Army Boy

Unsettling Truths

The storm stopped completely the gray clouds move slowly letting the light of the sunset create a perfect ambiance of warm color on the infinite sky.

"Hey Harrison, can you tell me again why we are here?"

In a police car were two women. The one called Harrison who looked in her early 30s with black and brown eyes throw a short looked at her partner for the night.

A woman that looked the same age as her with short blond hair and dark green eyes.

"The chef told us someone reported that they saw a young boy walking on the sideroad at the entrance of the town."

"Weird. What child is doing out here?"

The blond woman asked with a rising eyebrow. The dark woman frowned. Her guts were telling her that there was much more than it seems. But she can't put her finger or even think of a logical alternative to this situation.

The blonde woman seeing that her partner didn't have any intention to respond to her just shrugged her shoulders and look ahead.

The police car stopped a couple of meters from the welcome sign to the peaceful Royal Woods.

The area was a deserted one. On the right was a forest pretty much untouched by any tourist and resident of the Royal Woods and on the left the side where the sign was impaled in the ground was a wide and completely deserted open land with high grass that you can lose yourself very easily.

"The sun is setting get the lanterns and let's see what is happening."

The brunette woman said and not ever after a second she catch a lantern thrown by her blonde partner.

The sun was already sliding itself from the sky. However, the remaining light was very strong almost blinding the people who looked at its direction but it also created a lot of dark spots making it very hard for the two policewomen to see clearly.

"...ugh...."

"Wait! You heard that?"

"It came from there"

The blonde woman point at a spot on the high grass.

"Stay back"

Her partner said she approached the spot with precautions not knowing what could be jumping from that hidden place.

She pulled away the high grass and...

*gasp*

What she saw made her drop her lantern on the muddy ground.

That startled the blonde woman she ran immediately to her partner's side when she saw the scene in front of her.

*gasp*

The same gasp, same shocked face mixed with, horror and sorrow but she didn't drop her lantern her hand was trembling strongly, she was trembling so hard that she barely could hold the lantern in her hand. However, she keeps it to make sure that the scene in front of her eyes is real.

In front of the two women officers was laying a boy around 11 years old.

But...

The state his body was in...

The burn marks that almost covered his body together with the huge and terrifying scars, the fresh bruises that cover all of his young malnourished body, and the freshly made cuts that let the precious blood of the boy flow in the muddy water.

"C-call an ambulance!"

The brunette Mrs. Harrison shouted snapping out the shock.

Her partner didn't waste any second and took out her walkie-talkie, however...

The second she put her thumb over the bottom to speak both women hear the loud noise of the ambulance's horn.

"We came as fast we could!"

A man jumped out from the ambulance together with other people.

"O-oh my god! It is even worse than I was informed! Fast take him in the ambulance!"

The man shouted and his coworkers lift carefully the boy and put the bloody boy on the stretcher leaving just a deformed hole in the muddy ground they push the stretcher into the ambulance and drove off.

Next to where the unfortunate boy was laying were staying the 2 officers were speechless for the second time in less than a minute.

This time the blonde woman snap up first looking at her partner with trembling eyes.

"H-hey the Chef told you it was an anonymous call, no? He told nobody only you and nobody knew, no?"

"Yes"

The brunette snaps out her stare of shock. Her usually expressionless face show a hint of negative emotion.

"And the chef told you immediately no? Also, we got here like in 5 minutes, I'm right?"

"You're right"

"S-so how a fully equipped ambulance, came from the hospital that is like 30 minutes away almost in the same time as us? Not only that but they knew the state the boy was when not even us had no idea."

"I don't know and I don't like this. Come on I have to go home."

The brunette woman picks up her muddy lantern and turns it off. Holding the muddy lantern in her hand she calmly walks towards her car as if nothing happened.

"Wait what?! Do we leave just like that? Don't you want to know what the fuck was that?! Harrison!"

*click*

The brunette opens her car door and looks and her partner and friend.

"This... I have a very bad feeling. This full situation doesn't feel right. My guts it's telling me that if we stick our noose our heads will roll. We better not think about it. The boy is in the ambulance and is receiving the help he needed our job here is done."

The blonde looked at the direction of the ambulance. This really doesn't feel and the situation is even more wrong when she realized that the ambulance didn't even turn on the siren.

The blonde woman was not even surprised about her partner's words she was always like that also her instinct were never wrong.

If she told you that she has a bad feeling you better listen to her.

The blonde officer could only sigh turn off her lantern and walk towards the police car.

'I hope that boy will be alright

These were her thoughts and the car started to move.

She didn't saw the even colder expression of her friend.

'If I am right that boy... that boy is already too stuck in hell to be helped.'

Nobody knew how right the officer was.