Chapter 5 Quivering in Fear

“Dad,” Ruth murmured.

“I’m right here sweetheart, don’t worry,” Dr. Jeong whispered softly. Ruth was in her own room, snuggled warmly in her own pomegranate colored bed. Dr. Jeong grimaced, holding a camera tightly in his hands.

“Why…,” he whispered fiercely to himself.

***

Gabby turned the keys on the knob of her front door.

“Mom, I’m home,” Gabby called out as she turned a corner into her bedroom. It was a plain white room, furnished with a simple blue bed and a computer table with a cushion chair. Her bare feet glided across her wooden floor and stopped at the computer chair. She sat down and turned on her computer.

She opened up her browser and typed fbi.gov onto the address bar. The website loaded quickly, instantly filling up the whole screen with an American flag banner on the top, the top story in the middle, and the breaking news to the right. She paused for a moment studying the FBI logo, secretly smiling to her self, enjoying the irony of the motto. On the middle of the logo, it said Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity under a picture of a balanced scale. She scrolled down to the bottom. where one of the three link categories said What We Investigate, and clicked on it.

She spent two hours looking through the countless articles of terrorism. There was nothing on Sally Teux, if that was her name. She stood up and went out of her bedroom.

“So what’s for dinner mom?”

***

Tim was sitting at his desk in his own bedroom at home, holding a photocopy of a photograph.

“Why does this girl look so strange,” he murmured to himself, examining the little girl in the picture of Sally’s family.

***

I am running, carelessly down a blur of green. The wind blows, pink butterflies circle me.

“Get me the 452 ovum transmission. Quickly now,” Dr. Jeong ordered a nurse next him. The nurse sprinted out of the room. Ruth was shaking the bed violently, speaking in gibberish at the same time.

“Ahhhhhh,” Ruth screeched aloud, before opening her eyes. “Where am I?” Dr. Jeong quickly grabbed the needle off the tray the nurse, who just came in, was holding, and gave Ruth the shot. The effect was immediate, for Ruth’s eyes started close, as drowsiness overtook her.

***

Holding the piece of paper, with Sally Teux’s address on it, Gabby rang the doorbell of a haunted-looking two story house. Her cell phone started to ring. Tim Smith appeared on the screen of  her cell phone.

“Hey Tim, what’s up,” she answered.

“I’m going to check out the crime scene again.”

“Oh, the cherry blossoms?”

“Yea.”

“Good luck.”

“You too.”

Gabby snapped her cell phone off, her heart tingled with a little worry for Tim and herself, as the front door opened. What was she getting into? Blackmailing the FBI again?

She dismissed the feeling as  a short woman  in her late forties, who had long black hair tied up in a bun, pale skin, and bright auburn colored eyes appeared before her.

“Yes?” The woman, with a woebegone manner, asked. Gabby noted a slight mechanical tone in her voice.

“Is this the Tuex Residence,” Gabby asked.

The woman nodded her head slowly. “And you are?”

Gabby stretched out her right hand, “I’m Gabby Fore, from The Valley Jargon staff of Valley High School. Are you Mrs. Tuex?”

The woman’s eyes widened in shock, expressing nervousness, as she shook hands with Gabby. “Why yes, what do you want?”

“I am here to help you find your daughter.”

Mrs. Tuex stood there unmoving for awhile, gazing into Gabby’s eyes, as someone came up behind Mrs. Tuex.

“Roon, who do we have here?” A deep voice of a man asked. Mrs. Teux immediately jumped and turned around, facing her husband, placing her head on his chest.

“Tribeau! This girl said she will help us find M-Saally,” Roon whispered into Tribeau’s ear. The man’s arms went on the woman’s shoulders, turning her back to face Gabby as he cleared his throat.

“Please come in,” he said with an empty heart, opening the door wider and moving to the side.

***

Gabby wrote:

Year 2225  Month May Day 25th

Sally Teux Report

Evidence                Explanation

in her notebook, as she sat down on a velvet loveseat in the Teux’s living room. Everywhere she glanced was a teal blue color. The couple sat opposite of her in two separate rocking chairs, their eyes blinking quickly before her. Gabby took out her recorder and turned it on.

“When and where did you guys discover your daughter was missing,” Gabby interrogated immediately.

“It was on a Wednesday, when she had to take piano lessons after her registration. When she didn’t come home, we thought she made a , a, a new friend along the way. We waited for two nights, but she did not come home. She was always a responsible girl. She knows her curfew. We had to report to the police on Friday,” Mrs. Teux burst into tears. Mr. Teux eyes stared into Gabby’s eyes for two seconds before reaching over and held Roon’s hand tightly, with a blank expression.

“Where’s the bathroom,” Gabby asked quietly, discomforted with the awkward scene before her, as she pressed off on her recorder, tucking it back into her bag.

“Just go down that hall, pass the first door. Can’t miss it,” Tribeau’s eyes followed her until Gabby closed the bathroom door behind her. Gabby turned on the faucet, letting the water run. She placed her hands in the water and brought it up to her face. Refreshing. Just one question and it’s already giving me the willies. This is so not me. Gabby realized. She looked into the mirror, straightened out her hair, rotated her neck, and pulled on her collar of a red striped blouse she was wearing. She took a deep breath and opened the door. When she stepped out, she noticed the door across from her was opened. She looked to her left and right, making sure Mr. Teux was not around. He wasn’t. She tip-toed closer to the door and peered in. Piles of card board boxes were stacked in a mess, filling up every corner of the room. At the corner of her left eye, she spotted a small envelope, crudely sealed with bright red tape on top of an opened box near the entrance. She reached for it, taking it into her hands and stuffing it into her pocket. A perfect fit. She then started to hear footsteps. She quickly took steps back  into the bathroom’s door, just in time as Mr. Teux came into view.

“You okay,” he asked.

“Yea,” Gabby spoke nervously.

“My wife is not feeling too well, I am going to take her to her psychiatrist. You need to leave now. Come back another day,” he said stoically, not emphasizng much on his last sentence .

“Sure, Sure, not a problem at all,” Gabby said, as Mr.Teux led her back into the living room and out of the house, shutting it silently behind her. Gabby walked steadily to her red Honda Civic, opened it and slid into the driver’s seat. Closing the door and starting the engine, Gabby headed towards the 905 freeway at forty miles an hour.

***

Ruth opened her eyes, immediately noticing the camera left on an empty chair beside her bed. The room was empty, except for the constant beeping of a gray machine hanging from the ceiling. She tried to sit up, but failed. Gathering up her strength again, she managed to get off her bed and slowly walked to the door. She was about to turn the knob when she noticed a little screen above the knob. She pressed a few random buttons on it before the screen flashed into a scene. It was room with white walls, filled with people wearing red and green. The women were in red; the men were in green. The screen zoomed in closer. All the men had the same buzz hair cut, and all the women had the same puffy hairstyle at shoulder length. Just as she focused on the people’s faces, the knob began to turn. Ruth quickly ran back to her bed and drew her covers in and closed her eyes.

The door closed as the heavy footsteps of two men approached, one carrying a black labtop.

Advertisement

~ by jellylver123 on May 6, 2009.