The Beast of Brookville

Chapter 10

Forrest left so abruptly that Opal felt like she was moving in slow motion. Startled, she sat in the cafe booth unmoving for several minutes. As she paid, she expected Forrest to be in the parking lot, leaning against her car, pissed off but ready to talk like they had so many times before.

The wheezing roar of an old truck engine crowded the cafe as she was getting up to leave, letting her know how wrong she was.

Sitting in the car, Opal's hands were shaking so badly she needed both of them to dial the phone.

"D-dad, ohmigod, dad!" Opal scream-wept the second he picked up, she was heartbroken, panicked, afraid.

She'd thought Forrest would be ok, they had always been able to talk about things...or so she thought. Opal assumed he would laugh or (more likely) tell her to fuck off when she asked if the truck had been his, if he'd been involved in any way. She knew of course it wasn't him, but the coincidence had been so funny and just disturbing enough, how could she not ask?

After his reaction, another thought crept in... the thought her basic sensibilities had been fighting off...the thought she'd said no to a hundred times already...Was he?

"Dad he was so angry, I jus- I just can't believe he'd react like that...like I was actually accusing him. I just...I just thought it was a funny coincidence!" Opal started driving around, focusing on trying to find where Forrest had gone.

"He took off, I have no idea where he went and he had this look in his eye...I'm scared dad, I'm really worried about him...I think I need to call his dad"

"Really, sweetheart? That's quite a thing to accuse someone of, joking or not, I'd probably be a bit upset if I were in his shoes, I'm sure he just ran off home or something" John was trying his best not to jump to conclusions but truth be told, he was worried too. He had always liked Forrest, and he knew he and Opal were close, but there was always a darkness about the boy you couldn't deny. The drinking, the blackouts, his abusive mother; Ann had transformed in sobriety, but John wasn't ignorant of what she'd been like before. Those kinds of things damage a person, especially a kid as sensitive as Forrest.

"Opal, honey, ca-calm down" she was rambling and repeating the same thing - Forrest was gone, she needed to call his father, needed to find him, to help him.

"Swe-sweetheart, it's - it's ok honey you'll find him...if he's not at the station I'm sure he's at home, hun, everything will be ok" John was a terrible liar but thankfully Opal was too panicked to notice that he was as concerned as her.

The rest of their conversation was Opal mindlessly narrating her driving route over speaker phone "left on Georgia...almost to their driveway...passing the yellow corner house...shit...his truck's not here either"

"Honey I'm sure he'll turn up, there aren't that many places he could go around here, right?"

"OHMYGOD" Opal screamed.

"WHAT. SWEETHEART, WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OK"

"DAD. Dad, I figured it out. I'm ok, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I've been so stupid, of course I know where he went - the spot"

"Spot?" John asked "What the heck does that mean?"

"Shit, sorry, our spot. Forrest and I used to call it that...it's where...it's where I found the bod-bodies...it used to be where Forrest and I would sneak off and hangout in high school. He-we used to say it was the only place we felt safe but...I thought that had been ruined - maybe not though."

"Honey I don't think it's safe to head out there on your own, it's probably still a crime scene and there's still a killer on the loose, don't get caught up hun, call his dad, the Sheriff can check in on him" John cautioned

"I know dad but I'll be fine"

"Ope, hun, please don't."

"I'm going to be fiiiine dad. If I don't see his truck I'll stay in the car ok"

"How about this sweetheart, I'll meet you there, just wait ok, I'm on my way." John's keys jangled on the line before he hung up the phone.