COLDER

= NINE =

He could not move. 

His hands and legs were bound to the chair by ropes. 

He was trying so hard to breathe. 

He had a Duct tape on his mouth. 

He felt excruciating pain to his legs and knees. 

His knee was bleeding from the gun wounds. 

But this wasn't as painful as watching 'him' slit his mother's throat and cut out her tongue. 

His mother lay there on the floor in a pool of blood. 

Dead. 

In a flash, she looked up at him with blood-shot eyes, stretching her hand out to him and cried out in pain, 

"Wesleeeeeeeyyyyy!!!!" 

=

"Wesley?" 

Annabelle Wood slapped her husband's cheeks to wake him. He was straining to breathe, a film of sweat drops allover his face. 

He was having a nightmare. 

He was trying to wake up. 

She grabbed the glass full of water on the bedside table and splashed it straight to his face. 

He woke up panting, gasping for breathe. 

He was so shaken up that both his hands were trembling like a bunch of leaves on a windy day. 

She engulfed him in her arms, holding onto him tightly, giving whatever little comfort she could. 

He pulled away, grabbing a bottle of water from the bedside table. After drinking the water, he put the bottle away and took his wife's hand. He pecked the back of it and her forehead. 

"You had another nightmare?" 

He nodded. "It's the fourth time this week… I think it's a sign…" 

"A sign?" 

"Maybe we shouldn't go back to Kingsville," he muttered. "That town is where my nightmares and real-life horrors live…"

She touched his cheek. "Babe, we already talked about this… It's your dad's birthday next weekend… The old man will be more than delighted to have us celebrating his Fifty seventh birthday with him." 

He seemed deep in thought.

He sighed. "I don't know… I Just have a really bad feeling about this…" 

She kissed him lightly on the lips. "Everything will be okay… We'll have lots of fun as one big happy family at the party! And I will be there… With you…" 

She hopped off the bed and stood in the mirror, caressing her baby bump. 

"What should me and my baby wear?" 

She flipped her long, copper hair and shot Wesley a glance. 

"You're always glowing… Everything looks good on you." 

"We're going to stay in Kingsville for a whole week. I want to choose the perfect clothes. I don't want to look all ugly and fat with this belly!"

She slumped on the bed on her back, next to him. 

"You look perfect in everything," he said. 

She scoffed. "A perfect pig huh…" 

The door swang open. 

It was their copper-haired, green-eyed, seven year old son, Ashton. 

He shuffled in and pounced on the bed squeezing himself between his parents. They both showered him with kisses as he rolled with laughter. 

"We are going to see grandpa today?" 

His mom grinned at him. 

"Yes, Ash." 

===

"Everything we do in life...Good and bad. Godly and evil. It all comes back to get us. Do evil and evil will cling on to you, leading you down the dark shadows of death. Do good and good will find its way back to you…" he paused. "Everything life gives us is a reflection of our actions." 

The Gilbert family sat at the front row in The Kingsville church that Sunday morning, listening to the priest. 

Later that morning, they sauntered out of the church along with the other Christians who loitered around the religious compound.

"The service was just something today!" Nina remarked as she strolled to the parking lot, holding Emilia's hand. 

"I know right! I feel so blessed," said Caleb as he lurked behind with the boys… "

"I wish Scarlett would have tagged along…" 

Scarlett had been left behind as they left for the church service early that morning. She had insisted she wanted to stay behind to write some chapters on her new book. 

"You know she doesn't believe in anything concerning religion…" Caleb said flatly. 

"I just hope some day she changes and gets salvation," said Nina. "Like I did." 

"She can not mommy," said Emilia. "She's a bad bad person." 

Nina stopped on her heels, squatted and cupped her daughter's face in her hands. The boys and their dad had to stop to watch mother and daughter. 

"Listen, baby… Scarlett is a good person, hear me? She loves you and adores you and she even brings you gifts. You should love her back as much as she loves you. It's bad bad manners for you to talk bad about adults. Hear me?" 

The little girl nodded, fear in her eyes.        " Yes mommy… "

" Why do you say she's bad? Mh? Did she hurt you? Did she do anything bad to you?"

Emilia nodded. 

" What did she do? "

" She mistreats me and my brothers… "

" What? When did she do this? "

"In my dream," Emilia admitted. "She is the bad bad witch!" 

===

Sunday was a resting day for the people of Kingsville. 

But not for Det. Darren and Det. Megan. 

It was like any other working day. 

That kid was missing for three days now. It was their job to find him. 

 Dead or Alive. 

They had to bring him back home to his devastated parents and give the answers to their hundreds of questions. 

They had talked to various persons of interest.

They had gone to the homes of Ray's friends and his teachers. Before disappearing, he had told most of his friends that he was going to meet up with a "cool fun friend" that they all knew. But he didn't specifically tell them who this friend was or their name. 

But then one friend said something… 

Something that caught their attention… 

"When I left school that evening," The boy recalled. "I asked Ray to ride home with me as usual but he said he was meeting up with a friend… I asked who the friend was and he told me that was his secret… He never kept any secrets away from me…" 

The boy paused, then continued. 

"So I left him with Jerry!" 

"Jerry?" Det. Darren asked, puzzled. "Who is Jerry?" 

"He's our P. E teacher." 

"So the last time you saw Ray he was with Jerry?" 

"Yes sir." 

If Jerry was the last person to be seen with Ray, then he must know something. 

"Do you know where this Jerry lives?" asked Megan. 

The boy's mother intruded. "It's a few miles from here." 

"Can you please give us his home address?" 

===

A slow song was playing in the background. 

Jerome had his wife, Morena, tangled up in his arms. He raked his fingers through her wild, black hair as they kissed passionately… Fiercely… He had her seated on his lap, pulling her closer to him with every kiss. 

A loud, hard knock came on the door. 

The two love birds were forced to pull apart as Morena went to get the door. She pulled on a huge gray t-shirt over black tights. 

She flung the door open. 

It was perplexing to see two strange faces, grinning at him. 

"I'm Detective Darren Todd," he said. "This is my partner, Det. Megan Wolf. We are here to see 'Jerry'. Is he around?" 

"Why do you want to see my husband?" she asked skeptically. 

"We have a few questions for him regarding the disappearance of Ray Ripper." 

She let them in. 

Det. Darren's jaw dropped once they were escorted to the living room. 

"Jerome?" 

He quickly stood up, startled to see the detectives in his house. 

What were they doing here? 

He stretched his hand out to them as they exchanged greetings. He patted the couch for them to sit. 

"We're here to talk about the disappearance of Ray Ripper…" Darren started. "I believe you were his P. E teacher?" 

"Yes…" he nodded. "I heard he's missing. Hope they find him as soon as possible…" 

"What was the relationship like between you and Ray?" 

"I liked the kid. Like I do all my students." 

"Did you and Ray ever talk?" 

"Ofcourse yeah… Not much though…" 

"Can you tell me about your interaction the evening that he disappeared?" 

"I honestly don't remember much," he said gruffly. "I just remember him coming up to me riding on his bicycle. He wanted to show off some new tricks he had learnt. We spent a few minutes talking and laughing a little before he rode away… I haven't seen him again since…" 

Darren and Megan exchanged glances. 

For some reason, Jerome was nervous. His hand was laced with his wife's, who sat beside him. 

" Before he rode away, did he tell you where he was going to? "

" Yeah… "

" Where? "

" To Kingsville Mall. "

They didn't hesitate to note that down.

"Did he tell you why he was going to the mall?" inquired Megan. 

"Yeah…" 

"And what's that?" 

"He was going to meet up with a friend…" 

"Did he tell you about this friend? Maybe the name?" 

Jerome seemed deep in thought then he sighed in despair, 

"No." 

====

It was precisely 6:45am in the morning. 

Jenny was sound asleep in the servants room, her head buried in the pillow. 

Yells and wails erupted, dragging her from her deep sleep. 

Amber was screaming hysterically at her husband. Jenny stood at the verandah upstairs, staring down at the heated-up couple. 

Richard was dressed in a suit, a briefcase in his hand, clearly ready to leave for work. His wife, Amber, was in a sleeping gown, tears trickling down her cheeks. 

"Richard, Don't f*****g Leave!" 

"Amber, this is really not the time for this!" 

"Not the time for what! Huh! How f*****g heartless are you! Your son is missing! He's been missing for the past four days now! And you wanna go to work like he means COMPLETELY nothing to you! He's your son too!" 

"So what do you want me to do huh!" he taunted. "Sit here and be as miserable as you are, is that it? Is that what you want!" 

"As miserable as I am?" she snorted. "You think I am miserable! Miserable is too simple a word, Richard! I am sad and angry and broken and restless and I feel like I'm going insane! I am bitter and I feel this… This emptiness… This void… And that void will only be filled once I have my son back in my arms. "

Silence permeated the room. 

He spun back to reach for the door. 

Amber bolted to the door, completely blocking his way. 

" I don't get where you get the strength to leave for work. I don't get how you can focus on your business when your son is missing!" she nagged. "That s**t is eating me up! I can't eat! I can't sleep! I can't go shopping! I can't go out with my friends! I can't even work! But you're not even affected! You just wake up and go for work like everything's normal!" 

"What do you want me to do!" he snapped. "How will me staying here help get my son back! Mh? Staying here will drive me nuts! Like it has done to you! I hate seeing you like this! I prefer going to work and burying my head in all those files than sitting in that couch hoping that every time the doorbell rings it's our son that has been brought back to us! Staying at home and seeing you in this state will be the slow death of me!"

His wife stood still, staring at him with tears glistening in her eyes. 

He pulled her close to him and pecked her on the forehead. 

"I have to be strong," he said gently. "For you… And for Ray." 

She clung onto him tightly. 

He pulled away, pecked her forehead again and wished her a nice day. 

He then turned to leave but just as he was  about to step out, he stumbled upon something at the doorstep… 

A black polythene bag. 

===