Ripped and Stitched

8: What's Down the Road

Carl Martin was a simple man. He worked a typical nine to five, and then went home to his wife and kids. He lived in a normal part of town where other than the two missing teenagers from a year ago, there was not much to worry about.

So, when his kid ran to his car as soon as he got home and told him that their ball accidentally went into the neighbor's backyard, he didn't think much of it. He took his boy next door and they knocked on the door.

But there was no answer.

His son looked up at him with puppy dog eyes.

Carl frowned, now that he was thinking about it, he had no idea who his neighbor even was. He had so rarely seen anyone come in or out of this house. The only reason Carl knew anyone lived here was because of the occasional flicker of lights.

"Daddy, please, I want my ball," his kid begged.

Carl sighed and knocked again. Still, no answer.

He groaned, he was tired and his kid's need for this ball was not helping matters.

"Come on," he said to his son.

They went back into their own backyard and he pushed a chair over to the fence. They both climbed over and Carl helped his son down.

"Go get your ball," Carl said.

As the boy ran off, Carl peaked into the house to see if anyone was home. The lights in the kitchen were on and to his surprise, a girl was standing in there. Carter's eyes widened as the girl caught him staring. While Carl was nervous about getting caught, this girl looked utterly terrified, but strangely, not of Carl. He tried to wave and point to his own backyard to explain but she immediately ducked out of sight.

"Aw hell," Carl said. "Come on," he said hurriedly to his kid, who had thankfully found the ball.

Both of them went back over the fence and Carl grumbled to his wife that he needed to make a call when they went inside.

"Hey, Kevin," he said when his brother picked up.

"What's up?"

Kevin Martin was a police officer, Carl figured he could help out.

"I just went into my neighbor's backyard to get a ball and I think I spooked the girl, she must have been home alone," Carl explained. "Think you could go over and check on her? I would but I think she's scared of me."

"Sure, can you describe her?"

"I don't know, late teens early twenties maybe, she's got red hair and blue eyes," Carl paused. "I don't know if I'm supposed to comment on things like this, but she had what looked like a nasty scar from a burn on the side of her face."

"All right, I'll get someone to check on her."

"Thanks, Kevin."

They hung up and Carl figured that was that. However for Kevin, this was only the beginning.

Officer Martin handed the report to his boss whose old eyes widened when he saw the description.

"And you're sure your brother said this burn was on her face?" he asked Kevin.

He nodded. "Why?"

The sheriff of over twenty years went straight to his desk and began searching through files. After a while he found what he was looking for.

"Can you call your brother and ask him to come down?" he asked Office Martin.

Kevin shrugged. "Okay, he won't be happy about it, what should I tell him?"