The Beast of Bleak

Part One

BREAKING NEWS: BLEAK, Tennessee experiences flash freeze in mid-June.

A bit of an understatement if you ask me. A blizzard in June did not strike me as a "flash freeze." Having lived in Bleak my entire 45 years of life, this was nothing I had ever seen. I tossed the newspaper over my shoulder; my eyes burned from staring at the pages for too long. The cigar I had in my hand had basically disintegrated. I shoved it into the ashtray on my desk in annoyance. The radio in the corner played 80's music muffled by static and feedback. The "flash freeze" that was afflicting the town outside was wreaking havoc on the signal. I crumpled one of the file papers stacked on my desk and chucked it at the radio, hoping to knock it down. Alas, I was no star when it came to sports, so my imminent failure was expected.

'Just get up and turn it off.' 

I scoffed and leaned back into my chair in defeat.

I shifted my gaze to the stacks of papers and files on my desk. Nothing but countless "missing person" fliers. Their names were big and bold, but still didn't grab my attention. Kyle, Clara, Lucas, Herb, Julia, Kevin- too many to count. The town was in a panic while I sat there with a blank expression on my face, not a care in the world. The star on my uniform read "sheriff," but I didn't feel like one. The only thing I could find myself caring about was finishing that day and going home. There was also my daughter, Rebecca. She was finally able to visit for the summer. I barely ever got to see her. She chose to live with her mom after the divorce, and... that was that. It seemed I was the only one in my family that wanted to stay in Bleak. I couldn't picture myself leaving, so that's where I was left, and that's where I stayed.