With Ears to See

Two days.

Two days and there were no leads.

Two days…and Kellin could be—

“Austin.”

Mei-Xing’s voice snapped me from my thoughts.

I looked up at her for a second before I dropped my gaze back to the floor.
I felt the couch dip down next to me and a hand was placed on my back.

“They’re doing everything they can, Austin. They’ll find him.”
“And what if they don’t?”

My voice was so cold and bitter.
I was scared. This isn’t my usual voice.

“You know better than to think like that, Austin.”
I shook my head and choked back tears.

“I’m so scared, Mei-Xing…! I’m so stupid! I should have told Kellin about the killer from the news! I should have locked the apartment when I left! I shouldn’t have left at all!”

“Don’t blame yourself for someone else’s actions. It’s going to be his burden to atone, not yours.”

I bit down harshly on my lip and let the tears flow.

Mei-Xing turned on the TV, which was still on the news channel from last night.

“Top story for this morning: police and investigators are still searching for Kellin Quinn, who went missing after an assault occurred in the Oak Leaves apartment complex two days ago. However, investigators have decided to reopen the “Valentine’s Day Slaughter” case that occurred in this exact town ten years ago in which the murderer was never found. More updates on this story to come.”

“It makes sense…”
I turned to Mei-Xing, who had a small look of horror on her face.

“What does…?”

She turned off the TV and faced me directly.

“The Valentine’s Day Slaughter. Ten years ago, a couple lived across town with their thirteen-year-old son. They were nice, decent people. They would always get a drink from the café and the wife and I would chat about our husbands. Every once in a while, they would bring their son after school and he would always order a hot chocolate.
Such a sweet boy.”

She smiled sadly before her expression went dark.

“I should have known something was wrong when I got a phone call from the wife. She sounded panicked. And the last thing she told me was ‘take care of him’ before the line cut off. I called 911 and gave them the address to the house of the couple. But it was too late…”

A tear rolled down her cheek.

“Both the husband and the wife were brutally murdered.”

The air in the room grew thicker as she uttered those words.

“I know what you’re thinking…‘What does this have to do with anything?’. Well, the murderer did not take into account one thing: the son was watching the whole time…
He was so young. He didn’t deserve to witness such a horrifying thing.”

“If he was a witness, why didn’t he tell the police who did it?”

“As I said before, he was too young to witness such a horrifying thing. He developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and it was so grave that he developed psychological amnesia and conversion disorder or ‘hysterical blindness’ as it was called. He couldn’t in his state.”

My eyes widened.

“Don’t…Don’t tell me—”
“Yes. The thirteen year old, was Kellin.”

I sat there and stared in complete shock.

He wasn’t abandoned that Valentine’s Day. His parents were killed…and he can’t remember.

“My guess is…the murderer came back and wanted to make sure that Kellin would keep his mouth shut.”

A thought ran through my head and I stood up from the couch.

“This is a small town. Everyone pretty much knows each other, right?!”
“What are you suggesting, Austin?”

I placed my hands on Mei-Xing’s shoulders.

“Think, Mei-Xing. Who doesn’t live here? Who was a face that seemed out of the ordinary?”

She pondered it for a second before her eyes widened.

“The businessman from the café that was yelling at Kellin! I’ve never seen him around. Come to think of it…”
She stood up as well.

“Ai-yah! I remember seeing his face two days before the murder ten years ago! Holy shit, Austin! What do we do?!”

I put my shoes on and walked over to the door.

“Come on, we’re going to the police.”