Chapter 3

Having Fernano and BonBon across the hall bothered Ennard; he hated interactions. He had to get his wrist pulled back into place, which resulted in him earning a bandage and a new set of medication to take. Everyday when he went out for work, Fernando would open the door and cling onto his arm like he was a child.

"Get off of me!" He yelled at him.

"Don't go again! I miss you neighbour!"

"I have to go to work! Get off of me!" He yelled even louder, this time he hit him in the face and he was uninjured while Fernando was dazed enough to let him go.

His day started normal until.

"I ordered a burger with no onions with the sauce where's my sauce?" The patron asked him.

"Well you told me you were allergic to onions so I kindly disqualified the sauce since it has a LOT of onions in it."

"But I want the sauce!" The man complained.

"I will gladly give you the sauce but you must not die on our premises because you told me you wanted the sauce despite I had your health in mind. But go ahead and kill yourself. I'll be happy with that because it'll shut you up." He snapped with a smirk.

The customer rose from his seat and stormed away.

"There's a bad apple everywhere." He nodded then walked away to other table to take their order.

"Are you ready to order yet?" He asked the two young women at the table.

"What happened to your hand sir?" One of the women inquired

"I dislocated my wrist but I'm fine. It's all better now."

"Well then. Can we please have a cup of coffee and a glass of water with two beef sandwiches, one with no cheese and the other with extra tomato and mayonnaise."

"Of course."

"Can we also order a few slices of apple crumble to go?"

"It'll be ready by the end of your dining." He nodded.

"Hey... don't I know you?"

"Hm?" Ennard looked up and saw the woman's face. She had auburn brown hair with light brown eyes and she had freckles along her cheeks. It ticked in the back of his mind. 1995, October 5th. On that said day a young girl with auburn coloured hair and light brown eyes was randomly adducted to be inducted into a sex ring.

Her mother was naturally startled and told Ennard it was out of character for her to vanish. He took it all into account and he began the hunt to find her, on the side walk near where she vanished, he found a business card for a hair salon. Two weeks later, the case broke wide open. He was woken up at four in the morning with a captured criminal who had seen the girl. The criminal worked at the hair salon. He eventually broke down to Ennard and explain the sex ring and he even gave him the phone number of man in charge.

Ennard impersonated a lonely man who craved sex from a child and managed to arrange a meeting with one of the men who were in charge. Ennard kept it quiet so his cover wasn't blown but he promised the mother her daughter would be back by the end of the day.

When someone showed up. Ennard got into their car was driven to a location of a common suburban house. He then turned against the man and held him at gunpoint and demanded to be let inside. He rushed inside, two men were there. One freaked out seeing him and shot himself clean in the head to avoid being captured. Other fought him. So he shot him down and shot the driver. He casually walked into the kitchen and found basement door covered with locks and chains. He had learnt how to pick locks and found it to be an easy game. He got down there and found the man in charge. Who tried to escape out the window but Ennard grabbed his leg and was annoyed by his struggling to the point of using his gun to stop him.

The little auburn haired girl was so injured and frighten that Ennard had to talk to her for a few minutes before she allowed him to take her outside. He then safely carried her outside where the police, ambulance and Ruby were waiting.

"You're going home now okay?" Ennard told her. The mother gave him a smile then hugged him.

"Thank you so much."

"You kept your promise. Your a genius." Ruby told him.

"It was simple. I knew by the time I had a number it would be game over for them."

Ennard came back from his flashback, "Eh. Sorry I don't know you." He lied.

"This happens to me all the time. I'm so sorry." She told him.

"That's perfectly fine. Your drinks will be out shortly."

He walked away, he couldn't believe he thought of Ruby again. She was dead. Gone. Deceased. No longer walked the earth. All because of that one night.

He had nightmares about it, there were horrible, not because his mind tortured him with the thought she was murdered, but because after he woke up, he cried. Alone. There was no one there to wipe his tears away. He wished for a while he had a shoulder to cry on, but he felt too embarrassed to ask people he knew.

The Chief of Police Lance Stone had his own family to worry about and he hadn't see him in years.

His wife was dead.

His mother had been gone for years.

And his father was still behind bars. Forever locked away.

He would never want his father to hug him anyway. He still had a deep burning hatred for him. He killed his mother because he knew she would try to run away from him with Ennard by her side. Edward would come home with blood stains and take a shower, his wife discovered his clothes covered in blood stains and hair stains that didn't belong to him, one night she found a butcher's knife in the laundry basket and she had a panic attack. He thought he was kidnapping their own son, saying Ennard was the only thing he loved in this world and she was taking him away without his consent. She struggled and screamed, Ennard was in bed, unsure of what was going on downstairs, eventually he had a nightmare and searched for his mother. He found her dead on the kitchen floor and Edward was smiling at him. His hands were covered in blood and he held his face, smiling and saying over and over again "You're mine. You're mine and mine alone. Your mother will never come between us again."

Ennard wanted his mother back, he was lucky that he decided to sneak back into bed and lock the door while he waited for the sunrise where a neighbour eventually knocked on the door, concerned, Edward was gone by then.

He never went to the high security prison to see him. Knowing it would be more than he bargained for and Edward would try to convince Ennard what he did was right. Killing his own mother painfully was the right thing to do, he would say. He always knew he was the bad guy.

A few hours later Ennard took his lunch break and ate a salad sandwich while he heard the cook yell curse words after being burnt by scolding hot water.

"Hey Ennard. So any plans tonight?"—This was a girl he hated. 27 year old Debbie, she always pestered him about a date; he didn't find her attractive in anyway, nor did he want a relationship with anyone.

"It's 7:56, can I clock off early?" He asked his boss.

"Sure you can. Would you like to take anything home?"

"I'd like to take him home." Debbie gave an eerie smile alike to what his father gave him on the night he killed his mother.

"Are there any slices of triple chocolate cake left?" He ignored Debbie.

"Yes there's one slice left from a party."

"Hey Ennard wait! Let's go out sometime!" Debbie ran after him.

"Let's not."

"So yes?"

"No."

"A maybe?"

"Nup." Ennard walked down the street back to the bus stop.

"DEBORAH SMITH! GET BACK IN HERE RIGHT NOW! YOU STILL HAVE FIVE HOURS OF YOUR SHIFT LEFT!" The boss screamed.

"Maybe on Tuesday? I'll be waiting!" Debbie told him just as the bus arrived and Ennard left. Thankful he was away from her. Then he remembered Fernando was there. Oh god. He wasn't looking forward to that.

Mike was still wondering about the case by the time he arrived home. His wife Rebecca waited for him to come home and he made up for being late by bringing some Chinese take out home.

"Honestly Mike. You're always being kept away by that job. I wonder about you sometimes." Rebecca lightly scolded him as she carried their restless toddler upstairs to bed.

Sarah Jerry Schmidt was only three and didn't understand what dangers lurked outside. He had heard too many cases of child adduction. He recalled a close call one day. He was shopping in a local supermarket and he took his eye off Sarah for a second while she sat in a stroller and a woman in her fifties tried to unbuckle her from her stroller and snatch her. Unluckily for the woman she was in her teething phase and was cranky she had no teething rings to chew on; she was also unaware Sarah had a reputation for biting people during this time. It was nothing personal, because she bit her own parents and her grandparents a few times when they dared to place their fingers near her mouth. She even bit Mike's boss George, he was worried about being fired and frantically explained that Sarah practically bit anyone who put their hand to close to her.

Of course once she saw the stranger's hand get near her mouth, she snapped her jaw down and the lady suffered the wrath of her seven teeth. Which still hurt. Mike naturally went into police mode as soon as he heard her scream and tackled her down threatening to arrest her unless she told the truth. The lady broke down and confessed she wanted a baby and she thought Sarah was perfect because she looked like her. Mike couldn't see any similar things about them. Naturally Mike made sure she walked away in cuffs and he rewarded Sarah with a teething ring.

By this age, the orange haired girl was already familiar with her father's job and she knew how to dial for her father or George in emergencies.

For Mike and Rebecca; a pregnancy was unplanned. They both did think about kids, but they wanted them a few years into their relationship, they didn't think they would find out on the night before their wedding that they would be parents. He still remembered how Rebecca's mother Carla flagged Mike down after Rebecca busted into tears after using a pregnancy test and finding it was positive.

"Michael please come to conform her. I can't do anything to help her." Carla irrupted Mike's bachelor party to find him with his friends as they all ate pizza and watched cop shows.

Carla was about 50, Mike was sure of that; she had four kids. Which included an older son, Rebecca and twin girls.

Carla allowed Mike to enter the room where Rebecca was bawling her eyes out and yelling at her bridesmaids.

"Leave me alone!" She yelled harshly.

"What's wrong?" Mike asked.

"Why is he here?!" A bridesmaid rudely questioned.

"He's my husband! Fuck off you stupid slut! You're no longer my friend!" Rebecca yelled.

"Calm down." Mike sat next to her on the red sofa, "tell me what happened."

Rebecca told him everything, from the start; they were having fun and drinking. Before Rebecca took a sip of anything, she had a strong taste in her mouth which she couldn't describe, then her friends teased her and dared her to take a pregnancy test, so they could have a laugh about it when it came back negative. The last thing they thought happened; it was positive and Rebecca fell to the floor sobbing. When the bridesmaids couldn't cheer her up, they called her mother, who was with her husband in their own room having quiet time alone.

Mike managed to calm her down and still convinced her to walk down the aisle despite her being pregnant. Mike barely mentioned anything the next day, but he made sure Rebecca didn't get anything alcoholic. Half of the year flew by and Rebecca gave birth to a girl.

To this day, they made sure this girl was loved and cared for, despite some people thought it was weird they became parents in their late twenties.

"I love her and that's all that matters." Rebecca told him.

"I do too."

"Then why the intense work now?"

"Someone's missing." Mike explained.

"Someone's always missing Mike. Yes I feel sad for them. But I feel miserable you're missing valuable time with your own daughter, before you know it, she'll be graduating college." Rebecca warned him.