Chapter 15 Who do you want? By. Ex Habit #3
“Oh my god,” she whispered and showed Bec. “Ophelia, the details of your house and even bedroom are exact.”
Jackie nodded her in response. I didn’t think she was handling any of this well.
I mean, who would? I looked at the page again, taking in the drawing Griffin made.
There was no denying that they were beautiful.
He captured her incredibly well, you would think he drew it in real time.
I hadn’t seen all of them back at the asylum, just the first few.
I flipped the page expecting more of the same, but this time I was in it.
It was the night Jackie had her nightmare at Theo’s.
The drawing depicted her and I asleep on the couch.
The only thing odd is that there was a shadow in the corner.
The same corner Jackie was talking to when she woke up that night.
I began rifling through my bag that held my notes on the case at hand. That shadow was oddly familiar. I pulled out the picture that Carter had given me of Joey and the shadow. As I compared the two, they looked oddly similar.
Jackie grabbed the two photos, and just stared.
“H-how is this real? How is this happening?” She looked up to me, despair covering her face. I had no answers for her because I too didn’t know, but I did know I would do anything to figure it out. I kissed the top of her head, hoping that would offer some form of reassurance for the time being.
I turned to Sarah. “Griffin mentioned something odd. Did he go missing right before he committed the murders?”
“Ummm… well, not exactly. He was an adult and no one reported him missing but he didn’t show up to work and made some purchases in… let me check,” she responded as she dug through her own notes. “Yes, here it is. He traveled to… damn it.”
“What?” Bec and I asked in unison.
“Eugene, Oregon,” she responded.
I began to get an eerie feeling.
“How long was he there for?”
“Why?” Sarah asked as she began to look through her notes once more for the answer to my question.
“Humor me,” I responded.
“He was there for five days,” Sarah responded.
The pieces began to fall into place.
“Okay, I need you all to hear me out. About two years ago Griffin went ‘missing’ for five days. He was in Eugene, Oregon during this time. He mentions it’s Jackie’s turn.
When he comes back he… well, he goes bat shit crazy.
About one year ago, Joey went missing for five days.
He reappears in Eugene, Oregon as well. When he returns he just isn’t at all the same, more closed off.
He also mentions it being Jackie’s turn.
They both have the sigil associated with these events as well.
” I sighed, knowing my next thought would not be well received.
“These cases are connected, there is no denying that. I-I think Jackie might be next.”
“Next?” Jackie asked.
“To go missing.” Everyone began to speak up in disagreement. I raised my hand to interrupt. “I know it sounds insane, but it’s too many coincidences to explain away.”
“Tell me then, William, how will she go missing?” Sarah asked, clearly upset by my theory.
“I don’t know. It’s just strange that two people on opposite sides of the country who both went missing ended up in Eugene less than two blocks from Jackie’s home and both said she would be next,” I stated, exasperated at the entire situation.
“The details of Griffin’s drawings are also too exact to be a coincidence.” Jackie responded tiredly.
“What have you two gotten us into?” Bec asked, concerned by the situation.
Rightfully so, I might add.
Jackie turned to me and asked, “Do you remember when I asked if you thought the Cult of Creatio was making its reappearance?” I nodded, urging her to continue.
“What if that is what all of this is? The Cult coming back or at least trying to come back? These disappearances are its way of gaining attention?”
“That could be it. But why target Joey, Griffin, and you? It’s an odd trio,” I responded.
“Not really,” Bec responded. “They have more similarities than we think. At least Griffin and Joey do. Both of their father’s worked at an army base at the same time.”
“Which one and where?” Jackie asked.
“According to my sources, it was Dugway Proving Ground in 1977. They overlapped by a few months,” Bec explained. I shouldn’t be surprised she dug up the information. One of the perks of having our last name, it opened doors to even the most top secret information.
“I know the place, I knew someone who worked there for a bit. Another family member. He was working as a contractor there for about three months that summer.” Jackie turned to me, knowing I would ask. “Nate. He was there.”
I nodded in understanding.
“Well then, there is our connection between the three,” Bec responded. “Now what?”
No one responded. We had this information, we had our theories, but no concrete facts.
We couldn’t go to the police and tell them that Jackie was probably going to go missing.
We couldn’t search down members of a cult we didn’t know much about.
I wouldn’t press Joey, a young boy, for more details.
I refused to go back to Griffin. There wasn’t anything we could really do but wait.
Wait for what, however? I wasn’t sure.