“Go ahead. I have the girls,” said Iris. Mike had shown her the papers and Iris had been shocked herself. She had a feeling the kids belonged to Mike but would’ve never thought that the results would be what they were.
Lovette took all of 2 stops before she found Joseph sitting on a bench and watching Joey play at the park with the other children. She wasted no time throwing the car in park and jumped out with Mike on her heels.
“JOSEPH! YOU SON OF A BITCH!” screamed Lovette. She was running towards him at top speed and couldn’t wait to pounce on him.
Joseph jumped up just in time to move out of the way of his fired up wife. Mike grabbed Lovette and held her until she calmed down.
“What’s going on?!” asked Joseph. Looking over to the playground to check on Joey, he had still been playing as if he didn’t hear his mother shouting.
“You know what’s going on! How could you?! Tell me the truth RIGHT NOW!” screamed Lovette. Mike had still been holding her back from attacking Joseph.
“What are you talking about?! What is she talking about?” asked Joseph. He had refused to incriminate himself by admitting anything until she told him exactly what was going on.
“I found the paperwork in your desk! When were you going to tell me…tell US what was going on?! Did you not think for one second that we wanted to know?! I knew I should’ve taken my ass up there but noooo, I trusted you to handle everything!” shouted Lovette.
“Matthias! What did you do to him?! Were you that jealous of Mike that you had to go and hurt him?!” she continued.
The assumption alone made Mike angry. He had given Joseph a lot of credit for sticking with Lovette through her cheating and actually supported her through the whole pregnancy. Joseph had been good to her even though he wasn’t sure if the babies were his.
But, hearing Lovette throw out the fact he could’ve caused his only son…his deceased son to perish, Mike was instantly filled with anger.
Letting Lovette go, Mike had been on top of Joseph in a flash. Wrapping both hands around his neck and squeezing as tight as he could, Mike watched Joseph’s eyes bulge from his eye sockets.
Finding the strength to knee Mike in the groin, the pain was enough to make Mike release his grip. Falling over in the grass, he rolled around in agony.
“I just found out today,” said Joseph in between trying to catch his breath. “I swear, Lovette. I found out today and I was going to tell you but I didn’t want you to think I did anything to hurt Matthias. I swear I didn’t lay a finger on him.”
“Bullshit! You have always been jealous of Mike and you let it get in the way of an innocent baby! Why, Joe? Why would you do this?” cried Lovette.
“I can prove it! We can go to the hospital and get all of the official paperwork. I swear, I didn’t do anything to him. Why would you think I would hurt a baby?!” said Joseph.
Was he telling the truth? Lovette stopped for a minute because she had never known Joseph to be cruel. Matthias was innocent and if he found out today, he had no way of knowing who the babies belonged to. If that was the case, why didn’t he cause harm to the girls as well?
The wheel of questions kept turning and turning in her head. Lovette had been in a trance and hadn’t noticed Joey pulling at shirt.
“Mama, mama, mama,” repeated an irritated Joey.
Finally realizing the scene that was unfolding in front of her child, Lovette tried her best to calm herself. Mike had finally gotten up from the ground and was sitting on the bench. Joseph was standing in the grass and kept a close eye on him in case he tried to attack again.
“Yes, baby. Sorry. I need you to go get in the car,” said Lovette. Joey was about to argue with his mother about leaving the park but instantly knew she hadn’t been in the mood. Walking over to his father’s car, he got in and put his seatbelt on.
“Mike, take my car and take Joey back to the house with Iris,” said Lovette.
“Have you lost your mind? That’s my son and if he leaves with anyone, it should be me or you. I know you’re upset right now and I get how all of this looks but he’s not leaving in the car with him,” said Joseph.
“He’s going with Mike. And, you? You’re taking me to the hospital right now to get every damn document they have on my son. I want to talk with the front desk receptionist, everybody that was there that day, I want all of the damn camera footage to show you arrived at the hospital WITH my son, I want to speak with the coroner and every damn body who had signed anything pertaining to my child!”
“I’ll take you to do whatever you want to do to prove that I didn’t hurt Matthias but Joey is coming with us.” Joseph left the both of them standing there and went to start up his car.
“You can drive my car back to the house. We’ll be back soon,” said Lovette.
“I’ll be at my parent’s house,” said Mike as he stormed off. He knew everything hadn’t been her fault and held himself accountable as well but he wanted answers.
Mike felt terrible for missing the birth of his only child and never got to meet him. He never got the chance to hold him and now, it had been a mystery as to how Matthias passed away.
Chapter 27: Insanity
April 17, 2002
Joseph, Lovette and Mary had all sat down for dinner and it couldn’t have been thicker tension in the atmosphere. After Joseph practically drug Mary from the shed a few nights ago and demanded she kept her mouth shut, he was no longer a father in her eyes; he was the devil.
“What’s wrong, hun? Why aren’t you eating your food?” asked Lovette. It had been taco night and it was Mary’s favorite.
Joseph’s threats to kill Eric had echoed in her head and she thought about it day after day. After seeing how he had kicked him and talked to her, she didn’t know exactly what he was capable of.
“What’s up? You know you can tell us anything right, sweetheart?” said Joseph.
Sweetheart? He was trying to mock her and prevent Lovette from suspecting anything was going on. Mary decided that she had had enough of his games for the last time and that was the icing on the cake.
“How about you tell mom “what’s up”, sweetheart,” whispered Mary.
Joseph was taken aback at the fact she had the nerve to whisper something so slick. He nervously swallowed his food and avoided eye contact with Lovette. He refused to break his stare from Mary’s eyes.
“Huh? What’s going on?” questioned Lovette. She had been looking back and forth between the both of them and felt left out of the loop. Whatever it was, Mary had clearly been upset about it for a while now.
“She’s probably just upset Eric is missing. I’m sure he probably tried to go back up north to be with his father. People are looking for him, honey. We’ll find him,” said Joseph. The side grin he gave her almost made Mary want to crawl across the table and shove her fork into his eye.
“Oh, I know you’re still worried about him but your father is right. He’s probably just acting out because he misses his father. Bill has been looking all over for him and even filed a police report,” said Lovette.
“See. Even the police are looking for him,” mocked Joseph. “Finish your food. You don’t want to go to bed hungry.”
Picking up her taco and looking at it as if she were examining it, Mary moved it up and down…and up and down. Joseph and Lovette looked at her as if she had lost her mind. Making a noise as if it were an airplane, Mary drew her arm back, aimed and used all of her strength to crash it into Joseph’s face.
“Mary! What is wrong with you?!” shouted Lovette as she and Joseph but jumped up from the table.
“Let’s just calm down for a second. Sit down, Lovette. Mary is clearly acting out because she’s confused as to where her friend is,” said Joseph while wiping the sour cream and lettuce from his clothes.
“Wrong answer! You know EXACTLY where he is! Mama, papa is lying about everything! He has Eric locked up in some weird underground shed with a bunch of other people! They are in these cages and…�
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“Whoa! WHAT IN THE HELL IS SHE TALKING ABOUT?!” screamed Lovette while staring at Joseph.
“You know she likes to make things up when she doesn’t know how to handle someone disappearing. It’s the exact same thing she did when Joyce…” said Joseph. He whispered her name and instantly stopped talking.
Lovette knew that there could be some truth to this. Mary had had a very difficult time with Joyce’s death and now, maybe, she was probably thinking her friend was going to end up the same way.
“He’s lying! I swear, mama! He’s a lying bastard and I can’t wait until he dies!” shouted Mary. She hadn’t noticed she was crying until several tears dropped on the wooden table.
“Everybody just calm down a second!” said Lovette. Mary had her moments of acting out but she had never wished death on her father.
“Mama, I swear! Joyce kept telling me that I needed to go and see what this shed was about. She said it would reveal who papa REALLY was. That’s why she wouldn’t go away. She told me that we had to finish it so she could go be with Him for good,” said Mary.
Joseph stood with his hands crossed in front of him and had a stale face while his daughter continued to rant. He told her what the consequences would be and now, he would allow her to finish what she needed to say. He knew she would eventually crack and tell her mother everything.
“He had a key in the Bible and Eric went with me to the shed. You can even ask Joey about the shed! Me and Joyce followed him there years ago!” said Mary.
“Mary, you haven’t dealt with your sister’s death the way we had hoped and now, it’s gotten worse to the point where you have made up imaginary things. This isn’t healthy. I love you and always want the best for you but you leave us no choice but to seek more help for you,” said Joseph.
“No,” said Lovette. She whipped her neck around so fast and stared Joseph in the face. She knew exactly what he meant and there was no way she would allow him to take the last child living under their roof away.
“Lovette, we’ve been avoiding this for some time now. Ms. Carle clearly isn’t able to give her the help she needs. We’ve paid this woman all of this money and for what? For Mary to sit here and get worse? Just look at her,” said Joseph. “Is this the life you want for her?”
“Mama, I can show you! He’s such a liar! I can show you where he is keeping people locked up! There was even a kid in there my age! Eric is down there mama,” pleaded Mary.
The whole conversation had started to make Lovette’s head spin. Joseph had been denying everything but her child had gone beyond a child’s imagination with this story. Something wasn’t right.
“Okay. Lovette, you can call Joey and ask him. Mary, if it makes you feel any better, we can all go together to this mystery shed. You show us how to get there and we will go,” said Joseph.
Mary felt only an ounce better. She knew that her father was evil and had something up his sleeve. Even if he had taken everyone out of the shed, she would still be able to back up her story about the cages. The whole place could be empty but at least her mother would know that she hadn’t made it up.
Leaving the dinner table, Lovette went into the downstairs guest room to call Joey. The phone rang a few times and he finally answered.
“Hey, baby. How’s it going?” said Lovette.
“It’s going pretty good. How is everyone?” replied Joey.
“Everyone is doing okay,” she lied. “I know you’re probably busy based off of the laughing and loud talking in the background but I just have a question really quick. Do you know anything about your father having a random shed?”
The shed. It had been forever since he had been or even thought about it. Joey had wanted to show his father just how much he had become a man and did as he was told; he stayed away from the shed and hadn’t returned.
“No…not sure what you’re talking about. Hey, mom? I’m in the middle of a video game with my friends. Can I call you back?”
It was only a matter of time before he rushed her off of the phone. Saying their goodbyes, Lovette returned to the dinner table and found only Joseph sitting there.
“She went upstairs to get cleaned up and I’m doing the same. We’re going wherever she needs us to go before it gets too dark. I want her to show us whatever it is that she’s so fixated on. Then, we can be done with this,” said Joseph.
He left Lovette standing there alone. Joseph was acting as if everything going on was no issue and that sending her off would be the answer to everything. Meanwhile, it was true that Mary showed little improvement. And, now, they had to deal with this.
As soon as everyone was settled into the car, Lovette still couldn’t believe what they were getting themselves into. Mary said that there was this cage that sounded like hell. And Joseph? Here he was saying that he had no idea what she was talking about.
Mary believed her father had been the one holding Eric captive along with several others. Lovette didn’t know what to think. But, she knew her husband wasn’t capable of such an extreme thing. He hadn’t been perfect but this wasn’t like him.
“You plan on telling us which way to drive or do I have to drive around town for some random shed?” asked Joseph. Since she had started this game, he would play along with her.
Mary couldn’t believe her father had the nerve to act like he didn’t know where his own torture chamber had been. But, if she wanted to get this over with so that Eric could be free, she acted right with him.
“Stop here. We have to get out, walk between these woods and into the field,” said Mary,
“Mary, I’ve had enough of this already. I’m not getting out of this car and walking in these woods just for something to chase me out of it!” said Lovette.
“Mama, no! It’s right in there. We have to just walk a little. It’s not that far,” whined Mary.
“Oh, no. We came out here to find this mystery shed and that’s what we are going to do. I want an end to all of this and this is a start,” said Joseph. Getting out of the car, he continued talking. “You gonna get out and show us the way?”
Both Lovette and Mary climbed out of the car and Mary took the lead. Letting her get a little way ahead of them, Joseph took the time to finish what he had wanted to say to Lovette.
“This is the final straw. She needs help that we or Ms. Carle cannot give her. I’m done repeating myself. We’re out here in the woods walking to a shed, Lovette. Don’t you see how out of hand this has gotten?”
Lovette knew her husband was right. She had tried her best to help Mary adjust to life without Joyce but now, she had started to feel as if it also had something to do with Matthias. It had been three children brought into the world and to deal with her grief, she had to pretend as if it had only been twins born. She had suppressed the memory of their baby brother’s short life.
“We’ll talk more about it later. I promise,” said Lovette. Joseph accepted the answer for now but it was only so long before he would hold off bringing it back up.
Finally, they had sorted through the trees and had been in an open field. Nothing had been there. Marry took off running in a diagonal direction and then stopped.
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT?! IT WAS RIGHT HERE! WHAT DID YOU DO?!” she screamed. Joseph shook his head and looked at his wife. She was exhausted from the whole night.
Running back over to the both of them, Mary instantly started kicking and punching Joseph. Lovette tried her hardest to hold her back but Mary was like her mother. Once she had gotten to a certain level of anger, no one could contain the raging bull within them.
“Mary! Stop it! Just stop all of this! There’s no shed! There was never a shed. Do you see one here?! We followed you out here so you could tell us what you saw but there’s nothing here! There isn’t even a piece of wood out here to even suggest a shed had been here!” shouted Joseph.
Mary’s insanity with talking to Joyce hadn’t been anyone’s fault. She had legit thought she could see her sister and thanks to that, Jos
eph used it to his advantage. Mary constantly kicked and screamed while they both practically drug her back to the car.
“I hate both of you! You both are crazy! This whole time, everyone thought I was crazy but it’s both of you! Mama, you’re in on this, too! YOU KNEW PAPA WAS IN THERE HURTING THOSE PEOPLE, TOO! YOU KNEW! I KNOW YOU KNOW!” screamed Mary.
When they finally reached the car, Lovette had to sit in the backseat with her and held her down. Mary clawed at her arms, face and legs in an attempt to flee the car but her mother refused to release her hold.
“Mary, I need you to calm down. We are going to take you home. Unless you want to be sent away to the crazy houses you see on TV, you better stop this RIGHT NOW!” shouted Lovette.
It had been enough to make Mary stop her screaming and actually think about being sent away. Were they serious? Would they really make her go to one of those places? All she had wanted to do was get Eric out of there and now, it had come to this.
Chapter 28: Desperation
October 5, 1989
“Babe, a package is here for you,” yelled Monica. Mike had just gotten home from his new job. He worked in a furniture warehouse and between the cold temperatures and weak pay, he couldn’t wait to find something better.
When he had finally told her about the business, she hadn’t taken it like had thought she would. He was expecting for her to want to end the marriage but to his surprise, she clung to him even more and was supportive.
They had talked about the DNA results and when he told her about Matthias, she actually seemed hurt. Deep down, Monica felt as if she would never have a baby. Although she loathed Lovette, Monica had planned on convincing Mike to file for sole custody. Matthias could’ve been her baby and everything would’ve been better in their marriage.
Picking up the box, it didn’t have a return address on it and he hadn’t been expecting any packages. Opening the brown box, there had been another little white box inside with a blue angel on top. Pulling out of the card, Mike opened it and it read it out loud.
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