Bad Company

A Public Appeal

“How can you act so cavalier Glen?!” screamed Megan jumping to her feet. Startled by her outburst, he jolted. He replied, “How the hell do you figure that?” She turned away from him to continue, “You sit in silence and keep a straight face, almost carrying on like normal. Do you even care that Tori is gone?” Glen threw his hands up, and in an exasperated manner replied, “Meg, what the hell do you want from me! I’m trying not to kill myself over this right away, I’m just hoping for the best and trying to stay positive! You should try to relax dear, don’t drive yourself crazy” Megan’s face froze with shock as she shook her head. “Stay positive?! Glen! God-knows-who has your baby girl right now! Do you not understand what kind of problem that is for Nitori?! She’s naïve, and totally ignorant about the world!” “Well, shit, Megan, who ever asked you to be so overprotective?! I told you that girl needed to know more, but no, you fought it tooth and nail” “She’d never understand Glen! And don’t turn this around on me! You had every intention of her not being around much longer anyways!”  “She’s an adult! You act like she was born last year! Nitori is a 22 year old woman!” Glen yelled. Megan slammed her hands on the table, “All I ever wanted to do was protect her from the uglies of the world that would never make sense to her?! I didn’t want to be the one to corrupt her!” “Well great going Meg! Because someone’s going to do it for you!” Glen immediately went silent and covered his mouth. Megan stared at him in total awe and bewilderment. She was taken aback by the fact that he would say such a thing about Nitori. “Megan, that came out wrong, I didn’t mean it like that” he said reaching for her. She backed away from him and swatted his hands away. “Don’t. Just don’t” she stammered while walking away. He followed her out of the dressing room.

Megan and Glen sat firmly in their chairs. Heat radiated around them from the studio and camera lights. Glen’s right arm was around Megan, resting securely on her right shoulder. She constantly toweled the sweat and tears from her face. Glen leaned to her and said, “You think you can do this?” Megan inhaled deeply and exhaled, and then she nodded her head up and down.  A mass of footsteps shuffled around the stage as the director yelled, “Places!” Jessica Pawn, the host of “Tell Me, Tell the World”, walked on the set and took a seat in front of Glen and Megan. “Hello Mr. and Mrs. Collier. Thanks so much for coming on the show. You’re doing a great thing by getting the message out about your daughter to the public. Don’t fear getting emotional, whoever took her needs to see that you miss her very much, and hopefully it will soften their shell. Just be honest and very real.” Megan’s voice was low but direct, “Thanks so much for helping us Jessica, I can’t thank you enough.” Jessica shook both of their hands and smiled warmly. “And five, four, three, two, one, and rolling!” resounded the director.

Jessica looked up at the camera with a firm, inviting expression. “Good evening world, my name is Jessica Pawn, and thanks for watching ‘Tell Me, Tell the World’. The news has been fired up with the story about a missing young lady by the name of Nitori Collier. She was abducted five days ago, on a Sunday afternoon from a Cincinnati, Ohio mall. I’m joined tonight by Glen and Megan Collier, Nitori’s parents, and they’re going to give some insight into their daughter that will hopefully aid in her safe recovery and return.” “It’s a pleasure to be here tonight Jessica”, stated Glen while holding his wife’s hand. “So how about you start by giving some basic, essential information about your daughter”, Jessica gently requested.

Megan lifted her eyes to meet Jessica’s and she began to speak, “Nitori is our pride and joy. We all call her Tori. She’s five feet tall, a slim figure, and thick wavy auburn hair. Her complexion is a toffee color, dark brown eyes and she has an identifying small brown mole on her chin to the right. She has no tattoos or piercings, except for her ears. Even though she’s 22 years old, she’s easily mistaken for a teenager, because she’s such a tiny girl”, Megan paused to fight her tears. Jessica coached her through, “It’s okay Megan, I know it’s tough, take your time.” Glen protectively rubbed her shoulder and picked up where she left off. “Yes, but Nitori is also autistic. She’s not very verbal at all, but she signs, and is very smart. Compared to a normal functioning person her age, Nitori is severely socially impaired. She doesn’t usually acknowledge people around her, so she’s never aware of her surroundings”, Glen took a deep breath is as his eyes watered, “She, um, is usually around Megan and I most of the time. She has older siblings that are pretty good with interacting with her as well. She tends to find people aversive and will cry if she’s uncomfortable in her surroundings.”

“So Mr. Collier, what made you realize that Nitori didn’t wander off? How did you know for sure she was abducted?” inquired Jessica. He replied, “She took longer than normal to come back into the store. She went to get her camera from the car and never came back. When we noticed six minutes passed, then we went to see where she was, and saw some of her belongings on the ground near the car.” Jessica shook her head in interest. “So are you concerned that people will label you as negligent for allowing your autistic child to go through a parking lot alone?” probed Jessica. Megan spoke up,” Tori is 22 years old. We’ve always tried to treat her according to her age, just so we wouldn’t impair her beyond the autism. She’s very capable of doing things alone, but I’ve never felt comfortable enough to let her go too far out of my reach. She even has a college degree, a program she completed online of course, her anxiety would never allow her to sit in a classroom.” “I see. So Nitori had no history of wandering off?” queried Jessica. Megan shook her head side to side, “No she didn’t. But I always heard stories about it happening, I feared it a lot, so that’s why I was always very rigid with her in public.”

Jessica looked down at the notes she was taking and then back at Glen and Megan. “You mentioned that Nitori gets upset and cries, now will she cry as in whine a little, or will she full-on cry until she gets tired?” Glen answered, “Both actually. She’s whine a little when she doesn’t get her way sometimes, but who doesn’t?” he chuckled lightly, “But when she’s distraught, Tori can cry for hours. Usually she runs to me crying, and I’ll baby her, you know, calm her down.” “And how do you calm her down, Mrs. Collier?” inquired Jessica. Megan smiled with frailty, “Tori loves flowers, roses in particular, and she has such a keen smell for them. I’ll give her a rose when she’s distressed, or I’ll put on my rose scented body spray and let her hug me. It works like a charm every time. Her siblings even keep all kinds of rose scents around when she’s with them, that’s the golden key to keeping her calm. And she also loves her iPad, she can disappear for hours with that thing.”

“So I want to give you the opportunity to talk to your daughter’s captor or captors”, offered Jessica. Megan cleared her throat and leered squarely into the camera,”My Nitori has never been away from her family. If she cries and whines, it’s because she’s scared and doesn’t feel understood. She’s such a picky eater, she doesn’t eat heavy meats, or greasy food, she loves wheat anything and veggies. Please let my Tori come home, she doesn’t understand what’s going on, she needs her mommy, and I can’t sleep without her home. Please, if you have a heart, let my baby come home”, Megan choked up, but composed herself. Glen’s face was streaming with tears, “Please, we need Tori back.” He spoke shortly and leaned over to Megan. Jessica nodded her head compassionately and said in closing, “Thanks so much for coming on tonight Megan and Glen”, then she looked into the camera, “If you have any information in the disappearance of Nitori Collier, please call the number below or your local precinct.”