The Shadow Man (Part 10)

“…up. Get up…” there was a sound that Jesse couldn’t quite place. It sounded as if he was underwater. “Jesse, get up!”

            ‘Wow. Even in death, people like to rush you…’ Jesse told himself.

            “Jesse!” The sound was clearer, now. “Oh, please wake up!”

            Taking a second to think, Jesse realized that the voice he was hearing sounded familiar, in a good way. And then he realized: he could think. His eyes snapped open when he figured out what was happening. He wasn’t dead.

            He started blinking rapidly to clear the blurriness from his eyes before looking around to see his parents and Mrs. Sandoval standing over him. In the corner of his eye, he could see red and blue flashing light getting closer. Jesse sat up.

            “What happened?” He took a second to examine his surroundings. He was lying on the sidewalk, exactly where he’d found Olivia’s watch. ‘How’d I get here? I was in the woods…wasn’t I?’

            “Are you okay?” Mrs. Sandoval asked Jesse. Looking her in the eyes, it was obvious that she had been crying for quite a while. That’s when Jesse remembered why he was outside in the first place.

            “I’m fine. Did you find Olivia?” Jesse asked, speaking quickly.

            The adults all looked at each other, then back to Jesse. His parents shook their heads. Mrs. Sandoval began to cry again.

            “No, but they’re looking,” she said as clearly as she could through her tears.

            Jesse held up the watch that he was still holding. He’d squeezed it so tight at one point that the glass on the clock face crumbled, cutting his hand.

            “Where did you find that?” Mrs. Sandoval asked.

            Jesse looked down at the ground. “Right here…”

            Mrs. Sandoval took the watch from Jesse, examining it. A part of her didn’t believe the watch was her daughter’s watch. Or maybe she didn’t want to believe it because of the implications that would have.

            To make sure, Mrs. Sandoval flipped the watch over and checked the underside of the metal plate that covered the batteries. There was an inscription that read:

            “To the sweetest, smartest, girl growing up to be an amazing woman. I will always love you, even when you don’t love yourself.” It was something that Mrs. Sandoval thought would be a good thing for Olivia to hear as she was given the watch while in a mental health clinic two towns over recovering from her body dysmorphia and subsequent eating disorders.

            Jesse follow Mrs. Sandoval’s eyes, knowing exactly what she was looking at. As tear welled up in her eyes again, he spoke the words in his mind. He was glad that someone in her family took notice of Olivia’s situation, and tried to help her through it. Aside from Jesse, Olivia’s mother was the only person who would even talk about her problems, even if only with Olivia. No one else wanted to talk about it. Not her friends nor the majority of her relatives, and especially not her father. He couldn’t fathom the idea of someone with a mental illness of any kind being a part of his family. In fact, he was usually the first to make jokes about “crazy people shooting up schools”.

            Two police officers walked up to Jesse, drawing his attention back to the present. “Hello, young man,” they said as the bigger of the two helped Jesse to his feet. He was a huge guy. Tall with the build a bodybuilder would have. Jesse immediately thought about telling Izzy that he got to talk to someone who was his younger brother’s type.

            “I’m Officer Perez. This is Officer Clayton. Do you have a minute to give us your statement?” the other asked. Jesse was taken aback by her appearance. She was beautiful. Dark hair, rather short, with a Hispanic accent. Jesse had a feeling people didn’t take her seriously, whether it be people who broke the law, or people who were the law. ‘Who says women can’t be badass?’

            “Sure,” Jesse replied.

            “I’m gonna go talk to the mother,” The larger police officer said before walking over to the sobbing Mrs. Sandoval through a crowd of other officers and detectives.

            “I’m sure you’ve been through a lot tonight, so I’ll just get to it, if that’s alright…”

            “Sure.”

            “Can I ask you what you were doing in this area?”
            “I called Olivia…well, I tried to. Her mom answered, instead, and told me that Olivia left the house, and hadn’t come home.”

            Officer Perez wrote Jesse’s response on a small notepad she’d pulled out of her breast pocket. “Do you remember what time this happened?”

            “Around five or five-thirty, I think?”

            “Okay, and what happened before you fell unconscious? Do you remember?”

            Jesse didn’t actually want to answer this question. Should he tell her that he ran into the woods and got attack by shadows at a cave? That sounded stupid even to Jesse.

            “Uh…well, Mrs. Sandoval said she was probably walking back to my house after a fight they’d had. I just decided to go from my house to hers to see if I could find her along the way.”

            “Okay, good. And after that?” Officer Perez tried to keep Jesse talking. She was hoping for as many candid responses as she could get out of Jesse, but she felt like he was holding something back from her. He kept rubbing his right arm with his left and shifting his eyes a bit.

            Jesse hesitated to answer. I-I…saw a something in the trees,” he said as he pointed to the woods behind the houses.”

            “And did you follow it?”

            “No…not really.”

            Officer Perez raised an eyebrow at Jesse.

            “’Not really’?” Perez lowered her notepad.

“Look, Jesse, I have three kids. Two of them are your age.” The officer smiled. “Plus, I’m a cop. I know when I’m being lied to.”

Jesse knew she was right. Parents always know everything their kids do, even when the kids think they’ve gotten away with something. And cops are trained to distinguish truth from lies.

“If I tell you, do…you promise not to tell my parents? They’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Pinky swear,” Officer Perez held up her pinky finger with a big smile on her face as Jesse linked his pinky with hers.

“Uh…okay then.”