Mystery Loves Company

Prologue

The long, wailing sound of siren pierced through his ears. He blinked repeatedly, trying to calm the storms that burst in his mind. Everything was disoriented at this point, as his vision was blurred and there was an unreasonable amount of pain when he touched the left side of his head. The smell of wet asphalts forced him to roll back—and that was when he realized he had been lying on it for God knows how long.

Just as when he could make sense of the world around him, footsteps were approaching. Noticing his soaked, stained sweatshirt and muddy cheek, the young man got up with disgust. The sudden action caused the pain on his head kicked in again.

"Dude, are you okay?" asked the person who got to him first. "I-I found you lying here unconscious. I didn't know what to do, so I called the police."

Then, two more men came, one of which looked familiar in his eyes.

"Oh, my God, Rhett?!" The man, bigger in appearance than the other, knelt down. "What happened?"

Rhett was still trying to pick up the shattered pieces of what was happening to him before. His eyes flickered, head looking right and left, didn't actually know what he was looking for.

"Hey, hey, look at me," said the man while snapping his fingers in front of his face.

"Uncle Dave?" Rhett muttered his first words since waking up. Not sure, he glanced at the name that was patched on the man's uniform. Snell. He was right.

"I told you, don't call me that when I'm on duty." Uncle Dave, or the man everyone in this town knew as Chief Snell, stood up. He looked at the boy who called him before. "It's okay, we take it from here. You can go. Thank you."

The boy left. The officer that came with the Chief helped Rhett to get off on his feet and led him to a nearby bench.

"Thank you, Officer Parry," said Rhett. Every words that came out of his mouth felt like a hammer hitting on his left skull. He tried touching his left temple and it stung. "I need an ice pack."

"I'll get you to the hospital."

Hearing that word, he was flinched. "God, I must look bad."

"Bad? Try awful," mumbled the Chief, staring sympathetically at Rhett's bruised temple. "You never listen to me, huh, Rhett? I've warned you several times before," he sighed. "What happened to you?"

When the storm clouds about to be cleared from his mind, a lightning struck. Rhett felt a sense of panic as he reached the pockets on his jeans. Phone and wallet were still there, but that didn't concern him. "Oh, no. She took it!"

"Who took what?"

"The flash drive—s-she took it!" Rhett looked upset. "Avery!"

The Chief was surprised. He immediately connected the name and Rhett's physical appearance, and it made him more shocked. "Avery Kane? She... She did this?"

"You have to find her, Chief," Rhett breathed. "You have to find her before..."

"Before what?" Chief Snell found his curiousness building up. "Rhett. What's in that flash drive?"

With his chest moved up and down and the ache still hadn't gone, Rhett could only shake his head. He couldn't think clearly just yet. All he knew that if the police didn't find her sooner, something bad would happen.