Before We Fractured: Books 1-3

by Bradon Nave

  “Remember kiddos. It’s the media’s job to sell media. They sensationalize everything.” The woman’s comment had me wondering what the hell was going on. She walked past Lily and I and to the living room.

  “Media? Lily what does she mean?”

  “Duke…it’s on the news. It was on this morning.”

  “What? Oh, my god, what are they saying?” Instantly Lily looked away from me.

  “What are they saying, Lily?”

  “It’s not good, D.”

  From my pajama pocket, my phone began buzzing—sending my heart racing. Bringing the phone to my face I was more than shocked to Dad on the screen.

  “Hello?” I turned from Lily, walking back to her room.

  “Duke?”

  “Dad…I’m glad you called—”

  “Right. I’m not sure what’s going on exactly but this isn’t good.”

  “Nah, I know. They’re making Jess out to be some—”

  “Do you realize this could reflect poorly on me? Have you thought about that?”

  “Huh?”

  “When you associate with that…you are what you associate with, Duke. And unfortunately, people still associate you and yours to me. It’s selfish. Damn selfish. Do you ever think about how your actions could affect me?”

  “What? Dad it’s Jessie.”

  “Indeed it is. Your little friend’s instability is plastered all over the damn news. It’s only a matter of time before your name is dragged into this too.”

  “Dad, I don’t understand—”

  “You should have stepped back from that situation long ago. This was a pathetic judgment call on you, Duke and it speaks volumes of your own character.”

  “What. Dad I don’t get why you’re so—”

  “I have a new life, Duke. I love my new life and I’d like to live it in piece without remnants of my past threatening to disrupt that.”

  “Remnants? Disrupt? Dad…” My words left me. My insides felt hollowed out and replaced with humiliation and pain. I literally couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  “Are you really still calling me that? Are you not hearing what I’m saying? I have a new life now—”

  “But, Dad, I need you. I seriously need you right now—”

  “No, Duke. What you need is to be a man and grow a pair of balls, boy. You and your little rag-tag dysfunctional schizo friend have done it this time. My boss knows, I guarantee we’re going to catch glances at church this morning.”

  “I don’t know what to say…I don’t know what you want me to do.”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I want out! I just want…I just wish you would go away.” It was silent…but I was crushed. “Okay.” Barely audible, I felt eviscerated.

  “Just…Duke, you’ll be fine. I’m sure you’ll do okay with life and everything you want to do…I just can’t have this nonsense affecting me. I have no control over it, and frankly…to be honest with you I just don’t want any part of it.”

  “Got it.”

  “Okay then. I think it’s best if we assume this our last communication.”

  “O…okay.” Shaking, my voice was on the verge of breaking; I was on the verge of breaking.

  “You about to sob? Seriously? It’s about time to grow that pair, Duke. You’re eighteen years old. There’s men your age fighting in hostile countries for your freedom and I guarantee they’re not crying about it.”

  “Go to hell, Peter.”

  “Excuse me? What did you just say to—”

  “I said to go to hell, you pathetic piece of shit!”

  Pressing end, I stormed from the room and down the hall. Charging out the door and off the porch, I didn’t even tell Lily goodbye. I had to get out. I couldn’t breathe; I needed to breathe.

  Walking down the middle of the street, my pace against the slight breeze sent thick tears etching from either of my eyes. I did need to grow a pair. It was daylight and I was walking down the middle of the street, on the verge of crying like a bitch in his pj’s.

  I understood he wanted a new life. He needed to get away. But to completely cut me off. It was unfathomable. Ten minutes later I was approaching my house, and thankful to see my mother’s vehicle gone.

  Racing up the porch, I was surprised to find the front door unlocked. I didn’t care. Up the stairs and to my room I ran. Diving into my bed I balled like a three year old. Easily, this was the worst time of my life.

  The house empty, I let it out, wailing into my pillow. Within seconds, someone was charging up the staircase. Dammit!

  I calmed my belligerence as my door was flung open.

  “D!” Larry’s voice filled my room. “Duke, bud, what’s going on? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

  I didn’t roll over to face him. This was my lowest. This was the definition of humiliation. “Duke…” My mattress shifted as he sat down. “Talk to me, D.”

  “No!” My voice was muffled into my pillow.

  “Please. I’m worried.”

  Rolling to face him, my rage had me wanting to punch holes in my walls. “Why the hell do you care! He doesn’t! So why the hell do you!”

  “What? Who? Who doesn’t care? Jessie?”

  “No! Idiot! My dad!”

  Turning his face from me, Larry stared to the wall as I sat up and wiped my face on my sleeve.

  “I do care, D. More than you’ll ever know. I really do.”

  “Why!”

  “You’re…you’re my family, D. I love you, man.”

  Looking to him, the worry on his face—it was clear he was being straight up.

  “It’s all gone to shit, Larry. My life is a big bowl of shit. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “And that’s okay, D. None of us know what we’re doing. Your life isn’t shit. It’s just out of whack right now. It’ll bounce back, bud.”

  “How? I can’t find Jess. I don’t know what he did or why he did it…my own dad told me not to call him dad anymore—”

  “What?”

  “It’s done. I never wanna talk to that dude again.”

  “He loves you, D. He’s just confused—”

  “No, Larry. He told me he wished I’d just go away. He said that was our last communication.”

  Larry’s face flushed red. Looking to me he inhaled deeply. “Duke, you’ve said it yourself that blood don’t make family. I’d never bad-mouth your father but if he can’t see what an awesome son he created…if he could turn away from you like that than he’s a damn fool. I know I’m not a father. But I think I’d be a good role model. It’d mean the world to me if you gave me a real shot at this family thing, D. I give you my word if you do I’ll never turn away.”

  His hand on my shoulder had my eyes filling again. I didn’t understand how someone who owed me absolutely nothing could care about me while my own father walked away.

  “Okay, dingle-Larry. Deal.”

  Shaking my hand like we were making an actual deal, Larry brought me in for a brief hug. Our pansy-ness was interrupted by the front door flinging open.

  “D! Are you here?” Lily’s voice filled my entire house.

  “Yeah.”

  Charging up the stairs, my girlfriend came racing through the bedroom door, her face covered in worry. “Duke! Are you okay? I’ve been trying to call you…are you okay?”

  Walking to my bed, she grabbed my face softly in her hands, forcing me to make direct eye contact with her.

  “I’m okay. I’m okay now.”

  “What happened?”

  “Just got rid of some baggage. Helps clarify the important things in life. The things that really matter.” Hugging Lily tightly, I pulled her onto the bed with me. “I’m so thankful to have you. I mean that. I’m so thankful to have you in my life, Lily…you too, Larry.”

  “Okay, D…whose ass am I kicking?” Lily seemed nearly serious as she scanned my face.

  “We gotta find Jess, Lily. We gotta get Jess back.”

  “We will, D. We will.”

 
CHAPTER EIGHT

  “I know this is the worst idea we could possibly have. This has to be the absolute worst idea…but it really is our only option.”

  “I agree, Duke. And if you think about it…who is going to press charges on us if that dude is busted up in the hospital on life support?”

  “I know, Sarah…but still.”

  “Both of you…seriously. We are going on night three of our friends being gone. I literally felt nauseated when I saw Jessie’s picture in the paper this morning. This is real. If we really are the only advocates that our friends have in their corner…then let’s start advocating.” Lily’s comments were strong and assertive. She made me proud.

  Parked down the street from Dr. Cline’s residential home at nearly nine in the evening, Sarah, Lily, and I waited for the courage to exit the vehicle and make our way down the dark street to the empty residence.

  Dressed in black, we assumed we might be incognito.

  “I’m sure Andrea has already been in this place and has searched it inside out.” I found myself almost whispering before we even exited the vehicle.

  “Maybe…but we have to try.” Again, Sarah’s ambition had me impressed.

  “I wonder why it’s that Andrea woman and not Kacey’s mom that’s so involved. She was on point at the police station.”

  “Because, Lil, Kacey’s mom is probably in a state of complete depression at this point. I’m sure the woman can’t even get out of bed. I know Joe is on another playing field.”

  “You’re right, D…let’s go.”

  Crouched and quick, we darted down the silent street. It wasn’t far from where we were parked and it felt as though we were at the gate within seconds.

  “Open it, Duke.”

  “I am, Sarah. There’s no lock. He better not have a dog.”

  Opening the wooden gate to the backyard of the elegant, modern, white two-story home. Rushing into the backyard, complete with lit in ground pool and hot tub, we made our way to the large patio under a dark Gazebo.

  “Are you sure no one’s here?” Still whispering, I peered through the large double French doors. Reaching for the door, I wasn’t surprised to find it locked. I was surprised, however, to find the light on in what appeared to be a living room, showcasing a massive television on the wall.

  “Girls, look for a rock or something with a key under it.”

  I felt the rush of excitement slowly fading. The chances of actually finding our way into the residence were slim at best—the grill. Before the bastard took off, my dad, or Peter, used to keep a spare key in his grill. Lifting the lid of the most beautiful meat-grilling piece of equipment I’d ever seen, my face couldn’t hold the smile back when I saw the key. What an idiot.

  “Look!” Grabbing the key, I opened the door as we cautiously stepped inside. The house smelled like expensive cologne and leather. Not like old man cologne, but the type of shit I’d buy if I had money.

  Walking past the kitchen, my heart began thumping so hard I could see my pecs bounce under my shirt.

  “Where do we start, Duke?” Sarah’s whisper filled the house. It was totally silent other than our intrusion.

  “I don’t have a clue. This place looks spotless. Let’s look for an office.”

  The wooden floors throughout the house were dark and the walls bright all around us. The hallway led to what appeared to be an office and a small library. Without talking, the three of us headed for the desk in the dim light. Reaching for the drawers of the massive dark wood desk, we began thumbing through files—none of them were patient related. Bills, receipts and tax information.

  “Upstairs.” My soft command had Sarah smiling.

  “You can stop whispering I think. I’m pretty sure there’s no one here but us.”

  “I’d like to keep in that way.”

  Upstairs, we found what appeared to be the master bedroom at the end of another hallway. It boasted more bookshelves, another desk and a four-post king size bed. The desk was all but empty. There were a few travel documents, but nothing important…nothing important to us. Sitting on his bed I looked around the room. Dressers, closets, cabinets…and this was only one room of this huge-ass house. There was a garage and at least three more bedrooms. We had no clue what we were looking for, or even if there was anything to be found. For all we knew we were breaking and entering into an assault victim’s house for no justified reason.

  “I don’t know what to do.” My comment caught both girl’s attention.

  “Well sitting down isn’t it. I promise that.” Sarah was less than snappy, but it was clear she wasn’t ready to call it quits as she peered under the massive bed I was sitting on.

  “We don’t know what we’re looking for. I don’t know where to look.”

  “That’s the thing, D.” Lily hugged me. “We probably won’t until we find it.”

  Trying to think of what the man could be hiding…what he could have done to have caused Jessie and or Kacey to respond the way they did. What could he have done…and if he did something, where would he hide evidence? Nothing…literally nothing came to mind.

  “Andrea didn’t find anything in the office. I’m assuming he doesn’t have any of his patient information here. I can’t believe she didn’t find anything.”

  “All she said was she came up empty handed, D. I’m sure she didn’t go through every single chart or file. There wasn’t enough time.”

  “I just don’t know, Lily…I just don’t know.”

  Standing from the bed, I looked once more to the large bookshelf near the desk. So many books…who the hell has that much time to read that much?

  Scanning the books, I settled on one…A Fractured Mind. Some personality disorder book. I instantly thought of Jess. His random comments about being fractured or what the hell ever he was talking about. Dumbass. So many psychology books. So many pages summing up actions and emotions—completely mind boggling.

  Backing out from under the bed, Sarah stood. “There’s a box of pictures in frames. That’s it.

  This place is immaculate.”

  “I know. I don’t know what we were expecting to find.” My defeated words had me feeling fractured up inside. No answers, no word—nothing. How could I not know where my best friend was? It didn’t make sense.

  Walking to the books, I reached for A Fractured Mind. The hardcover pulled out easily. Looking at it I couldn’t help but think it was all bullshit. I’m sure there are several people out there that need ongoing therapy for conditions that I’m clueless of. But not Jess. Jessie’s case is simple. Dude’s mom died. Dude’s brother died. He needs help figuring out what keeps him freaked out at night—no need for two rooms full of books and theories to figure that out.

  But now this. If Jess did this…if he really did this, I can honestly say I have no clue why. It would be the first time in Duke/Jessie history that I had no means of understanding, at least to some degree, Jessie’s actions.

  Opening the hardcover, the girls walked behind me to the door, apparently waiting on me. Looking to first few pages, I closed it to return the book to its place on the shelf. Something was off. It didn’t have the same solidity my text books did when I closed them after class.

  “Let’s go, boy.”

  “’K, Lil.”

  Opening the book to its midsection, I stared at a hollowed-out squared pattern cut into at least two hundred of the pages. This square hole within the book held a flash drive.

  “Holy shit! Girls! Look!”

  They stared in shock as I picked the device up with my thumb and finger. “Fire up the computer!”

  It felt like an eternity, but finally the desktop was boasting Windows.

  Inserting the jump drive, I chewed my thumbnail in anticipation while Lily and Sarah stood over me from behind.

  “There’s seven files here. There all numbers.”

  “Well, dumbass, click one, Duke.” Sarah reached for the mouse and clicked the first file on the screen. Within seconds we were completely
horrified. The footage appeared to be from an office…perhaps from Dr. Cline’s office.

  “Oh my god…that girl isn’t but twelve or thirteen…why…why is she naked? Dr. Cline isn’t that kind of doctor.” I could barely make out my words as I watched the screen, feeling like I’d secured my spot in hell for viewing such trash.

  “Oh my god! That’s…Duke…that’s Tamara!” Lily’s hand went over her mouth as I looked closer at the screen.

  “It…it is.”

  We stared in disbelief as Dr. Cline appeared on the screen, standing over the girl on the leather couch. As he began touching her—not the way a physician touches his pediatric patient, we stopped it.

  “Oh my god!” Lily’s shrieks were accompanied by tears. I turned in the office chair to see both her and Sarah crying.

  “You didn’t know, Lily. Neither did you, Sarah. None of us knew!”

  “Duke…” Sarah’s face was a pale white as she stared at the screen. “The last file has k.m. at the end of the numbers.”

  “Holy shit.”

  Without thinking it through I clicked on the file. We saw our friend, Kacey Monroe, shirtless and without a bra, sitting on Dr. Cline’s office couch. Her eyes had dark circles under them. She looked sick.

  “Are you not fractured? Are you not toxic?” Dr. Cline’s voice came over the speakers.

  “I am.” Kacey appeared barely capable of making out the words. As if she’d been up for days.

  “Remove your lower garments and spread wide your legs for your examination. You’re filthy. You’re fractured. You’re toxic.”

  “Shut it off!” Sarah’s scream startled me as I pressed stop.

  Spinning around to face the girls, both crying, my mind was racing. “This is why! It makes…holy shit it makes sense now! He did this for her! He was saving her!” Jumping from the seat, my hands went behind my head as I paced the room. “He must have found out about them somehow. She must have told him—”

  “No, Duke! Kacey was at his office. Jessie walked in on what he was doing to her! Jessie caught him in the act!” Lily’s screams had me thinking the cops would be called…but I didn’t care. “Oh my god! We have to tell the cops. We have to let them know.”