Forces Beyond The Grave

Chapter One

Jay watched from afar as Dr Rosewood stood at his wife's gravestone. It was a dreary day in the town; the rain hadn't stopped pouring for three days and didn't look as though it would ease up anytime soon. In the graveyard, the flowers were dying away as they drowned from all the rainwater. Contrary to the dull skies, the grass was green with life. There was a dark cloud over the town, but more so for Dr Rosewood. Not only was he commemorating his wife's disappearance, but it'd been two years, almost to the day since his only daughter, Lennox, went missing. Losing your only child was a fate not to be wished upon anyone, but not knowing if they were dead or alive was worse. In Jay's experience, he'd seen what it could do to the best of people. As sympathetic as he felt towards Dr Rosewood, he was also suffering. He wasn't exactly what he felt for Lennox before she disappeared, but the pain he experienced when he thought she was dead was nothing short of debilitating. She was family - she was the little sister he'd gotten used to looking out for, then she grew up and the way he cared for her...it had changed. He didn't know how or when, but it had. The obvious answer was seeing Lennox naked had triggered his natural masculine urges, but even before that, something was different. Having her disappear the way she did felt like having a part of him ripped away, whatever you would call that feeling. 

But as far as reality and Dr Rosewood were concerned, Lennox was nothing more to Jay than a close friend, so it wasn't his place to take away from her father's pain. He'd asked Jay to accompany him to the church because he couldn't face going alone after losing Lennox, who'd been going with him every year since Evelyn went missing. Just like the last year, Jay had waited by his charger for Dr Rosewood to pay his respects, and then the two of them would go to the local bar to have a drink before returning to their normal lives. After dropping the doctor back at home, Jay went back to the station. He was on call pulling a double shift for some overtime despite being exhausted, but for the past two years, he'd needed something to keep him busy. Since Lennox had gone missing, Jay hadn't been able to sleep much. He'd spent too many nights tirelessly trying to look for any sign of Lennox; whilst most thought her fate had mirrored her mother's, Jay was convinced otherwise. They'd never found a body to prove her death, so he could never believe that she could be gone. Then again, they never found her mother's body either, and as a cop who'd worked countless kidnapping and disappearances, he knew very well that the longer somebody was missing, the lower their chances were of being found alive.