Time: October 9th 2004…3:27 PM
Place: Johnny’s Restaurant basement

I remember what it was like to lose my mother and sister. They were murdered and I was the one who had discovered their bodies, twelve years old, a child. Someone who’s only worry in life should have been school and coloring inside the lines. I ran over to the neighbors house in hysterics. Crying and begging for them to call the police. My neighbor was an elderly couple who were close friends with my family, so this immediately concerned them. My father was at work. I still remember that cold night, the police, the ambulance, the sound of the sirens, my father hugging me and crying.

My mother’s name was Shannon. She was in her early thirties. My sister’s name was Amber. Amber was only four years older than me. They both had their whole lives ahead of them. I stared at the body of the young Rose, knowing she died with no one to hold her, with no one to tell her that it would be okay. She would miss out on so many things in life. High school graduation, her first car, her wedding, all of it, gone to this man. No. not man. This monster.

I saw a door past all the bodies. There was a metallic sign on the door that was so faded, I couldn't read it. “Let's go men, we gotta find Robert Silver.” The deep and gruff voice boomed as he walked away. It gave me goosebumps to hear him say my name.

As soon as I didn't hear them walking anymore I carefully stood up. I grabbed Ben's hand and we made a run for it. I didn't know where the door would lead, but it was better than going back up the stairs. I threw my full force into the door and broke the rusty corroded lock. I slammed open the door and ran up the small concrete staircase into the open rainy night air. We were in an alleyway. I slammed the door shut behind me.

I gasped for breath, feeling like I was suffocating. Benny instantly ran over to a nearby dumpster and began throwing up. I pat him on the back, speaking reassuring words to him as I did. “It's okay, we are out of there, it's okay now.” I said out of breath, trying to comfort him. He was obviously shaken up. He looked at me with tears streaming down his face. “What the hell do we do?” His voice was shaken up. It broke my heart into a million to see him this scared.

“I don't know Benny, but I do know that we have to get Buck and his gang arrested so those people can rest peacefully.” Ben ran into me wrapping his arms around me. I'm not usually one to give hugs, but I figured I'd allow it this time. Who am I kidding, Benny is always that exception. Poor guy wasn't used to this type of stuff, nothing this grotesque. With him we usually only did small cases or things that didn't have much gore, like dealing with drug cartels or robberies or even break-ins. So it was only natural that he's reacting this way. Anyone would act this way.

We walked to my car and drove off before Buck had the chance to realize anything. I grabbed a spare lighter from the glove box and lit a cigarette and rolled the window down a bit. Ben leaned against the window. “I didn't know detective work was gonna be this bad. I mean, of course we had demonstrations of crime scenes in school. I expected murder of course, but people hanging from…hooks? Thats…thats just fucked.” He broke the silence. “No line of work prepares you for what we saw today.” I tried my hardest not to imagine it. Those poor people. Some of them seemed to be there for weeks. But more importantly, “How many of those people were reported missing just to become a closed case?” I asked out loud, not really expecting an answer.

Benny didn't answer of course, I just wish it wasn't so silent, and I don't think any music would help right now. I mean, what the hell were you supposed to do after finding loads of people on meat hooks?! I took a deep breath to calm down a little and coughed up a heavy amount of smoke at a red light. Benny looked at me. “You ok Robert?” I nodded, then looked at him as the light turned green. “Only time I've ever heard you call me Robert is when you're scared out of your mind.” He nodded, then he sat up.

“You know Robbie, I've known you for four years and it's just hit me that I barely know you. Why is that?” I shrugged and placed the cigarette bud into the cigarette holder on the dashboard. My guess was that he was trying to take his mind off things. “I'm secretive about most of it and you've never really asked me anything.” He seemed to get lost in thought. It was silent again until he sat up and spoke “Well, have you ever been married?” He seemed to ask out of curiosity but also excitement.

“No” I kept my eyes on the road, I guess he was just trying to keep the silence away, and his mind off of all of that. “Huh!? No?! How!? You're telling me you're thirty years old and you've never been married?!” I shot him a glance. “Almost.” I shrugged. He looked at me like I was the world's hardest puzzle, which I probably was to some. “What does ‘almost’ mean?! You almost married someone? Don't leave me hanging Robbie!” I just nodded my head. Ben yawned. “Fine, but this isn't over since you want to be so secretive.” He slowly laid his head against the glass. We continued our drive back to my place in the tapping of the rain.    

Time: October 9th 2004…11:27 PM
Place: Evergreen Apartments

I figured I'd let Benny stay at my place, he usually stayed here anyways, basically lived here with how often he visited and spent the night. It wasn't unusual for me to find something that belongs to him in my apartment. Now that I think about it, I've never been to his place. Never really thought about it in all honesty. I went to my room and changed into my white T-shirt and sweatpants. I could already see the bruise that was forming on my shoulder. I sighed and cleaned myself off a bit before leaving my room.

When I came back to the living room Ben was standing by the door now with his favorite purple hoodie on the rack. I sighed and laid on my back on the couch. “Cmon Benny.” He slowly walked over and crawled onto the couch with me. He laid himself on me, resting his head on my chest. I stroked his head carefully. We were silent, we could hear the cars outside drive by, The rain tapping on the glass.

The sound of his heart beating was calming. It was quite nice to feel his body against mine. “I'm sorry Benny, if I had known I wouldn't have put you at risk like that.” I was being honest. The last thing I would want is him getting hurt. He didn't respond to me. Sadly in most missing cases the person turns up dead, but to be missing a leg and hung on a meat hook? Now that's messed up. “I was afraid.” He confessed “I-I thought I was going to lose you.” That caught me off guard “Lose me? Why would you be afraid of that?” I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. It's not like I couldn't take care of myself. He wrapped his arms around me tightly “Because I care about you, idiot. After I divorced my wife, after she won the custody battle with Lucas, after I lost my mom, you were there for me. For all of it.” He sighed as he finished his sentence. I stared at him. It was clear how distressed he was.

I felt as if he wasn't telling me something, but I wasn't in the mood to press him for anything, Not after today’s events. I was tired and I knew he was as well. “Let's get some rest, alright?” He nodded after I finished speaking and closed his eyes.

The last time we slept together like this was after his mom died of cancer. She had a terrible heart cancer and didn't get a donor in time. He had begged me to stay with him so I did. It wasn't like I was going to leave him alone after that. I guess that's one reason we get along so well, we both know what it's like to lose family, especially our mother.

Besides, I mean there's nothing wrong with comforting your friend, especially when you’ve been friends for years. It's not like I have a crush on him or anything. We are two adults, not some teenagers. We are just good friends…..Right? Yeah, just good pals.