51: The Series

51:The Storm Chapter 4 Part 2

Big Bob parked the patrol car, and they walked into the sheriff’s department. When they walked in, they saw Madison reading a book behind the front counter and Andy sitting at the same desk as when they left.

“Well, that was one for the books,” Big Bob told Andy and Madison as he plopped down in the chair at his desk.

“Was it a real fire-breathing dragon?” Madison asked skeptically.

“I wouldn’t call it a dragon, but it was this kind of snaky, lizard, lookin’ thing. It didn’t really breathe fire. It kind of exhaled this gassy stuff that would catch fire after a couple of seconds in the air. Darndest thing I ever saw,” Big Bob told her.

“Did you call Agent Gold,” Madison asked.

“You had better believe I did. I might be a hillbilly, but I’m not stupid,” Big Bob said.

Annie sat listening to the exchange and then asked, “How is it that the Sheriff and Agent Gold can be married and yet not tell each other about this stuff? Isn’t he the one that is in charge of all of this weirdness?”

Andy and Big Bob looked at each other. Madison even looked up from her book with a raised eyebrow. Annie looked at each of them with confusion.

Big Bob chuckled, “Well, that is a good question. Most people couldn’t be in a relationship like theirs, but for them, it works perfectly. As to how it works, your guess is as good as mine. It just does. If you haven’t noticed, our Sheriff is a little different than most. She seems to know things and be able to connect to certain things that could be included in this whole weirdness thing.”

Annie rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Seriously? Do you really expect me to believe that?” she asked.

“You should because it’s true,” Andy told her.

Big Bob laughed, “It’s a miracle. He speaks."

“Did Little Bob tell you about the poltergeist call they went on a few weeks ago?” Andy asked.

“No,” Annie and Big Bob said at the same time.

Andy took a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to say. “According to Little Bob, they went out to this lady’s house, and everything was flying around inside. He and the Sheriff saw a few things, but when she walked into a room in the center of the house, everything flew directly at her. All the sheriff did was yell for it to stop, and it did. Everything just stopped and hung in midair. Then she told it to put everything back where it belonged, and everything went back where it had been. Pictures that were on the floor went back on the walls, and the pillows off the furniture went back to where they came from. Little Bob said it scared him.”

“He did tell me something about her making the weirdness stop once, but I didn’t know what he meant,” Annie said, wrinkling her forehead. “How could she do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it has to do with whatever attacked her,” Big Bob answered.

“Attacked?! When did that happen?” Annie asked, surprised.

“Oh, don’t worry. That happened close to a year ago, I guess. The sheriff had a call about a potential prowler outside a home on the south side of the county. When she got out and looked around, she saw something in the tree line, and then something hit her from the side. She wound up with a concussion, a broken collarbone, and a dislocated shoulder. She showed up here the same day she was released from the hospital and wrote her report. The old sheriff didn’t like what her report said and wanted her to change it, but she wouldn’t, so he fired her. Fast-forward and the previous sheriff resigns after he probably met up with whatever it was that attacked Lindsay, and they make her the sheriff because no one else would take the job,” Big Bob told them.

“Wait a minute, if this weirdness stuff started just after she took over, does that mean whatever attacked her has always been here?” Annie asked.

“It would seem so,” Andy said.

Just as Andy spoke, the department phone rang. Madison answered and began typing. After getting all the information, she told the caller someone would be out soon. She wrote something on a sticky note and held it up.

“Don’t panic; it is just a peace disturbance call. Andy, that means you are up,” Madison said. “The caller asked that you do not come to his house and only wants us to ask the neighbors to be a little quieter. By the way, it is next door to one of the gentlemen’s clubs, so you may have to ask the ladies to turn the music down,” she added with a wicked smile.

“You have been around Cat too much. You’re getting mean,” Andy said as he blushed and looked down as he took the note from her.

Big Bob laughed as Andy turned to leave the building.

“Hey, Andy, if you do have any problems, we will come out and help you. It can get kind of rowdy at that club. You know what, wait a minute,” Big Bob said as he stood up. “We’ll come with you. Come on, Little One, this will be good for you,” Big Bob told Annie as he began walking toward the door with Annie on his heels.

Andy pulled out of the parking lot first, followed by Big Bob and Annie. The call was a few miles out of town and took several minutes to arrive. When they did, they were all confused. The club was completely deserted, and the house the call had come from was dark. They parked in the club's parking lot and exited their cars. There was complete silence, not even a cricket or owl.

“This feels weird,” Andy said.

Big Bob answered, “Yes, it does. I’m going to call Madison to make sure this is where the call came from.”

“Do you hear that?” Annie asked, just as Bob pulled out his phone.

“Hear what Little One?” Big Bob asked.

“I don’t know, it kind of sounds like static from a radio or TV,” Annie said. “It’s getting louder. Don’t you guys hear it?”

“I’m beginning to hear something, but I can’t tell you what it is. It isn’t quite static, but I can’t tell what it is,” Andy said.

They all stood quietly and listened. Big Bob was watching Andy and Annie. Annie was wrinkling her forehead, and the sound seemed to bother her. Andy just stood with his head tipped slightly to the side. Bob began to hear the sound himself. To him, it was almost as if a radio or TV was turned on three rooms away. He could hear a sound but could not tell what it was or where it was. Bob had never heard anything like it and did not even know how to describe the sound. He could almost hear words being said but could not make them out. Suddenly, everything stopped. Again, there was complete silence.

“Well, kids, I am making the decision that we need to head back to the department and write this up as more weirdness. Are there any objections to that?” Big Bob asked.

Annie and Andy looked at each other and just shook their heads. They all walked back to their cars and got in. That is when they realized that something was very wrong. Annie was the first to see it.

“Bob, what time did we leave the office?” she asked as she fastened her seatbelt.

“About 9:30. Why do you ask?”

“Look at the clock,” she said with hesitation in her voice.

Bob looked at the clock and could not believe what time it said; it read 11:57. He knew that could not be right. They left at 9:30 p.m. It had taken them less than fifteen minutes to get there, and they had been in the parking lot for another fifteen minutes before returning to their cars. It should have been around 10 p.m., not almost midnight. He pulled his phone out of his shirt pocket and looked at it. It, too, said 11:57. He dialed Andy, hoping that maybe something was only affecting their car.

“Andy, what time does the clock in your car say right now?” Big Bob asked as soon as Andy answered.

“It has to be wrong; it says 11:58,” Andy said.

“Don’t ask questions. Head straight back to the department now. I am going to call Madison and find out what is going on,” Big Bob told Andy, then hung up his phone.

“His clock is wrong, too, isn’t it?” Annie asked.

“It is. I’m calling Madison now before we start driving.” He dialed the phone. When it was answered, he asked, “Madison, what time does your clock say?”

Annie could hear Madison yelling into the phone. From what she could hear, Madison had been trying to reach them by radio for some time with no response.

“Madison, we will talk when we get back to the department. I don’t know what happened out here, but we will definitely tell you and Max everything,” Big Bob said, then hung up again. “Alright, Little One, back to the office we go.”

Andy was waiting for them outside the sheriff’s department when they arrived. He was leaning against the front wall with his arms folded across his chest, shaking his head in disbelief at what had just happened to all of them. Big Bob and Annie got out of the car, and they all walked into the building together.

“Before anyone says anything, the only explanation for what happened out there is this whole weirdness thing that has taken over this county. As for the three of us, for all we knew, until we got back in our cars, we had only been out of this building for about thirty minutes,” Big Bob told Madison, Max, and Hanna, the night dispatcher.

“Didn’t any of you hear me call you on the radio doing status checks?” Madison asked, confused.

Big Bob told them, “We didn’t hear anything but the noise that was out there. That club was empty and closed, so it had nothing to do with it. I need some coffee, so Max, I hope you made a pot of your special night shift stuff.”

“The coffee just finished, and if you guys go through that pot, I will make another. You three have missing time? I don’t know if that is completely awesome or completely terrifying,” Max said. “If you drink that coffee, you will not sleep tonight, but a doubt any of you will anyway.”

“I’m trying to figure out if I should call Agent Gold or not. There isn’t an immediate threat, so I think we should just write it up,” Big Bob said. “Annie and Andy, I hate to do this to you. Before we leave, we need to do a quick write-up for the sheriff. I think we each heard something different and at different volumes, so we all need to include what each of us experienced.”

“On it,” Andy answered, sitting down at his desk.

“Do you want me to do my report first, or do you want to do yours first?” Annie asked.

“These are reports that don’t get done on the computer,” Big Bob said, pulling open his desk drawer and taking out a few forms. “We do a quick thing on paper. Fill in the basic information and write a paragraph about what you saw when you were there. I’ll read it before you leave. That is all we will do with this one.”

“OK, that is the same thing that Little Bob has been having me do. I wanted to make sure I should do it the same way with this one,” Annie said quickly.

“I hate to leave this party, but I need to go home now that I know everyone is alive and well. Take care, everyone, and I will see you tomorrow,” Madison said as she picked up her things.

“Have a good night, Maddie,” Max said as she walked out the door. He turned and looked at the other deputies. “I can’t believe you guys lost time and not just a few minutes, but over two hours. That is like alien a*******n time loss.”

Andy looked at him and asked, “Are you jealous that it happened to us and not you?”

“No, of course not. It’s just that the weirdest thing that has happened to me has been some weird little living lawn gnome jumping on my car. I mean, with everything that is going on, I just haven’t seen some of the things that you guys have seen,” Max answered.

“Wait a minute; didn’t you see a flying monkey?” Big Bob asked.

“OK, yes, I did, but that has been it besides the gnome,” Max answered.

Big Bob shook his head. “Whatever. Kids, are your reports done? I want to go home even if I don't sleep tonight,” Big Bob said as he took the papers from Annie and Andy. He quickly read over them and put them in a file folder. “Go home, kids, and I will see you both tomorrow.”

With that, Andy and Annie began collecting their things and headed to their cars after saying goodnight to everyone. Big Bob took the files from the evening into Sheriff Lindsay Gold’s office and laid them on her desk to review in the morning. He walked out of her office and laughed to himself. Bob wondered how things would go when Lindsay read the report in the morning and discovered that her husband had hidden something from her.