Today, 12:14 PM, 2022 – Max MulliganMy name is Max and if you’ve been following any of this, you know who I am.
It has been a decade since the incident, but the trauma that was inflicted upon us those days still echoes in our lives. It’s because of that, that I’m taking over writing the ‘epilogue’ of our story.
While Olivia remembers most of what happened with Jack in detail, the rest of the year is completely blank. There are times that she will look for her father and forget that he, like ours, has been missing since.
The official police report said we were found in the back of the ice cream truck and were brought to a hospital while unconscious. Their leading theory was that our fathers were in gambling debt and we were taken as collateral, which explains why they disappeared. There was no sign of the mystical left for the cops to scratch their heads over, so that was it. The case went cold.
There’s not really much to say after that. He kept his promise. Every issue that we had before July 2nd, no matter how small, faded into thin air.
My mother and I moved shortly after the incident, luckily landing in the same building as Owen. She found a good job and quit smoking, which mellowed her out quite a bit. Without dad to stress us out, as bad it may sound, our lives did get better. She hasn’t had a relationship since, however, and I have no doubt that somewhere in her heart she’s still thinking of him.
I can’t say for sure if he’s dead. There are days when I wake up in cold sweat and I see him standing in the reflection of my mirror, showing me a bad set of cards.
Owen, on the other hand, was more devastated over his father than both of us combined. When his brother got out of prison, they combed the entire city together, looking, but never found any leads, dead or alive.
He seems to have forgotten or suppressed the supernatural side of the events and I don’t blame him. He doing better recently, still searching, but he’s getting a degree to help endangered youths and put his and I quote “Bad memories into relatable ones.” Unquote.
The only good thing out of it was his brother grew out of his delinquent phase almost instantly. He owns a mechanic shop now and last I heard, he and his girlfriend are expecting. Owen’s mom looks pretty happy to be a grandma, but last I heard there was some friction over them not getting married before the baby comes.
Olivia’s life went a little sideways for a few years. She was selectively mute for a good while and did a stint in a mental hospital, but she’s back on track now. Her mom is seeing someone new, a fellow Albanian man. Liv is still on the fence about it, but she’s happy that her mom’s happy. She doing therapy while working on her law degree, which is good because I’ll need a lawyer to get me out of the mess I got myself into.
I’ll confess. I knew the police and our moms were lying to us, but I didn’t tell them and I have yet to do so.
I joined the force specifically so I could look into those files and I was right.
They found human remains in buckets, ready to be processed into food. Not only that, but they profiled them as missing adults from 2002, previously linked to a traveling serial killer.
What I’m really interested in, however, is the body they discovered on July 13th 2012. A white male in his twenties with blonde hair and average build. Jack. It was Jack’s human shape and I’m sure of it. He’s dead.
That would be a good thing, I think, if it weren’t for the fact that he’d clearly been bitten in half by something. The left side of his corpse had been chewed and spit out by another creature large enough to have a mouth capable of doing it.
There were signs of a struggle, if anything went by the blood splatter and the scales stuck under his nails. His remaining facial expression was one of horror.
Olivia has handed me the card that Jack gave her, with the company’s name on it. Late Night Cravings Inc. I’ve been looking for them, but so far, they have no media presence. But I think I’m getting closer. I’m looking into any case that’s similar to ours. Missing children and adults, anything food related. There is a chain of restaurants that have different names, but the same over the top menu. It’s my leading evidence.
My dreams are getting more violent and Olivia has been doing her own research. I’m not sure if I should tell her yet. She’s been far braver than I, but it’s my turn to put the big boy pants on. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself if she got hurt or even killed while on the wild manhunt, I’m going in.
She’s going back to New York soon, to clean up what her grandparents left. Apparently, there’s still one storage unit her dad forgot to check. I’ll miss her, but the further away she is, the safer she’ll be.
I have a theory that Jack was ‘fired’ by upper management for not sticking to the rules. That he was supposed to be paid first. That we’re only alive because of his mistake. If so, they’re intelligent enough to cut off loose ends, but not to hide birth records. Jack was born in summer of 1980 and while his mother is dead, his father lives on. I guess I’ll see if this is a genetic condition soon.
Even so, I’ll be ready to take them on when the time comes. Whatever this company is, its employees have to meet a gruesome end. I'll make sure of that.
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