Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Missing and Dead ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“Timmy? Timmy! Where are you, Timmy? Answer me!” a middle-aged woman cried, running out of her house. The townspeople that were already outside, looked in her direction. A young man in his mid-twenties looked in her direction as well and walked over to her quickly.

“Mrs. Appleworth, what’s wrong? Don’t tell me, your child is missing?” he questioned her in a calm voice that showed he’d been forced to ask this many times before. Mrs. Appleworth wiped away the tears on her cheeks, though that didn’t stop new ones from replacing them. She made a sort of choking and snuffling sound that the young man took to mean ‘Yes.’ He nodded, taking a small notepad and a stub of a pencil out of his pocket.

“Please, Mrs. Appleworth, when and where was the last time you saw Timmy?”

“Well, about an hour ago, I let little Timmy go riding. When he came back, he looked terrified. I asked him what was wrong to try and find out if maybe he was hurt or something. He told me the horse spooked a little bit. That was all, he assured me. But then…” She paused, wiping her tears away once more and sniffling. “Then, I asked him to go make sure the horses had fresh water and hay.” She shook her head, the tears still falling. “After about thirty minutes, he still hadn’t come back into the house. I figured either he had gone riding without telling me or he had snuck back in without me hearing.

“I started looking for him in the house. But…I couldn’t find him. So I checked the stables, but both the horses were still in there. That’s when I started getting scared. Timmy knows not to go wandering off without letting me know first. I…I have no clue what might have happened.” She finished telling the man her story and started weeping into her hands.

The young man nodded. He finished writing her story down and put the notepad and pencil back into his pocket. “I assure you, Mrs. Appleworth, we’ll find out what happened to Timmy. Thank you for telling me what happened.” He patted her on the back.

“Oh, please do find him, Thomas. Please do,” she managed to sniffle out between the tears. Thomas smiled.

“You’ve nothing to worry about. Amanda and I will find Timmy along with the other 8 kids that are missing.. Good day, Mrs. Appleworth.” With that, he tipped his hat to the woman and walked away.

“Ah. Mr. Teller,” a voice said to Thomas. The man in question stopped and turned to see the town mayor walking towards him. A grim look crossed his face, but was quickly replaced with a smile.

“How do you do, Mr. Mabel,” he greeted the mayor.

“Mr. Teller, please don’t tell me. Another one is missing, right?”

Thomas chuckled a bit, but stopped immediately when he noticed the serious look upon Mr. Mabel’s face. “Actually…” Thomas paused and cleared his throat. “Yes sir. Another one’s missing. It’s Timmy Appleworth this time.” The mayor sighed, shaking his head with his eyes closed.

“I can’t believe this is happening. And in my first term, too,” Mr. Mabel muttered.

Thomas pat the mayor on his back and smiled sadly. “Mr. Mabel, I assure you, Amanda and I will be able to figure this out.” Mr. Mabel nodded and started slowly shuffling away to his house.

Thomas stuck his hands in his trouser pockets and headed for his own home.

Amanda sighed dramatically. “I can’t believe it. Nine kids missing and not a single person knows anything about it. It’s been, what? Only two weeks since the last one? Yet, people are going on with their lives like nothing’s happened. No one seems to have any clues either. What is going on with that? No one in this whole town knows anything!” she yelled, throwing down a few papers she was reading over.

Thomas tried his best to cover up his chuckle with a cough and scratched the back of his head. “Mani, calm down. We’ll get to the bottom of this eventually. There’s no need to stress out about it.”

“No need? No need? Are you kidding? There’s plenty of need! It’s been three months since these abductions started and we still know nothing!” Amanda growled and fell into the wooden chair at Thomas and hers kitchen table in their house angrily.

“That’s not true, Amanda. We know…Well, uh. Hmm. We know that only children are disappearing?” he tried. Amanda just glared at him.

----

Three weeks later, the Teller Twins decided to pay a visit to Mayor Mabel’s home in the morning to ask him a few questions. Before they could even reach his house, Francesca, Mayor Mabel’s daughter, came running out in her sleeping clothes, crying. Thomas caught her before she could run right past them. He held her at arm length and looked her in her puffy, red eyes.

“Francesca, what’s wrong?” he asked her.

Francesca sniffled loudly. “My dad. He…He’s…. I woke up this morning and was going to get something to eat for breakfast, then get dressed and such. But when I walked out of my room, I saw a rope tied to the stair railing and noticed it was leading downwards. A bit scared, I rushed down the stairs and looked up. It was…my dad.” She began weeping as she said the last part. Thomas and Amanda gasped slightly, looking at each other.

“Amanda, you take Francesca back to our house; try to get her calmed down. I’ll go check this out.” Amanda nodded.

“Come along, Francesca. Everything will be alright,” she said soothingly to the girl. She slowly led her back to the Teller house.

As Amanda took Francesca back to their house, Thomas slowly stepped into Mayor Mabel’s home. Within moments of crossing the threshold, he spotted the mayor hanging from the stair railing, a rope suspending him from the neck. Thomas covered his mouth and turned away, disgusted by the sight. He uncovered his mouth, took a deep breath, and walked as fast as he could without jogging out of the house. He closed the door behind him and jogged back home.

----

The next day, Thomas and Amanda sat in their living room, talking about the previous day.

“Who do you think could have done it, Tom? I mean…Unless you think it was-” she was cut-off by Thomas.

“No. I don’t think it was suicide. Sure, he was a bit stressed out and discouraged because of the child abductions, but he wouldn’t just kill himself and leave his daughter alone.”

Amanda gazed into the fire with a solemn look on her face. “I don’t know about the daughter part. They practically hated each other. I think if he wasn’t mayor, he would have gotten rid of her faster than anyone realizes.”

“Hmm. I suppose. So, let’s just say this was murder. We have to have suspects to get anywhere.” Thomas played with a stray string on his trousers.

“Francesca is first. She was there when it happened, I’m sure. Could be Mike Bivles. He is running for mayor next elections, you know.”

Thomas sighed in exasperation and Amanda held her head in her hands in frustration.

----

The following day, Thomas and Amanda went to talk to each of their new suspects. They decided they were going to get an answer to all these happenings today, no matter what. Their first stop was Mike and Annie Bivles’ house. Thomas took a hand out of its pocket and knocked on the door. A man in his late-twenties answered, looking like he had stayed up all night running around.

“Thomas and Amanda Teller, right? May I help you?” he asked in a tired voice.

“Actually, yes, you can, Mr. Bivles. You’ve heard of Mayor Mabel, I trust?”

Mr. Bivles let a smile grace his lips for a split second. “Of course, Mr. Teller. News like that travels exceptionally fast around here.”

Amanda nodded. “Well, we’d like to ask you a few questions about it. May we come in?” she asked, walking through the doorway without waiting for an answer.

Looking a bit taken-back, Mr. Bivles muttered a quiet “Of course.” and stepped out of their way. Thomas followed his sister into the house while their host closed the door.

“Would either of you two care for a drink? Perhaps something to snack on?” a woman asked, poking her head through the kitchen doorway.

Thomas smiled, but Amanda answered. “No thank you. Actually, we’d like to cut to the chase. Where were the both of you at last night?”

Thomas’s smile vanished and he stuck both his hands back into his trouser pockets, a serious aura surrounding him. Mrs. Bivles stepped over to her husband and lightly held onto his arm.

“I can assure you, I had nothing to do with his death or the missing children, since you’re probably trying to find that out as well. I don’t care if he had been my worst enemy. I would never do anything to harm a child or kill a man. Besides, Annie and I were at the Werk’s, having dinner,” he explained. Mrs. Bivles nodded quickly in agreement.

“We were,” she assured.

The twins looked at each other. Amanda raised an eyebrow and asked, “Well?”

Thomas shrugged a bit. “I suppose we know what we came to find out.” He turned to Mr. Bivles.

“Thank you very much for letting us question you. Good day, sir, madam.” He tipped his hat then, taking his time, strolled to the door.

“Good day, Mr. and Mrs. Bivles.” Amanda followed her brother to the door.


Out in the cool autumn air, the Teller brother and sister knocked on the door of their next stop. A muscular man answered.

“Anything I can help the Twins with today?” he asked in a sarcastic tone.

Amanda pushed her way into his kitchen like she had at the previous house and quickly cut to the chase. “Mr. Lante,” she nodded towards him. She happened to glance into the parlor, noticing a young lady sitting in one of the arm chairs, putting her tea down. “Ms. Tack, I also see.” Thomas raised an eyebrow.

“I sure hope we weren’t, ahem, interrupting anything?” he asked bashfully. Ms. Tack tinted slightly in her cheeks, but Mr. Lante answered first.

“Of course not. She came over to check on her father’s order and have some tea. Speaking of which, where are my manners? Would either of you care for any tea?” Thomas shook his head while Amanda continued to look around.

“We’re here strictly for business. Nothing personal,” the brother answered. Mr. Lante shrugged.

Amanda stopped looking over his house, and stopped her gaze on Mr. Lante’s face. “Mr. Lante, you are aware of Mayor Mabel’s death, I assume?” When she heard his name, Ms. Tack got out of her chair and walked into the kitchen, her face a light chalky color. Mr. Lante’s face went even lighter than Ms. Tack’s and stared at the twins. Thomas hummed quietly to himself and began walking around the kitchen and into the parlor, hands in his pockets.

“Of course I know. Who doesn’t? Wait…” he paused, “You don’t think I did it, do you?” Amanda locked her eyes with his.

“Well, he did marry your elder sister. Everyone in town knows you hated him for that. Then hated him even more when she died,” she noted, not caring what words she used. Mr. Lante’s face regained its color and then some.

“Of course I hated him. It was his fault she died. And he goes around blaming his daughter, my niece. She was a baby. A newborn baby at that. But he could never buck up and admit it,” he growled out.

“Mark…Calm down,” Ms. Tack softly pleaded, hugging his arm. Mark glowered at the twins.

“I think you two need to leave. Right now.” Amanda shook her head.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to disagree. Where were you, both of you, last night? You know, the night the mayor was hanged,” the sister asked, putting emphasis on how Mayor Mabel had died.

Mark continued to glare at the twins. “I was in my shop finishing up Beth’s dad’s order. Beth was reading in my parlor, reading a few books. Is that all you two needed?”

Thomas came back to the kitchen and smiled. Amanda just continued to stare. “Yes. That’s quite it. Come on, Thomas,” Amanda grabbed Thomas’s arm and began to drag him out of the house. Thomas turned his head and smiled at Mark and Beth, waving.

“Good day, Mark, Josephine-Beth,” he called after them as he was dragged out of the house. Beth waved slowly, a bit confused, with an awkward look on her face. Mark just glared at them and then the door once it was shut.

When they were outside, Amanda let go of Thomas and started her way back to their house. Thomas brushed off his arm and followed. “Now what, Mani?”

Amanda stopped and sighed. “I don’t really know, Thomas. I guess just keep asking people if they know anything. I suppose that’s all we can do.” Thomas nodded. He strode over to his sister and placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling.

“Don’t worry. We’ll find out what happened. We always do.” With that, they continued going around town, asking everyone the same questions: Where were you the night Mayor Mabel died? Do you know where the kids are or have any clues that could help us?

----

3 hours after they had started their search for clues to let them know what happened to Mayor Mabel, the Teller Twins were back at their house going over notes they had taken while Francesca made some tea across the hall in the kitchen. Amanda made a sort of sighing noise and put the papers she was reading down on the table. “Thomas…Does it seem as if we forgot to question someone?”

Thomas scratched at his chin and thought for a moment. “Well, we didn’t ask Francesca anything, but I guess we both sort of…I don’t know. Assumed she didn’t know anything?” The sister tapped her finger on the table and looked at her brother from the corner of her eye.

“I think we should.”

He looked a little taken aback. “But she’s his daughter. I doubt she’d know anything, much less have done anything to him if this was murder.”

Before Thomas could say or do anything, Amanda was in the kitchen. “Francesca, you and your father, were you two close?” she asked, leaning on the kitchen countertop. Francesca paused, then continued on with her tea-making.

Chewing on the inside of her lip a bit, she answered, “No, not really. My whole life he’s blamed me for my mom’s death. She was really sick when she was giving birth to me and the strain of childbirth was too much for her. She died only about an hour after I was born. When Daddy would get mad, he would always bring that up. It always made me so angry.” She paused her explanation as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

“He hated me. I know he did. Daddy loved my mom with all his heart. When she died, his entire heart went with her. I could never get him to love me because of it. It’s hard to get into a heart when it’s dead, you know?” She sniffled and wiped the tears away, pouring the tea into individual teacups. Amanda patted her on the shoulder. Thomas walked in and was about to say something before Amanda cut him off with a sidelong glance and words of her own.

“I’ve never had to personally endure something like that, but I can imagine how hard it can be at times.” Francesca nodded her head slightly.

“Tell me, did you like it when your father became mayor?” she questioned in a sort of prodding tone. Francesca shook her head violently.

“No. I hated that he did. It was as if he had enough love left for the town, but not enough for his own daughter just because her mom happened to die. The night he got elected, we got into a huge fight. It was the first time he had ever hit me before. I was so angry with him. I had never felt so much hate for one person before in my life.” She stopped and bowed her head. Thomas crossed the room to where they were and stood next to Amanda, looking at her. She made a look that seemed to say ‘Don’t worry.’ The brother shrugged.

“Francesca?”

“Yes, Ms. Teller?” she asked.

“Where are the kids at?” Francesca made a motion with her hands for Amanda and Thomas to follow her and slowly walked out of the kitchen through the back door.