Finding Scarlet

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Toby

"So, where exactly are we going?" Cameron asks from the passenger seat, drumming his fingers on his knees as he peers out the window.

"Joe's Junk Box." I answer. "I have some questions that need answering."

"And those questions are...?"

I make a right turn down the dirt road, keeping an eye out for the junkyard. "About the previous owner of this car."

The truck rattles along down the road, and the familiar piles of scrap metal slowly start to climb higher. Cameron stares out the window in awe as we turn into the junkyard entrance, before we come to a stop and park the car. As we jump out of the truck Johnny appears with a startled look on his face. He gives me a beaming smile regardless.

"Toby, my man!" He says, pulling me into a hug unexpectedly.

"Hi Johnny," I laugh uncomfortably, before pulling away and gesturing to Cameron. "this is my friend."

"Cameron," he says, sticking out his hand to shake Johnny's.

"Nice to meet you." Johnny says, before placing his hands on his hips. "What can I do for you boys?"

"Oh, nothing for me." Cameron says, before giving me a look.

I turn my attention to Johnny. "I have a few questions about the truck."

"Look, whatever problems you are having with it has nothing to do with me." Johnny says defensively, taking a couple steps away. "It's out of my hands now. Don't make me get my lawyer—"

"Woah, no nothing like that!" I say quickly, which just makes Johnny sag with relief.

"Oh, okay good. Otherwise we would have some problems on our hands." Johnny laughs nervously.

"Right." I say uncertainly, but continue on anyway. "I was wondering if you had any information on the previous owner?"

"Sorry man, we usually don't get information on that kind of stuff. Just the pick-up location."

I sigh with disappointment.

"I'm sorry buddy." Cameron says, patting me on the back before turning to Johnny. "We should get going."

"Wait," I say, making Cameron and Johnny freeze. "You said you have the location?"

"Yeah," Johnny says, giving me a quizzical look. "I could bring up the file for you, if you want."

"That would be great." I say, inwardly sighing with relief.

"I'll be right back then." Johnny gives us a brief smile before going into his office.

"What the hell are you doing man?" Cameron whispers to me, shoving my shoulder. "This is sketchy stuff right here!"

"Firstly; ow." I give him an irritated look. "Secondly; I have to know."

"Do you have some weird fetish or something that I need to know about?"

"No!" I say, a bit too loudly. I take a deep breath and whisper, "I'm just curious, okay?"

"Curiosity killed the cat," Cameron whispers back as Johnny steps out of his office. "just saying."

I roll my eyes at him before focusing my attention on Johnny. "Anything?"

"You're in luck that I still have the file." He hands it over to me. "I don't really need it anymore, so you can keep it."

I take the folder from him. "Thanks Johnny."

"Sure thing. Good luck, with whatever you are doing."

I give him a smile. "Thanks."

Cameron and I then hop back into the truck before driving out, with Johnny waving goodbye behind us. I'm so tempted to look into the file, but I wait until we are a considerably far enough distance from Joe's Junk Box before pulling off to the side of the road.

"Okay, let's see it." I grab the file and flip it open.

"Woah, eager much?" Cameron laughs.

I ignore him and scan the file. There's not much, but it's all I have. It reads:

Condition: totaled.

Time of pick up: August 16th, 2014

Location: between Harvard and Main Street

The truck was found over six months ago.

"Do you have any idea where this is?" I ask Cameron, showing him the address.

He leans over to look at it. "No idea."

I sigh. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Cameron smirks at me, before holding up his phone.

****

"Turn left onto West Avenue." Siri says.

"This is ridiculous." I mumble, but do as she instructs.

"Hey, I'm not the one on a mad dash to solve this little mystery of yours." Cameron tilts his hat back and pushes his sunglasses further up his nose. "Now that's ridiculous."

I roll my eyes at him, but didn't say anything in return.

"Turn right onto Harvard Ave." Siri says. "You're destination is on your left."

I make the right turn, and am shocked to see what's in font of me. "Oh my god."

I park on the side of the street and jump out, not even bothering to lock the car.

"Toby, what is it?" Cameron asks, catching up with me.

"I've been here before." I whisper.

It's a playground. Not just any old playground, though. It's the exact one from my dreams; the one Scarlet is stuck in.

I take a step forward, opening the gates and entering the playground. The swings look the same, the slide and play structure are the same; the only difference is the sun. It's weird seeing it in this light, like it's not a time capsule anymore.

It's a real place.

But why does the directions lead me here?

From the corner of my eye I catch something, on the other side of the playground. I approach slowly, and see something different; something that wasn't there before.

A section of fence is caution-taped; parts of it broke loose and are blowing in the wind. Dead flowers lie on the ground, what looks like the last of a shrine. The fence itself however, is completely mangled.

I grasp the metal in my hands, looking closely. There are traces of red paint.

"Oh my god." I whisper. "It happened here."

"What?" Cameron asks.

"Your dad is a cop, right?" I say, ignoring his question. "Do you think you can see if he has information on this place?"

"Oh, I don't know... he's pretty serious about that kind of stuff."

"Please, Cameron." I say, almost desperately. "For me."

His mouth hangs slightly ajar, as if he is about to say something else, but he sighs. "Okay, let me see what I can do."