Path of the Vampire forum

August 23rd, 2012 – Connecticut
Nyla’s perspective

The sound of her door slamming gave her less satisfaction than she’d expected it would. It was tempting to open her door again just to see if she could slam it harder, but she was sure that would reach the “overkill” point. She was twenty one years old, still living at home and still feeling absolutely suffocated by her parents.

When she’d been younger, she’d made the days go by quicker by reminding herself that once she was done with high school she could go out on her own and make her own path. Yet, here she was. She’d wanted to go off to school, get her own place and just be her own person. That wasn’t something in the cards for her, not if her parents had it their way. She was a “lady”, and should act accordingly. She was meant to marry someone who would do all the work while she was a perfect little wife. It was barbaric.

Barbaric or not, she hadn’t yet been able to find the willpower to really stand up to them. How could she expect to make it in the real world if she couldn’t even do that? She couldn’t afford to go to school without her parent’s help, not without burying herself in loans. If she’d been surer of herself, she might have taken the plunge, but how could she be sure when she wasn’t even ready to stand up for what she wanted?

So instead, when she worked up the nerve, she’d ask oh so politely at the dinner table. “Maybe I could just take a couple of classes…” The question, as with every similar question she asked, was met with complete silence followed by the sounds of glasses being set almost harshly down. The lecture she’d receive afterwards about how going to class, or doing whatever it was she’d asked for, was not a part of her duties and that she should be happy with what she had. They would go on and on about how well she was cared for and it was always ended by letting her know in no uncertain terms that they would not support her through the endeavor. It was ridiculous.

Most parents would be overjoyed that their child wanted to better themselves; that their child was practically down on their knees begging. What she wouldn’t give to switch lives with someone who didn’t want to go to college, who would be over the moon with having their parents happily force them in to a life where they didn’t have to do a single thing. She wanted so much more for her life, how could she ever be happy in the life her parents had mapped out for her?

She couldn’t sit still. She felt like she was drowning and unable to breathe as she paced her room back and forth. She felt like a caged animal, dying to experience the freedom she knew was just beyond her reach, if she could only figure out how to get past the bars. If she could only get an opening, she’d be gone.

Her entire life was a series of cycles. Most of the time she did her best to hide her inner most hopes and dreams. She pretended they didn’t exist, pretended it didn’t hurt that her parents wanted nothing more from her than what she was. She’d keep pretending and blocking out the voice in her head that screamed at her that she wanted to be more until she couldn’t do it anymore. Then, she’d get up the nerve to put her heart out there for them to slice and dice all over again. This led to where she was right now, pacing the room like an exotic animal at a zoo who was sick of being their little house cat; who wanted to roam the jungle and be what she was meant to be.

The next step was just as predictable as all the rest. Nyla grabbed up the gym bag she kept stashed next to her door, then snatched up her car keys and cell phone. She’d go run her energy out in a false sense of freedom, then come back and do it all over again. That was the plan, anyway – the plan that had went smoothly many times before this. How was she to know that nothing was ever going to be the same again?

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August 24th, 2012 – Connecticut
Thomas & Samantha Smith

They knew Nyla was gone even before Mrs. White (their house keeper) confirmed it for them. In their mind, it was better that she got the rebellious attitude out of her system before she’d settled down. They’d expected the attitude to pass before now, that she’d settle into her life properly by the time she was done with high school.

They didn’t panic or call the police. They didn’t even reschedule any of their plans for the day. She’d get tired of being out there all alone and come back, she always did. There was no sense in them rearranging everything to suit her tantrums.

Nyla

She’d only driven a couple of hours before she’d felt her eyes begin to droop. Despite what she was doing she wasn’t that reckless. The moment she’d felt the tiredness start to take over she’d started looking for the nearest place to stop that didn’t look too sketchy. She’d sleep in her car if it came to that. Luckily, it hadn’t. She’d found a nice place to bunker down for a few hours and then had gotten right back on the road.

She didn’t plan where she was going. She’d make decisions at the last minute about which way to turn or whether to stay on the highway or take the next exit. When she did this she wasn’t following a path, she didn’t have a set destination, and she could just go whichever direction felt right. She had the control to say left, right or to stay the course. There was no GPS in her ear telling her which way to turn or when to make the turn. Nothing but her and the open road.

She awoke feeling refreshed, the impact of the open road already starting to soothe her worn nerves. She wasn’t ready to go home yet, but that wasn’t surprising. It was usually a few days, at least, before she felt ready to go home. Instead, she grabbed a quick shower, changed her clothes and got back on the road for some more of the sweet therapy.

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August 27th, 2012

Thomas & Samantha

The first few days had gone as if nothing had changed; they knew better than to expect her to be back so soon. The first few times she’d only left for a day or two, but slowly her absences grew longer rather than shorter. Still, they were sure that this was just her rebellion running its course.

Still, by now they had rescheduled any of their plans, choosing to spend as much time as possible at home. With each sound of a car approaching, Samantha would look up from whatever she was doing to wait to see if it would pass or pull into the driveway. If someone didn’t know what to look for, they’d miss the look of sadness that moved across her face as the vehicle kept going. With each time her hope grew again, just to shatter. It was a mother’s job to worry about her children, especially when they were out of eye sight and away from her protection. A mother’s job was never ending.

Thomas’ reactions weren’t the same as is wife’s. He rearranged his schedule as much as possible so that he could complete his daily tasks from home. He threw himself into his work even more than he did when he was at the office; anything for the distraction. The only time he’d stop was when the exhaustion of it took a hold of him, or when the phone rang. He didn’t wait for her car to come up – he waited for his little girl to call, even if she never did.

Nyla

She had no idea where she was, only that it was further than she’d ever travelled before. She didn’t know how many more miles of road she would need to feel normal again, only that she wasn’t there yet. If she really wanted to know where she was it would have been easy to figure out, but she never looked until it was time to go back. She intentionally didn’t look at the names of towns as she drove. It was a technique that had taken her years to master, but now it was almost as if the names just disappeared until she was ready to see them. She wasn’t ready to see them, so they weren’t there.

She did her best not to think about what was going on at home. Nothing would change when she got back and her parents didn’t even get upset about her leaving anymore. She was actually glad about that, as it meant she no longer felt guilty when she got back. If they didn’t worry, then there was no reason to feel guilty.

Now wasn’t the time to think about any of that though. She didn’t use this time to think things through; she used it to calm down so she could put it all back into its box.

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August 30th, 2012 – Harper Rock
Nyla

She’d never expected her travels to send her to another country. She didn’t expect to wind up with a flat tire on the side of the road in the middle of the night. It was so cliché she almost thought she’d imagined it, but no – her tire was in fact flat.

She would have never thought herself stupid enough to go wandering down an unknown road at nighttime, especially without having her cell phone on her. Some might think she’d been testing the fates – but that was just the choice she’d made.

Coming into contact with the Psycho was just the icing on the cliché cake, really. She never would have expected what came next, though. What came next was too unreal to even think about, so unreal that she spent weeks afterwards convincing herself she was delusional and/or under the influence.

August 31st, 2012 – Connecticut

Thomas & Samantha

“It’s been over a week…” The words were the first that either of them had spoken to each other about their missing child. Their conversations up until this point had been the polite pass-the-salt variety and nothing more.

The questions and worries had been slowly growing in each of them as each day had passed. It was apparent in the way Samantha moved her activities closer and closer towards the door, straining even more for a hint that her daughter’s car was returning to where it belonged. The evidence was just as prominent in the way Thomas seemed to require less food or sleep to function and yet worked even less as more time was spent staring at the phone as if he could will it to ring.

The fact that all the unsaid worries and questions were now said made everything more real. As long as they kept to their silent game of worrying, they could pretend (however poorly) that everything was alright. Besides the first few times, when their worry was more anger, they’d never reached this point.

The question itself effectively sucked all the air out of the room, leaving the pair of them feeling the worry and loss as if something vital had been taken from them. Everything stopped in that moment because all the unsaid worry was rushing to the real world and drowning them.

Thomas got up from the table and went to the phone, reaching for the folder he kept in the desk while he listened to the ringing. Samantha just sat and stared, wishing she could take back the sentence. She barely heard anything her husband said, only certain words sticking out and increasing her anguish.
They waited, sitting close together on the couch touching hands while they waited for the detectives to get there. It was more affection than they usually showed towards each other and yet felt like not enough. The fact that they were calling in a detective meant that they truly believed something was wrong, that something had happened to their only child.

They had called, they were expecting them to come and yet they still jumped when the sound of the doorbell tore through their house. They both hesitated; both wishing to keep reality at bay as long as possible. The sound of the door bell tearing through what was left of their calm ended their hopes of doing just that.

Thomas stood up, dropping his wife’s hand as he made his way over to the front door. He hesitated yet again at the door, needing a moment to squash down the fear trying to convince him the knob would be scalding hot, burning his hand the moment he touched it. Even so, he touched it with the back of his hand first; still half convinced that it would in fact be hot. It wasn’t. He opened the door without incident, revealing the two police detectives who’d been sent out on the call.
Detectives Tyler Dugan and Gabrielle Makin

Neither of them were sure what to make of the situation. They’d been briefed by their captain on the call received by a Mr. Thomas Smith regarding the disappearance of his 21 year old daughter. According to the briefing, the daughter in question, Nyla, had taken off over a week before.

“Thank you for coming, detectives.” There was definitely something off with the man, though not the sort of thing that sent the detective’s warning bells off. Neither of the detectives had ever met the man before, so there was no way to know how he normally sounded or acted. It was just a general feeling that his demeanor was different than usual; that the disappearance, while late in being reported, was weighing heavily on the man.

He stepped away from the door, allowing them entry before closing it back up and leading them further into the house. He took his seat next to a woman, most likely his wife, who had the same vibe coming off of her that they sensed from Mr. Smith. While he took his seat on the couch, the detectives each sat on one of the plush armed chairs across from them.

“Mr. & Mrs. Smith, I am Detective Makin and this is my partner Detective Dugan. What can you tell us about your daughter’s disappearance?” They’d learned how they worked best. Gabrielle was better with speaking to families, whereas Tyler was much better at taking notes and noting things that became important later on. Neither minded this sharing of duties.

“She does this. She just goes without a word. Never for this long though.” The woman’s words were soft and hesitant. She wasn’t looking at them, but somewhere else. “She took her car. We’ve checked her bank account and credit card but there’s nothing there; there never is. She keeps cash on her for this, so we can’t track her when she goes.” It was eerie how similar in tone the man and woman sounded.

“Has your daughter made contact with you at all? Any unknown numbers calling? Hang ups?” They both shook their heads as if in unison. “Maybe while you were out…?” Again, they shook their heads, the husband speaking up again. “At least one of us has been here at all times. Just in case.”

The question and answer went on for a while, the parents obviously getting more and more strained with each passing minute. When the detectives had all the information they needed, they both rose and ensured the Smiths that they would do their best. They were sure the girl was fine and with the information they had it shouldn’t be a problem to find her.

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September 2nd, 2012 - Connecticut

Detectives Dugan and Makin

Like the parents had said, the bank account information had gotten them no where. They had pulled the records anyway and were monitoring the accounts for any kind of activity. The girl may not have used her accounts yet, but considering how long she’d been gone there was a chance she would be running low on funds and need to grab some more.

The parents had also given consent to use her cell phone and car records. The cell phone hadn’t been much help as it had no GPS information in it. If any calls had have been made they might have been able to track her movements based on cell tower usage, but she hadn’t made any. They’d attempted making calls to the cell phone to see if she would pick up, but so far all had gone directly to voicemail. Chances are the phone was either off or the battery had died, though there was no way to tell which.

The car records had been much more helpful. The girl’s car had an active OnStar subscription, which meant given the proper permissions and paperwork being submitted they now had been given access to the car’s GPS. The results were not what they expected. Canada was a whole other ball game, especially where this wasn’t exactly a kidnapping, just an adult leaving. They wouldn’t be involved at all, except the parents seemed to have made some calls and called in some favors.

Their plight wasn’t hopeless, at least. While the Canadians weren’t exactly giving them leave to continue their investigation into the Canadian border, they had agreed to keep a look out in the general vicinity of where the car was; conducting their own report and letting them know their findings. It was better than nothing, at least.

Thomas & Samantha Smith

Thomas hung up the phone, but didn’t move any further. Samantha looked up to see him standing there, hand still on the receiver as if he was scared to let it go, his eyes locked on it. The book she’d been pretending to read as she sat still on the couch waiting for news clattered to the floor and her hand instinctively went to her throat, the feeling of not being able to breathe all too familiar lately.

Hearing the noise, Thomas immediately turned and made his way over to his wife, pulling her tight to him as he sat down. “They haven’t found her yet. They say…” His voice broke then, not sure how to continue his train of thought. He didn’t know what this meant. If everything was okay then their daughter had deliberately fled the country, if everything wasn’t okay then… he didn’t even want to think about that. “They said that her car’s GPS is showing up in Canada… outside some place in Ontario.”

Samantha sobbed, unable to contain it. She hadn’t so much as shed a tear yet, but the fear that her husband had heard the worst followed by news that was at least better than that.

September 3rd, 2012 – Ontario

Canadian RCMP

The American detectives hadn’t had any proof of foul play and while their chief had been reluctant to spend man hours on investigating what was probably no more than an adult leaving the nest, sometimes it helped to do a small favor here and there with people you may some day need reciprocation from.

The two RCMP officers who were sent out on the call felt much the same, but they were professional and did their job as requested. They arrived at the area for the location that they’d been given, a long stretch of rarely travelled road surrounded by over grown trees. There was, however, no car to be seen. “She’s probably already on her way home… Or off to her next party.” The officer driving thought his partner was likely right, but even so he pulled the car over and got out, looking around some more.

He wanted to just call it a day, but figured if there’d been a miscommunication they’d just be sent back out so instead he pulled out his phone and put in a call to the chief. “There’s nothing here. Is there a chance the location was wrong? Or has the car been moved or towed?” He leaned against the side of the car as the chief checked.

“No, we haven’t gotten any updates about a change in the car’s location. According to this it should still be on that road, around the same marker I told you this morning.” The officer sighed, not sure where to go from here. If the car was here, he should see it. If the car had moved, they should have been updated. Something was definitely screwed up here.

He opened the car door back up and grabbed the portable GPS from the car, motioning for his partner to follow him out. “Do you have the actual coordinates there? I’ll put it in and we’ll go from there.” The chief rattled off the coordinates which he quickly put into the system before hanging up. According to that, the location they were looking for was still half a kilometer up ahead. They started moving, watching the distance close as they did. They still saw no sign of the car that was supposed to be there.

As they neared the ending position, the fact that the destination was a little to the right began to have more and more significance. The car wasn’t just on the side of the road, but by the looks of it, it was actually on a side road. The hairs on the backs of their necks began to prickle at this and their pace quickened. Soon, they were at the last of the straight portion of their journey. Turning, they saw what looked to be a very much unused and overgrown path, not even a side road. The recent tire marks were obvious and did nothing to quell their suspicions.

Both officers drew their firearms before continuing down through the path. It was only moments before the car came in to view, though it didn’t look as if anyone was around. Still, they kept their weapons ready as they edged slowly towards the car. The moment they peered inside the windows both of them cursed under their breath. There was blood all over the front seat; a lot of it.

The officer who had driven holstered his weapon to grab his flashlight, even though it was still broad daylight, and used it to peer inside to try and find a body. He was careful not to touch a damn thing, but came up short. His eyes trained to the trunk and he didn’t even want to look, though protocol said he should wait anyway. This case had turned from a quick checking, to a potential murder of an international traveler. This was not good.

The flashlight went back into its home as well, allowing him to grab his phone back out to re-dial the chief. The man was expecting the call back, so he didn’t have to wait long. “Yeah boss, we found the car… it’s not good.” He just shook his head as he listened to the reply before continuing. “No, no body. There’s a lot of blood though… Maybe too much. We’ll need to process it to be sure, but… it’s not good.” He hung up the phone and then looked from the car back to his partner. It was unlikely that whoever had done this was coming back any time soon. “You okay here while I go grab the car? They’ll need a reference point to figure out where the hell we are.”

“Yeah yeah, go ahead.” He nodded before pocketing his phone and taking off. He didn’t walk, he didn’t jog – he ran. Just because it wasn’t likely that the criminal would come back didn’t mean he had to tempt fate and take his time.
Detectives Dugan & Makin

The sound of the phone ringing was jarring, slicing through the troubled silence they had as they sat and waited for any kind of news. They had exhausted every lead they had on their side of the border and besides checking for an updated position for the car; they were feeling a bit useless.

“Detective Dugan here.” Gabrielle might have been better at dealing with families, but Tyler was definitely the better at dealing with the phone. Tyler’s gaze moved over to Gabrielle, all hope vanishing as he listened to the conversation. “****…Yeah, no. We can get that to you… You’re sure?... Yeah thanks. We’ll be in touch.”

He put the phone back in its cradle and his head fell forward. “Damnit…” That was not the kind of reaction Gabrielle wanted to see. This case had been just a spoiled rich kid running away from home and freaking out her parents, not the kind of thing that elicited a response like that. “Don’t tell me…”

He looked back up at her then. “We have to go back to the parent’s house, get something for a DNA match.” Her eyes widened as she wondered why a simple positive identification wouldn’t work if they had found a body. She was about to ask when Tyler continued. “No body yet, just a lot of blood. It’s unlikely, if the blood is hers, that she would have survived losing that much. They haven’t found any hospital records of someone matching her description.”

“What about..?” Tyler shook his head at that, not even needing her to finish. “They checked the morgues too. There hasn’t been anything matching her description. If it’s hers, the body has been dumped somewhere else and not found yet.”

“Or she could have…” Again he shook his head. “The possibility is there and until we have a body… but with the amount of blood they found there? Without medical attention? We’re looking for a body, not someone who’s hurt.”
Thomas & Samantha Smith

It was nearing midnight but they weren’t asleep. There was a phone lying on the coffee table in front of them and the television was on but muted. They weren’t really watching it, but neither went to sleep easy. They barely moved from their position on the couch, so much so that the couch was beginning to get grooves that Samantha would have normally been upset about. Now? She couldn’t find it in herself to care about that.

The ringing of the doorbell was unexpected and, as always, made them fear the worse. Police never called for bad news, they always showed up. News like that had to be in person. It was all Thomas could do to move away from his wife’s grip that had become as tight as steel the moment the retched sound broke their silence. He walked to the door as if walking towards his death, his steps hesitant and fearful. His hand reached for the knob as if he expected it to shock him on impact and then he opened the door to greet Death.

The look on the faces of both detectives confirmed what he was thinking and he closed his eyes, hoping to erase the moment, go back and have it turn out differently. His mind won’t allow him to dwell on this long though and instead he slumps against the semi opened door. “No…” The word is quiet, too quiet to be heard in the living room, but loud enough that the detectives in front of him hear the pain laced syllable as if it was shouted.

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