The Edge of Paradise

Chapter 2: Welcome Home

For the weeks following the discovery of the body, dark clouds were casted menacingly over the once peaceful minds of the citizens. Never before had the small town of Solomon witnessed such a petrifying event. The entire town held its breath, curiousity and terror struck all: children, young, old, men, women, and everyone in between. I was no exception. We were all waiting for an announcemnt. The answer to the question we already knew. "The body found in the chest belongs to Luke Tansey. The local boy reported missing several weeks ago". In a sense, such an announcement would bring peace, the idea of someone vanishing into thin air was somehow more disturbing than the thought of a murderer roaming the streets.

We were all wrong.  

I was laying on my bed, lost in thought, lacking any trace of emotion. At this point, I would have even welcomed misery as a present just to be able feel something again. I should've been filled with agony, fear, anger, regret. After all, the boy I loved disappeared off the face of the earth. No explaination, no reason, no motive. Yet I wasn't. My mind was a void. My body didn't dare tremble.

"Max, do you believe in god?" Luke asked me. where did that come from? We were sitting on a log by the river near the forest. The clear running water casted an electric feeling through the air. I looked at him puzzledly. "Why do you ask?" I replied. He gave me a thoughtful look and said "Well, I was thinking. If there really is a god. Why does he or she, or it, allow so much hate and suffering in the world? Wouldn't a benevolant supreme being be more caring toward's it children?"  

"And if there isin't a god, then people have been fighting and killing each other for centuries over nothing. Spreading hate throughout the world, pursuing people they look at as different." He elaborated.

I thought about it for a bit and shifted my position to look at him in the eyes. "Well, I figure. If there is something out there, looking out for us, then we'd feel it, wouldn't we?" 

He gave me a slight smile and looked up, "true enough". he said.

I placed an arm around his waist and cuddled him closer. the light of the sun gave way to the peaceful shimmers of the silver moon as the day gave away. It was so quiet and peaceful, our attention solely on each other. One could not have noticed a single soul watching, eavesdropping, from afar....

The identity of the body was set to be revealed today: October 9th, 2014, at exactly 3:00 PM. I glanced to the harsh green light radiating from the dull electric black clock that hanged on the wall. 2:50 PM it read. A defeated sigh escaped my lips and I forced myself to go downstairs and plant myself in front of the T.V.. A slight feeling of dread began making its way through my body. The first trace of emotion I'd felt since Luke's disappearence. 

A look at the T.V. revealed a generic News set, a generic news anchor, generic animations, and a generic introduction: "Good afternoon and welcome back to KGOD on Channel 6. I'm Robin Robinson". "And I'm Cassandra Kirk. Thanks for joining us". The anchors were dressed in typical conservative attire, a black suit, a white tie, and a matronly black dress that made sure to bring attention to the woman's clevage, but never too much. Their plastic smiles and flawlessly executed rehearsed script fit in completely with the town's manufactured idea of perfection. 

"As we all know, the dissappearence of a local boy shook the town to the bone. Classmates described Luke as a vibrant indiviudal with a seemingly bright future ahead of him. Friends and family say that he had no known enemies, and no reason to seemingly desert." They said with false sympathy. "The discovery of a mysterious chest uncoverd in Lake Eden revealed what many citizens thought was the answer to Luke's disappearence, a body. Found dismembered and beyond recognition. A clear result of murder." I closed my eyes at that. No one deserves to die that way, in cold blood, without respect, without mercy. However that doesn't change the end result. A death is a death nontheless, 

"Now many residents assumed the body belonged to the missing boy so deseperately searched for." they continued, and my desperation grew, dread planting itself deeper and deeper within my mind. "However, authories have now revealed a shocking discovery." "The body, found dismembered in the chest, did NOT belong to Luke Tansey." A wave of shock and relief overcame my emotions; I felt my my knuckles release tension as I didn't even realize I was clutching them. A glimmer of hope began to shine through.  "DNA tests concluded that the body had no genetic match with Tansey, and authorities have now announced that the body was identified as Isaac Morse, a former resident of the town who had moved away with his family several years prior. Authorities are now launching an investigation into what happened that lead to the murder of Morse, and more importantly, who did it."

"As it stands now, the case of the missing Tansey boy has reached a dead end. No further leads have arose."

I didn't do anything but stay still and stare blankly. If that wasn't Luke, then where was he? Is he still alive? And that boy, Isaac. I remember something happening with his family shortly before they moved. My parents told me to stay away from him. He was always... different, and the towns people never took to him kindly. Still, who here would be capable of murder? Why did he come back? And do those same people have anything to do with the disappearence of Luke?

I don't know how the occurances are connected, or if they even are. All I know is there is something very wrong going on in the town of Solomon.