Choice

Chapter 1

I joined the police force right out of high school and always had a knack for solving impossible crimes. Made detective at a young age and been working homicide ever since.  That night feels like it just happened yesterday. The call began everything. Phones usually never grabbed my attention much. it annoyed me to no end and I couldn't help but wanting it to stop. I stared at the thing waiting for the answering machine to kick in. When it finally did chills went up my spine as the voice through static said “Amanda? Pick up the phone.”

I closed my eyes remembering the voice. It was old and lost to me, but I knew I heard it once before. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t place my finger on where it came from or who it belonged to. It may have been the static or just the fact that I didn't like to remember my past.  His or maybe even her voice took a deep breathe “fifteen minutes from now one of two things will happen. You have to choose which is more important.” My hands begun the familiar motion they did when I was younger. They shook with all the fear built up inside of me and all the violent memories of my past flooding my mind. My life was always full of choices left or right, college or no college, right or wrong. That day though sent me on a path of choices, choices which would not only affect me, but everyone in the town of Marbourne.

I heard stories where psychos get off calling detectives telling them their crimes before they commit them. This guy I assumed was one such psycho. His masking of his voice added to the notion of what kind of guy he was. Obviously, he was afraid of something, hiding behind the static like the chicken he was.   I stood, staring at the phone as the static filled voice hummed out “fifteen minutes from the time my voice stops one of two things will happen. If you make the wrong choice you may miss a important clue.” 

Letting it sink in as the voice continued I realized how serious this guy was. This wasn't some teenage drunken prank or some local nut-job out for a thrill. This guy like I thought was different from the ones before him. I could tell as the words “Marbourne high school” left his static filled mouth. I didn't pay attention to the rest of the message all that mattered to me and the rest of the town since 2010 was “Marbourne high school.” This psychopath whoever he may be, knew me, at least knew me well enough to know I would choose Marboune and not even care for the other address.

Hearing the line go dead I blinked trying to bring myself back to a sense of normalcy. I knew the name of the old high school well enough as anyone who lived in this town during the year 2010. I felt the old familiar shakes getting worse as I remembered it.  Without a doubt in my mind that’s where I needed to be. The other place I never even heard of before and it would take me fifteen minutes to try and find the location. Without thinking, I ran right for the door, not even stopping to grab my badge, gun or any sense of direction. At that point, all that mattered was my car keys, the ignition and my foot slamming the gas as I made my way through the red lights and screaming pedestrians. I was better off going to the high school or that’s what I thought at the time I was driving down the wet road in its direction.

* * * 

I had arrived, drenched as I made my way through the puddles and heavy rain to the front of old school. The rain was beating down so hard I could barely make out the old high school. It had been deserted by both students and staff for years since the incident. Three years prior, the incident no one in this town ever talks about or hushes anyone who tries too. The old building still had the old flyer hanging above the doorway “Graduating class of 2010.” I blinked remembering it, my year, the year you felt everything change, the year you become an adult, the 18th year of anyone’s life or for some just the 17th. My breath felt weak as my chest began to heave. The old familiar anxiety came creeping right back in.

I leaned back reaching for the nearby wall holding myself up. The wall was surprisingly dry which made me laugh to myself as I remembered it was the smoking area where those kinds of kids hung out. The kind of kids you never tell your mother about. Boys who were always causing trouble around Marbourne, but always managed to get off Scott free.  I swallowed hard catching my breath trying to stay alert, but failing. 

My eyes shifted to my surroundings hearing her voice which started out low. My hands shook harder hearing her voice increase its loud agonizing cries. Her voice grew faint, but clear enough that she sounded like she was right next to me. My eyes shifted seeing her bright blonde hair and her simmering blue eyes. She had blood soaked on her blue dress as she grinned through the rain and whispered through the raindrops. “Reynolds.” I jilted off the wall trying to stand as I made my way towards the mirage.

As I got closer I felt my chest heave and fell to my knees attempting to again catch my breath. My chest was caving in, the parking lot had begun to spin and I crawled in any direction trying to stay awake before my memories beat me down. I looked up realizing I was now at the side doors to the school.  I placed the palm of my hand out running it along the banner tracing over “2010.” I swallowed as my eyes shifted towards a small note wedged into place which in big letters almost taunting me read “WRONG CHOICE!” 

My body shook as I turned back hearing the sound of sirens, and the glare of police lights as they turned into the school parking lot. Then the one sound I never thought I would hear, the loud echo almost blocks away that everyone heard that day. The loud “boom” that rang out from a nearby location, the one opposite to the one I had chosen.