Piercing Through the Silence

by James Sandepp

  As those last few things Mrs Wills mentioned sank into me and got seared into my heart, my jaw clenched, and my hands formed into a fist as I could not believe what she said about me. I was far beyond the boundaries of disappointment with her. Was this the way she always thought of me and how stupid was I to never see it? I had this urge to scream at her and with my newfound ability I was really tempted to, but I restrained myself.

  I had never felt like this before, but it confirmed some things which was Mrs Wills knew Oliver was my only friend and it was, most likely, her, who told Josh, and they were working with Josh since they knew Oliver was caught. I felt relieved Susie had not been the one who told Josh. Thinking of finding a way to save Oliver alone kept me from lunging out of the closet and hitting Mrs Wills in the face.

  “But they haven’t caught her yet,” Mr Wills signaled and the moment he mentioned it Mrs Wills’ facial expression changed, and I smiled briefly.

  “Okay you can inform Josh we are not sure where she is,” Mrs Wills signed.

  Watching her facial expression, I realized, although she was frustrated, she again had an ice-cold look of determination in her eyes. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to look at her eyes in any other way in the future as some mental images were so hard to get rid of. Knowing Mrs Wills, I was certain she was thinking of her next step which made her far more dangerous than I ever imagined. She wasn’t an innocent bystander caught up in this whole affair, but was bad or even worse than Josh and this thought, itself, left me empty of hope for her as the both of them left the room and headed back downstairs. I left the room the same way I came and began to plan on freeing Oliver.

  SIXTEEN

  The full moon had found its place in the night sky as I waited near the bushes adjacent to the large tree at Mrs Wills’ home. I checked if any of the neighbors were outside or if anyone else was hanging around before I raced to the front door, left a note at the foot of the door, and returned to my hiding place.

  I did not know if this would work because it all depended on the habits of people and whether either of them goes out of the house after their meal. For Felix it was a habit that he did like clockwork where after every dinner he would step out of our home to look around for a few minutes and, to this day, I did not know what he did outside but maybe it was his way of digesting the remainder of his dinner. Making a huge assumption Mr Wills and Felix shared a habit was quite a leap of faith, but I needed this to work and waiting until morning could be too late for Oliver. I did consider knocking on the door, but it was too dangerous because they would know I was in the area and it would take Josh no more than a few minutes to get his men to surround this entire neighborhood. It had been two hours since the Wills returned home and by my calculation dinner should be pretty much over by now. My stomach growled a bit at the thought of dinner, but I tried to control it as this wasn’t the time for food.

  Whether Mr Wills and Felix had something in common was answered a few minutes later as the door opened, and Mr Wills stepped out with a cigarette in his hand. He immediately found my note, picked it up and without opening, looked around suspiciously and I was glad I was well hidden behind the bushes, but I took no chances and crouched near the ground and waited. The front door slammed, and I really thanked the moon and the stars for my luck today.

  Returning to waiting mode again, two minutes, then three and four went by, before I heard a car drive up to the home. One figure jumped out of the car, knocked on the door and I realized it was Josh and he was alone. The front door opened, he walked inside, and I put the second step of my plan into action.

  I glanced around the street again before sprinting to the back of Josh’s car and, praying his trunk wasn’t locked, I tried the lock, which miraculously opened to show an empty and dirty trunk and I quickly jumped into it and closed the trunk door. Darkness consumed me as my eyes adjusted but it was not a second too soon as I heard a door slam shut, footsteps approaching the car but then the footsteps stopped, and I didn’t hear him opening and closing the car door. Why wasn’t he getting into the car? The footsteps began to move to the back of the car and I realized I had no backup plan if Josh wanted to use the trunk for whatever reason because I hadn’t really thought about this scenario at all. The footsteps stopped next to the trunk, I held my breath as one intense minute passed by and prepared myself to lunge at him if the trunk was opened but, instead, the footsteps returned to the front of the car and I breathed out quietly.

  I heard the car door slam shut, the car started moving again and I hung on inside trying my best to stay calm. By now my eyes had gotten used to the darkness of the trunk and, to my disgust, I could smell all sorts of things which I did not want to know anything about.

  Hopefully Josh wasn’t driving too far which turned out to be true as the car stopped after a short while. I heard the car door open, his footsteps hurrying away, but I waited another few minutes before deciding to open the trunk and, then, I pressed on the trunk lock from the inside, but nothing happened and I realized the lock was jammed and I was trapped inside.

  SEVENTEEN

  Sweat started pouring on my face, my heart was thumping as I looked around for anything to wedge open the trunk door but there was nothing to be found. I remembered there could be tools in such trunks somewhere, but this really was the emptiest trunk ever making me question whether it even belonged to Josh. I tried my best to control my emotions as I began doubting myself about doing this and whether it was a bad plan to start with. Getting stuck inside the car trunk was so amateurish and pathetic and I knew Oliver, in all his wisdom, would have planned it in a much better way and I should have thought more about all the things which could go wrong and this was why I was here now.

  I stopped thinking these useless thoughts and tried to kick the trunk open despite the high risk of someone hearing my kicks. I really didn’t know if there was anyone standing near Josh’s car, whether he parked it near a building or in a faraway car park or even if there were security cameras watching the car right now. I could not wait any longer and started kicking with all my strength making a bit of sound and on the third kick the trunk flung wide open as fresh air invaded my lungs. I had never been so happy to see the full moon in all its glory again and jumping out of the car I discovered I was covered, not only in sweat from head to toe, but filth from the trunk during the short drive. I noticed some nearby trees, hurried over to find cover behind them and, then, after catching my breath turned to face the car.

  A single abandoned, grey tone, three floor building rose a hundred meters away the car and there were some lights on inside the ground floor. This was where Josh went and most probably where Oliver was or, at least, I hoped so. This area looked like the west part of town, but I didn’t recognize any of it from my previous visits and, as I was about to get closer to the building, I heard another car approaching and hid further behind the trees.

  The car’s headlights shined on to Josh’s car as it stopped next to it and three people got out. To my shock one of them was Mrs Wills but I did not recognize the other two men. What was she doing here and why was Mr Wills not with her? I did not expect this as my stomach hardened with her arrival and whatever remaining grace I had for Mrs Wills left me.

  Mrs Wills was becoming a bigger problem than I had anticipated and was reminded of her determined look the last time I saw her. She wasn’t someone to take lightly as there was nothing at all a mother would not do to save her child. Mrs Wills was certainly living up to the saying as I briefly closed my eyes to focus back on what needed to be done to help Oliver without letting my emotions about Mrs Wills distract me from my plan. Once I opened my eyes the three figures had disappeared and were most probably inside the same building as Josh and I started walking towards it.

  EIGHTEEN

  Approaching the building I crouched near one of the first-floor windows from where the light was coming and peering through the window there were several figures inside, some of whom, probably Josh’s men, were s
tanding around in a security formation. In one corner the brown-haired man was using his phone but then my eyes zoomed in on the two people, Josh and Mrs Wills, in the center of the room who appeared to be in the middle of a heated argument.

  “Why did you come here?” Josh signed. “I told you to let me handle this and you will see your child again.”

  “I cannot simply sit at home and wait not knowing what is going on,” Mrs Wills motioned. “Are there any leads to get the brat? I was wrong about her. She isn’t as stupid as I thought leaving the note at my home. Who does she think she is? She must know we will catch her soon.”

  My heart sank on what Mrs Wills’ said as she had become everything I despised of in an adult. She had transformed into my worst nightmare and I wondered how someone who mattered to me so much could turn out to be so horrible.

  “Mrs Wills please go back home,” Josh indicated. “We are professionals and we know what to do in such circumstances. We have successfully captured many people in similar situations and we will get Marinette soon.”

  “Do you even have any idea where she is now?” Mrs Wills signaled. “Has anyone reported seeing her? I mean obviously she was near my place sometime today and you didn’t even know about it. She could be under your very nose and you wouldn’t know it.”

  “Not yet,” Josh continued ignoring her rant. “We have people everywhere looking for her. We cannot put out anything on the news because it would draw unwanted attention and both the Council and Magistrate do not want any such attention at this moment. The incident has already attracted too much interest and people are still talking about it. There are a lot of rumors going around and it is quite dangerous already.”

  “She is one weak girl,” Mrs Wills motioned. “It is impossible that she is able to evade your mighty men.”

  “Like you said she isn’t stupid and is way smarter than you imagine,” Josh signed. “I mean it took a lot of courage to show up at your place. I would never have thought she would show up there. She was probably fishing for information on you. You do know it right?”

  Mrs Wills stared at him for a few seconds and I smiled realizing maybe she finally got it that I was not the stupid weak girl she thought I was.

  “I think she is getting help from people,” Josh continued. “If not, she cannot survive so long on her own.”

  Mrs Wills brought one of her hands to her head which was a common sight in my class when she was pondering on something.

  “What about Felix? Do you think he is helping her?” Mrs Wills continued. “I don’t trust him. He cares too much for her, is too soft with her and gives her too much freedom.”

  “We went over there, searched the entire place and interrogated him but he knows nothing,” Josh signed. “Now there is a guy who is quite clueless to what is going on and I felt a bit sorry for him.”

  I was pretty sure Felix lied to Josh because I knew Felix wasn’t the clueless type ever, but quite intelligent and able to read people well.

  “If the Magistrate picked their guardians well we wouldn’t be having to deal with his incompetence and questionable loyalty,” Mrs Wills gestured.

  “Guardian selection isn’t the issue here,” Josh signed abruptly. “If you have some problems with it please contact the Magistrate directly. My job is to get the girl.”

  Josh was getting frustrated with Mrs Wills’ whining. “You need to leave here now. The Magistrate would go crazy if they knew you were here because you are a civilian in this matter and this facility is out of bounds for civilians.”

  “Tell the Magistrate I want my child back immediately,” Mrs Wills motioned.

  Josh stared back at her and one of his hands formed into a fist as the muscles on his face tightened and Mrs Wills realized she had crossed a line and took a step back.

  “I do not take orders from you. I will ask you one last time to leave,” Josh signed.

  Mrs Wills collected herself and walked toward the exit in the building.

  I quickly moved around to the back of the building, heard a car start up and drive away and was glad Mrs Wills was finally gone but I doubted she would remain silent and wait it out. The look of determination in her eyes still haunted me.

  I decided to look for another way into this place and found a backdoor. I waited a bit, the door opened, a man appeared from within and, as he took a smoke and walked into the trees, I slipped into the building.

  I was standing in a short corridor leading to the front of the building and there was a door to my left and right. I tried the left door, but it was locked and then tried the right one and it opened. I walked down the lighted stairs and reaching the bottom I realized this building had an underground corridor.

  I stopped, listened for a minute and hearing nothing started slowly walking down the corridor. There were doors on either side each having a half glass panel and I realized this was a kind of holding place for people. It seemed to be like a prison with each room for an inmate and, stopping at the first glass panel door on my left, I found it to be empty except for a bed at one corner which appeared to have been unused for years. Moving to the next glass panel door I found it empty too and I continued down the corridor checking on the other doors. I had to resist the urge to run past each of the doors because I did not want to alert anyone I was down here.

  I could imagine Josh pacing back and forth with his men somewhere above me probably planning how to catch me. I was glad the Magistrate didn’t want to attract any further attention because it was the only thing keeping them from putting out an alert on me through their news outlets and making everything more complicated.

  As I discovered each room was empty my heart slipped one step down the ladder of hope. Did I make a mistake coming here or were they keeping Oliver somewhere else? I was staring at my last glass panel door a few meters away, holding onto a very thin string of hope and, then, I heard something behind me, stopped in my tracks, and turned around, but the corridor was empty. I stepped forward to the last glass panel door and I was expecting the same empty and unused bed smiling back at me again, but then this time what looked like a leg appeared in the corner of the room. I pressed my face against the glass panel to get a better look and I realized there was a figure. My eyes widened as I recognized the clothing and nearly jumped in the air. It was Oliver.

  NINETEEN

  As I knocked on the glass panel gently not wanting to alert anyone upstairs I wanted to break into a dance, but I needed to control myself. The plan, despite its flaws, worked and yet I still seriously could not believe it because I had kept my expectations low but now my heart was leaping for joy.

  I kept knocking on the glass, but Oliver didn’t show any reaction and didn’t look in my direction nor move any of his muscles. Did he not hear me? I knocked on the glass a bit harder, but he still showed no signs of life at all and I didn’t understand what was going on. Was he unconscious, sleeping or had they drugged him? I tried my best not to think of the worst possibility as I frantically looked at him again. Then, to my utter relief, his leg moved, and I knew he was, at least, alive.

  Despite the movement I realized, for whatever reason, he could not hear me, and I began to knock even harder taking a great risk of being heard. It was only then I realized the glass panel itself, was in some way blocking Oliver from hearing anything as if the room was soundproof. I stopped knocking immediately, tried the door latch, but I was not so lucky this time as it was locked. In the next few moments I tried all sorts of things like moving the latch, so he could hear me or waving through the glass panel at a faster pace, but all of these failed to catch his attention.

  Oliver’s eyes were half-closed, and the latch was iron-clad and in need of a key and looking in both directions of the corridor for anything to help me open this door I discovered a completely empty corridor staring back at me.

  It was one thing to not find him and give up, but it was a different thing to be so close to Oliver and yet be unable to get to him because of a stupid locked door. As my
desperation mounted, I kicked the door once, but it was unmoved by my crazy antics and I refused to give up knowing there must be a way to get inside the room. I was never the gym kind of person and I certainly didn’t have the strength to break the door open, but there must be something I could do. Why couldn’t I open this door? I hated Josh and the Magistrate for doing this and I started pushing against the door with all my might.

  My breathing started getting erratic, I felt something rising from inside of me, my mind began to blur and out of nowhere a sound was released from within me again. This time it wasn’t a wailing sound like before but a short burst of gibberish which I thought was a word. Although I had never spoken nor heard a word before I knew the gibberish my sound made was linked to the thought “open” in my mind.

  Instantly I sensed something like a mighty wind rush out from behind me, pound against the door and small cracks appeared all over the glass panel. I stepped back a bit not knowing what was going on as the glass panel dissolved into tiny bits, the hinges on the door fall apart onto the floor and the iron door, itself, crumbled into dust right before my eyes.