1,086 words, 6 minutes read time.
“Sheriff its been 5 days. You cannot be serious.”
“It’s complicated, Victor. There were so many people here that night. We have gone through most of them and none have any clues whatsoever.”
“You mean to say that she vanished into thin air.”
“I am sorry, Sheriff. He’s just very emotional right now, please forgive him for his behavior.”
“It’s alright, Mrs. Park. This uniform mandates we tolerate crap.”
Mr. and Mrs. Park, 53 and 48 respectively, had just celebrated their 30-year anniversary 5 days ago. It had been a grand celebration with over 500 friends and relatives from all over the country visiting to congratulate the couple. In an anticlimactic turn of events, by the time midnight hit and the guests had gone their ways, everything was accounted for except one person.
Ms. Linda Park. 59. Victor’s elder sister and the only family outside of Leo to the couple.”
“She will be fine, sweetheart.”
“I hope. But its very tough. She did so much for us.”
“Please just rest up. Don’t go out looking for her, especially now that the Sheriff has more people under his belt.”
“Yes, I want some sleep. Please feed Leo. I am going upstairs.”
Leo, a 14 month old fluffy, was rescued by Victor from the wood a few months ago. He brought new life into the house. On the day of the anniversary, Ms. Linda first saw Leo. Allergic to cats, she requested the couple to have Leo sleep upstairs while the she and the guests indulge in the celebrations below.
“What, what. Let me sleep, Leo. Please. Not today. Did mama not feed you yet?”
Leo did not want fish. Instead he had a plan.
“Stop tearing my blanket!! What do you want??”
Leo at once ran to the window and then the door.
“You want to go out? Now? Man, I am so tired.”
Leo knew this was the chance. He began at the blanket again.
“Dude, alright. Let’s go find you some rats.”
With Leo locked between his arms, Victor came down the stairs to see his wife sleeping in the study. As Victor began towards the study, Leo screeched and ran off to the front door. He had no time for this. Victor nonchalantly followed him and with the slightest hint of the open door, Leo was off.
“Hey, Leo!!! Where are you going. Not that way. Heyyyy!!!”
Leo being a smart puss, knew Victor cannot match his feline pace. He ran back and forth to make sure Victor was on to him.
6 miles off and deep into the woods the smell vanished and thus Leo stopped shut. Victor joined him soon enough drenched in sweat and coughing incessantly.
“What nonsense, man. As if you don’t have enough Tuna and toys at home to run for.”
Victor was nonchalant but not an idiot. He noticed Leo smelling the ground hard and fast and sensed something was off. He began looking around and saw an old and abandoned war-era rail track down a small slope.
“You wanna go down there, bud?”
Leo sat attentively on the sidelines as Victor looked around.
“Nothing here, pal. What a waste of my time, huh?”
Leo hissed as Victor got a call.
“Hey sheriff, what’s up?”
“Is everything alright? I just went by the house and the front gate was wide open.”
“Oh, that. Um, Leo ran off and I had to chase after him, so I must have forgotten to close it behind me.”
“Well, I have to deliver some….ah news. Your wife has been briefed already.”
“Oh, I will be there soon enough.”
“Where are you right now?”
“I have no idea. My Apple Watch says I am about 6.3 miles from home. I never knew there was a railroad deep inside the woods.”
“Are you near the slope down to the track?”
“You got it.”
Sheriff Rhodes was alerted by his subordinates the previous evening that a dog squad had led them inside the woods and near the track and an unidentifiable body has been found.
“Well, stay there. We might as well talk alone.”
Sheriff joined Victor and Leo near the track.
“She’s dead. The boys found her about 200 meters from here yesterday. Covered in red leaves.”
“Dead? Who?”
“Your sister, of course.”
“Yesterday???? Are you kidding me sheriff? How do you even know its her? Why was I not called in to identify the body??”
“We had pictures, Victor. As well as your DNA to get it done ourselves. They told me the cause of death was toxoplasmosis related hallucinations and alleviated anxiety.”
“Toxoplasmosis??? You mean a cat? Hell no. Let’s go. I wanna see the body myself.”
“Um, that is not possible, Victor.”
“Why not???”
“You know there’s still documentation and stuff.”
“You have tricked me from the beginning. No way this is the procedure. I will go check at the county office myself!!”
As Victor picked up Leo and started off on his way, a bang had him down and out. Leo fled the scene quick as light itself.
“Stupid son of a gun. Just had to do what I said.”
Leo reached the house just in time to see a truck parked at the front door with 2 men loading stuff inside. Leo could not locate Mrs. Park.
Leo couldn’t have done anything else, really. He silently followed his mama 5 days ago as she went about and refilled his litter box after collecting small pieces of metabolic waste and clumps of Leo’s hairs to execute her plan. Made sure Ms. Linda’s plate had just the right level of contamination.
“Hey, Mrs. Park. Or do I call you Pink now? Are you out of the country yet?”
“None of your business.”
“Well, its been taken care of. The siblings lay side by side below the tracks. Out of sight and smell of humans and but I can’t vouch for stupid cats.”
“Thank you, Rhodes. I will have my brother transfer you stuff to the accounts you have texted. Consider this as our last conversation.”
Leo sits still on the window upstairs as he looks down on new occupants of the estate moving in. Will they accept Leo like Victor did or will he remain a ghost of the house knowing there is no possibility he will ever get to tell the world the secrets which lay dark in the woods?
Written for What do you see #313.
Tagged: WDYS
← Back to Flash Fiction