Into Darkness

Chapter 14

David had not thought he would have been able to fall asleep let alone pass out for what felt like most of the day.  When he had finally left the search and had gone home, he had barely even made it to the couch before just dropping into and drifting off into whatever coma had taken him.  

It had been hard to get him away though.  He had been walking the woods, going along one of the more uncommon paths towards the top when he had started to feel his body losing control.  He shoulders slumped, his eyes would be open, but he would be stumbling in more of a trance than actually walking.  At one point he was walking, and then he was stopped in the middle of a thorn bush, cuts along his arms, and no idea how he had found himself there.  He was a walking zombie.

-But he had to keep going.  He wasn’t going to stop until Bobby was found.  He had to keep looking and see if he could find him.  Bobby was somewhere, and there really wasn’t anywhere else in the town that he could be.  There weren't too many alleys in the town, and with many people out and about going on with their normal lives, he couldn’t imagine Bobby not having been found if he was anywhere else.  

No, there were always places Bobby could be.  What if someone had taken him and killed him?  Whoever did wouldn’t want the body to be found.  Or what if someone ran off with Bobby to.. to.. to do what those men did, those pedophiles and other nasty men out there.  

David really didn’t want to think about all the other possibilities that could have happened to Bobby, so it was best just to focus on the one he could try and help take care of.  Bobby had to be up there.  He had to be.

“David, you need to go home.”

David had just looked up, not sure were he was again.  He had drifted onto another path and now Mr. Cranston was standing there, holding him up.  He wasn’t sure when he had fallen into the man’s arms, but he could now smell the man’s breath and couldn’t help his nose from wrinkling.  Onions.  Why did the man’s breath always have to wreak of onions?

David looked around and saw that he was being lead down the side of the coal dump, through the often unused direct path down the north side of the large slag pile.  He suddenly felt the warmth of the man’s arm around him, and it was disgusting, he could feel the man’s sweat through his coat.  Ugh, he wanted to pull away.  This man was disgusting.  How had he ever been able to make it through this man teaching his middle school years?  

He let the man get him down as he couldn’t pull away.  He just didn’t have enough strength to break free.  The man had him in a vice grip, held to his chest as he was taken to his car, and while David continued to just drift in his own daze, driven home.

The few hours of sleep had done him some good, but as he pulled himself awake, he felt the glimmers of his nightmare.  He couldn’t remember all of it, but he was in darkness, chasing after Bobby.  He was running, but there was nothing around him, just black, black and more black.  Around him, he heard laughing, the endless echo of children’s laughter, like everyone around him was in on the joke, and it was all about him.  

It was when the darkness had given away and he found himself falling in the black that he had waken.  He couldn’t explain how he knew he was falling.  He had been running, chasing the boy, and then, he just felt nothing solid beneath his feet.  The world around him was still gone, but his gut told him that around him he was slipping down into some void, falling in deeper and deeper.  

Then he was awake on the couch, a silent scream trying to escape.  His body had jerked, and he had to fight to keep on the couch.  Losing, he put his knee down to catch himself and push himself up to stand.  It was time to get up anyway.  There was still searching to be done.