Silent Screams

The Nightmare Comes True

I hope you enjoy this chapter and you'll let me know what you think.

CPDCPDCPD

"Ethan is dead," they confirmed. These were words he will never forget, that would throw him off track, never let him be the same again.

Ethan Halstead

20xx - 20xx

And when we look at the stars, we see you.

These lines were engraved in the child tombstone. Every day, Jay sat in front of the stone and studied the words. He would give everything to see his boy again. He would like to visit him, if only for one day. He missed the childlike voice, the fantasy and the cheerfulness. Only once he wants to hug his son, to tell him how much he loves him.

He could not sitting idly while the murderer of his son was free to run around. Allegedly, they have no evidence to detain him behind bars. Jay was determined to take revenge for what he did to his baby boy...

"You killed my son!" Jay screamed angrily, pushing this disgusting bastard full-weight against the wall and playing dangerously close to the trigger of his gun, which he pressed against Mitchell's forehead. Light tears rolled down Jay's cheeks. He only wanted one thing - his son, but Ethan is dead. Abused and murdered. Just for fun and boredom, "Why did you kill him? Why my boy?"

"He had a nice smile." he grinned and Jay released his weapon.

"Jay!" Erin yelled, who ran to him, "Let the man go!" These four words brought Erin with a heavy heart over her lips. This man was pedophile, a child murderer.

"He killed my son!" Jay yelled angrily.

"I know. That's awful. Nothing in the world will bring you Ethan back, but you can't kill him."

"He was 7 years old. A little boy who just wanted to go home from school." Jay said in a frightening calm voice.

"Halstead. Put the gun down!" Hank ordered.

"No!"

"Jay! We all mourn for Ethan, but don't make a mistake!" Erin implored her partner.

"My son is dead! Do you know how painful it feels to bury your own kid?" Jay hissed.

"No, we don't. But I can tell you how painful a bullet feels if you don't drop down your gun right now!" Hank hissed, who can feel the chill, the desperation and deep grief of his colleague.

"Jay. Please don't make a mistake. Remember Ethan, do you really think he wants you to kill his killer? It sounds stupid, I know, but no one in the world can bring your boy back to you." Erin swallowed hard, "If you kill Mitchell, you'll go to jail, and neither Ethan nor I would want that." Never before has she seen her partner so dissolved. She could not sympathize with his pain, his suffering. She had no child and therefore no parental feelings.

Slowly, Jay let this child killer go. Erin immediately grabbed his gun as Hank put the handcuffs on the bastard. After the gun was safe, Erin pulled her grieving partner into a big hug. He gently laid his head on her shoulder and began to cry. The loss hurt him damn. She wanted to comfort him, but he did not want comfort. He only wanted Ethan.

Sweatingly, Jay woke up. His pupils were rigid and his blood pressure probably rose immeasurably. He had the feeling he could not breathe. As if someone was cutting off his air. Rarely has he been so scared. It was all just a nightmare, right? Ethan is still alive, is not he? Because he is not ready to bury his own child.

Still slightly confused, he looked around the gloomy living room. He was probably asleep on the couch. Jay reached beside him and grabbed his cell phone. It was the middle of the night. Gradually he got up and trotted into the bathroom to splash some water on his face. In the mirror he saw his reddened eyes and the dark rings formed underneath. For weeks he did not sleep. Nothing was the way it used to be. Ethan's belongings had been unused for weeks. The room stood still. No children laugh, no child screaming, no small children's hands that messed up. It's just terribly quiet.

On the way back to the living room, he stopped at Ethan's door, which was adorned with many pictures. Slowly he entered the still, abandoned room and sat down on the bed. His attention was on Ethan's baby blue blanket, which he got given by his mom. Without this blanket, Ethan could not fall asleep. Woe, they drove to the family cabin in North Wisconsin and he forgot the blanket, because then the screaming was big. He pressed his nose to the blanket and took in the soft scent of his child. Ethan. He missed his little son very much. These little memories conjured a light smile on his face, which quickly disappeared. He worries about the life of his son, holws for nights and tries not to break down during the day.

The next day Hank nodded slightly to Alvin, who followed him inconspicuously to the garage.

"A dead boy was found, probably Ethan." Hank explained.

Shaken, Alvin looked at him, "And now?"

"Let's go to Forensic Medicine and hope it's not Ethan," Voight growled.

"Should we really hope the boy is still alive?" Alvin asked on the drive.

"This boy belongs to our family." he hissed.

"That's right, only ... if you think about what pain he may have to endure, a death would be a deliverance." Alvin explained.

"Would you manage to bring this message to Jay?" Hank asked, puzzled. Even if he did not show it, he suffered right with his young colleague. As a father, he can feel good about what it means to lose his child.

"No, it's never easy to give someone a death message. This uncertainty makes Halstead sick. Even if it were a sad news, it would also be a certainty for him."

"We should just hope for the best." Voight muttered.

The hearts of both of them pounded wildly against their chest. They stood uneasily in front of the table whereupon the body of a child lay covered. They literally felt the fear rising in them. Did they really want to know who this dead boy is? Should they really hope that Ethan was painfully murdered, just so the boy did not have to suffer anymore?

Hank bit down on his lower lip nervously while Alvin restlessly aimed his cap, which in his opinion simply did not want to sit perfectly.

"I would estimate an 8-year-old boy based on height and weight," the coroner explained, exposing the body. That this was a child was difficult to see, because the child's face was almost completely burned ... and actually the rest of the little lifeless body.

"Is it Ethan Halstead?" Alvin asked quietly, looking sadly at the charred corpse. He did not even want to think that Ethan had to endure so much suffering. Above all, he was sad because Jay had lost his son in this tragic way.

"Ethan was a good boy. He didn't deserve this." Alvin muttered softly to Hank, who nodded silently.

The coroner ignored Alvin's small disturbance and continued with her explanation, "The boy was burnt alive. This is recognized because the muscles contracted. In addition, the boy was abused. The time of death was three days ago."

Alvin thoughtfully shut his ears and eyes. He did not want to hear more details about the boy's suffering. He also did not want to see the boy lying in front of him. Incredulous, he shook his head slightly and once again adjusted his actually perfectly fitting cap. He had to do something that holds his nervousness and fear back.

CPDCPDCPD

What do you think? Which side are you on? Hank or Alvin?