on me.”
“Mitch Gretton was found dead this morning. An apparent suicide, but that’s too much of a coincidence. Officer Davies found him next to a dumpster just a few blocks from his apartment, needle still in his arm. The lab is testing the liquid they found in the needle, but official COD at the moment is OD.”
Roger was at a loss for words. His only solid lead in ten years, dead. He had hoped to ask a few more questions regarding the warehouse payments, but clearly that wasn’t possible anymore.
“Does his roommate know anything?”
“Missing, presumed dead. When I went to check on him there was way too much blood for him to still be alive. I assume you still want to check out the scene?” John dangled the patrol keys in front of Roger. “Come on, I’m driving.”
They spit-fired possible scenarios for Mitch’s death on the drive over, reaching the conclusion that someone must have tipped someone else off. It was a very short list; the roommate. If the roommate had reached out to the culprit they were after with information, it could have easily gone sideways if the culprit were armed and the roommate wasn’t. But they didn’t find a body which meant there was a possibility he was still alive.
When they arrived, Roger’s hope of finding the roommate breathing was dashed. John was right to assume they were going to find a dead body considering how much blood had soaked into the carpet.
“Blood is completely dry and starting to chip off at places, so this probably happened a few days ago. No sign of forced entry but clear signs of a struggle.”
The sour tang of iron filled Roger’s nostrils and he felt like keeling over and vomiting then and there. This scene reminded him way too much of his family; it seemed like lately there were more triggers than usual. He hoped that was because he was getting close and not because he was going senile. Forcing down the bile he snapped on some gloves and started rummaging around searching for anything that would give him a new lead. The living room provided no promising clues so Roger moved to the bedrooms; Mitch’s first.
The thing that stood out to him most was the mess and he wondered if there had been a struggle in there too, but after finding a few pairs of dirty boxers and stiff socks lying around, he knew it was because of its nasty inhabitant rather than a fight for life with a ruthless killer. Not finding anything in Mitch’s room, he moved to the roommate’s.
Luckily in this room he could see the floor, which made it a bit easier to navigate, but finding anything was difficult considering how every furniture surface was covered in receipts, bills, and miscellaneous paper. He found a wallet on the bed, discovering that the occupant’s name was Leland Jackson. At least now Roger knew the identity of the body they were going to find in the future. He deemed the room fruitless and planned to start interviewing neighbors when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. There was a small bright red box hiding under a pile of papers under what Roger assumed was the desk.
Pushing the stack aside, he lifted the box into his hand, examining it. This couldn’t be a coincidence. He lifted the red lid and inside was a piece of a brown envelope and a note. The brown paper was a return address cut out from the face of a package;
Miss. Cassidy Jones
77 Culvern Street
Asheville 29, North Carolina
The note read:
“Don’t kill this one.
-R”