With Ears to See

“Morning, Kellin.”
His eyes slowly blinked open.

“Austin?”
I gently placed my hand on top of his.

“Yeah. It’s me.”
I leant forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

“The nurse wants to know what you want for breakfast.”
“Pancakes.”

I chuckled and kissed his forehead.

“Okay, I’ll go and tell her.”
“Hurry back…!”

I nodded and stood up from the chair that was placed next to his bed before I walked out the door.
The nurse was waiting with a clipboard in her hands.

“He said pancakes.”
“I figured. An investigator and a police officer are going to be here later this evening to ask him some questions.”

I tensed up a little, but nodded before I went back into the room.

Kellin was messing with the paper wristband on his wrist. I sat back down in the chair.

“Are you sure you’re ready to talk to them today?”
“What are you so worried about, Aus? I’ll be fine.”

But what if they ask the wrong thing?

He found my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I’ll be fine. I promise…I love you.”
“I love you, too.”

They won’t mention it.
They can’t mention it.

x x x

They were here.

A tall, somewhat built man wearing a trench coat – the investigator. Next to him was a man who had about the same build up, but was a little shorter – the officer.

“Kellin Quinn is in this room, correct?”
I nodded.

He reached for the door, but I stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

“Please…don’t mention anything about the Valentine’s Day Slaughter to him, including his parents.”
“I cannot make any promises.”

He yanked his wrist from my grip and walked inside, the officer following close after.

I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.

“Good evening, Kellin. I’m special agent Todd Anderson. Officer Jayce Briggs and I would like to ask you some questions.”

He nodded, fiddling with the paper wristband again.

“Okay then. Let’s start off with some simple questions.”
Anderson pulled out a notepad and a pen from his pocket.

“Do you know who your kidnapper was?”

“I don’t know his name…but I recognized him by his voice. I ran into him at the coffee shop one day. He said he had a meeting, so I could only assume that he was a business man or a company worker of some sort.”

Anderson scribbled into the notepad.

“Do you know where he took you?”

Kellin was silent for a moment, thinking it over.

“It had to be somewhere near Autumn Creek…”

“Can you describe it any further?”
He shook his head.

More notes scribbled down.

“Do you know why he kidnapped you?”

Kellin bit down on his lip.

“He said that he didn’t finish the job. He wanted to make sure that I would keep my mouth shut. I don’t know what happened, or how I was a part of it.”

Anderson hesitated before speaking again.

“Are you familiar with the Valentine’s Day Slaughter?”

“No don’t…!”
I tensed up and tried to push past Briggs, but he held out an arm to stop me.

“Not really…Why?”

“Anderson, don’t—!”
“Quiet!” Briggs snapped at me.

“Ten years ago, a couple was brutally murdered in this exact town and the murderer was never found.”

There was a pause.

“The couple…was your parents, Kellin.”

A tense silence.

“You’re mistaken. My parents abandoned me when I was thirteen…!”

“You witnessed the whole thing, Kellin. You developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and were soon diagnosed with psychological amnesia and hysterical blindness. You may not remember, but that is what occurred.”

The next silence was heavy. No one could read the expression on Kellin’s face.

I finally pushed past Briggs and rushed to Kellin’s side.

“That’s enough! You got your answers! Now get out!”
Anderson gave me a look of disbelief.

“No…”

We all looked towards Kellin.

“They got their answers, Kellin…! You don’t have to—”
“I have a question for them.”

As he looked up, a tear rolled down his cheek.

“Why…? Why did he kill them…?”

Anderson put away his notepad.

“No one knows.”

They were about to leave, but Kellin spoke up again.

“I have a request.”
“Go ahead.”

“Please…find him. Find him and arrest him so no one else can get hurt.”

“We’ll do that.”
And with that, they were gone.

“Kellin…?”
He tapped the space on the bed, signaling me to lay next to him.
I did so and he moved closer, resting his head against my chest.

Not another word was said.

He cried into my chest for an hour until he fell asleep.