MALWOOD

Disturbance

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The knock had been an almost dismissible sound; the man who stood at the doorstep was nervous and young. He wouldn't let up on his hat, wringing it and spinning it on his finger and when he had finally found the words and said "Your father has been found"...

I had known.

"And he is dead" it terrified me how calm I sounded.

"Yes" he put his hat back on his head, finally looking at my face. He wore regret flawlessly but I knew his sympathy was not for my father's death; Officer Riley hadn't known my father nor would he care about us Pattons.

Officer Riley's sympathy was fully occupied to the fact that he had been made to travel to the outskirts of Malwood, to crusty unwanted Critton, dirtying his shiny police car in search of an irrelevant girl.

In search of me.

"I am..." he began and I knew he was about to tell me how terribly sorry he was. I raised my hand for him to stop. He silenced and looked back longingly at his jeep.

"Where was he found?" I was ready for the answer and dreading it completely.

Riley hesitated and my dread trebled; had my father been worked to death, finally...?

"Them" I managed, a sudden anger coiling inside me.

"Them who?" he asked innocently.

"The Eriksons!" I spat, taking a step forward and forcing Officer Riley to back up. "I told him he should stop working there...!"

"No..." he spluttered "He was found in the forest, in the woods far out of the Erikson's boundary. The woods by the Sage River..." his voice dropped further "It was an animal attack, Ms Patton and he had been dead for at least a week. I am afraid it will be impossible for you to view the body at all..."

I hadn't realized I had been stalking Officer Riley until I was outside the house "Why would he be so far out... how on earth could he get so far out?"

"We don't know" Riley hadn't stopped backing away and in a second, he was reaching for the handle of the car door. "Good day Ms Patton!" he threw, closing the door, starting the car and driving away from the house fast.

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I was now an orphan, just another statistic in Critton. The thought that this was my life now was so unbelievable I laughed mid sob. It shocked me, the odd sound of the giggle mingled in with the heavy breathing from the crying; I caught the wretched sound in my hand and stilled my breathing.

In a second, the crying resumed with more fervor.

I was not just an orphan, I was alone. Jonathan Patton was gone, died in the woods. It was a funny turn of events after he had accused me of being the one to drift off, to escape to a world outside of Malwood and leave him here alone.