Daniel

Calm

We both sobered very quickly as we entered the junkyard. There were no guard dogs here like in the movies, maybe because it was so small or maybe because they couldn't afford it. Either way I was very grateful, I didn't want to have to hurt any animal today except the shit who had taken Monica. Him I wouldn't mind hurting plenty.

Nicholas and I moved through the abandoned and degraded husks of cars that sat like dead bugs on the hard, dirty ground. The sky was darkening as the sun went down and storm clouds gathered above, blocking out the moonlight. It seemed fitting to me, whatever would happen next did not seem like a thing that could be done in the light. Nicholas was very close to me, a reassuring presence, his arm against mine. Everything was changing today. What I had done in the Dairy Shack with Tony, what Nicholas had admitted to me. Those things were good, I could feel it in my soul that they were good. And what I was about to do would be good. This gave me strength. For a long time I had thought that I was a bad person. More than that, an evil person and that's why these things happened to me.

I realized that that wasn't true. I still didn't know why this happened, but I did know that I was not a bad person. Nicholas had been telling me this for years but only did I believe him. It took so long. Nicholas, so persistent, had never given up on me. He was like a dog in the way of his unbelievable loyalty and love. He would never betray, I knew it, just like a dog.

I looked at my friend out of the corner of my eye. He looked strong, resolute. He was standing here beside me, walking into battle with me. I smiled and Nicholas turned his head. "How are you smiling?" He shook his head, "Daniel, you will never cease to amaze me." I pushed his arm and he pushed me back. Before I could even consider pushing him again I stopped walking and looked ahead.

"There it is Nicholas." I whispered, my mouth going dry. Nicholas looked ahead.

"Which one?" There were a couple semi-trailers rotting a few meters yards in front of us. I pointed at one left to the middle, white with the paint on the side peeled too much to see what company had once owned it. Nicholas looked at the unassuming trailer. It was just a regular trailer, falling apart in its own dying corner of the world like so many others. There was no way to tell that something incredibly horrible would happen in that very trailer if Nicholas and I didn't stop it. How, I was going to do that I had no idea. I guessed that we were just going to have to improvise.

"Come on," I whispered to Nicholas and moved forward slowly, placing my steps carefully to avoid stepping on something that would make noise and alert the people inside to our presence. We were almost there when I heard the first scream and froze. It was horrible. I can't describe to you how horrible it was. I can use the generic, stock phrases like it was blood-chilling or hair-raising. It was just horrible, filled with so many raw emotions that it was hard to bear. And we hadn't even started yet.

"Okay," I whispered, almost too low for Nicholas to hear. "She's definitely in there now. I know. Call the cops, or 911 or something."

Nicholas pulled his phone from his pocket, visibly shaking. "Will they be here in enough time?"

"No," I said flatly and Nicholas nodded, crouching with his phone held to his head, his legs trembling to much to stand up. I heard the dial tone from his phone and sucked in a breath, my heart stopping. Maybe we should have called earlier. But no one came out and Nicholas hurried the call, telling the authorities where we were and that we were going to stop someone from murdering the missing girl, Monica. I heard the person on the other side try to argue and then he clicked end and looked up at me.

"They're on their way," He spoke and I nodded.

"We need to hurry. There's not much time left." Nicholas stood, pale, circles under his eyes. This was really tearing him down. All of it. It was my fault the way he looked now. I shook my head, I didn't have the time to think about such things now.