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It was 4 AM when Madeline awoke from a deep sleep. She
hadn’t been dreaming, but she knew immediately that something didn’t feel
right. She grabbed her cell phone off of the night stand. She knew that her
boyfriend Ryan needed to be awake at 6:30 for work, so she didn’t want to call
and risk waking him. She sent a quick text asking him to call when he woke up.
Madeline still didn’t feel relaxed. She decided to call her mother and check
in, knowing that there was no time of day when her mother didn’t mind answering
a phone call.
Still laying in bed, Madeline dialed the number to her
childhood home. A few rings, and her mother’s tired voice answered. “Madeline?
Is something wrong?”
“No Mom, I’m fine. I just woke up and had a terrible feeling
something was wrong. I just wanted to call and make sure you were OK.” Sharing
her fears aloud made them seem more absurd.
“Me and your dad are just fine, sweetie. Try to go back to
sleep, you need some rest.”
Feeling slightly relieved by her mother’s reassuring voice,
Madeline quickly drifted off back to sleep.
When she woke up at 9 AM, and there was still no call or
text from Ryan, she began to worry again. She called his office, knowing he was
always there by 8:45. His secretary said he wasn’t in yet. Hearing this,
Madeline decided to stop by his apartment on the other side of town. At best,
he was sick or he overslept. At worst, however, she didn’t even want to think
about.
She rushed out of her house toward her car, but before she
opened the driver’s side door, she noticed something was wrong. One of her
tires had been slashed. Her stomach sank in fear. There was no time to
investigate, however, as she ran to the bus stop to get to Ryan’s as fast as
possible.
Madeline became frantic when she met a policeman blocking
the door to Ryan’s apartment. After multiple attempts to go in, and requests to
see Ryan or speak to him, the policeman told her that he needed to take her to
the station for some questions.
At the station, Madeline’s world came crashing down. In the
span of just a few minutes, she learned that her loving, caring boyfriend was
missing, and he was the lead suspect in 6 ongoing murder investigations in the
Las Vegas area, and could she provide any information on his whereabouts. She told the policeman what she knew about
his past, which wasn’t much. He had grown up in Phoenix, his parents were
divorced but his father passed away last year. He went to Arizona State for his
undergrad, and if she had any more news she’d call.
She rushed home from the police station as soon as possible.
She needed time alone to think about what had just happened to her life.
When she arrived home, she noticed an envelope stuck
underneath of her welcome mat. It had her named printed on the front. She
grabbed it and carried it inside with her, tearing into the envelope. Her blood
ran cold as she read the message.
“I know the truth about RF, seek the future uncertainty and
find me. Or don’t, and I’ll make sure that you’re just as guilty as he is. –
26505”
What on Earth could that mean? She plugged the numbers into
Google. The first result that popped up was a zipcode listing for Morgantown,
WV.
“I wonder what’s there for me,” she said to herself. “I
guess I really don’t have much to lose at this point…”
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