So, I'm finally getting used to work at WH Smith, now that I'm finally passed the halfway mark. I'm not too sure if I'd like to work there personally. Some of the staff aren't exactly nice. The bosses in particular are just pricks. I can punch their lights out for them. Then this one supervisor Elaine. I feel like I could throttle her on occasions too. She seems to get really pissed off about the smallest of things. Patience, man, I'm new how am I supposed to know some of the things she's going on about. Things I should and shouldn't do.
Oh, well. At least I'll be getting something out of it. Retail experience. That always looks better on the job application, right?
Moving on. My sister finally decided to tell Mam and Dad that's she's talking to a boy over the internet. She hasn't told them that she's dating this particular boy yet. It'll all come out eventually. I've been alloted the place of guard. Look after her whilst she's on there. Tried that and failed. They'll probably hate me for finding that out.
Moving on again. I don't want to dwell on the small things.
This is Chapter 5 of Do You Remember Me?
Chapter 5
I was shoved through the doors to the inspectors room. It wasn’t exactly his room. It was a small room with a table. Four seats. Two on one side, two on the other and a tape recorder in the middle. There were a lot of posters along the wall.
“Sit.” The officer said and left the room. I did as I was told and waited for the inspector to turn up.
I didn’t have to wait long, a few minutes after arriving a stout man came into the room. He had a full frontal beard. It wasn’t long, it was trimmed back short. He had dark brown eyes, and a messy head of hair, that was greying in places, you could see reminiscent patches of black hair. Lastly, he had a pair of glasses perched on his nose.
“My name’s Inspector Malcolm. You are?”
“Jeff.”
“See, that’s how I know you’re lying. Danny, why didn’t you come to us? We could have taken you to your family.” I think he was trying to get to me. My names not Danny it’s Jeff.
“My name’s Jeff.”
“Danny. Come one, we’ve been looking for you for nearly a year now. What happened?”
“I don’t know. I woke up in some ranch house a few days ago.”
“And the drug man you’ve been working for?”
“He’d kill me if I told you.”
“You don’t have to worry about that now. You’re with me.”
“I do. I live with him.”
“Danny, you live with your family. We’ll take you back to them.”
“I thought I was here because I was caught thieving.”
“An anonymous donor has paid your bail. You’ll sit a trial.” He said, I didn’t really like him. He was telling me lies. “Danny, you have nothing to be afraid of. We’re here to help you. What happened to you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on, surely there’s something.” I guess I’d better show him, right? I didn’t know what else to do.
“Well, there’s something.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t remember it really. How I got them. I woke up with them there.”
“What? Where?” He was getting excited for some reason. I didn’t understand that. I took off my shirt and showed him my chest. One of the first things I noticed as I woke up was that my whole body was in pain. I noticed that I was bleeding and I checked my chest. There’s a magnitude beyond words worth of cuts. Bruises. Some of them are still painful. I’ve just gotten used to ignoring them by now. My wrist if probably one of the things that ache me most now.
“That’s bad.” He said. “Maybe we should get you to a hospital. We can have your head checked out too.” He didn’t wait for my response. He just left. I heard him walking around and then there was silence again. I waited for him to come back.
Inspector Malcolm walked to the nearest phone which was not too far from the room he’d left Danny. He was happy that at least one of the kids had come back. He just didn’t like the state one of them had come back in.
The reason only one of them had come back was quite worrisome to the middle-aged man. He didn’t know how he was going to break this news to any of the families. He had no idea how Danny was going to take it, he didn’t even remember who he was, let alone any of the friends that went with him and never came back.
Picking up the phone he dialled the Smiths’ number habitually. He’d phoned them many times before and he knew the number off by heart by now.
“Hello?” The feminine voice of Maggie Smith answered.
“Maggie. This is Inspector Malcolm –”
“You’ve found him?” Maggie nearly shouted. The inspector distinctly remembered their last conversation not too long ago, where Maggie said that the inspector was not to call her unless they found him because it was getting too painful to hear about the little bits and bobs they’d found that could lead to Danny’s whereabouts. She wanted the actual person back, not a bit of nail, a piece of clothing. She just wanted her baby back.
“Yes, but before you come down here. There are a few things I’d like to talk to you about. Things that concern Danny.”
“Why? What’s wrong? Is he okay?” She was obviously very worried about her baby boy.
“He’s lost his memories. From what we can tell there’s probably been some form of torture going on. He’s got cuts and bruises littered around his body. It’s not looking promising. We’re going to take him to the hospital. You meet us there.” The inspector informed her.
“Right. I’ll get the family going. I’ll meet you there as soon as possible.” Maggie answered.
“Right. See you there.” The Inspector answered. He heard a muffled ‘bye’ on the other line before he hung up.
“Come on, Danny. We’re going to the hospital.” I heard the inspector say as he entered the room again. I’d put my shirt back on as I was waiting for him. “Your family is meeting us there.”
“I don’t have one of those.” I replied.
“Yet.” He retorted. He was right. I didn’t have a family yet. I was quite anxious about meeting them. I didn’t know how I was supposed to act. They’ll be disappointed in me. I know it. “Come on.” He said, ushering me out of the door. He walked me to the police car and put me in the back seat. “Put your seatbelt on.” He jokingly told me as we were setting off.
For all intensive purposes, this was my first car ride. I was nervous about how the thing ran. I didn’t trust it not to crash and blow up on me. I hoped that I would make it to the hospital in the same pieces I got in the car.
Maggie woke up. Something felt different to her today. She had an anxious feeling in her stomach that something was going to go her way for once in her life. It was around mid morning.
As part of her usual routine of waking up she walked to her sons former room. She hadn’t touched a bit of it. Besides doing his laundry everything was in the same place that he’d left it when he left nearly a year ago now. His posters of some rock band littered the walls, hiding the soft baby blue colours of the wall. Maps covered his desk. He’d always wanted to do something with Geography. A traveller. He loved to explore new places. His computer was still sitting in the same place. She’s cleaned all the dust out of his room a few weeks ago, and sure enough it was come back.
His bed was still unmade. The room still held his soul. She could smell him in the air.
The smell always chocked her. Made tears climb to her eyes. A single tear fell down her pale cheek. Every instinct in her body told her to give up. Her baby wasn’t coming back. That she should focus on the last baby in the family. The girl, Jamie, definitely wasn’t a baby anymore. She was 19 and spending her time in college now. She’d specifically chosen the local college so she could be close to news of her brother. She was dedicated.
Maggie could feel his presence everywhere. Wherever she went there was a constant reminder of him. Sometimes she just wanted him to go away. She couldn’t handle the depression that was digging it’s sharp claws into her.
“Baby, come back.” She couldn’t understand what happened. Some people told her that they’d run away. She knew deep down that the family was loving enough, that he was a happy boy when he was here. A boy almost a man, he would be 17 now. His birthday had passed merely a few weeks ago. They didn’t celebrate.
It was impossible to believe that they’d ran away. There were obvious signs of a struggle where they’d been gone on a school trip. A campsite that schools used regularly. Another mystery to add to the pile, was Danny’s friends had practically been in separate camping rooms. The people they were rooming with didn’t even remember the struggle that so obviously went on. It was as if their memories had been wiped.
Day by day had gone. At first it was breaking news. Everyone wanted to hear from her. Everyone wanted to help her with finding the baby and the other families with finding their children too. But as days turned into months, people were losing hope. Nobody offered Maggie help anymore. They just looked at her with pity. She was a desperate mother, who refused to believe that her boy had been kidnapped and killed.
That was when she got the phone call.
She’d recognised the number instantly. She’d been on the receiving end enough to know who it was.
“Hello?” She answered.
“Maggie. This is Inspector Malcolm –” She didn’t give him the time to finish his answer before she jumped in and said:
“You’ve found him?” Hope swelling in her voice. She could not be disappointed now. She would prove everyone wrong. That they were still alive.
“Yes, but before you come down here there are a few things I’d like to talk to you about. Things that concern Danny.” That brought down her bubble slightly. What if they’d found him, but he was dead? She’d couldn’t handle news like that.
“Why? What’s wrong? Is he okay?” She asked in a hurry.
“He’s lost his memories,” That was the first blow. She could handle him not remembering her though to see his face again. She would give up everything to see his face again. “From what we can tell there’s probably been some form of torture going on. He’s got cuts and bruises littered around his body. It’s not looking promising. We’re going to take him to the hospital. You meet us there.” The inspector finished. That was a blow. What kind of sick person would want to hurt her baby like that? Why? He’d done nothing to deserve this kind of attention.
It took her awhile, but the only decent sentence that she could bring up was:
“Right. I’ll get the family going. I’ll meet you there as soon as possible.”
“Right. See you there.” The inspector said. Maggie hurriedly said ‘bye’ as she was hanging up the phone. She needed to go and wake Jim, her husband up. They were finally going to see their son again.
“Jim, honey, wake up.” She cooed softly.
He groaned in response.
“Come on. Something special has happened.”
“Jamie made me some honey pancakes?” He asked, his mind still foggy with sleep.
“Something better.”
“What?”
“They found him. They’ve found Danny.”
As you can so obviously tell, this one is actually longer than the rest. I had a bit more to write about for this chapter. Though I'm sure most of it'll change by the time the final draft is done.
Night!
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