No Roads Left - (chp. 1-3 of ?)

Prologue

She had exactly…let’s see, three dimes, a quarter and ten pennies. It didn’t amount to the seventy-five cents she needed to pay for the community bus that would take her home. Speaking of which, the stupid bus was running late for an early morning schedule. She contemplated asking a passenger on the bus for the balance but scratched that idea. The community buses were old and lacked the current digital counters so she’ll toss it all in and let the jiggle and quantity pass itself off as seventy-five cents. That’s what the public bus system deserved for being late.

She sighed and sat down on the bench, spread her legs out and dumped the grocery bag filled with a bottle of Aspirin, (five-finger discounted of course since stupid Ralphs won’t sell to a fifteen year old) angel hair pasta and sauce by her side. It was a quiet Saturday. There was barely a soul on the streets of the all-American suburb she lived in by UCSD. Everyone was either at work, or getting ready to go to the beach otherwise still stuck in dream land. Except for her. But it was all for a good cause. She’d rather be out here anyways than have to deal with Venus, the blond-witch of the west who was currently the girlfriend of the man of her dreams. Huge bummer! That loathsome creature with her tongue piercing had annoyed the hell out of her acting like she was married to Alex daring once to boss her around. She fumed on the inside as the image of Venus draped over a dead-to-the-world Alex at seven in the morning when she had woken up earlier floated into her mind. He’d never let any of his girlfriends stay over before; but then again, he’d also never been as wasted as he got yesterday either, hence the trip to the grocery store at eight in the morning. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t tell her why for the past four years, he got dead drunk on the same month, on the same date with the same pain on his face. He became unlike the serious criminal-justice-major-college-student she depended on for the remaining 364 days who also worked a part-time job on campus. Her speculations were that it had something to do with his family whom he absolutely refused to talk about and whom she’d never seen.

She sighed again. She hoped Venus was gone by the time she got back. Her eyes followed an elderly jogger who ran on the opposite street, a dog leash in one hand with a Dalmatian at the end of said leash. They passed her and turned the corner at the intersection heading into the street full of residential retirees. She laid her head back on the wooden bus stop bench, eyes closed as the morning air washed over her face. She loved the weather at this time of the day. It wasn’t cold or hot. Something that wouldn’t last long come mid-day as people milled to the beaches of La Jolla.
She felt the shadow over her face and opened her eyes to stare into the visage and crooked nose of a stony looking man. She jerked up, a movement too slow as the black bag came over her face blocking the blue sky. She clawed at the darkness as she felt rough hands cover her nose and mouth, restricting her breathing and ability to call for attention. Her last thought before she lost consciousness was of her mother and the last dinner they had eaten together in her home country Nigeria, when she had been eight.

*****

In my fear and flaws
I let myself down again
All because, I run
Till the silence splits me open, I run
Till it puts me underground
Till I have no breath
And no roads left but one
-‘No Roads Left’

Chapter one

The house was pleasant enough to the eyes. It had a paint job that cloaked the age of the structure beneath. It had no backyard. The house was average in terms of width and length with five dorm-sized rooms. The current residents had the suspicion that the house originally had three rooms but they weren’t going to fret about it. Luckily, it was ideally located ten miles from the outskirts of UCSD campus and twelve miles from the beach; a college student’s haven.

The house possessed the basic functional amenities. There was no fancy chandelier hanging by the door, no marble floor or stove counter. But there was a kitchen with black tile floors; white ceramic counter top and a living room big enough to hold a pool table but instead had a mini Foosball table currently littered with beer cans and a shirt. Luckily it had two bathrooms; one of which was located up the wooden stairs on the 2nd floor in between the two bedrooms. The sun filtered in through the partly opened shutters in the second bedroom atop the stairs, bathing its sleeping resident in golden light.

*****

He was on the beach of La Jolla. He could tell because he was seven years old and that was when his family had still lived in the city. They always came here together as a family. He was sitting under the umbrella shade with his mom beside him reading a medical science book. She was in shorts and plain white t-shirt and a hat. He looked up and spotted his older brother by four years waving at him from near the waves before he was plucked like a feather by their father and playfully carried across his shoulders, running into the crashing waves. the seven year old smiled and looked at his mother for confirmation before dashing as fast as his muscles will let him towards his brother and father. But before he could get there, the ground opened up and he fell into a bottomless black hole.

*****

Alex Payne opened his eyes, instinctively shying away from the light. There was an ache in his chest that always accompanied the dream; the longing of the little boy fresh in his heart. He groaned out loud at the pain in his neck, courtesy of his awkward sleeping position where his head had been hung back over the edge of his bed. He got up quickly and regretted it instantly. His head felt like it was going to explode from the pressure. It was like ten elephants were doing the Rumba on his brain. He looked around him. At least he was in his room even though he had no recollection of finding his way there. Shit! He also had no recollection of ever being so wasted that he couldn’t remember anything from the previous night’s events. He hustled out of his room and gingerly made his way into the one at the end of the hall. Michelle wasn’t there. The Disney princess themed room was empty. She had always been without fail by his bedside every time he woke up from his yearly drinking binge, concern in her eyes. She was probably pissed at him to no end and would probably give him the cold shoulder for the rest of the week. At least he hoped it was the reason she had broken her pattern. He heard movements coming from below and pictured her already making lunch as it was already past one pm, so says the wolf shaped clock hanging in the hallway. If anything, she loved to cook.

He went into the bathroom and stared at his reflection. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked like a bum. His short black hair and Bud Light had apparently become best buds the way it was matted together. He was still dressed in the same clothes from before and it reeked of sweat, Bud Light, and ew Venus’s perfume, lilac and something else a man should never smell like. So she had probably been over the night before at the party and they had been close enough for her perfume to rub off on him. He’d been meaning to break up with her for the last week but never got around to it. Michelle didn’t really like her and in all honesty, he just wasn’t in the mood for a relationship anymore. It was too draining. And not to mention, Venus was just too pushy and a little needy. Neither of which he had the energy for.

He looked in the mirror compartment for his bottle of Aspirin and found it empty. Shit! He showered as quickly as possible and managing only to throw up once. It had felt good. After dressing in blue jeans and the first t-shirt that was hanging in his closet, he proceeded to put his room back in order but looking at his bed brought back the images of his dream and he lost all enthusiasm for straightening it out. His stomach growled and he decided now was as good as any to start nursing his hangover.

Chapter Two

The first thing Alex saw when he came down the stairs were two of his roommates, Dennis and Brandon splayed on the brown polyester couch, dead to the world with his third roommate, Steve eating his breakfast of toast and eggs on their plastic dining table. His eyes were also bloodshot, and tired making him look more gaunt than usual. The second thing he noticed was that Michelle was no where in sight. The kitchen was empty, lacking the smell of marinara sauce and penne pasta, the choice of food she always made for him because it was his favorite.
“Hey” Steve called to him, with a mouthful of eggs.
“Yeah hey,” Alex replied slowly entering the open kitchen. “Where is Michelle?”
“Why? Isn’t she in her room?” Steve asked.
“Noooo” Alex replied his forehead forming a crease.
“Hmm, that’s funny…I heard her leave earlier today. I didn’t hear her come back though…so I assumed she probably did sometime when I was in the shower and went upstairs to you know… hover over you like she always does” Steve said in between bites of his toast.

“She left this morning? To where?” Alex questioned as he made his way to the fridge.

“Uh, she didn’t say dude. I was half asleep anyways” Steve said finally putting down his food and looking around him.

“Hmm” Alex mumbled. “That’s odd.” His chest tightened at the sudden unease that crept into him as he tried to remain calm and deduce possible scenarios. She went out to visit a friend. Michelle was quiet as a mouse so she probably came back and left again. He whipped out his cell phone to dial her but Steve beat him to it as he heard the faint ringing. Steve let it ring till it went into voice mail. He hung up without leaving one giving Alex a shrug that says oh well who know.. Alex was already typing on his phone. He watched the message reading “call me ASAP” get sent and expected any minute to get a reply. They had agreed that if she ever went out by herself, she was to let one of them know where she was and keep in touch.
“Dude, she probably just went to see a movie and forgot to call,” Steve declared, flashing him a smile. “She’ll call us back in an hour and apologize and maybe even cook us lunch.”

“How long ago did she leave?” Alex asked.

“Um, about like eighth-ish” Steve said his voice faltering with the revelation as his eyes darted to the digital clock on the small microwave that read twenty past two.

Alex laid his palm on his temple in an attempt to hold back the pounding pain he was feeling. It was no use. He wasn’t prepared to write off other explainable scenarios yet but the behavior was so unlike Michelle that it gave him pause.

“Hey dude, check this out,” Steve uttered, standing over the corpse-like forms of Dennis and Brandon.

Alex went over and gawked. Both of the sleeping faces were wearing a painted eye-patch, blood red lipstick, glitters, blush and eye-liner. All of which were smeared in different patterns on their faces.

“You like? I looked like Ronald McDonald when I woke up today. Michelle sure knows when to strike,” Steve said, smiling.

“That she does,” Alex said smiling. “This must be her best work yet…I can’t believe they’re still out cold at this time. Don’t they have work at three?”

“Dude, we were up late, hours after you knocked out. The party was still going strong,” his roommate said “…and some one brought more beers,” Steve said his eyes taking on a faraway quality, giving the impression that he was remembering something wonderful. The night obviously had and always will have different meanings for both of them.

“I’ll be right back,” Alex said in pursuit of Tylenol. The last thing he needed right now was a headache.

He bounded back upstairs and after confirming its absence in the bathroom, he fled into his room. He rifled through the drawers in his desk, pushing aside pens, batteries, phone charger and a half eaten granola bar among other things but still minus a Tylenol. He aimed for the bedside table, picking up his comforter from the ground and dumping it on his queen sized mattress. As he bent down to open the drawer he noticed the pink stick it note tacked onto the knob with Michelle’s chicken scratch. He peeled it off and read the small note:
went to Ralphs to pick up Aspirin and other stuff, be right back ASAP. Asshole.

Yep, definitely pissed, but his blood ran cold as the implications of the note hit him. Michelle had run to the store hours ago and hasn’t come back or called. He dialed her again while sprinting out of his room and down the stairs. The call went straight into voicemail and the agitation he had been feeling blossomed into panic. He felt weak and dizzy from the thought in his head and the lack of food in his stomach.

“Hey men, something may have happened to Michelle,” he declared breathing hard from the panic that threatened to overpower him as he nudged Dennis and Brandon awake. “Her phone is turned off now and I found a note she left for me saying she’d be back ASAP.”

“what?” Dennis drawled, droopy eyed as he struggled to come alive. “What’s going on?”

“Yeah what’s going on? And do I have the mother of all hangovers or what?” Brandon added looking even more dead and diseased than his sleeping companion; as he stretched his limbs.

“Michelle is missing.” Steve volunteered his tone full of disbelief at the idea.

“What?” both Dennis and Brandon said in unison sounding appropriately shocked at the idea never minding they looked ridiculous.

“Fuck!” Alex muttered, his hand cupping his temple again as fear enveloped him.

“I’ll go call the police and give out her description in case they see her,” Steve said reaching for his cell phone on the dining table.
Alex grabbed onto his wrist before it could get there, his eyes wide “You know we can’t do that.”

“Oh yeah…right…I forgot…the whole Nigerian orphan minor shit. ” Steve said turning back to his roommates. “Then what do we do?” he asked staring straight at Alex.

“I don’t know” Alex replied through his palms that were currently sliding down his face.

“We have to do something,” Steve said with conviction; his huge arms across his chest.
Alex was quite for a moment as his roommates all stared at him; he tipped his head to the side, conflicting emotions playing over his face.

“I have to call my dad,” he finally muttered.

“What?” all three of his roommates asked all at the same time stretching forward to hear him because unlike Michelle, he had told them partially about his family seeing as the house they were currently inhabiting was owned by a friend of his mothers who rented it to them at fourth the normal fees.

Alex put down his hands and looked at the ground, “I have to call my dad,” he repeated “he can help. You guys just stay here and wait in case she comes back. I’ll go to my dad. He knows people who can help without involving the police,” he finished saying.
“Oh yeah, sure” Steve said looking at the other two who were nodding.

“Shit! I can’t believe I know someone who is missing” Dennis said genuine surprise in his small voice.

“And I’ll go drive past the stores and movie theaters,” Brandon declared, putting on the t-shirt that had been on the Foosball table.

Alex shook his head and headed for his room where he grabbed his car keys, and was out the front door as his roommate bent down to pick up the remnant of yesterday’s party he couldn’t even remember.

Chapter Three

Sitting behind the wheels of his red Mazda Sedan in the front of the house, Alex took a deep breath and dialed his father’s number. The line was picked up on the first ring. Alex listened and was met with silence. Having no time to waste, he spoke first. “Dad, I need your help.”
There was silence on the other end and Alex almost repeated himself but his father finally said,
“Where are you?”

He was tempted to say like you don’t know but the panic he had pushed aside in order to make this phone call threatened to envelope him again as he thought of Michelle somewhere, lost. Instead he replied, “La Jolla.”
There was a pause before his father said
“Richard’s old house right?”

“Yes sir!” Alex replied.

“Meet me at the home office. ”

“Right. I’ll be there.”

Alex was about to hang up when his father said, “And Alex, it’s good to hear from you,” followed by a dropped tone.

His father had said that so matter of fact that it made Alex feel guilty for several other reasons he’d rather not think about right now.

“Right,” was the only reply he could think of before he closed his phone.

*****

Alex had driven for forty minutes to El Cajon from La Jolla in San Diego County. Most of that time, he had spent breaking the law by checking in with his roommates for possible good news. He had held on to the hope of never having to make it to his final destination. But no such luck. He had promised her he dead mother he would help her graduate from high school even though he had only been a teenager. He couldn’t imagine that he may be breaking the promise because of something sinister.

Poor Michelle has yet to return and here he was in front of his childhood home. The house was still as big as he remembered it, but it still was different from the house his family had once inhabited in La Jolla, his birth place. The eerily quite, but tree lined clean street, the tree in the front yard with three initials carved into it, the brown and white paint, the scent of freshly mowed grass, and the overkill of Christmas decorations enveloping the building with a lone elf light statue that had seen almost a decade of jubilee all jumped out at him, rekindling bittersweet memories.
Alex kept his mind focused on his goal. He didn’t know how long was too late. And he didn’t want to think about the unfavorable statistics he had learned about missing children regarding the percent who were found alive. He wanted his phone to ring and for him to hear her voice apologizing for being a complete teenager. It didn’t happen so he rang the door bell to his family home and his dad, Mr. David Payne, and owner of one of the biggest shipping industries in the country opened the door for him. He stepped in and his dad disregarded any sort of awkwardness that might have been present and claps him powerfully on the back the only way his former football playing dad could. At least he didn’t hug him. This was just business; nothing had changed.
“Dad…” he began, wanting to get someone on the case as soon as possible but his dad walked ahead of him and ushered him into his home office located next to the dinning room. He passed the large airy living room that looked plucked right out of a home décor magazine and bar and was reminded of his upper-class upbringing, a far cry from the house him and his three friends currently rented.
His father sat down behind his large oak desk, his glasses perched atop his long nose. The more he got older, the more Alex realized he resembled his dead mother more than his father.
“Now tell me what problem you could possibly need help with that would cause you to call here after…”
“A girl may have been kidnapped,” Alex blurted out before his father could finish reminding him of anything remotely anxiety inducing.
His father inhaled and leaned back in his chair.

“Have you called the police yet?” he asked.

“I can’t. That’s why I need your help.”

His dad nodded, his face screwed up in a thoughtful expression as he said, “And the reason for that is…”

“Michelle is the daughter of a Nigerian immigrant who passed away four years ago. Mum has brought her to dinner once…a long time ago. Anyways, I’ve been taking care of Michelle for the last four years so that social services won’t take her away from familiar grounds. They don’t know about her mum. If I go to the police, they’ll be more interested in our living situation than investigating her disappearance. I’m a twenty one years old college student who is totally un-qualified to be her guardian. I don’t want them to be distracted by that so I was hoping you could please help me find out what...happened to her….” Alex finished, surprised at how that rushed out of him.

His father nodded once and gestured for him to take a sit. He did remembering that he has yet to eat and the whole adrenaline he’d been running on rushed out of him and he felt even worse than a kicked dog.
His dad dialed a number, looked at him warily before saying into the phone “I need you in my office” before putting the sleek phone back onto its post.
Then he pulled out his cell phone from inside his silk lined black jacket and dialed another number. After a small pause, said “I have a case I need you to handle. Get here now.” His dad finished by shutting his phone closed and leaning back, quietly observing him no doubt, a sense of calm on his face. His father was just as commanding as he remembered. Alex had always felt safe by the sound of his dad’s voice. Now a part of him was beginning to feel that way. Maybe his dad could help him save Michelle from whatever she needed saving from. But he knew better than to fall into that mode as it threatened to tear open the box of memories in his chest that he had tried so hard to keep hidden.
He heard a noise and turned to the door. Rooted at the entrance to their dad’s office was his younger sister Piper. He was surprised at how much she had grown. She had been the same age as Michelle was currently the last time they had seen each other. She was staring at him with thinly veiled surprise.

“You’re really here,’ she whispered from the door way, her black hair framed around her face like a snug furry hat.

Alex stood up and in that instant she made a beeline for him and instead of a hug or a pat on the back, she slapped him on the face cutting of his greeting. Alex was not exactly shocked at what had just happened. There was fury etched into every inch of her face and tears already at the corners of her eyes when he recovered enough to observe. Her whole body was shaking. He couldn’t claim not to know the reason for either’s presence. So he looked at her while their dad had gone still behind them. Their father would never interfere. He had always told them to take care of their own problems.
“Hello Piper,” he said softly and saw her tense up immediately and brought her hand down again for round two. This time she didn’t connect with his bruised cheek as she was stopped in mid-air by the command that floated from the door way behind his sister.
The voice said “Cut it out Piper. We have more important matters at hand to deal with.”

Alex felt like somebody had ripped open the box in his chest with a chainsaw. He looked up from his hurt sister following the sound of the voice only to rest on the figure standing in the door way at the same time that Piper whirled around also startled by the sound of his voice. She turned back and gave his shocked form one last disgusted look before running past the man at the door and around the hall-way, her hands clasped over her face, barely concealing the tears that were about to fall.
Alex stared at the man at the door. He couldn’t believe his eyes. His older brother Jason, Hero as he preferred to call him was standing a few feet away from him in the flesh and blood, with an apologetic smile stretching his lips. He looked almost as he remembered him. Six feet and two inches tall, average frame, the same short black hair and square jaw bone as him. There were only two changes; Jason was wearing a black suit that made him look like a G-man that didn’t coincide with his tired complexion and sad expression. The biggest difference of all; he was still god-damned alive. Alex didn’t know what to say or do except to stare at the reason he hadn’t been home or connected with his family in the last four years. At the reason the old wounds in his heart had re-opened like an explosion.
He was afraid he was going to die of a heart attack. Instead, his body betrayed him and he fainted.

to be continued...