CHAPTER 7

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...thank you, John. Caldwell police are currently investigating a disturbing case, involving a double kidnapping last evening. Caldwell residents Kyle Patterson and Ashton Ledger were spending a night together at the Patterson's household until about 1 AM, where an unknown assailant kidnapped the two boys and disappeared into the night. A search warrant has been put out for Caldwell and the surrounding areas, and investigators are currently scanning the area. Stay tuned for more updates on the story...

Almost overnight, the news of the kidnapping of two children had heavily impacted the community of Caldwell, New Jersey. They had become united, for better or for worse, through their collective empathy for the young victims of the kidnapping and the parents who had lost them, and the fear of which one could be next. 

On that cold Sunday evening, many of the townspeople had gathered in Grover Cleveland Park to attend a vigil for the boys

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On that cold Sunday evening, many of the townspeople had gathered in Grover Cleveland Park to attend a vigil for the boys. Many of them were people that once knew Ashton and Kyle - teachers, family friends, schoolmates. There were also many who were unaware of the boys before the story broke and yet still decided to attend the vigil, sending their prayers out that these boys are found and returned safely.

Kelsie Ledger, however, the mother of one of the two boys, was not present. She had to be somewhere, to meet a certain someone, like he had to every Sunday.

Kelsie was, instead, in another part of town, sitting in the small reception room of the St. Barnabas Medical Center as he waited for the receptionist. The harsh white light of the flickering fixtures shone down on the room and illuminated the beige walls, and magazines were haphazardly arranged on a small table to his side, but he didn't feel the urge to read from any of them. A radio had been installed in the room which was supposed to be playing sugary pop music, the kind Kellie always hated, but in this instance she would have preferred it: the hosts were talking about the recent kidnapping.

"Alright, Mrs. Ledger, he's awake." Said the receptionist. "He said he's ready to see you."

Kelsie nodded slightly at the receptionist as a small show of gratitude as she walked down the hallway to the oncology ward. He had stayed there for so long now that she had memorized which room number he was staying in.

She stepped into the room, and there he was, laying in the hospital bed at the far end of the room. His windowsill was decorated with a handful of get-well-soon cards, with a beautiful set of flowers hosting a wide variety of colors sitting in a vase next to him. An image of him reflected off the dark mirror of the television screen mounted on the wall opposite. As Ledger sat down on the chair in the corner of her room, He turned his attention towards her.

"Hi, honey."

Kelsie loved her husband dearly. When she met him all the way back when she was studying in criminology, she had thought he was some athletic meathead - but slowly, David had begun to show himself as intelligent, caring, and most of all, emotionally vulnerable. It was something Kelsie loved him for, how honest he was about how he had felt. When the day came that David had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Kelsie was devastated...but she hadn't taken the news half as bad as her son.

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⏰ Last updated: Nov 13, 2021 ⏰

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