About Last Night

Missing

Theo Morgan wakes up with a headache and thinks back to the dream he was having. The dream seemed so natural. While walking in the night, he attacked a young woman in the streets and ripped her arm off. He just left her there dying and walked away with it. This worries him, and he wonders if he has some sort of psychological problem. He decides to go out for a walk to clear his mind or find someone to talk about his dreams with.

It's a sunny Saturday, and there is not much traffic on the roads. Theo lives in a small town, so thankfully, he doesn't have to wait too long for a ride. While waiting, he gets a call from his boss asking why he left work early last night. When Theo explains he wasn't feeling good, his manager tells him not to panic that everyone has the right to take a sick day now and again but make sure to let him or someone else know first. He says he will see Theo tomorrow morning for work. After the call, Theo waits for a ride and decides to turn his phone on silent since it keeps ringing every few minutes. Why is everyone trying to reach me today? Theo thinks to himself. No one ever wants to talk to him, so he is confused about why everyone is trying to contact him.

After waiting for a little while, he finally gets a ride from a high school student going in his direction. Theo tells the driver about his odd dreams and states that he wants to see someone about getting help with what could possibly be a psychological disorder.

The driver looks over at him with a worried look and says, "Are you sure you even got any sleep last night? You look like shit, man." Without waiting for an answer, he continues to say, "Maybe you should just rest up and try to contact your friends. This might sound weird coming from a stranger but going to see a psychologist isn't the easiest thing to do."

Theo just stares at the driver, and his mind becomes cloudy. He can't really remember why he got in the car or what he was trying to accomplish.

"I think I will just walk from here," Theo says as he gets out of the car, which had come to a stop at a red light. "Here are five dollars. It's the best I have, sorry."

"Uh, sure thing."

Watching as the driver pulls off, Theo is shaken by his cell phone ring, becoming confused why it's not silent anymore. He looks at the screen and sees that he has several missed calls and several voicemails, all from his boss. He listens to the first one.

"Theo, where are you? I really need you to come in. A detective came by and asked if anyone left early or snuck away for an hour last night. Please call me back soon."

The next few are more frantic, and he ends with, "Please call me back, the police are here, and they say that Alice has been missing for 12 hours now. She just worked a double shift last night. Why would she do that if she was planning on running away? Let me know where you are so I can help."

Theo tries to think back to last night after work. The video store, he went to the video store with Ben. They got home around 11 pm and watched TV until they fell asleep around midnight. He had the weirdest dreams, and then he woke up in his bed this morning. He texts his boss:

"I will be there in about ten minutes."

He makes his way to the diner after getting some coffee. He decides to shoot Ben a quick text:

"Hey dude, sorry I dozed off last night. Did you drive me home last night?"

He gets no reply back and decides to just worry about it when he gets to work. When he arrives, his boss is standing outside looking around a bit frantic and holding a coffee pot as if ready to pour it on the first person who tries to approach him.

"You might want to call this detective, uh, yeah Detective Patrick Turner. He's been in and out of here all day. I told him that you and Ben were the only two that left early last night. He said he will be back soon if he doesn't hear from the two of you." He says while pouring the coffee into a trash can.

"I'll talk to him now."

"Thanks, please just make this go away. It's been the worst week of my life."

He strides into the diner with confidence and looks around for the detective. When he doesn't see him, he calls the station house.

"Detective Turner's phone." The secretary says.

"Yeah, this is Theo Morgan. I was told to call."

"One moment."

The phone goes quiet, and within a minute, the detective gets on the line.

"Mr. Morgan, Please tell me you and your friend are at work right now."

"Yeah, I just got to work, and my boss handed me your contact info."

"Fuck, ok, sit tight. I'm going to have a patrol car sent over there. DO NOT leave the diner."

"What's going on? Is my friend in some kind of trouble?"

"When my officers get there, just follow their instructions and don't give them a hard time, ok."

"Yeah, sure thing, but-"

The call ends, and Theo wonders what is happening. This is a waste of his time, he thinks, he should just go home and get some sleep. He gets done with his first cup of coffee when he notices two police officers enter. One is an older man with gray hair and a stern look. The other is a younger woman with straight black hair and snapping dark eyes. They both have a no-nonsense look to them.

"There he is." The older one says, "So you are Theo?"

He nods, "I was told to wait for you here and not to leave."

The older one nods and flashes a badge, "I'm Detective Patrick Turner, and this is officer Madison. We need you to come with us down to the station house."

Theo's heart drops into his stomach. They can't be here because of Ben, can they?