The Vanishing by Gary Brown (top 10 motivational books TXT) 📕

really been able to talk to. All these years, the state kept sending me to different prison doctors. They’d just give me more pills and send me on my way. Or I’d sit with a bunch of other guys in some room and listen to everybody else say how much better they’re getting. Not me, though. I just kept thinking about getting out.”

Claire kneeled, picked up her keys, then stepped cautiously to her left as she rose to create an escape route past Walter and to the security alarm.

“That’s good, Walter,” she said. “Very good! You shouldn’t be concerned about anyone else. Their situation is always going to differ from yours. What do you want to do now that you’ve been given the opportunity to live on your own again? Are you going to take responsibility for getting your life in order? You know I can only help you so far. The rest is up to you.”

“I know,” Pennimore replied. “That’s why I had to see you. I wasn’t entirely honest with you tonight.” He moved in front of Claire, blocked her path, then paced back and forth, agitated, wanting to speak but holding back.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the demons. They’re back.”

“We’ve talked about this, Walter,” Claire replied. “You know that is not true. There are no such things as demons.”

Walter slapped his hands violently against his head. Claire stepped back. She dropped her keys a second time.

“But there are!” he screamed. Walter threw his jacket on the pavement. “They made me do those terrible things to those children.” The butt of a handgun protruded from his waistband. Jesus! How did he get that into the building? He pulled out the weapon, pointed it to his head. “You’ve helped me so much, Doctor Prescott…”

“Oh God, Walter,” Claire cried. “No!”

8

WALTER FELL TO his knees and sobbed. He rammed the barrel of the weapon under his chin and placed his finger squarely on the trigger.

“I can’t take this anymore,” he cried. Tears washed down his face. “Every night I hear them. Taunting me. Telling me to find someone new. Someone for them.”

Behind Walter, the elevator door opened. A security guard stepped out, drew his sidearm. “Drop the weapon!” he yelled. “Do it now!”

“I’m sorry, Doctor Prescott,” Walter continued, disregarding the command of the armed guard standing behind him. His attention remained fixed on Claire. “You’re the only one who has ever believed in me. I’ll always be thankful for that.”

“Of course I believe in you, Walter,” Claire replied. “I’ve always believed in you. But right now, you need to do what the officer says. Put down the gun. Talk to me.”

The guard pressed the panic button beside the elevator door. A shrill alarm wailed throughout the parking garage.

“Are you deaf or just plain stupid?” the guard screamed. “Drop your weapon! Put your hands on top of your head!”

“I needed to see you one last time, Doctor Prescott,” Walter cried. “There’s something you need to know.”

“What Walter?” Claire replied. “What do I need to know?”

Walter tried to speak, choked on his tears. “When I was in prison, I found out who you are.”

“Who I am?”

“Your father was a doctor too, right? I heard he was the best. He was supposed to treat me, to make me better. I got transferred to a halfway house instead. That’s when I overheard the other guys talking. I know what really happened to him. I know about the accident.”

“What are you talking about?”

The security guard inched towards Walter. From the corner of his eye, Pennimore watched him approach, then rose to his feet, turned, and fired twice. Claire screamed as the guard reeled backward from the gunshots, slammed against the elevator, then slid to the ground and slumped helplessly against the door, weapon still in hand. Dark rivers ran from his shoulder and down the center of his chest, streaming in ever-widening pools at his sides. His eyes, sunken and vacant, stared blindly at Claire, his body motionless.

“God, Walter. What have you done? You’ve killed him!”

Pennimore turned back, faced Claire, then placed the gun to his head.

“Your parents’ car crash wasn’t an accident, Doctor Prescott. It was deliberate. They were murdered. And I know who did it.”

Claire stared in numbed silence, speechless.

“I know it’s none of my concern, but like I said before, you’ve been good to me. Maybe the only person in this godforsaken world who ever has. And for that you should know the truth. I met a guy during my transfer. He told me what happened, about the accident, the car going over the cliff and all. Said he knew the guy who did it. That it was no accident. He told me his name. It’s…”

The shots came from behind. Walter’s mouth widened as the first bullet struck him in the leg and dropped him to the floor. The second found its mark in the middle of his back, crumpling him to the ground. Claire screamed and looked toward the elevator door. In his outstretched hand, the security guard held his gun. She watched his arm fall to the ground, his chin drop to his chest. Drawing a last breath, he died.

Walter Pennimore lay face down on the floor of the garage, choking on the blood as it filled his lungs. Crimson rivers trickled from the corners of his mouth.

Claire ran to him and dropped to her knees beside the troubled man. “I’m so sorry, Walter,” she cried.

“His name…”

“Y-Yes, Walter. His name. Tell me his name.”

“Kre…”

“Kre… Kre what? I need to know. Tell me his name, Walter. Please!”

Too late, Walter’s body relaxed. He died in her arms.

9

THE SECURITY GUARD’S body slipped backward into the elevator as police officers burst through the opening doors and rushed to Claire’s aid. She sat on the floor, Walter Pennimore’s dead body cradled in her arms.

Within minutes, the parking garage was filled with emergency personnel. Duty officers cordoned off the perimeter with ribbons of black and yellow crime scene tape which read, CRIME SCENE DO NOT