In Charlotte's Eyes

ONE: Parker's Desperate Plea

His heartache distracted Parker from the feeling of exhaustion of not sleeping the whole night. He stumbled out of his car and hurried into the police station. There was nobody else there. A woman sat at the front desk, barricaded behind a transparent wall. She was a piece of rose-pink lipstick. She looked up at Parker when he entered.

She looked up at him expectantly when he walked quickly up to her. “I-I need to file a missing person’s report.” He tried to sound as professional as possible, but the heavy stress wasn't helping.

“Hm.. okay.” She answered vaguely, messing with the computer in front of her. “What’s your name, sir?”

“Parker Robins.”

Presumably, she typed his name out. “Okay.” She shuffled through her desk for something. “You can sit down, sir. I will call an officer to come and talk to you, okay?”

He nodded, but he was far from comforted, having to wait. He sat down on one of the seats in the lobby.

As he sat there, anxiety welled up inside of him. When he finally got to talk to an officer, what would he tell them? Charlotte disappeared in front of his eyes. Just-.. an unceremonious poof! How would he get someone to believe him?

He was beginning to dread this meeting. But he had to speak his truth. He couldn't keep this in, even if it sounded crazy. He leaned forward, putting his hands on his head.

This was crazy.

He tried taking deep breaths to center himself. He could not find any sort of zen as the minutes passed—which felt like hours. Soon enough, the woman and an officer opened the door to the lobby. His head lifted to look at them. The officer, a man, a brown ammo pocket, waved him over as the woman sat back down at the front desk.

Parker gulped nervously, standing up and heading towards the door. The officer moved out of the way, before sticking his hand out for Parker to take. “Hey, I am officer Norman Goetz, I'll be assisting you in filling out this missing person’s report.” He greeted quickly.

“Th-Thanks.” Parker stuttered, his heart beating anxiously. “I'm Parker Robins.”

Norman nodded with a small smile, leading him to a secluded room. There was a small desk there. On top of the table, there was a cup with pens, and a laptop. The officer sat on the chair in front of the desk, silently prompting Parker to take the only other open chair, to the side of the desk.

As he tried to get comfortable, Norman pulled out a piece of paper from one of the desk’s shelves. “So, the missing person,” He placed the piece of paper down on the desk. “Is it someone you know?”

Parker grunted, barely audible. He looked down. “Y-Yeah..” He muttered.

Norman nodded with a pensive hum. “I'm sorry to hear that. What's their name?”

“Charlotte Stern.” He looked up slightly.

“Woman?” Parker nodded in response. “How old is she?”

“Uh.. I believe she's.. twenty-eight.” Her last birthday was some time ago.

He nodded. “Friend of yours?”

He stammered, for some reason. “Y-Yes.”

He hummed. “So, what made you come file a missing person’s report?”

“I-” Now, the hard part. Actually explaining what happened. Hw hesitated. “I.. I witnessed her disappearance.”

The man raised a brow, but his posture and expression were still lax. “What happened?”