Through the Dark

Chapter 22

Finn came to school on Thursday and were we more than happy to see him back in place. It was evident that he was stressed out inside but on the outside he managed to put on a happy face.

"Woah! I really did miss out a lot during these few days," Finn said and began to laugh as he heard that Addison was Noah's girlfriend. We were seated at our usual spot inside the cafeteria during recess and was living within our own atmosphere.

"Noah's good," Nathan added.
"Yeah he seemed nice," mentioned Aiden.
The previous night we were in Addison's house when Noah had come to visit her. I must say that the boys got along like a house on fire.

"Addison just met Noah and now they are dating. Will we even hear something about Aiden and Stacy?" Nathan commented changing the subject.

We all heard loads about the girl called Stacy, who was Aiden's neighbor, and was apparently very hot. She had been Aiden's on again and off again crush but nothing more ever seemed to happen.

"I've been hearing about her for months now but never did I ever see her in real life or even in social media," Addi pondered.

"I'm beginning to think that Stacy is only Aiden's imagination," I added and all of us began to laugh loudly.
"She is real, promise," Aiden, who was also laughing, mentioned.

"Does she even have a crush on you?" Thea asked.
"How am I supposed to know that?" Aiden chuckled.
"You may as well make it up dude," Nathan teased him. Aiden huffed but did not say anything else.

As school ceased, Finn and I drove off to the police station where Finn was supposed to meet his father. It was best not to crowd the station for which only two of us decided to go.

It was strange to go to the police station. Never in my life did I have to go there and I was somewhat intimidated by the formidable facets of all the police officers. All of them were busy doing something and they were completely engrossed by their work.

Finn introduced himself to one of the officers while I glanced around the whole area. I was ordered to sit, on the chairs present for the civilians, while Finn followed the officer inside. Frankly speaking, I did not cherish any of it. I felt like a criminal albeit I was as naive as I could be. The people present there eyed me once in a while as if to make sure I was not committing a crime or something. Everyone was doing their work diligently. I, on the other hand, sat their idle. My eyes were roaming the area leisurely until one point when a weird piece of paper caught my attention and I got newly invigorated.

Was it what I thought it was?

I stared at it with brooding eyes. There was no way what I saw could be true, could it?

I tried to focus on the paper that was sitting there on top of a box full of various files. However, it was many feet away from where I was sitting and I was dubious about it all.

I had to make sure that it was what I thought it to be. Thus, instead of coming to any conclusions beforehand, I got up from my seat and began to approach the table which had the box full of files and on top had that particular piece of paper.

I put on an unamused countenance and emerged the desk to examine it carefully.

Yes, it was there and was what I thought. The ambiguous interpretations in my mind was making an eerie feeling run though my veins.

"Miss, are you looking for something?" an officer came towards me and asked me politely.

"No. I mean yes I was actually wondering if I could use the washroom," I made up and smiled showing my teeth, looking at him.
"Of course. It's right by the corner through that hallway," the officer pointed.

Before I went I quickly memorized the words and numbers written on the paper. I knew I would forget it after sometime though so I took out my phone and noted it down as soon as I went inside the washroom.

122000-03-Hudson-Aus

It was a weird combination of numbers and letters as a case name but I was sure that it made sense to those who knew it. Hudson was Reese's last name. Added to that, the top page had a picture of Reese for goodness's sake.

How on Earth was it even possible? Why would Reese be involved in a crime? Or was she a victim of a crime? Either way I knew nothing about it whatsoever.

I came out of the washroom after sometime and went to sit where I was sitting. On my way back I noticed that the box, which was previously kept on the table, was no long there. I began  checking out the whole area until I saw a man, not far from where I stood, holding it. He was wearing what I presumed to be his uniform and was walking out with it.

"Hey Mark do come here again if you need anything," one of the police officers told him.
"Of course!" the man called Mark replied.

I did not know any Mark nor did I recognize him at all. Nevertheless, I noted his face along with his name so that if need be then I could recall it.

Before I began to look suspicious, I went to seat on the place I was sitting before and waited for a couple more minutes before Finn was done. He returned with a much happier face seeing which I asked if he had any good news or not. 

"Yeah dad said that he was able to arrange his lawyer," Finn stated.

"But didn't you say before that a lot of money was needed for that? How did he manage it while he was locked inside?"
"Yeah Sherlock, that was true but dad said that he got help from one of his friends," Finn added while he smiled.

"Vianna can we talk?" Finn stopped me from walking as we were going near the car.

"About?" I asked nonchalantly.

"If you're free then I was just suggesting that we can spend some time together," he mentioned as if he was about to say another thing and had changed the course of his statement.

"Actually I was kind of busy today. We can hang out some other time," I suggested.

I needed more information on the thing that I had seen in the police station and did not want to be hampered at that time.

"Yeah okay. No worries," he added quickly.
"You have been saying that you want to talk to me quite often but then you never say anything else. What's going on?" I chuckled.
"Seriously it's nothing. I just thought that it would be nice to have some company," he said and walked straight to the car.

I dropped off Finn at his house and went straight home to begin my own investigation on the thing that was bugging me since the moment I witnessed it. As soon as I reached I strode off to my room and closed the door behind me. I powered on my laptop and changed into more comfortable clothes while it was turning on.

So how was I even going to start with it?

I knew that Mark was the detective who was in charge of that case. Reese was somehow involved in it, not sure how though.

I knew that the case name was 122000-03-Hudson-Aus. Thanks to all the movies that I watched, I knew that in general the case names were specified according to the dates. After multiple attempts of deciphering it, I figured out that the most logical date would be the year 2000 and the numbers on either side may denote the month or something?

I tried to recall all the things Reese had said she did before she took me in. I could think of a lot of memories but none of them were related to any sort of crime.

I was no hacker that I would be able to hack down the system and know all the details. However, at that time I wished that I was one because it would all have been feasible for I spend a shit load of time on it. By the end it made me think of myself as an idiot. All I did was waste the precious time to look for something that was, in reality, not worth looking for.

______________________
What do you think Reese did?
Stay tuned to know what had happened all those years back and how it will affect Vianna.

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