The Tragedy of Marco

Chapter V

When Jordan Harrison stood in front of the doors of Marco's apartment, a strange feeling of darkness rushed over him. He felt like he was entering into something he shouldn't have. It was the first time Jordan has felt something like that. Entering other people's apartments was a part of his profession and the moral dilemma of interfering into somebody's privacy was new to him. He stood there for a few minutes, thinking about what he would find inside. He knew police has already took the important evidence, but there might be something more. Something policemen didn't find important but could lead to grand discovery.

Jordan finally decided to enter. The flat was clean but messy. There were wine glasses on the coffee table, shirts on the floor and dozens of books were placed all over rooms. Everything, from classics to DIY books, was placed on tables, cupboards and shelves. As Jordan walked around the apartment, he tried to imagine the story it was telling. He hoped that walls could tell him what happened in rooms of this flat. Marco's room was dark. Thick curtains were preventing the light to enter, walls of the room were decorated with pictures of Marco and his friends. They were black and white. King-sized bed was covered in blankets, many of them. Jordan was surprised at the amount of them. There were at least ten of them. And a few cushions. Next to the bed was a table. Empty. "Police probably took everything. I shall visit them," thought Jordan. He began to search around the room, as he would look for something specific. He stumbled over a big pile of notebooks under the bed. They were dated form 2004 to 2015. Jordan realized those were Marco's diaries. "A precious discovery," he said to himself. "They will answer many questions."

Jordan left the apartment with two boxes of notes and pictures from walls of the bedroom.

*

On his way home, Jordan stopped at the town's police office, where they told him everything they knew. Some of Marco's friends, parents and teachers from university were interviewed. The police never discovered the secret person, described in the note and no one ever mentioned her to them. The fact that he knew the name of the girl made Jordan think Mary knew more than she had told.

He took photocopies of police files and went home.

"Hello, my love," he said to his wife Anna.

"Hi, darling," she answered. "Why all this notebooks? Another of your exciting investigations?"

"You don't have to be sarcastic, and yes, those are dairies of a missing person," he answered, slightly annoyed.

"Okay, okay. Dinner is in the microwave."

"I will eat later, I have to check these. Thank you"

*

Jordan made a cup of coffee and went to his home office. There were around twenty notebooks in boxes. He decided to first read the most recent one.

It was a red, hardback notebook, still half empty. The last thing written in it was:

"This is the last thing I will ever write. Am I sure I want to do this? Yes. It is time. I can't. I hope God can forgive me. I am grateful. I am grateful for these notebooks. They were with me since April 2004 till today - 30th of December 2015. You are the only one that really knows me. Oh how pathetic. Notebooks know me better than anyone else. What an alarming sign to end this agony! Today I will end it. I will end this life, but I will live. I will live inside these writings. My story will be here to alarm people about the traps of life. They will teach parents to listen and friends to love. Maybe one day, I will be a big classic author, whose books will be read in schools. Maybe. I will watch the happenings from another world. My life is a secret and so it will stay. You, whoever you are, can read this a hundred times and you will never ever understand me as much as ink and paper do. Enjoy. Goodbye stranger, goodbye love, goodbye life."

Jordan sat at the table for a while, obviously shocked. The notes were without a common thread, written with a shaky hand and there were sights of tears noticed on some pages. He read more extracts from the notebook and they were all written similarly. Some were long, other were short, sometimes only a few sentences per day.

"I can't breathe. I miss you. Somewhere in the parallel universe we are together. I am sorry."

Marco was a destroyed human being. It seemed like he spend all his life searching for help, but he was looking at the wrong places.

Jordan decided he has to talk to Mary again. It was impossible that Marco never mentioned his problems. He turned on his laptop and wrote an email to Mary.

To: mary.josephine.garis@email.com

From: harrison.j@investigation.office.com

Date: 5th of July 2015

Subject: The investigation

Mary,

I found some interesting notes in Marco's apartment, which made me thought that you didn't tell me everything you know about Marco's last days. In order for me to continue the investigation, you will have to trust me. I will visit you on Thursday and I hope we can have an honest talk.

Yours truly,

Jordan