Reality Lies by D.F. Downey (e manga reader .TXT) 📕

“Your mother and father, her room is empty.”

Jay hopped out of bed and ran down the hall. “Jay.” She called after him. “What are you. . .”

“He’s gone! He took Sean!”

“What?!” Amy ran to Sean’s room. “Oh my God! Why would he take Sean? I should have known. How could he? I should’ve been more careful.” she was frantic.

“It’s not your fault. How could you know?” Jay comforted then declared, “We’ll find them.”

“Call the police!”

He went to the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

He had his back to her. This is Jay Noll, 212 Westwood Drive. My son’s been kidnapped… Sometime during the night. . . He’s three years old, twenty-five pounds, and brown hair, blue eyes. . .”

She had already clicked down the receiver. “I can’t let you do this.”

“It’s our son. Who knows what my father might do?”

“We’ll find them. I’m sure Detective Plant will help and my mother and sister, the folks we know the people we trust, the people who already know.”

Jay was relieved. “You get busy, contacting everyone. I’m going out looking.”

“Not without me!”

“Someone has to stay here in case he comes to his senses and comes back here. It should be you. Anyway, then you could coordinate the search.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She paused then added, “Do you have any ideas where they might have gone?”

“There’s a place my mom talked about. It’s by a lake. When my dad was around we used to go there all the time. I figured I’d start there. I’ll just take the van. . . That’s right, he took the van. I’ll have to take your car.”

“Here’s the keys, good luck honey.” She gave him a lingering hug.

“Thanks.” He headed for the door as she gradually loosened her grip.

“Uh… Jay?”

“Yeah” he stopped at the door.

“Why did you check on Sean as soon as I told you your parents disappeared?”

“I don’t know. I guess it was just an instinct. I mean I knew you were alright. Probably, I just wanted to make sure we were all accounted for.”

“No other reason?”

“No, no! That’s all there was to it.” He turned to go, hoping she wouldn’t press him. He was worried. He was worried his father intended to use Sean to keep his mother alive. Who knew what would happen when it didn’t work?

Amy had gotten everyone together and things were jumping. Detective Plant, make that retired Detective Plant, had used his connections to get an APB put out on the van. He was busy combing the files from his long search for Gary Noll for anything that would provide a lead to his whereabouts.

“Don’t worry Amy, we’ll find them.” was his confident assertion.

Her sister and their friends had confined their search to the local area, driving up and down the local byways for a glimpse of any of the trio. They had placed posters up and even posted it on an internet site, “missing.com”. A few leads had come in but the trail had broken up about thirty miles outside town.

Frieda had been busy doing what she did best, feeding the multitudes. She had a 24/7 kitchen going, providing fuel to the troops. “I’m good at this, everyone’s got to eat, right?” was her mission statement.

Amy hadn’t heard from Jay. It had been two days. She realized shortly after he left that she should have gotten a better description then “by a lake.”

She was really worried. She knew he didn’t tell the truth when he left. There was a reason he had run to Sean’s room. She saw the fear in his eyes. She should have pressed him on that. “Instinct, right.” she said aloud. Jay had no instincts, he was oblivious, that was his gift, that was his charm, that was his curse.

Now she was left with an imagination running wild. ‘Did he think his father was going to hurt Sean?’ She had heard Jay and his father yelling the night before Gary disappeared but she hadn’t been able to make out much. She knew it revolved around Johanna’s condition. She figured Gary thought Jay could do more. Maybe, when he said no, he decided that Sean would take Jay’s place. ‘Enough, who knows, I got to get these thoughts out of my mind. I have to concentrate on getting Sean back. Jay’s fine. I know he is. He’s a survivor. Everything’s going to work out. I know it.’ “That’s it Amy, positive thoughts.”

“You hungry honey.” Frieda had heard the last.

“Starving mom.” She rubbed her head against her mother’s forearm like she once did, the sensation was comforting.

***

Jay had been all over a region around Lake Wallenpaupack in Pennsylvania. He could see the place in his mind’s eye but he realized he had to correct for the distortion of a three year-old’s memory. He hadn’t found it. He was growing increasingly frustrated. He hadn’t slept or eaten in days. He had awakened to find himself in a ditch on an isolated two-lane back road. This time of year there wasn’t much traffic and what there was tended to mind its business.

“Think Jay, think. Where was it? What did it look like?” He froze on an image and decided to start moving. He got out to check the damage then hopped back in and put the car in gear. No deal, it was hung up. He was going to need some help. “AAA, but I forgot the cell phone, there’s got to be a house somewhere around here with someone in it.” he said to himself. He didn’t remember seeing anything before he crashed, actually he didn’t remember crashing. He decided to head up the road. He passed some cows, a couple of deer and fifteen minutes later he finally found something.

The place looked familiar. It became more familiar with each step. Finally, he stood gaped mouthed. “This is it! Oh my God, this is the place!”

In the clearing there was a rustic chalet. Everything about it was oversized. The door had to be at least ten feet tall. The one story shack was at least twenty-four feet high.

Jay smiled. “Duh, it’s exactly as I saw it, as a three-year-old!” He climbed the three steps leading to the front door. “I feel like a three-year old. These steps are a foot and a half tall.” he said aloud, half laughing. When he got to the door he had to reach up since the doorknob was six feet up.

Slowly, he turned the knob and cautiously opened the door. He could see immediately, even in the dim cabin light, that someone had been here recently. As he stepped inside his eyes quickly adjusted. His mother was lying on a bed in the center of the room. His heart jumped, “Where’s Sean?” He couldn’t restrain himself, he ran inside. Just then Sean raised his head from besides Jay’s mother. “Daddy!” he squealed.

Jay ran towards him. The last thing he remembered was a blinding flash and a sharp jolt to the back of his head.

“Sorry, I had to do that Jay, but to be honest you’re the reason I had to do that.”

Jay’s eyes groggily opened to the crazed visage of his father. It was obvious to Jay, even in this state, that his father was somewhere else.

“Where’s Sean?” he demanded.

“Don’t worry he’s all right, he’s with your mother, outside, playing.”

“What were you thinking? Why did you do this?”

His father paused as if he hadn’t considered this before, then he spoke slowly. “I was trapped on that wall for twenty-five years.” He stopped. Jay began to speak thinking this was all the reason he would offer.

“Why…”

His father ignored him or didn’t hear him. “Twenty-five years.” he sounded like he couldn’t believe it. “The only thing that kept me sane, that kept me attached, was thoughts of your mother. How we were, how we would be again.”

Jay nodded. His father cut him off, “You can’t understand. No one could. It is beyond the reason of anyone’s experience.”

Jay stopped frozen by his father’s pain. “To get out after all that time and find out that I’ll soon be alone again. That I will have no one who understands or frankly for that matter believes what I’ve been through. It can’t happen. I won’t let it happen.” He walked over to the sink and mindlessly lit a cigarette, took one puff then nervously rotated it through his fingers.

“You wouldn’t help me.” he looked over at Jay.

Jay tried to speak again but his father continued.

“I know. I know you can’t help me. There’s nothing you can do. Except maybe take my few precious moments away. I would never let you do that. So, I decided to take your mother and go away but then I thought maybe Sean could do something, maybe he could cure her.”

Jay finally broke through, “That’s crazy talk. Mom is sick. Mom is dying. We have done everything, she’s accepted that. I’ve accepted that. Do you think you’re the only one affected by this? She and I were all each other had for years after you left.”

“I didn’t leave!” Gary replied defensively.

“Come off it. You were leaving. You couldn’t deal with reality then, just like you can’t deal with it now. Don’t get me wrong, I know that I prevented you from changing your mind but you were leaving. That’s why she accepted your disappearance. That’s why she didn’t figure out what happened and that’s why I never freed you. There’s enough blame to go around but remember I was three years old. I didn’t know what I was doing, you did.”

His father processed for a moment. He looked on the verge of acknowledging his part when a low murmur rose from the bed at the far end of the room.

“Uhhh. . .” His mother wasn’t outside.

He ran to her side, “What is it honey?”

“Did I hear Jay?”

“Yes dear, Jay’s here.” He turned to look at Jay as if to warn him to be on his best behavior.

“Jay, come over here. I can’t see you.”

Jay dutifully came to her bedside.

“I’m glad you got here. I don’t have much time left.” she started coughing and couldn’t stop. It was painful to listen to.

When she finally stopped she grabbed Jay’s hand as firmly as she could. “Jay, promise me, you won’t keep me here. No matter what you feel, no matter who