Chapter Text
“Leo?” I say out loud as curiosity takes over my body.
The cop looks down at my phone, “Is that your ‘missing’ brother?” he says with annoyance. “See, I knew this was just a case of drugged up teens.” he says with a sigh. “Did he say where he's at?”
I may not have been around all that much with my brother, but I know he would never do drugs. Hes not like that. I look over at the cop, "I-I havent even read it yet…” I say with a small stutter.
I click on the notification from my brother.
“Hello Brandon, I want you to be a part of my little experiment. As you can see your brother has gone missing, but dont worry ive got him safe and sound for now. He has his own problems to deal with, like you will as well. You may know why I've taken him and his friends. They were the cause of a deadly crash that killed someone. That someone was a part of my family. Someone who I keep very dear to my heart. I don't take lightly to the murder of loved ones. Especially if their perpetrators don't receive their proper sentence. So I've taken that issue into my own hands, I've thrown them into a prison of my own making. And their sentence is death. Their game has already started, and so has yours. I have some errands that need to be done. I need you to run them for me, if you want Leo and his friends to live. It's like a fun trip down memory lane. The pieces are already set for you to find, find the thing that doesn't belong. You have 1 hour and 30 minutes before your brother seals his own fate. Are you willing to do anything to save your brother?” The cryptic message reads.
I stare down at this text message, completely in shock “What the hell is this?”
What do they mean by they took Leo? What do you mean errands? What do you mean I have a time limit? Are they going to kill my brother if I don't do these errands? And what do you mean find the thing that doesn't belong?
Who would do something like this…
“What is it?” The officer asks with confusion.
“Someone is texting from Leo's phone. I-It seems like they are threatening me? They're telling me to save my brother but they are the one that kidnapped him. I don't understand.” I say looking up at Officer Anderson.
His face warps into confusion, “What do you mean threatening?” He pauses for a brief moment. “Here let me see.” He says, extending his hand towards me.
I flip my phone around and hand it over to the officer. I watch Officer Anderson begin to read the encrypting message on my phone, “This…” he says under his breath. “This isn’t the case I thought it would be. This is a kidnapping and not some regular kidnapping, no no, this is some serial killer type shit.” he says, re-reading the text in horror. He continues to read the text trying to understand what the text is implying “but why tell you…” he says under his breath. He stops and quickly lifts his head to speak to the second officer who has stopped what he was doing and has shifted his attention to Officer Anderson. “Connor, call for backup. Detective Ryan should know about this.”
Officer Connor nods before he pulls out a radio from his belt and begins to speak into it. “This is officer Connor demanding back up at 147 Oakview Crescent, Apartment 225 Requesting detective Ryan Holt. We have a 10-47. I repeat, we have an urgent 10-47.” he says frantically into the radio.
“Copy on route.” the staticy voice says over his radio.
Officer Connor pauses for a second, “ETA?” he asks into the radio.
“5 minutes” the voice says.
“Fuck thats 5 minutes wasted.” Officer Anderson says nervously. “Alright, what was your name again?” he says looking back over at me.
Is this truly as bad as there making it out to be? This is freaking me out. More than I already am. “My name's Brandon." I said nervously.
Officer Anderson gives me a small nod “Ok Brandon, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I've never seen this type of crazy in a person before. This is some lunatic who has your brother and I don’t know what they're doing to him. From what this text says, you're a part of this game he's running. Which means, like your brother, you're also in danger.” He says trying to give me the news as lightly as possible, even though that wasn’t light at all.
“Are you guys able to track the phone's location from my phone?” I ask with concern in my face.
Officer Anderson shakes his head “Unfortunately it would take longer than 2 hours. We don't have 2 hours.”
I sit there for a minute trying to process the words that came from this man “how do we know that this is real though?” I ask with a nervous tone
“We don't” Anderson says before someone cuts him off.
“But it’s better to be safe than sorry,” a tall man says, stepping through the door. His dark brown hair falls over his glasses, and he pushes it back, quickly adjusting them as his eyes begin to scan the room.
Well I’m guessing that's detective Ryan.
The detective and I lock eyes as he gives me a small smile. He walks up to me, extending a hand. “Please to meet you..” he pauses waiting for my response.
“Brandon,” I say, taking his hand lightly and giving it a gentle shake.
“Nice to meet you Brandon,” he says, giving me another smile. “Wish we were meeting under other circumstances.” he lets go of my hand and turns around to address the two other officers. “Why have you requested me?” he asks.
“Brandon got a text from his ‘brother’ that turned into a threat made by someone who kidnapped his brother.” Officer Anderson says with my phone in his hand, handing the device to the detective.
Detective Ryan grabs my phone, looks down at the message and begins reading. His eyes followed every line, back and forth. I watch as his face grows into one of worry. “Ah, I see.” he says, still staring into the cellular device. “Well then, let's play his game then.” he lifts his head and looks straight into my soul “and it looks like you're a part of this too.”
“Me?” I say taken aback. “But I'm not a detective or an officer. I'm just a college student whose brother was kidnapped by someone.”
Detective Ryan holds up his left hand into the air “i dub thee, for the day, an honorary detective for this case.” he says lowering his hand on each side of my shoulders. The other 2 officers let out a small chuckle. “Welcome to the team.” he says with a sincere smile.
That was cringy oh my god.
“But why me?” i ask curiously.
“Because this person specified you in their text. I'd rather you be around an officer that can protect you than be kidnapped like your brother.” he says handing me my phone back. “Now do we want to stay here and chat or do we want the game to start so we can get your brother back?” he says with a serious tone.
This is clearly a no brainer, why would they even ask me this question. “I clearly want my brother back safely.” I say grabbing the phone from him, concern fills my shaky voice.
“Good.” He pauses. “That second to last line of text is stuck in my brain… ‘Find the thing that doesn't belong..’ Do you know the house pretty well?”
I shake my head in disapproval, “Not really.. I’ve only seen photos before.” I take a pause thinking about what ‘the thing that didn’t belong’ was. But nothing comes up. All I can think about is that damn bloody mess on the ground. “I don’t know what it could be, but that needle has to have some sort of clue”
“Well then let's start there” he says, turning around and swiftly makes his way over to the center of the living room. Officer Connor moves out of his way and stares at him.
Again, why am I roped into this? Why did this person choose me? I didn't do anything to deserve this. My brother was the one who killed their family member, not me. I shouldn't be punished for this. God that's terrible of me to think. I clearly don't wish death upon my brother, but the reason why we're in this mess is because he caused that damn crash.Why did he have to throw that damn party? Why did he have to drink then drive?
My eyes follow detective Ryan as he squats down and looks at the needle before pulling out some blue rubber gloves, like those you've seen in doctors offices, from his pocket.
He picks up the needle with two fingers and looks at the entire tube closely. Twisting it around until he stops in his tracks. Staring at one spot for a very long time. “What is that?” he says under his breath but just enough for me to hear. He takes his free hand and plunges it into his pocket, pulling out a small magnifying glass. “Oakwood,” he says before turning to me. He gets up and comes over to me, showing me the needle. “Does the word Oakwood mean anything to you?”
Etched into the needle is the word 'Oakwood,' its jagged letters scratched unevenly across the surface. The engraving looks almost hastily done, with sharp, irregular edges that seem out of place, as if someone had carved it in a rush. There's no way the manufacturers put that on there intentionally.
“Oakwood..” I say pausing. Why would the word Oakwood be on the needle? I think back to the text that was sent, this has to be linked to the crash… Is Oakwood a place… Wait. It is. Oakwood drive. “Yeah it does, the accident happened at Oakwood drive and Parkside Boulevard. “
“Alright then let's go there.” Ryan says heading out the door in a pace that seems like he vanished in an instant.
I chase after him, down the stairs and down the sidewalk while he leads the way “wait we're going there right now?”
“It's the only lead we've got.” He picks up his pace until we're at the parking lot of the apartment complex. The blinding lights of the 3 police cars on the street flash my vision. “This first car is mine, hop in. i'll drive.” he says going around the front of the car. I open the door and climb inside, sitting in the passenger's seat. “We don't have much time, how far is the intersection?”
“It's like 10 minutes from here.” I say, quickly putting on my seatbelt before closing the door.
Detective Ryan smirks. “I can get us there in 5.” he says starting the car.
Ryan turns on his sirens and begins driving around the complex before getting out onto the street. I grab the door handle for dear life. As we speed down the street my mind races with thoughts. What if we are too late? What if leos already dead? What is this person planning with me? Will I die? Am I just fuel for the fire?
I regret not visiting my brother sooner. Perhaps I should have taken leave from my job. Maybe things would not have turned out this way if I had made an effort and reached out. Maybe he wouldn't have felt secluded. Or maybe there would have been no change at all. Then I wouldn't have to live with this never-ending guilt, wondering if I let him down when he most needed me.
In the corner of my eye I see the detective glance over at me before looking back at the road .“You're quiet, what's on your mind?” He says quickly
I let go of the door handle and begin to fidget with my fingers. “Oh uh. Just this whole situation has me worried, stressed and scared. Making me overthink about my relationship with my brother." I pause for a moment, “I should have been a better brother.” I say under my breath quietly while looking out the window.
The car goes quiet as I continue to look out the window. Trying not to make any eye contact.ive already made this car ride uncomfortable within the span of 2 minutes, I should have kept my mouth shut. The street seems so quiet since all the cars are parked off to the side for us.
He lets out a little sigh “I don’t know what happened between you too but we all make mistakes, life happens you know. Maybe not in the way you want it to, but it happens.”
I turn back around to look over at detective ryan. “That's a good way to look at it.” I say with a small smile before that smile soon fades. “But it's hard to think that way when you haven't seen your brother in 3 years because you've been so busy.”
“Even if you haven’t been there for your brother, it’s not your fault. Life moves in strange ways. I bet your brother is proud of what you’ve accomplished. Plus, none of this is your fault. Nobody asks to be put in this kind of situation.” he says pulling off to the side of the road and putting the car in park. I sit there taking in what he just said, but before I can fully process it Ryan speaks up. “Ok, we're here. We should spread out and start looking for any sign of the next clue.”
“Ok” I say, still slightly stunned.
I unbuckle my seatbelt and open the door to the car before stepping out onto the sidewalk. I look around at the people who are just passing by only to realize that all eyes are on Detective Ryan and I. I guess there's nothing better to do than people watch today. Or maybe the flashing lights caught people’s attention.
“How about you search that side of the street and I'll search this side.” I say shifting my attention to Detective Ryan.
“Spoken like a true detective.” he says, with a proud smile. “Sounds like a plan.” He begins to walk across the road to the other crosswalk.
Alright, time to search. I begin by walking around the side of the street seeing if there's anything on the side of the road that could lead to Leo. But after a few seconds of searching, I don't see anything. Maybe it’s on the other side of the street…
My phone vibrates and I take it out of my pocket. Who is texting me? I pull up the notification and see it is from the person texting on Leo's phone “1 hour and 15 minutes left .” it reads. I put my phone back into my pocket.
Fuck time is going by so quickly. I have to find this thing quickly. Maybe it's in the bushes. I move my way over to the bushes that are next to the sidewalk and move aside the branches to see a strange sight. “Hey, I think I found what we're looking for!” I shout out.
In front of me were 2 toy cars. One ramming itself into the other, the other completely toppled over. At the base lies a doll, face down in the dirt. I see a small white speck lying under the doll. What is that? I carefully lift up the doll and see a folded up piece of paper.
I swiftly grab the paper and quickly unfold the it reading, “For whom they killed”
What the hell?