[B][U]Arch 3, Kill Me Away
[B][U]Chapter 21: Searching
I sat at my desk sorting through old papers. As I read the ones I found I chuckled a bit. I set them down as there was a knock at my door.
“Mr. Hawk? Jacob is here to see you.” A lady dressed for success stated.
“Send him in!” I happily replied to her. Only moments later, the clean cut white-haired Jacob was sitting in a chair in front of my desk.
“It’s kind of ironic Jacob!” I said, chuckling. He smiled.
“And why would that be? Mister Lawyer!” He teased with a wink.
“It’s ironic that you came when you did. Look what I found!” I said, passing him papers I had found within the confines of my cherry oak desk. His eyes widened.
“Your old journal? I thought you last had this when-”
“Yeah, so did I. Must have survived.” I stated. I got up from my desk and turned around. I stared out of the large window thoughtfully, my suit cleanly pressed and without a wrinkle or stain. Jacob’s too was very much the same way.
“Wow. This is back from what, two thousand and nine?” He questioned.
“Yeah. I’m wondering if there are more of my journals somewhere around here. It used to be his office, after all. I made sure to keep my notebooks in my backpack, and I stuffed them in his desk before we headed out. I guess I just didn’t know they were still in there! You remember how clever I thought I was back then? I thought I was really smart back then, but I think you were smarter! Even though it was my idea to come back here.” I reminded him.
“Yeah, it was the only thing we COULD do! Not like we could go much anywhere else! It wasn’t TOO far from the house!” He defended.
“It was like, what, fifty miles?!” I asked. “Even Kif thought it was far! And he used to do MARATHONS!” I informed Jacob.
“Yeah, that’s true…” Jacob said sadly reminisced.
“So I found these two in here. The document ends the night we left.” I explained.
“Do you know where the third is?” He questioned.
“I think I do!” I said, holding out a small map to him. The paper was old but it was still readable. I chuckled. Hours later, when all had gone home and the sun had set, I walked with Jacob. Back to a room that used to hold me and him, if only for a time. I entered it.
“I haven’t been in here since you BOUGHT the building!” Jacob complained. “Why would you put it in HERE?!”
“Because no one has access to this room but me, and the janitors. Now help me count!” I said, pointing to the tiles up against the wall in the corner. I took out the map I had found previously. I read it aloud.
“Red to yellow, yellow to blue; blue to green and green to white.” I said aloud.
“White?” He asked. “There isn’t a white tile in this room ANYWHERE! The furniture may be gone but the tiling never changed!” He shouted.
“Inside voice!” I chided. “No, I know what it means. The red tile in the corner leads to the nearest yellow, then another yellow, and so on.” I explained. “Which means that… You were here.” Is said, pointing to a red tile on the floor. He took a crowbar and after a little bit of trouble, pulled the slightly loosened tile away. “I hid it in there when we came back with O’Doyle. Remember when I told you I needed a change?” I joked.
“Yeah! He gave you a notebook and told you to write out what happened… but you never gave it to him.” He said, having a small revelation.
“Yup. I hid it here. I made sure to sneak back over to the office and copy down where I hid it! Can’t believe I forgot about where I’d hid it. I feel like an idiot, but hell. It doesn’t matter too much now!” I joked. He picked up a small notebook and blew the dust off of it.
“And didn’t you leave the rest of your old notebooks with O’doyle?” He questioned. I nodded.
“Yeah. In the attic in that old wooden toy box that the Mrs. O’doyle got for us!” I stated proudly. “Maybe we can go back and get those one day.” I teased. I gently took the notebook from Jacob and opened it. The small window that peered into the room illuminated us with moonlight, as I flipped the pages.
“Man… Christmas that year. It was the last time-” I said, tears swelling in my eyes. Jacob patted my back.
“Yeah, I know. The last time we saw the three of them.” He said, wiping a few tears from his own eyes.
“No, you’re wrong. It’s the last time we saw all four of them; at least, sane anyways.” I commented.
“Yeah…” He said. I flipped to the back of the notebook, where there was a ton of different pages titled different things.
“These pages are the ones about everyone when I was in the hospital and even afterwards… It’s all the stuff that we were told, or found out about later on after that whole ordeal. It’s what I found out about O’doyle and Rebecca mostly.” I stated. After everything that happened, I wanted to put all of the pieces together. So I wrote everything out. First, I’d written out my time with Jacob, starting from the moment I’d gotten kidnapped. Then; I wrote out what happened that Christmas.
“Let’s go home Tristian. I think you’re gonna need some more relaxing then I will.” He joked, wiping some tears from my eyes. Oddly enough, Jacob had grown to be a couple inches taller than me.
“Alright… but before anything else happens, we have to do something.” I bluntly said in a very opinionated matter.
“And what would that be, baby?” He said, leaning his chin on my shoulder, kissing my neck tenderly, guiding his head so his ears were by my lips.
“We’re calling O’doyle. It’s only nine. I say we go to his place, and sort through all of this. It’s time that retired old geezer hears the story of what happened…” I said tearing. “I know I said we wouldn’t, but I think he needs to know. It’s just been long enough.”
“I think you’re right, baby.” He cooed, kissing my lips.
After a walk out to the parking lot and a quick chat with security, we hopped into our car. Jacob took the driver’s side.
“Call him up.” Jacob said to me.
“Already did before. Drive.” I commanded. He chuckled, revved the engine, and proceeded to drive off towards the all too familiar home of Ex-Police chief O’doyle.