How Do I Make You Feel

Chicago Darkness

In Chicago, in a small town called Westery, was a house. It was small, but it was nice, and it worked for the two people that lived there. It was usually very quiet. There was never many lights on. A sixteen year old boy with shaggy brown hair sat quietly in his closet, his arms wrapped around his knees. He whispered to himself, "Stay. Away. Stay. Away."

His voice trembled, and he stared into the darkness of the closet. He was sweaty, and he could barely catch his breath. "Breathe. Please."

A loud front door opened, and creaked shut. Footsteps, heavy, slowly made it's way closer down to the room that the boy sat in. The footsteps seemed to go past the door to the bedroom, to the bigger bedroom that still had a queen sized bed from when the mother had lived there with the two. The man, Stephen Shepard, walked into the master bedroom and placed his car keys on his dresser. He sat down on the bed, and placed his elbows on his knees.

The boy, Gavin Shepard, rocked back in forth, feeling loose. Feeling out of body. His heart raced, feeling a complete loss of control.

"Gavin," bellowed a deep and calm voice. "I'm home."

Gavin felt numb, like his whole body had shut down. He tried to find his breath again, but he couldn't. So he buried his face in his knees and kept silent.

"Gavin, I've missed you. It's been a few hours now," Stephen said. "It was a long day at work."

Gavin couldn't speak. He now purposely held his breath, hoping that maybe he could pass out and wouldn't have to worry. He heard the footsteps make his way to his bedroom. He could feel his father's eyes looking around the room, and landing on the closet.

"Gavin, you know it's not good to be hiding from me," his voice chuckled deeply. "You don't have to worry. You're safe with me always."

He opened the closet door, staring down at Gavin, curled up into a ball, pale and disoriented. "We can talk about the divorce. Gavin, it was eleven years ago. It's time to move on."

Gavin muttered a small no, but quickly swallowed his words back up, his mouth drying up. He felt his arms going numb and his heart beating faster than ever.

"Come out of there," Stephen bellowed, crouching down to Gavin's level.

Gavin shook his head. He muttered another quiet no, but it barely surfaced.

"Get out. Now."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ms. Shepard sat in her living room, watching the TV with a glass of wine. She had gotten better than she had been eleven years ago, and limited it to only one glass of red wine per week. All of her sudden, her cellphone started going off. She hadn't gotten many calls in a while, and expected it to be another manager from a job interview that she had failed. 

She picked up her cell phone, and raised it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Sharon from Child Protection Services of Chicago. We've recently gotten a call from an anonymous caller here in Westery. They live next door to your ex husband Stephen Shepard and son who he has custody of. Is that right?"

Ms. Shepard paused her TV show, and grabbed the phone closer. "Um, yes. Yes, Stephen Shepard is my ex husband and currently has custody of my son Gavin. Is everything alright?"

"The anonymous caller reported loud screaming and banging noises. They've explained that they've lived there for three years now and they've never heard anything suspicious, until now. We've sent police to investigate and someone from our team here at CPS of Chicago. It could be nothing, but we are qualified to check. We were notified to call you."

"This is all too much at once," Ms. Shepard sighed, holding her chest and taking a deep breath. "Are you telling me my son isn't safe?"

"Don't worry yet, we are still finding out. Again ma'am, it could be nothing-"

"But it also could be something," Ms. Shepard said, frustrated. "There's police there right now?"

"Yes, ma'am. Has this ever happened before? Would you expect anything like this?"

"Has what happened? A fight between the two? I mean of course, they've had fights. Nothing ever too serious," Ms. Shepard explained.

"Well, with what the anonymous report explained, it was loud and the scream was extremely loud as well. Nothing like they've ever heard, as they've said. I don't know how extreme this fight could have gotten, if we can assume it was a fight."

"What am I supposed to do? Should I drive down to Chicago? That's almost a 30 hour drive."

"There's nothing you can do right now, I'm afraid. We will notify you if anything changes."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ms. Shepard sat at the Hendrixe's house, alongside Isabelle. They sat in the living room, talking quietly so the kids wouldn't hear. Emmitt was in his room, and Maggie was busy helping her father in the kitchen.

"That's crazy," Isabelle said, shaking her head. "What do you think it is?"

"I'm really not sure. And now I'm just on end. I'm worried. I just hope Gavin's okay."

"Are you going to go up to Chicago to get him?" asked Isabelle.

"They don't want me to. They don't know if it's serious enough. But if I need to go down and see Gavin, I'm most likely going to have to take a plane. The drive is at least a day, and I don't have the energy for that by myself."

"You got my back. You got John's and my kids as well. We are all here for you if you need anything."

"I mean... what I'm most worried for is that he won't remember me. Or won't care about me. If I end up going to see him if things are serious. I was in a bad place during the divorce and I wasn't the mom he needed. I didn't fight for him."

"If things are serious with Stephen over there, I'm sure he'll be glad to be in your arms and safe. I don't think it'll matter much."