The D&D Chronicles: The Adventure Begins
Chapter 6: The Missing Misfortune
Brady Oaks Police Station
The town of Brady Oaks may have been known to be a bit of a nice, quiet town, it sadly carried an unfortunate secret…
Some time ago, nearing the end of the 20th century, the first child disappeared without a trace.
Brady Oaks organized search parties and rescue teams to find the child, though most folks would believe that their home was just a quiet, sleepy town and that sometimes, 99 out of a 100 times a kid goes missing, the kid is either with a parent or relative.
But it soon wasn't like that…
Soon over time, two or three more children vanished. Then several more townspeople, not just kids, but teens and adults.
Soon, as the years went by, in any of the 12 months, people started to go missing, both children and adults of different ages. Pets began disappearing too, mainly dogs and cats.
Most disappearances happened neary fast that most couldn't keep up with the count. About 50 adults, 30 children and 40 teenagers/young adults vanished unexpectedly, adding up to a total of 120 people up to today.
160 if were to count the 40 pets that went missing as well.
This dilemma became known as the Missing Misfortune incident, as many people tried to seek out where their friends and family were, most slowly giving in to fear of losing them forever, while others began working up on mad theories on what was happening.
The missing people and pets soon had their pictures placed on different parts of town, on walls, fences, posts, billboards or windows, even added on several milk cartons, cereal boxes and even washing up/soap boxes.
This affair has been the top priority of the Brady Oaks Police, whose job was to protect and serve, solve cases and arrest anyone who would cause trouble or even disrespect or break the law.
Brady Oaks Police Station was run by Chief of Police, Alexander "Lex" Burton, who was an African-American in his mid-40s, with very short hair, a small scar above his right eye, all dressed up in his Police Chief uniform, with the top button undone and the arms of his police shirt rolled up. Chief Burton has been known to have a bit of an attitude, a bit serious and is a no-nonsense kind of guy.
Today was another day of work at the police station, though it was time to get to business, as it was that time once more to prepare another search on the Missing Misfortune case, which involved what happened to the 120 people that up and vanished… though today, thanks to a new possible victim, it was going to be 121…
Inside the briefing room, or sometimes known as the bull pen, several police officers were sitting down, ready for today's briefing and assignments.
Standing by the podium where Chief Burton would stand, was a tall, middle-aged Caucasian male, with a buzzcut, moustache, broad shoulders and a wide jawline. He had brown hair, but gray was visible in the front of his hair and at the temples.
His name was Ryan Brooks, Deputy police chief of the Brady Oaks police force, while sometimes second-in-command to the serious Chief Burton, Brooks was at times not quite the brightest, especially when doing his job at times in preventing crimes.
Alongside him, was an African-American, in his mid-40s also, who was quite brawny with brown hair and a goatee, and wore a blue uniform with a striped tie.
He was named Leonard Dott, who was a Detective of the Brady Oaks police force, as well as the father of Harley Dott, and was usually in charge of helping sort out cases the town had, and had a role of being in charge of the Missing Misfortune case with other volunteers in the force.
"Atten-hut!" Ryan said, getting the staff's attention, "All rise for Chief Burton!"
The other police men stood up as the Chief arrived with the assignment files, "Alright, everyone sit."
The officers did what they were told as he spoke.
"I've got three items on the docket," Chief Burton stated, "firstly, the mayor will be coming by to check up on our progress, so want all of you on your best behavior, understood, Hendrix?"
This statement had everyone look to one officer, who was a skinny, Caucasian male, with a short, buzz cut, blackish grey hair, and was leaning back a little on his chair, sleeping.
This was Officer Otto Hendrix, one of the officers of the Police department, who unfortunately had been known for sleeping on the job, which was sadly due to getting too much extra work at times, even having to work 24 hours on patrol, meaning he would have to have plenty of coffee if he got the chance.
"HENDRIX!" Chief Burton called out, causing Officer Hendrix to wake with a startle and fall over, earning a few chuckles from the other officers.
"Y-yes sir," Hendrix yawned a little, "Sorry, sir."
Chief Burton grumbled as he shook his head, before continuing, "Number 2; there are some new recruits with us I should introduce."
Among the mentioned recruits was a bright, young woman, Caucasian, at the age of 24, a lithe build and round face, she had neck-length, grey hair and purple eyes. She wore what appeared to be a rookie uniform consisting of dark blue pants, a blue shirt, a Kevlar vest, and black coverings around her wrists while wearing black running shoes. She also had a black Kevlar belt with a silver buckle. The uniform is made of neoprene, which would allow her to work in different types of weather.
Her name was Judy Holt, who was one of the new recruits to be transferred to Brady Oaks to, as she would put it, help make the world a better place, something that she planned to do when she dreamed of becoming a police officer since childhood, and smiled as she looked forward to what was planned for her.
"Though I'm not going to because I don't care." Chief Burton bluntly said, earning a few more chuckles, though Holt felt a little uneasy on that.
It was then that Chief Burton became serious as he spoke and pointed to the board which featured the map of the whole town of Brady Oaks, "And finally; the Missing Misfortune."
A few of the officers were about to let out small groans, but were shot down when they saw their chief's dreaded cold look at them to show respect to the missing.
"I know, I understand about how long we've been going through this," Burton explained, "but as you may know and remember, we make sure we figure out where these missing folk are, how to find them and how to get them back."
Judy looked at the map as he continued, "As you know, for the last several years, there have been a total of 120 missing people, 160 if including the missing 40 pets in town… Well now, today, as while we were looking for a few of the missing 13 of them last week… we now have 14 missing people this week, making a total of 121 that have gone missing in the last few years."
"All different ages, from a 32 year old woman at the bank to our latest missing person, a 12 year old boy by the name of Harry Myers. And Town Hall is right up my backside to try and find them! This is priority number 1." Chief Burton stated, as Deputy Chief Brooks handed him the files.
The Chief of police soon got out some glasses as he gave out the orders.
"Officers McQueen, Parker, Halliday and Boggs, you'll be joining Detective Dott and searching the Northside of the town." Burton said, handing out a file to the detective, as he and the chosen officers left the room to start their search.
"Officers Dibble, Wiggim and Podd," Chief Burton said, handing them another file, "your teams take Downtown."
"Officers Trump and Watts, you'll search East and West of Brady Oaks." the Chief handed out another file with an order, followed by another as he called out, "Officers Brown, Laurel and Hardy, you'll be searching the Southside."
He then had one last file left, as he looked to Judy, "And finally, our new recruit, Officer Holt…"
Judy looked anxious with a smile as she awaited her orders, as the Chief gave her a blank stare and said… "Parking duty. Dismissed."
Upon hearing this, Judy's smile turned south, as she was filled with confusion, "Parking duty?"
As the other officers headed off, only Chief Burton and Judy were left, until Judy stopped the Chief in his tracks, "Excuse me, Chief? Chief Burton?"
Burton looked to the new recruit as she approached him and asked, "What is it?"
"Sir, you said there were fourteen missing people cases." she pointed out.
"So?"
"So I can handle one. Perhaps one of the missing children, even." Judy said, before proudly saying "You probably forgot, but I was top of my class at the academy."
It was true, Judy had been working and studying hard when she was signed in to the police force, and aced every class after several bumps along the way.
"Didn't forget." Burton said with a face that looked like he wasn't in the mood, "Just don't care."
Judy looked a little uneasy and upset about this as she then said, "Sir, you know I'm not some token minority."
"Well then, writing one hundred tickets a day should be easy." Chief Burton said, before shutting the door behind him.
Judy felt a little stunned and hurt upon this, "A hundred tickets, I'm not gonna write a hundred tickets."
Then an idea came up in her head, as she remained positive and determined as she said to herself, "I'm gonna write two-hundred tickets! Before noon!"
As she headed off to her work, she thought to herself, 'You can do this, Holt! You just have to take this one step at a time, then maybe I can move up to the big line of work…'
Back with Chief Burton, as he left Judy back in the bull pen, he was accompanied by Deputy chief Brooks on his way to his office.
As he walked, he began thinking about the new audition to the missing people, being Harry Myers, who had been added yesterday following getting news of this from his mother that came yesterday.
He remembered it well yesterday morning when he came in a little late to work…
Brady Oaks Police Station, Yesterday
Chief Burton had just came in, being greeted by his co-workers as he went over to grab some coffee and a muffin, blueberry was his favourite, as the secretary, a female officer named Bianca Rose, who had red ginger hair and glasses with two small bows on both sides of her hair looked to him as he came by her.
"Good of you to show." she said with a smirk.
"Morning, Rose. Morning, everyone" Burton said, as he began making his coffee.
"Morning, sir," Deputy chief Brooks greeted him, "How was your evening."
Burton had a small thought, though he wasn't in the mood to talk about his everyday life off work, so he just replied, "Fine."
"If you say so…" Brooks said, as he and every other member of the force had heard that same answer when he was asked that question, before speaking up, "By the way, while you were doing… uh… whatever it is you do every morning… Charlie DeMayo called. Said some kids are stealing the gnomes out of his garden again."
"Oh, those garden gnomes again. Well, I'll tell you what, I'm gonna get right on that." Burton replied as he finished making his coffee and picked up a muffin, though it was hard to tell if he really meant it or wasn't interested.
Officer Rose soon spoke up as she added, "On a more pressing matter, Amy Myers can't find her son since yesterday."
"I see..." Burton muffled, having taken a bite of the muffin, before swallowing and replied, "I'm gonna get on that. Just give me a minute."
Bianca looked to the chief and pointed out, "She's very upset."
"Bianca, we've discussed this," Chief Burton interrupted her as he said, "Mornings are for coffee and contemplation."
"Chief, she's already in your-"
"Coffee and contemplation, Officer Rose!" Chief Burton stated as he opened the door to his office… and seeing the worried sick and a little stressed mother of Harry Myers waiting in his office.
Amy Myers was a Cacausian, mid-30s woman, who had blackish brown hair like her son, only long with a few little curls, brown eyes and wore a cyan jumper with grey pants and brown slip ons.
A little later, after sitting himself down, Chief Burton and Miss Myers began talking about the son of the latter's disappearance. Well, Amy was the first to speak her mind first, as Chief Burton looked at a copy of Harry's photograph that Amy brought with her.
"I have been waiting here over an hour, Burton." Amy complained.
"And I apologize again." Chief Burton sighed, as he had to apologize to the mother a few times after coming into his office.
"I feel like I'm losing my mind!" Amy stated.
"Look, boy his age, he's probably just playing hookie, okay?" Chief Burton shrugged as he suggested this.
That didn't bode well with Miss Myers.
"No, not my Harry." she said, sternly, "There is no way he would ever do that!"
"Well, you never know." Burton shrugged, before adding "I mean, my mom thought I was on the debate team, when really I was just snogging Nancy Mulligan in the back of my dad's Oldsmobile, so..."
"Look, he's not like you, Burton." Amy said, trying to get back on the subject at hand, "He's not like me. He's not like...most. He has a couple of friends, but, you know, some of the kids, they're mean. They make fun of him… He's also a very sensitive child."
"I see…" Chief Burton said, taking a quick sip of his coffee.
"Most of the bullies would call him Queer Kid."
"Is he?" Burton asked.
"He's missing, is what he is." Amy replied.
Chief Burton took another sip of his coffee to think, before letting out a little sigh as he then asked, "When was the last time you heard from Monty?"
"Uh, last I heard, he was in Oklahoma." Amy replied, a small bit of bafflement in her voice, though then began to see what he was saying, as she then pointed out, "That was about a year ago. But he has nothing to do with this."
"At least lend me his phone number." Chief Burton suggested.
"Burton, trust me," Amy said, "he has nothing to do with this."
"Listen, Miss Myers," Chief Burton spoke, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers, "99 out of 100 times, kid goes missing, the kid is with a parent or relative."
Amy stuttered at this before asking, "But what about the other time?"
"Excuse me?" Burton raised an eyebrow.
"You said, "99 out of 100". What about the other time, the one?"
"Miss Myers, please…"
"The One!"
"Myers, this is Brady Oaks-"
"Please just find my son, darn it! Find him!" Amy exclaimed, her voice starting to break a little.
Chief Burton looked taken back at that, but upon seeing her eyes completely filled with worry, he let out a sigh of defeat as he said, "Alright… I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you." Amy said, as she got out of her chair and walked to the door, before stopping as she said, "If it makes you happy, I'll call Monty. He'll talk to me before he talks to you."
Chief Burton nodded in understanding, as Amy left, before contacting Miss Rose and the others to help put out new missing posters for Harry Myers.
Present Day
"You are certain about giving the new gal parking duty, sir?" Brooks asked, snapping Burton back to the present, as he remembered about giving Judy Holt the job of being a meter maid.
"Officer Holt will need to know her place, Brooks," Burton explained, "to do that, she will need to start at the bottom."
"I suppose that would do." Brooks thought a bit.
"If you need me, I'll be in my office." Burton instructed.
"Got it, Chief," Brooks saluted before saying, "I better get along and join in the search, before things might end up becoming a 23-16."
Upon hearing that, Burton brought his hand to his face before looking at the deputy chief and groaned, "Brooks, we've been through this, there's no such thing as a 23-16! How would you think that would involve the case?!"
"Well, if you do find the suspect responsible trying to fit an entire cantaloupe in his mouth to kill himself to prevent us info on where the missing folk are, don't come crying to me when I say I told ya!" Brooks stated.
"Really? Cantaloupe?"
"Of course, cantaloupe!" Brooks exclaimed, "It is a criminal type of fruit that nobody likes and one of the perfect types of weapons of choice to kill someone! And besides the 'garbage fruit' is about 99% of a fruit salad!"
As Deputy chief Brooks trudged off in a small huff, Chief Burton just shook his head in disbelief of this, of all the men to be assigned, he was brought an idiot to work as deputy.
Soon, as he passed the secretary's desk, the secretary got his attention.
"Sir, someone wants to talk to you." she said.
"Not now, Miss Rose," Burton spoke, "I'll be in my office."
"It's the Mayor, Chief."
Burton stopped for a second, before having a quick thought then headed off to his office as he said, while opening the door, "Tell him to call me in my office. Let me know when he can get here."
"He is here."
Another voice, one that Burton recognized, got the chief's attention, as he turned and saw the Mayor himself, Harrow Regal.
Harrow Regal was a tall man with brown skin, angular features, green eyes, and a goatee. He had dark brown, afro-textured hair, which was styled into dreadlocks, with most of the locks tied back in a bun and with golden bands on the ends. He was also dressed up in a fine grey uniform with black pants, with a red tie with gold stripes.
"Lex, old pal, it's great to see you." Harrow said with a smile, bringing out his arms, like he wanted to give the chief a hug.
Harrow and Lex had been very good friends since childhood, way before Harrow had become the new mayor of Brady Oaks and Lex joined the police force.
Unfortunately, as Harrow kept his arms open, waiting for the hug from his friend, Lex just grumbled as he closed the door, walked to his desk and sat down, still looking at the mayor as he just said, "Mayor Regal."
Harrow looked a little uneasy as he looked at Lex as the Police chief said with a grumble, "Before you ask: Yes, I told them about the missing and yes, we are still doing everything we can to find them."
"No 'Hey there, buddy. Long time no see'?" Harrow sighed as he approached Lex as the Chief worked at his desk.
Harrow looked to Lex as he continued working, before letting out a small, sad sigh, "Alex… are you still upset about what had happened?"
Lex stopped working for a moment and looked to Harrow, a cold expression on his face as he replied, "What do you think?"
Lex got up from his seat and walked to the window that had the shutters down, as Harrow spoke, "Alex, it's been years since what happened to her."
Lex said nothing, but looked away from Harrow, who guessed that he might have heard that.
"I know how much Sarai meant to you…" Harrow said, with a bit of comfort.
"Same can be said for you," Lex said, though still not looking to Harrow, "she was your wife, after all."
Harrow looked down with sad thoughts, understanding what Lex said as well.
Sarai had been good friends with Harrow and Lex since childhood, and had been inseparable since.
Of course, both of them had secretly had a liking to Sarai, as in like her like her, and both agreed to support one another if Sarai chose either of them.
Though of course, Sarai would marry someone else, but the two boys still supported her all the same, even helping out with her first son, Callum, after he was born.
When her husband sadly passed away, Sarai felt she had nowhere to go, until Lex did everything he could to help her and be by her side, even Harrow did, though not so much, as he had begun his run as mayor at the time.
In the end, in some surprise, it was Harrow who she went to Harrow, and married him, followed by giving birth to Ezran, earning Callum a step father and a half brother, while he had a hard time trying to connect with his step father, Callum was happy to love his half brother very much.
Lex would soon help support Harrow and Sarai with their family, becoming an uncle to Callum and Ezran too.
It was all good until the unfortunate incident several years back, during a small stormy weather, as Harrow allowed Sarai to go to an important event, while meeting up with her sister to go hiking for the day, Sarai promising to be back in the evening, though Lex was uncertain about this due to the weather conditions, asking them to wait it out until it cleared, and unfortunately, sure enough, she failed to return, and became one of the missing victims.
Like for the others, a search party was made to help find her, until Harrow and Lex's group found her car, wrecked and damaged beyond repair, with several of her belongings spilled across the grass, and blood stains from inside the car, leading to speculation that it was due to a possible wild animal attack.
This left a painful mark on Harrow, Lex and Sarai's sons, as they lost someone special in their lives.
Beside that, Lex sadly blamed Harrow for what happened, as she would still be alive if they listened to him to stay.
"Lex, I know that what happened to Sarai was unexpected and a tragedy, but please, don't take this out on me, I'm your best friend." Harrow tried to comfort him.
"You don't get it, Harrow," Lex said, as he turned to the mayor, "I've cared about Sarai so much more as you did, yet she went to you, after I did everything to cheer her up, and after what happened, your sons had lost someone who was deserving to be called their mother!"
"Lex, this was never my fault!" Harrow exclaimed.
"It sure as heck feels like it is to me!" Lex yelled back.
There was a moment of silence, as Harrow was upset about what Lex said.
Harrow then let out a heavy sigh, as he said, "Lex… I know how you feel… sometimes I feel that I was responsible…"
Lex was a little surprised upon hearing that.
"Without Sarai, things have gotten more and more difficult with me and Callum, Sarai was the one who helped trying to pull us together." Harrow said, thinking so much of the times Sarai would help her son get close to his new step father.
"But you must understand, what was done can't be undone." Harrow explained, "I know that the boys have lost their mother, but please don't make them lose their uncle by drifting away from them."
Lex sat down at this, before looking away once more, but handed one of the new missing posters, which had Harry's smiling face on it, to Harrow as he said, "Callum and Ezran aren't the only sons to worry about."
Harrow looked at the picture and had a worried, stunned look on his face, "Amy's son?"
Lex slowly nodded as he said, "Went missing a few days ago, hadn't returned home the other night."
Harrow looked back at the picture of the boy, Ezran had been friends with Harry for quite some time, and had gotten along quite well.
Ezran did mention one evening that Harry didn't show up for school the morning before, but disappeared for more than one day, that was something that Ezran might not handle well.
"You'll try and find him?" Harrow asked.
Lex nodded again as he replied, "Already on it…"
"Okay then…" Harrow said, feeling like things might escalate down if he said something that Lex might not like, or the other way round, so he started to leave, "I'll… leave you to it, then…"
Lex just nodded once more, as the Chief of police heard the door of his office close, knowing that Harrow had just left.
Lex then looked to several photos that were hanging up, one showed him with Harrow and Sarai, a little younger, and smiling happily, the other had one of Harrow and Sarai with their children, and one more had the smiling faces of Callum and Ezran, together with their uncle.
The last picture he looked at was of just Sarai herself, as she was looking out to the distance, enjoying the view of the town from one of the viewing points not far from Brady Oaks.
"I'm sorry for letting you down, Sarai…" Lex said with a sad sigh, "I won't let what happened to you happen to Amy's son…"
Author's Notes:
Hope you liked this little chapter, as it now introduces us to a few grown ups who would play big parts in due time as this, as well as any more future stories, continue onward in future…
Next time, it's time to take the stage, Paladin Patrick!
Until then, True Believers, Excelsior!