Hello! We just made ten review! (Thank you to bexlynne who is literally sitting right next to me) so I am back with another chapter!
This one is a little shorter than the last, but don't worry! The next chapter is going up on Monday!
Unless we go to... 15 reviews?
But we might have to wait.
Anyways, enjoy!
It was all over the news. Everywhere. Benjamin Neilson, allegedly kidnapped; taken right out of his own bedroom in the middle of the night. Anyone with any information was supposed to come forward. To save this boy's life.
David hadn't slept the night before. This was his doing. One stupid mistake might've cost this little boy his life.
"Hey, Davey... Smalls told me what happened last night n'... just let me know you're alright, okay? I know that this's gotta be hard but... talkin' about it might help..."
David had chucked his phone across the room when he'd gotten Jack's voicemail that morning. Everyone new. This was his fault.
It was hard to get out of bed that morning. It was hard to face the facts. That was all real. It had actually happened. And now, a sixteen year old was most likely fighting for his life in the hands of a complete stranger. He'd been a target and David didn't know why and he didn't know how to make it stop.
And he couldn't stop hearing about his failure.
It was part of the job. He knew it was. There would be bad calls sometimes. Sometimes, bad things happened. And he couldn't control them. But this seemed to be the one that was pushing him over the edge.
"L.A. county police continue their search for missing teen Leah Templeton, who was allegedly abducted from her home in Hancock Park last night. L.A.P.D. sources say the lack of witnesses and evidence in the case are frustrating the effort. Templeton's family issued a statement late last night..." The stereo in his old car was too loud. He slammed his hand over the button that would shut it off.
He only missed four times. The heel of his hand hurt after that. He was sure there would be a bruise.
The second he'd walked into his place of work, he couldn't feel anything but anxiety. Phones were ringing everywhere. People were talking quickly and furiously and trying so hard to be the one thing standing between the caller and death itself.
His desk seemed so far away all of the sudden. There was an odd kind of feeling in his chest as he forced himself to take a step forward. He couldn't bring himself to appreciate the place he had loved so much just yesterday. It was stressful for sure. But that didn't mean it wasn't completely necessary.
As he passed by Smalls, the young woman turned to him, just having finished up he last call. "Hey there, Mouth," she called in her always seemingly sarcastic tone. David hated that Jack's nickname for him had caught on. Sure, he liked to argue with the other man, but seriously, that was the best he could do?
"Hey, Smallsie," he forced out, just as he reached his desk.
He was supposed to sit down now. That's what came next. But he couldn't move. He could only stare. The screams still bounced around in his brain, taunting him.
Smalls still had not taken another call. "Ya gonna be okay, Davey?" she asked. It was odd to hear this kind of concern from such a tough, suck it up kind of woman.
All David could do was nod, mutely. Suddenly, it felt as though he couldn't speak. But he forced himself down to the chair, scooting himself forward and letting his hands hover over his spacebar. He had to click it to let the computer know he was ready for a call. But his hands were still trembling. He wasn't sure they'd ever stopped.
He tried to take a breath. Tried to steady himself. He did this everyday. This was normal. This was what happened everyday. There were some bad calls. There always would be.
He hit the spacebar.
"911, what's your emergency?"
The scream that met his ear made David flinch.
Panic courses through David's veins. Someone was dying. He was going to get someone killed. He froze. His lips were glued together. He couldn't speak. He could hardly breathe.
"Get someone here! Please! Please get someone here!" The man was trying like hell to snap out of it. It was like the entire weight of the world was suddenly rest on his shoulders. "Please! Please send help!"
The man completely froze up. All he could hear was Benjamin's panicked cry before the call was ended.
"Hello?! Are you there?" a woman cried over the phone. "There is a bat in my daughter's bedroom! Please get somebody!"
Immediately, some kind of relief fell over David. He could handle this. It was going to be okay. "Yeah... yeah, I'm here," he assured as he typed things out on his computer. "I'm sending you animal control. They'll be there soon, okay?"
The woman gasped a view times, seeming to calm down. "Okay... Thank you..." and just like that, she hung up. David couldn't help but sag in relief.
This was bad. Really bad. He's frozen. Right there. In the midst of a call he'd just stopped. "Pull it together, Jacobs," he hissed at himself, sure that no one else could hear him. "You got it... you're fine..." He blinked the tears from his eyes as he forced his fingers to click down on the spacebar once again.
"Goddamn it! What'd I do now?"
At the familiar voice, David felt himself smile a bit. This, he could handle. "Hey, Mr. Kloppman. How ya doin'?" he asked, glad for the familiar distraction.
"Not good, kiddo! They put me in jail again..." The operator was content to let the man ramble about his misfortune. It was fine. The small issue was nice. It wasn't an emergency. David was okay.
Until he spun around and caught sight of the giant screen displaying the news.
He stood up quick, ripping the headset off as he recognized the boy's picture on the screen. Benjamin Neilson. Missing Teen Found Dead.
It was like a train wreck. He fought like hell to look away but he couldn't. He could only watch helplessly as the helicopter's cameraman got a shot of the body being dug out of the ground. The entirety of the kid's body was blurred. Because he had no clothes on. The picture wasn't clear. Details wouldn't be released that easily.
But David's imagination was running wild. So he did too.
Anything to just get out of there for a minutes. This was his fault. That child was dead and it was his fault.
"Everyone's lookin' for ya down there..."
Jack's voice hardly brought David out of his daze. He could hardly look up from the city below them. Somehow, he'd made it up to the roof of the building. Somehow he'd sat on the ledge, letting his feet dangle above Manhattan. Somehow, it had been two hours. And the man could hardly bring himself to care.
His best friend sat beside him, watching him simply nod, still speechless. "You know they can't run that place without you, yeah?" he asked, pointing back inside where he was supposed to be. David did not respond. He just sat silently with his legs swinging over the big city. "Davey... talk ta me. Why're ya beating yourself up over this? You've had bad calls before..." Jack sighed, though his tone was sympathetic and light. He was just trying to understand.
But David hardly understood himself. He'd had bad calls before. Jack was right. But this one... it was the one that seemed to trump them all. "You know my dad was a cop, right? Before he... um..." Jack nodded, not wanting the other man to go into much, knowing how painful it was to speak of the accident. The one that was the reason David had been tasked with providing for his family since he was just sixteen. "Well... he told me once that the hardest part about bein' a cop was knowin' that you might be the only thing standing between someone living and someone dyin'..."
Jack nodded. That much was true. It was something he thought about everyday.
"And once ya can't shoulder it no more... it's time ta get out..." David finished, taking in a deep breath. He wondered what would've happened if someone else had gotten Benjamin's call. If he hadn't made that stupid mistake, maybe the kid would still be alive.
It was clear there was nothing Jack could say to change the man's mind. He knew this man. They'd been friends for a while. And he had been damn good at what he did. But if he thought this was the right step, there was no way he wasn't taking it. "So that's it, huh?" he questioned. "Just like that David Jacobs is outta the game?"
All David could do was shrug. "I dunno... yes? It's just... that kid-"
Quickly slinging an arm around the other man's shoulders, Jack shook his head, silently telling him not to continue. It wasn't his fault. He wasn't the one that had taken that little boy to his death. "Look... I just need ya ta know that you got me, yeah? Always..."
David nodded, looking out over the big city again. One that carried on even though a little boy that had once thrived in it was gone.
"Always," he agreed, lifting up his left hand. Jack shook it immediately. David couldn't help but be grateful he'd grown out of the spit shake that Jack had always done throughout high school.
David didn't go to dinner that night to meet Jack's boys. David had gone to a bar, gotten blackout drunk and fallen asleep hanging off of Jack while he practically dragged him to an Uber. He'd just wanted to forget.
But those words still played over and over in his brain.
"It's already done."
And now it was over for David. The words and an ear shattering scream proved to be his undoing. David couldn't shoulder it anymore.
David Jacobs was out of the game.
Alright! So there will be thirteen chapters total for this fic. So let me know if you wanna see them!
As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to tell me what you liked, what you didn't, what you'd change or what you'd improve by leaving me a review! Love ya, kiddos!