“Because… it’s about her”
“Julia?!” Allyson frantically crossed the living room.
Her roommate’s interior room was visible but she was nowhere to be seen.
Numerous thoughts rummaging through her mind, Allyson quickly grabbed her running shoes and bolted out of the apartment and ran through the stairs. She forced the exit out.
“JULIA!!”
Her head turned left and right multiple times in quick succession. Several students stood on the sidewalk smoking cigarettes. Her darting eyes and swiveled head were becoming very vivid.
“Hey guys, have any of you seen a woman this high,” she positioned her right hand like a flat line and hovered over her right shoulder blade, “with short blonde hair? She also wore a yellow jacket and black pants. Did you see her out here?!”
“Uh, no sorry,” a man with gray sweatpants weaved his head. “We just stepped out like a second ago.”
“Damn it!” Allyson immediately carried her legs south of the sidewalk and turned right at the stop sign. Upon approaching the parking lot, she caught attention at a campus police car driving the opposite lane.
Then the car slowed down and stopped.
“Excuse me, officer!”
The cop got out of his car and crossed his arms.
“What’s going on?”
“My roommate’s missing!”
“Missing?” A shadow smile crept on his lips. “When was the last time you saw your roommate?”
“Just now! She was in the apartment with me and then all of a sudden, I heard a loud noise and now she disappeared! I don't know where she is! You have to help me find her!”
“Alright,” the officer wrote on his little notepad with his eyes sternly focused. “You were with your roommate when she suddenly disappeared out of nowhere?”
“Yeah! It sounds really weird but that’s what I remember.”
“Uh huh,” his tone was unenthusiastic. His expression remained unchanged “And the minute you knew she went missing, you ran out here to search for help?”
“I did!”
His nod at first eased Allyson’s mind. The officer tucked the notepad into his shirt pocket before clicking on the radio microphone clipped to his collar.
“244 to College Park.”
“College Park to 244.”
“I have a 10-75. Requesting backup.”
“Backup requested and can you provide the information on 10-75?”
“Number 5 female, purple shirt, and navy pants. My 20 is the intersection at Lakeland Road and Baltimore Avenue right at the parking lot.”
“10-4.”
Allyson’s stomach began to churn. Her body started spiking up heat and her eyes furrowed. “Excuse me, are you describing”
“Give me a moment.”
“285 to College Park.”
“College Park, go ahead.”
“Arrived at the intersection of Baltimore Avenue and Lakeland Road with 244 and the 10-75.”
“10-4.”
“Young lady,” the first cop addressed. “Hands behind your back.”
“What?”
“Hands behind your back. Now!”
Before she even complied, the first cop walked behind Allyson and forcibly placed Allyson’s wrists in a cross formation and cuffed her.
“We are taking you to the station to get more answers from you. You are going to have to answer us a few questions about your roommate’s ‘disappearance’.”
Her eyes widened and her heart raced at every millisecond. Her body froze from the cop’s information and was taken in the back seat of the vehicle.
In her mind, she hollered, “My roommate is fucking missing! Why am I being arrested?!”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In a dark gray room, Allyson sat with her back erect on the chair with a wooden desk at center. Her shoulders shriveled up, hands tucked in her lap, and knees bent inwards. All she did for the past hour was gazing at the table.
Finally, someone walked in. A man in a light blue buttoned shirt with a black tie and brown pants. He held his navy jacket with his right hand and over his shoulder. Once the man sat directly on the opposite side, he took a deep breath.
"Name's Detective Vargas. What's your name?"
"Allyson," she dryly answered while holding back the urge to cough.
"I'm going to cut to the chase here. Recall what has occurred before your roommate went missing."
"I saw her come back to the apartment late Sunday morning. Then I left to go for a run. When I came back, the door was still shut. She didn't come out until the evening at around 7pm. She quickly went back to her room and I went to my room. At around 9pm, I was cleaning my room before I heard a loud slam. I ran only to see her room wide open. She wasn't there so I ran out of the building to try to find her."
The detective nodded and wrote down what he thought were main points in Allyson's story.
“Can you describe what she looks like?”
“About this high, had black pants, and a light yellow jacket.”
“Did anyone near the building see your roommate?”
Allyson waved her head sideways.
“Any vehicles around the area that you may have seen?”
The same response.
Vargas covered his lips inward and documented the information. He raised his head to meet with the anxious Allyson. "Do you know if your roommate had anyone who may not get along with her?"
"Not that I know of."
"How about you?"
"I don't understand," she kept her focus on her tucked hands.
"What I was trying to ask is did you and your roommate get along?"
"We did."
He groaned and clenched his teeth. Allyson waited for about 10 minutes as Detective Vargas continued to jot down his notebook. His demeanor was difficult to decipher when she took a quick peek.
"Ok, you can leave."
"What?" Her left eye furrowed. His words slowly loosened Allyson's body.
"I said you can leave. I don't think you would do anything to harm your roommate. If it makes you feel better, I can have an escort take you home."
"That'll be nice, thank you."
The Detective unbuckled his radio and brought it to the left side of his lips. "277 to 2009."
"2009 go ahead." Allyson shifted her focus to the respondent's voice.
"I have an escort for you. Meet me in the auxiliary room asap."
"10-4."
"Come with me." Vargas and Allyson exited the interrogation room and walked upstairs on the left corridor.
"What the hell was that?!" The first cop halted the two and tensely stood in front of them. His flaming eyes locked to Allyson. "Why is she leaving? She is a prime suspect!"
"Hey, I'm in charge of this case and I make the calls.” He stomped his left foot and shielded himself in front of the ‘prime suspect’. She is cleared of suspicion and that's that."
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
"Bull fucking shit! You got lucky bitch but you better watch yourself." The first cop walked the opposite direction and smashed the exit door.
"I'm really sorry that he made you uncomfortable and scared," his eyes lowered and braced his right palm on his forehead.
Allyson remained silent and looked away from Vargas. He closed his eyes for a moment before arriving at the auxiliary department. There a man in a gray buttoned shirt with navy military pants sat on a chair filing some paperwork. He turned to meet the escort.
"Allyson?"
"Jansen?" Her eyes beamed upon knowing it was indeed him.
"Wait, what’s going on?" He asked while his brows were knitted.
"I'll explain later.” The detective raised his hand up to his chest. “Take her home first. I'm calling an APB for her roommate."
"Her roommate's missing? Uh, what the hell is going on?"
"Now is not the time. Take her home, meet me at Lot 3 right after. I’ll let you know what is happening."
"Got it."
The SPA Supervisor walked side-by-side with Allyson to the parking lot behind the Pocomoke Building. He took out the vehicular keys from his left pocket and unlocked the Crown Vic containing no markings on the exterior. He swiftly opened the passenger side to let the distraught woman sit first. While the drive back to her apartment was short, no conversation was made. Parking in front of the building on 48th avenue, neither made a single inch of movement on their still bodies.
“Hey,” Jansen quietly turned to his friend. “We’ll find Julia. I promise you that.”
“Thanks,” her head leaned on the window while her dark eyes pointed at the door handle. “She’s gone because of me. All because I stuck my nose into her business.”
“How do you know that?” His narrowed eyes and scowled tone left her unfazed. “Was it you who punished Julia? Was it you who caused her to have so much stress? Or was it you who wanted to make sure she’s safe?”
Allyson’s tense muscles circled around her closed mouth and hid her eyes behind her long hair. Her body felt numb. Her heart pulse echoed throughout her temple.
“I don’t know. I really don’t.” Her voice almost cracked near the end of her response.
“It’s ok,” he gently tapped his chest once. “Everything’ll be alright. We will find her and search every single place to do so.”
“Yeah, thank you.”
“Just make sure you get some rest tonight. Leave the searching tonight to me.”
“Thanks, Jansen,” Allyson cracked a dimpled smile which Jansen reciprocated. “For being there for me again.”
She stepped out of the vehicle, waved her hands to Jansen, and walked while her head was tilted down to her apartment building to which Jansen drove off for the night.
Despite putting out an APB, there was no luck on Julia’s whereabouts.
September 21
Two days have passed since the incident. Despite the campus police and the student police aides efforts, there was no confidence in locating Julia. When both parties attempted again Tuesday night, neither of them replicated the same efforts from Sunday night. They mindlessly patrolled the area and concluded that Julia was not present. When Jansen relayed the news that Julia was still missing, Allyson was determined to find Julia herself.
Around in the afternoon, once Allyson completed her classes, she hurriedly speed walked to the Stamp building and rendezvoused with Jansen.
“Ok, here’s what we’re going to do,” Allyson aggressively tapped her phone’s screen a few times to display the campus map. “We can split up using the Campus Drive as the middle line. We’ll start with the area behind the Stamp building and survey that area. I already crossed out several buildings because I checked them yesterday. So our search today is going to be a little easier.”
“Damn, she really was prepared.” Jansen thought to himself as he pierced his bottom lip and rocked his head. He queried, “Ok, where should we start first?”
Throughout the entire afternoon, Allyson and Jansen searched through the surrounding areas of Ellicott Area Dining, Cambridge Community Center, Campus farm, and the Denton Area. These areas consisted mostly of dormitories spread out north of the campus. After questioning almost every student they came across, they all answered the same.
To wrap up the afternoon, they traveled to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center which was to the left of the football stadium on Alumni Drive. Inside the vast building, they peeked into several studio rooms where students were practicing either choreography, theater performance, or music. They were not able to pinpoint Julia in any of the rooms. The students and faculty confirmed to not have seen her recently.
Walking outside the building, Allyson placed her hands on the top of her head with her icy stare pointing at the pavement road.
“Damn it! Where the hell are you, Julia?!”
“No one seems to know where she is,” Jansen was surveillancing the area with his dilated pupils and slight frown. “How can no one see Julia at all? Though it was at night but still…”
The skies were gradually becoming orange.
“It’s getting late. I’ll take you home and I’ll try to get my SPAs tonight to search again.”
“Please do, thanks!”
But alas, they not only failed to accomplish the task, but wrote down that they searched the areas mentioned but surveillance cameras indicated otherwise. The campus officers only parked in lots and waved their eyes once and then drove away.
That night in a small office in Pocomoke.
“How can someone just disappear like that?” Detective Vargas pinned his elbows on the desk and nearly yanked his short hair. “It doesn’t make sense. Julia disappears without a trace. Her roommate was in the same apartment unit with her yet was shocked by the news. What the hell is going on?”
Hearing the commotion outside, he was forced to hear the conversation and shut his lips.
“You guys see that stupid girl trying to find her ‘roommate’?” The voice resembled 244.
“I don’t know man,” the unknown voice shrugged his shoulders and lips turned down. “It sounds like she really does want to find her roommate.”
“Come on, you can’t buy into what she’s saying.” Officer 244 curled his lips while his nostrils flared up. “You don’t think it’s weird that her roommate goes missing and she quickly calls the cops saying that she went missing? I know it’s fishy as fuck. That detective shouldn’t have let her go. If I had full control, I’d make sure she confesses everything.”
“Ha! Yeah, right.”
“Hold on, what?” Vargas cocked his head and pursed his lips.
September 23
Allyson and Jansen opted to skip their classes and resumed their investigation. Despite surveying the other side of the campus, the outcome was the same.
During their walk on Mowatt Lane, they were about to head to the Mayer Mall until they saw three people standing in front of the Van Munching Building. They were heading down the steps and converged just on the edge of the field. The investigators furtively stepped backward and held their backs against the wall.
“It’s them.” Allyson’s veins were pulsing on her temple as she crawled and looked out near the ground.
“We can’t stay here.” Jansen stood and looked at the three just above Allyson’s head. “Come on, let’s go the other way.”
“No, I want to hear what those shitheads say.”
He closed his eyes, shrugged his shoulders, and pierced his lips.
“Well, I’m not surprised that someone like her ran out on the campus,” Cree scoffed.
“First, she has a ton of debt to pay. So even if she’s alive, she still needs to pay us back.” Scott kept a straight face before pulling out a cigarette. “It’s hard to find people who actually put in work these days.”
“It’s her fault that she is in debt and lost her job. If she did what she was asked to do, then she wouldn’t have run away.”
“Eh, it’s ok, honestly she can talk to me and we can pay that debt my way,” Joe turned his lips up and raised his eyebrows twice.
Allyson’s eyes were bloodshot. Instinctively, she stood up and took a heavy step.
Then her left arm was caught and forced back to a corner.
“What are you doing?” She loudly whispered as her eyes crinkled.
“Do NOT make a scene.” Jansen’s tone was daunting, his eyes darted at her, and his neck tensed up.
“You heard what they said about Julia. I’m not going to let that slide.”
“And what are you going to do? Tell them to ‘fuck off’? Tell me, how does that help find Julia?”
“It does because… because… it’s about her.” She stammered before pulling her left arm away. “Julia’s life is in danger and I’m terrified of what might happen to her. Hearing someone make a mockery of her is the last thing I want to listen to.”
“You’re right that it’s about her,” he reassured before hovering his hands on her shoulders. Allyson made a ghost nod to which Jansen then made physical contact. “Her life is possibly at risk. RIght now, those guys, with whatever they are saying, are not important. Finding Julia is the priority. With everything that has happened this past week, I’m also very worried about you.”
“Why are you worried about me?” Allyson tilted her head to the left by a small degree.
He paused for a moment which made her body tighten. Her shoulders shrugged up a tad bit.
“I can’t let someone suffer like that again. At the very least, I would like to see you make some amends with Julia. Maybe then, you can be ok.”
Allyson held a deep breath yet her heart fluttered and face flushed a hint of red. Her mind became cloudy.
“I didn’t know you were that concerned about me.”
“I am,” he closed his cold eyes before locking eyes with his friend. “You’ve had a rough time here so I want to at least make sure you’re okay.”
The woman let her bottom lip hang down by a centimeter and felt the wind softening her body.
“I haven’t heard anyone say that to me.”
“We can stay here and talk or we can make sure those guys don’t see us,” his lips crawled up.
“Oh, yeah,” she turned to her right and those three were still at the same place. “Yeah, let’s get out of here. We’re still not done here.”
“Exactly,” he took his arms back and put them through his pockets. “Come on, let’s go the other way.”
“Sure!”
They retreated to Mowatt Lane. At the roundabout, they were unsure of where to head next. Then, Allyson covered her forehead with her right hand, crunched her eyes and grinded her teeth. She let out a disgruntled groan.
“Woah, what’s wrong?” Jansen had his hands on her shoulders. His forehead puckered. “A headache? Need to sit somewhere?”
“It’s not that,” she innately pinned at the Art-Sociology building with her vision.
“That building… let’s go there.”
Upon entering the first floor, it appeared to be unoccupied. No students were present.
“I remember this is where I stood up for Julia.”
“How come you’re recalling that memory now?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged her shoulders. Allyson pulled out her phone and stared at the ember icon while darted her eyes forward. “I forgot to mention something to you, Jansen.”
“What about?” He squinted his eyes.
“This app,” she touched the icon and the yellow ember reappeared. “I saw a creepy message and it asked if I wanted to access something. I think I want to go forward with it, but I need you to be with me. Are you ok with that?”
“It sounds a bit crazy but yeah, I’ll go with you.”
The message on Allyson’s phone appears: “Warning! This Soul is compromised! The individual’s Soul is no longer safe. Will you access its portal?”
“Yes, I want to access its portal. Jansen’s coming with me, too.” Allyson’s focus had her pupils expand and clench her teeth.
Jansen had his eyes bulge out due to the message his friend got before steaming off through his nostrils.
The TV screen in front of them displayed the same ember icon on Allyson’s phone.
The app typed in one more message.
“Accessing the portal to the Artificial Gallery.”