Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Help Me!

"Hey," says Benny as we walk towards him. He's standing in the foyer of the resort talking to a Detective. He looks stressed.

Patrons walk past with confused looks on their faces. Just beyond Benny, I see a woman slumped in a chair crying. An older man has his arm around her for comfort. She is most likely the mother.

Linda walks over to Benny as I head towards the bar.

"Ah, no you don't! You'll ruin the concoction I've given you." Linda yells.

I swerve around and head back towards her and Benny. I fade in and out of the conversation they're having with the Detective because I can't seem to take my eyes off of the grief stricken mother. I feel really bad for her, and I hope that her little boy turns up ok.

"Apparently he suffers from a lot of mental disorders," explains the Detective to Linda who has asked about the father they most likely believe kidnapped the child.

When the Detective walks away, Benny tells me that Aunt Nancy and Uncle Hank are headed back since this could turn into a bit of a publicity nightmare.

I walk towards the dining room and look inside. It has a different, less jovial vibe. People eat quietly at their tables. There is an absence of bubbly laughter that you would usually hear around this time of night.

Beyond the dining room, through the glass doors I can see headlights from the patrol boats on the water.

"Is it ok if I stay with you guys tonight?" I say to Linda. I don't like the feeling of being alone in the cottage by myself.

"Absolutely," says Linda without hesitation.

"Cool, I'm just going to go back and get a few things," I tell her. She asks me if I want her to come with me, but when I point towards all the police swarming around the property she smiles.

"I think I'll be ok," I say as I make my way through the dining room towards the opposite side of the resort that shares the property line with the cottage.

As I exit through the dining room, the tension can be felt. Various officers are questioning guests who all seem to have not seen anything.

I cross my arms and put my hands under my pits. The winds have picked up and it is once again uncomfortably, and abnormally, cold for this time of year.

I make my way through the brush and trees, along the same path that I've tread these past few weeks going back and forth between both properties.

My mind drifts for a moment as I start to think how interrupted my life has become. It seems it's always chaotic just when I'm getting to the good part of whatever I'm writing.

I really can't wait to be done with all this chaos and finish the movie...

As I come out on the other side of the woods, I notice something peculiar. It takes me a moment to figure it out; for at first it's hard to place. I realize that the upstairs lights are on -- which is strange, because I usually only leave the downstairs ones on.

Maybe one of the maids from the resort inadvertently left it on?

As I walk inside, I'm met with a blanket of coldness, rather than the usual warmth of the cottage. I scan the downstairs area to see if there is a window or door that was left open -- but there doesn't appear to be.

I walk towards the kitchen counter to collect my laptop before I head upstairs to grab a few things, and when I turn around I'm standing face to face with a rosy cheeked little blonde boy.

His eyes are wide with fright, and a when I take another second to process what I'm seeing, I realize that his clothes are completely covered in blood.

"Help me," he says in a faint whisper.

And, as his eyes roll back in his head and he slumps to the floor right before my very eyes, I desperately race towards him to try and stop his head from bashing against the wooden steps.