Tim:
I thought that light was flickering, but soon I realized that it was my eyes which can no longer withstand the dim light and strong stress. I was exhausted enough to fall down any moment, but I insisted on my body to stay alert for a few more minutes.
It was half midnight; I was in Steward’s room. Darkness spread all over was partly penetrated by my handy flashlight and little lamp outside the door. It is pretty usual for her to wake up at this time and go for toilet. It had already been five minutes since she went out and I needed to speed up my investigation. I was sure that I will find something interesting in her closet drawer where she keeps all of her past memories, at least that was what she told us about that place.
I started this practice of waking up every night and searching for some clue in her room long ago, but my enthusiasm was dropping as I wasn’t achieving anything even after working this hard.
Is it a waste of time? Have I mistaken suspecting Steward? It seems that she is a good lady. But no, Kelly was right too, there was something, something going on beyond our sight that I needed to figure out. Oh! God, this isn’t going to help; I should be trying something else from now on to resolve this mystery. It is important for me to know about this. It was already too late, Steward was almost back till I decided to have some rest and left the room closing the yellow colour wooden door as gently as I could.
7:04 a.m.
Ah! Yesterday night was quite hectic. It’s really been a long time since I’m doing this, but this time I have something else in my mind; a better notion!
“Tim! Did you find anything?” Asked Kelly coming out of her room dropping a cloth on the table
“Not yet.” I replied with a sigh
“So, what are you going to do now?”
“I’ve got a different preparation, wait and see me trying it.” I couldn’t believe that I was talking about a plan when I had no idea of what I was going to do.
A different plan; I was just thinking about something else when my sight went straight to Steward. She just seem too naive to do anything dreadful. I have no idea of why these things are coming into my mind, but one thing that I knew was that I needed to push them out soon. Think; Well..! As today is Sunday I’ve got a lot of time to think about this matter.
Will it be okay if..! No. Ah! There is nothing in my head. Totally worn-out, I was totally worn-out when I decided to turn on the TV, a news channel was flashing at my first sight. TV was on but not my sight, I had no idea why I even turned it on when I had no intention to watch whatever was going onto it. Everything in my memory was cold before I heard the new report starting on TV which flashed another chart into my mind.
‘Social engineering, a very well known trick for blackmailers as well as police seems to grow in the darker part of the world more than anyone of us ever expected. We today are going to discuss how it propelled west part of the country robbing $1.25 million last weak. One of the greatest ways to reach the life of the victim is to strike their mind which was well performed by our bank robber calling himself Saviour X.’
Ah! That was of some use, social engineering. I got the idea, strike the mind, strike the mind. I don’t think if it was too complicated to get into Steward’s head as she still holds no logic of what was going in my picture.
“Kelly! Where is Steward”, I asked her excitedly
“She’s out for market, but what is it? Can I get you anything?” she replied.
“No, I just had something else going in my mind to check about Steward, remember what you told me about quick guardianship provided to her.”
“Yeah! I remember.” She gave a pause to her voice and then continued “Tim, do whatever, but don’t get you in some trouble.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I influenced her as though I wanted her to stay out of this.
I decided to have some sleep till she gets back, sleep which I was sure that I am not going to have, especially in this condition when I’m wide awake like this. So, she is out for market, what a fool I am, I disturbed lots and lots of nights, why didn’t I use the morning time for my investigations. But now all these things don’t matter as I’ve already moved to direct check-mate.
After all, she was back home. I tried to make it as usual as possible. She bet she saw me poignant as she entered the room, and that was exactly what I wanted her to see in me.
“What is it Tim, you seem a bit gloomy today?” she asked.
“Nothing!” I replied adjusting my back on the sofa, “I was... just thinking back past. I wonder why my parents.., well, never mind.”
“Tim!” she hugged me, “you are growing up at much faster pace than any ordinary kid, it’s normal if you think about your past. But if you want to talk about it, or you have something going, then you should know that I’m here for you.”
I just thought for a moment that I was wrong suspecting her; she was so caring about us. But soon I changed my mind as my brain pulled my heart back to its position.
“Would you tell me your past? I would love to know about you. There is nothing that I can tell you about me, so will you pleas tell me about yourself?” I asked her with my puppy dog eyes
“Well! If you ask. Okay!” she said as she moved towards her room and then to her closet. She opened the lower section and moved her hands through cloths lying there; I was surprised as she pulled out a wooden box out of it. I went thorough that closet many times but never bother looking at that place. My mind freed it up as Steward continued, “I have all my memories in this.”
The box was full of photographs and some other small things which I couldn’t understand why she kept in there. She started showing me photographs, “This was my family Tim.” She pointed toward a photo in which she was standing with her husband and a small child who probably was her son.
She followed me as I switched to another one. But I was shocked watching this one; it was from a graduation ceremony. I saw a person in it that seemed pretty familiar to me. Yes, I remember him. He was one of my father’s very good friends.
“Which one is this about?” I pointed towards the photo.
“Oh! This one, this one is from my son’s graduation ceremony,” she stopped and pointed towards the face of the person who just caught my attention, “Here; this is my son, Henry. He just disappeared after completing his collage, I don’t know what happened but then I never saw him again.” She stopped abruptly as she tried to resist tears leaving her eyes.
Henry, now I remember his name. I saw my father talking to him on phone many a times when I was eating diner with my once existed family. His face occupied my mind so strongly that I didn’t hear any of the other things which Steward continued to speak. But soon she realized that I was not into her conversation.
“Tim, are you all right?” she asked
“Ya-Ya, I’m okay, talking about your family, it just reminded me of mine.” I hid that graduation photo in my sleeves as I stood up, “I should go, take some rest.”
“Okay!” she replied as I gently moved out of the room.
11:52 p.m.
It was all over my mind, Henry Steward. So, he is Steward’s son. I was just thinking about the picture I saw as another face flashed into my mind. I got up the bed and ran towards my table.
“Tim! What are you doing, it’s half midnight.” Kelly asked, her sleep was disturbed because of the sound I produced in excitement.
“Oh! It’s nothing; I just forgot to put some things in my school bag for tomorrow class. You should go back to sleep” I once again came back to where I was as Kelly went back to sleep.
I just felt a lump in my throat as I once again saw that picture. It was him, I was sure about it, there is no way I could be wrong about this. Black coat and glasses, he was not changed at all. R. Sparks, the name which I found on his ID. He was there with the police when they were finding guardian for us when our parents died. He was the detective assigned to the case of our parents’ death and blown off building. Same small hair, shaved moustache, vertical face, he was the same man, not changed at all.
It was getting more and more complex as I was getting deeper into the concept. So many years were passed; I never ever noticed something this disturbing in my life. First, our parents were murdered, then our building blew off, than we were appointed a guardian who was mother of our father’s very good friend and the detective who was assigned this case was in some relationship with the person too. It was eating my mind, piercing all of my imagination and intelligence.
I couldn’t sleep at all; it was 4:00 a.m. in my clock when I looked at it last. Sleep was now started to take me over. I gave a rest to my thoughts and closed my eyes.
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