Shame Of Maastricht: The Revelation of Misery by Marie N. Hallen (books to improve english .TXT) 📕

“Sounds like a good idea. I don’t feel like working a lot today. When can we go there?”

“In the afternoon I guess. I have to submit one assignment and check one more. Won’t take much time.”

Luuk seemed to avoid the suicide attempt topic and Kate didn't attack him with any questions. She was happy to see him more cheerful than lately, so the idea of going out sounded very promising and even relieving. In the afternoon they started getting ready.

In the meanwhile Kate hid all the medicines she found in the house as well as syringes, sharp objects and other things which could be used as drug paraphernalia. Even a part of cutlery had to be removed and locked in a drawer with Kate keeping the key in one of her bags. Luuk didn’t show any signs of depression or drug abuse, every time she checked on him, peeping through the doorway, she found her relief in seeing him sitting at the computer and working. His face also didn’t show any anxious signs so she finished dressing up and came back to change her bag.

“Are you ready, darling?” she shouted to him without entering the room.

“Yes, almost! Ok, I’m finished. Coped really fast.”

Luuk dressed up, grabbed the car keys and they went out onto the porch.

“Wait, I forgot my purse, I think I left it on the table,” Kate said and rushed back to the house.

Luuk went towards the car which was parked nearby. Her purse was indeed on the glass table in the living room, where she left it when was putting her things from one bag into another. She took it and rushed to the exit and heard some noise and distant voices. She didn’t have a minute to catch up. Her eye caught a horrible scene. Several men who pushed Luuk into the black car and drove away as quickly as they could.

“Luuk, what does it mean?” she cried in horror and ran up closer although realizing it couldn’t be a joke Luuk’s friends could pull on him, trying to get him to hang out with them more often. No, this was a malevolent action.

She couldn’t even say a word. She rushed to Luuk’s car to try to catch up, but he had the key with him and she couldn’t take his car. Kate didn’t have her own car so there was no way to chase them but to run. She rushed after the strange car immediately, running at her full speed, trying to chase the car on foot, trying to do her best, trying to imitate a cheetah. She never ran so fast. Unfortunately, this speed was not enough, as the car was also driving at full speed, so even the cheetah wouldn’t be able to take over, and the car was relentlessly moving away. On the run, she grabbed her phone and photographed the back numbers, trying to take as many shots as possible.

A thousand thoughts flashed through her mind. She was only thirty seconds late and this happened. How did they manage to capture him in a second? How could she fail to notice a strange black car in front of their house? With these thoughts she kept running down the highway, although she didn’t know where it led. There was nothing around, but woodlands and broad and desolated fields. The cars were flashing by, and there was no way to stop anyone and beg them to help her chase the perpetrators. Once the car disappeared far away, Kate sank powerlessly on the road and screamed in despair. Her heartbeat went insane as if her heart tried to skip out of her breast. She didn’t care that her cries could be heard around. In a few minutes she got up and walked towards the house where she called the police. Then she went out and sat down on the porch, counting minutes and looking around. Her eye caught a white paper sheet on the ground near Luuk’s car. She failed to notice it in a rush but now picked it up and took a closed look. There was just one line of printed text. “From M with love. Time to sort it all out”. There was nothing else on the sheet but when the police arrived, Kate showed them the message trying to hold back her tears.

“Did your husband have enemies?” the inspector began with a standard question.

“Not that I know.”

“Did he have competitors at work?”

“Impossible. Not all of his colleagues can recognize him as he works remotely.”

“A so-called digital nomad, I understand. Do you have enemies or competitors?”

“No.”

“What about your friends? Do you both have any friends? How long have you known them?”

Kate explained that she only had two friends and that the rest of them were Luuk’s friends she had known for two years. None of them seemed malevolent or suspicious and they didn’t communicate much lately.

“And we also don’t communicate with our neighbours. Just living a detached life, to say so.”

After a conversation that seemed to Kate totally meaningless, the police sent a car to the way Kate was running. They also had the car pictures Kate took while trying to chase them, but the number plates were covered with a black lid so it wasn’t possible to identify the car. Kate failed to see this in a rush and was photographing the car mechanically. A large-scale search was launched, even the newspapers published a few articles about another abduction on the outskirts of Maastricht.

The next day Kate met Sterre at the local bar. Although none of them drank, this time they decided to change the rules. It was quiet in the bar, the music was also quiet so they could have an uncomplicated conversation.

“He complained he kept seeing someone near the house,” Kate told Sterre. “It’s been almost two weeks his behaviour changed to the worse. He told me there was someone standing at our window or near our door, although he didn’t see anyone, he could hear something. And I didn’t believe it.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I thought it was because of drug abuse. Hallucinations, distorted reality perception. He didn’t sleep properly. Also insomnia and stress. This guilt complex has so many sides.”

“Have you ever hallucinated?” Sterre wondered.

“Yes, I think twice. It seemed to me someone was standing behind and I could see it.”

“What was it?”

“It wasn’t someone human and it looked scary. I swear it was a creature of hell. I was also depressed.”

“So this is why you thought your Luuk could experience the same.”

“Exactly. But now I don’t exclude the chance there was someone trying to spy on us… To track us down and find out when we are home. And yesterday it also seemed to me there was someone around.”

“Was there someone?”

“I went out to check. It was quite late. But I only saw a cat and calmed down. Otherwise I did have an ominous feeling and started to feel some kind of alien presence but also blamed it on the overall atmosphere. Luuk behaves really weird. I often see him in a catatonic state. Or standing with his face against the wall or a window. Sometimes it gives me creeps and I try to distract him. It started getting worse with time, he lost interest in many things he loved before. It’s hard to watch a person with a rich inner world fade away.”

“Don’t you think he does regret what he did? I know this might be an unpleasant and uncomfortable question, but he killed his girlfriend and this is a fact,” Sterre asked with embarrassment in her voice, trying not to look at Kate.

“First I was afraid of thinking about this. I’m not sure about anything. Sometimes I ask myself how he would feel if he chose to save her instead. But I did try to help them and do my best, so in both cases he would get this feeling. To kill his girlfriend or to kill a person who protected him. My grandmother couldn’t even slaughter a hen although she had a large farm… Of course this is hard. When you have less than a minute.”

“I can’t disagree. And to be honest, I’m not sure what I would do if I were in his shoes. But do his parents know he was in such a condition?”

“Partially, but they don’t know the whole situation. I talked to his mother yesterday. First she blamed me, then she accepted it. But she doesn’t have a clue of the reason.”

“And what are his parents doing now?”

“Nothing. They are patiently waiting for more messages. Maybe the kidnappers are trying to use psychological pressure as their primary weapons.” Kate explained.

“What are the police doing then?”

“They are exploring and checking all the places around Maastricht. Especially woodlands, the place where we were imprisoned, old farms. I don’t expect any results within a few days. I don’t have a car, but his father promised to come with me as far as possible and check too.”

“I would give you my car, but I don’t have one. Otherwise I could join. Not doing anything these days,” Sterre suggested although she knew she wasn’t likely to be very helpful.

“You are welcome there tomorrow. Should have started searching asap, but it wasn’t possible to reach his parents. And his friends are on a vacation. No one around when you need help, as always.”

“How familiar! At least you know how it feels. Do they travel in groups or what?”

“Exactly. Luuk never traveled alone, always with a couple of friends. Now that he fell out, they continue this tradition without him.”

“Well, fuck them. We can start together. And if his parents join, it will be great. Where are your parents?”

“They live in San Diego. Haven’t seen them since our wedding. Sometimes it’s hard to get along with them,” Kate confessed.

“San Diego! Not bad, not bad. I wish I lived there,” Sterre sighed dreamfully.

“I don’t want to discourage you. If you haven’t been to California, it doesn't hurt to visit, but as for life… There is only one plus, it’s always sunny there. The rest is… No, I’m not going to ruin my surprise, once you end up there, you will see.”

Hosted By The Adversary

Luuk found himself in a cage in a large room without windows. It came to him that he had been tranquilized on the way to this place, but couldn’t remember how he could be captured again and this time like an animal. A year passed and this repeated. Again. The only difference was that there was no one else in the room this time. He will have to face the enemy alone. Is the challenge as serious as the previous time? “No fear,” Luuk thought. “I just need to find out why they brought me here. What else have I done? Haven’t done much over my thirty years. Well if they think I’m an animal, I should become one and give them more reasons to be afraid”.

He looked around. It was pretty dark there although visibility allowed