13th Avenue

by Cyrus Winters

  Within ten minutes or so, he spied Janette and a male youth making their way up the footpath, with Wendy tailing behind.

  “What’s going on?” Christian asked, rushing over. “Did you find Mei-Lee?”

  “Stasia and Nicholas are still looking,” Wendy answered. “She might be with a friend.”

  “Which friend?”

  “This is the biggest overreaction ever,” Janette snorted.

  “Excuse me?” Christian snapped.

  “I’m going inside,” she said to no one in particular. “You can apologize to me when this is all over.”

  She went to lead her teenage friend away with her, but Christian broke them up.

  “I want answers and I want them now. Wendy will you –”

  “We already said she’s with a friend!” Janette yelled.

  “And I asked you: ‘Which friend?’”

  “He’s my friend,” the male youth said. “Cody is his name. I gave the mother and her partner the address.”

  “Who are you?” Christian asked.

  “My name’s Ash. I live on Somerset Drive.”

  “Can someone make this clear for me?” Christian asked. “Why weren’t you all together?”

  “Because she wanted to hang out with Cody,” Janette said. “What’s the big deal?”

  “And what happens if she’s not at Cody’s house?” Christian asked. “What then?”

  “She’ll be there, Jesus!”

  Janette stormed off.

  “I’m really sorry, Christian,” Wendy said. “I hope you blame me for –”

  He waved his hand at her. “It’s not your fault. She’s out of control.”

  “Ash!” Janette yelled. “Are you coming?”

  Ash looked at Christian with hesitation.

  “What is it?” Christian asked.

  “Ash!” Janette repeated.

  “Before we met up at the playground, Cody was saying some weird stuff.”

  Christian’s gaze intensified. “Oh yeah? Like what kind of weird stuff?”

  “A few things,” Ash said, glancing back at Janette. “He wanted me to call Janette to meet up with Janette’s cousin, specifically. I’m not even sure I mentioned Janette had a cousin. But he seemed to know about her.”

  “No, you told him,” Janette said. “I remember you telling him –”

  “He was also asking me about the nearest train station. He said he had to go there and was trying to work out to get there on foot.”

  “This is before you met up with the girls?”

  “Right before,” Ash said. “I thought he was going to ask Mei-Lee to catch a train with him.”

  “Goddamn it,” Christian cursed.

  “At least if they caught the train there’ll be footage of them and stuff,” Wendy suggested.

  “That’s true,” Christian agreed.

  “I’m really sorry about this Mr. Nguyen,” Ash said. “It was bad judgment on my behalf bringing him down.”

  “Well, we can’t always know what other people are up to,” Christian said.

  He looked over the three of them.

  “Call me the moment you hear anything, okay?” he said.

  “Absolutely,” Wendy said. “Good luck.”

  “I’m sure she’s fine,” Janette said softly. “She has to be.”

  Christian nodded. “I hope you’re right.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Due to his intoxication, the initial plan of not letting Detective Graves drive, had probably been a good idea. Barely a few minutes into his return to the wheel, he’d managed to mow down their current suspect – who was now thankfully conscious, handcuffed, and in their custody. But he was also threatening to press charges.

  “You can’t keep me here!” Cody yelled, kicking the seats from the back. “I have rights!”

  Stasia – who was now back in the driver’s seat – leaned to the side and glared in Graves’ direction.

  He got the message loud and clear.

  “Son,” Graves said, leaning over the seat. “If you don’t stop carrying on, we’re going to stop the car –”

  “Good!” Cody said.

  “– I’m going to get my electric taser from the trunk –”

  “I don’t care!”

  “– I’m going to pull your pants down –”

  “Fuck you!”

  “– And I’m going to shove it up your ass.”

  “Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!”

  “Stop the car,” Graves said.

  Stasia hit the brakes and guided the car off to the side of the road.

  Graves pushed the passenger door open and stepped outside. He slammed the door shut.

  “You guys are in such fucking trouble now,” Cody scoffed.

  Stasia leaned over her seat, staring at him. “Mei-Lee’s my daughter, you idiot. You think we’re just going to let you walk free?”

  Cody’s face fell.

  Graves opened the trunk as promised and soon returned to the car, entering from one of the backdoors. “Come here, you little shit.”

  “Fuck off!” Cody lashed out with his feet.

  Graves swatted them aside and gave Cody a jolt to the stomach.

  “Argh-ha-ha!” he wailed.

  Graves put the stick by his neck. “Will you behave?”

  Cody winced.

  “You want more?”

  “Alright, alright. Just … stop…”

  Stasia unbuckled her seatbelt and moved across to tower over him. “Cody?”

  “What?” he mumbled.

  “Where’s Mei-Lee?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  Graves gave him another jolt, this one to his chest.

  Cody began to scream and spasm, coughing and choking all at once.

  Stasia looked to Graves with concern, but he nodded with assurance.

  “I’ll – I’ll – I’ll –”

  “You’ll what?” Graves asked menacingly.

  “I’ll show you,” Cody whimpered.

  CHAPTER 24

  Stasia could hear the trains in the distance. The bustle of the platform. The blaring horn from the front carriage. The creeping along the tracks.

  But according to Cody, he hadn’t taken Mei-Lee to the station. Their journey had ended somewhere across the road…

  “There,” Cody said pointing towards a series of trees on the left. “I left her through there.”

  “Where does it lead?” Graves asked.

  “Golf course,” Cody said.

  “Wait,” Stasia said shifting in her chair. “I don’t understand.”

  Cody shrugged.

  “What do you mean you left her there?”

  “I just did, alright.”

  “Why?” Graves asked.

  “It doesn’t matter why,” Cody said. “I just – that’s where I last saw her.”

  “Oh yeah?” Stasia snapped. “What was she doing?”

  “Nothing,” Cody fired back.

  “Did you attack her? Did you hurt her!”

  “No, of course not! I just left her there. She was alone. On the grass. That’s it. There’s nothing else to tell you.”

  Stasia licked her lips. “Are you okay to drive again?”

  “Me?” Graves replied.

  “You should take him back to the precinct.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Just do it,” Stasia said. “I’ll call you when I find her.”

  “What if you don’t find her? Don’t you think we should –”

  Stasia leaned over to him. “I don’t think we should go any further down that road. If you catch my drift.”

  Graves frowned at her. Then reluctantly conceded. “Alright.”

  Stasia pushed her door open and stepped out to the road.

  She leaned back into the car again as Graves got out. “How far in was she?”

  “Just in the middle of the course,” he said flatly.

  Graves came round from the side.

  �
��You’ll be sorry if she’s dead,” Stasia hissed at the teenager. Then she pulled herself away from the car.

  “Be careful,” Graves said.

  “Yeah,” Stasia muttered.

  “I’m serious.”

  Stasia rolled her eyes. “Don’t total the car.”

  “It’s my car,” Graves smirked.

  “You’re a maniac.”

  Graves chuckled and closed the driver’s door. Stasia moved across the road and watched him drive away.

  The sound of the trains pierced the back of her skull.

  CHAPTER 25

  Mei-Lee. All at once she was all Stasia’s mind could see. The memories. The sounds, the visions, the sensations. It all came flooding back. She thought about a day where the three of them had actually been happy together. When Mei-Lee was nine they bought her a puppy and it was their first time taking their dog to the park. Mei-Lee loved that dog. She insisted on being the one to feed it, look after its water, all of that. She even cleaned up the dog’s poop. And then they were at the park walking the dog and it seemed like they were going to be happy forever. Christian put his arm around Stasia’s waist. He kissed her ear and told her he loved her. Memories… They were at times deceiving…

  Posture upright, eyes wide, teeth clenched, Stasia headed quickly through the trees towards the golf course. She knew inside her own heart, there was a strong possibility Mei-Lee was already dead. The concept sickened Stasia to her core. For all her failures, there would be no greater failure than this. No greater misery. No greater suffering.

  The world had its way with her, alright.

  It knew how to inflict pain.

  Stasia’s feet broke through the trees and she was now overlooking a series of grassy hills, bathed in moonlight. She climbed the nearest of the hills before her and stared out across the landscape.

  Then she saw it.

  The girl wearing the pink jumper.

  “Mei-Lee!” Stasia squealed. “Mei-Lee, I’m coming!”

  She hurried down the other side of the hill, racing forward.

  Mei-Lee wasn’t moving. She wasn’t coming to meet Stasia halfway.

  But at least she was standing.

  “Stop.”

  A voice? Where did it come from?

  “Stop, Stasia.”

  Stasia kept running. Mei-Lee was about thirty metres away when Stasia saw a small blue light moving across the grass away from Mei-Lee, towards Stasia.

  GUNSHOT!

  Stasia tripped over, adrenalin rushing through system.

  She saw the blue dot stop in the grass in front of her.

  “Stay where you are,” a familiar voice rasped from some nearby speakers. “Or I’ll put one in your neck.”

  Stasia sat up.

  “Okay, Stasia. It’s good you’ve come. It means you have a chance to save her.”

  “Who is that?” Stasia cried. “What do you –”

  “On the count of three, Mei-Lee. I want you to start running, away from your mother. If you don’t run fast enough, I’ll shoot you. If she catches up to you, then you both live. Otherwise…” There was a husky, cruel chuckle.

  Stasia bit her teeth in anger.

  “So then. This is what happens when you interfere in my affairs. One – Get on your feet, Stasia. Two – both of you, eyes forward, facing away. I won’t tell you again. THREE – This bullet’s for you, Mei-Lee –”

  CHAPTER 26

  Mei-Lee howled in terror as gunfire echoed across the golf course. Stasia screamed too, but it wasn’t a scream that was directed at anything in particular. The pair of them, mother and daughter, ran across the open grass, the rifle’s laser light following them.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Clumps of earth blew up beside both of them as they ran. Stasia increased her speed, hitting an intensity just below her breaking point. Sweat slid off her face in the wind. Parts of her hair blew about freely. Mei-Lee looked back a few times to try and see where Stasia was. But those bullets kept on coming.

  “Hold on!” Stasia screeched. “I’m coming, my girl!”

  She heard Mei-Lee start to sob.

  Click-click.

  Something moved in the grass to the right of them. Stasia glanced by at the sound of it, but couldn’t see anything.

  Click-click.

  Mei-Lee yelped in surprise, springing into the air, as something happened beneath her feet.

  As Stasia quickly neared, she saw the hole in the ground where Mei-Lee had jumped.

  Stasia leapt over it likewise.

  ZOOSH –

  A bullet sailed by her ear. Stasia looked over her shoulder, growling and angry.

  “Stasia!” Mei-Lee shouted back at her. “Stasia, please!”

  “I’m coming!” Stasia called, facing forward again.

  There was no end to the course in sight.

  Click-click. Click-click. Click-click.

  There were trapdoors opening up all around them.

  “HELP!” Mei-Lee wailed. “HEEEELLLPPP!!!”

  Click-click.

  The ground beneath Stasia’s feet collapsed and she slid down into the gaping black hole, clutching onto the edge for dear life.

  “Oh no…” she winced.

  She forced her other elbow up to the edge and maneuvered her way out.

  She could see Mei-Lee’s figure running away in the distance.

  Click-click.

  The figure fell away.

  CHAPTER 27

  Stasia rolled over across the grassy surface. She got to her knees and then forced herself up. She stumbled along, out of breath. “Mei-Lee… Mei-Lee…” Her daughter was gone.

  Pain. Horror. Contempt. Stasia’s facial expression shifted with emotion. It was all out there now. It was spilling. It had overflowed.

  “MEI-LEE!!!”

  The blue light was gone. No more gunshots. No more clicks.

  The game was over.

  Stasia staggered along until she reached the green, where a rectangular hole had opened in the ground. This was where she’d last seen Mei-Lee. Stasia got to her knees, mumbling her daughter’s name, fumbling for the flashlight in her pants. She pushed the button on and waved the beam down the contents of the hole.

  Mei-Lee’s mangled corpse was visible a few metres down, impaled on a bed of spikes.

  “Noooo!” Stasia cried. “Oh God!”

  The flashlight slipped from her fingers and bounced off the walls, descending into the black.

  “Fucking hell…”

  She struggled to stand up again, tears welling in her eyes. She glared back across the fairway, seething with rage. And then –

  She spotted him.

  Just the outline of a shadowy man, stepping out from the trees. He stopped once directly in line with her, the pair of them casting their gazes across the distance.

  Stasia reached into her jacket.

  The man started to back away.

  Stasia sighed, wiped her eyes with her naked hand. Then took out her pistol.

  She thought she heard the man laugh at her.

  Then he started to run.

  CHAPTER 28

  Pain stung the back of Christian’s neck. He turned around sharply, swatting the place in his skin where the sensation had struck. He pulled his hand away, expecting to see a squashed mosquito underneath. But there was nothing.

  “Alright, you’re good to go,” the Station Agent said stepping outside his office. He handed Christian a sheet of paper. “That’s the website address. Put in the login and password and you’ll get access to our surveillance database for the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate that. You’ve been a great help.”

  “Any time.”

  Christian walked down the platform a little, unfolded the paper and took out his phone. He made a call.

  “Hi sweetie,” Fae answered. “Any luck so far?”

  “She may have run away with one of the neighborhood boys,” Christian said. “It seems they got on a train. I have
surveillance pass-codes if you’re near a computer.”

  “Oh sure. Can you give me a second –?”

  “Sure.”

  “One moment.”

  Christian waited. He took in a deep breath and faced away from the front of the platform. The tracks began to rattle.

  He looked up to the digital clock.

  9:42pm.

  The sliding doors suddenly opened behind him, a large wave of black moved by his peripherals.

  Christian turned as the figure bounded across to the edge of the platform, jumping down onto the tracks.

  “Hey!” Christian shouted. He put his phone away.

  Stasia stormed out through the doors, hot in pursuit.

  “Stasia,” Christian said with surprise.

  “It’s him,” Stasia screeched. “He killed our daughter!”

  Christian swallowed. “Mei-Lee’s dead?”

  “HE KILLED HER!”

  Christian whirled back around, running with Stasia along the platform’s edge.

  “Stop!” Christian cried.

  “We’ll shoot!” Stasia threatened.

  The man kept on running.

  To their horror, it seemed there was an open hatch at the far side of the tracks and the perp was heading right for it.

  Stasia fired her gun.

  “Freeze!” Christian shouted.

  Arms in the air, the man stopped just before the hatch.

  The tracks rattled some more, and a horn sounded.

  “Get off the tracks!” Stasia ordered. “Move! Now!”

  The man turned slightly. They could only see part of his face.

  A whisper.

  A whisper in the wind.

  The night bounced off every surface abounded.

  “How safe is your ground?”

  Frowning, Christian looked in Stasia’s direction.

  She was staring straight ahead.

  The man stepped back and fell through the open hole.

  “NO!” Stasia shouted.

  The train was racing into the station.