Ryan Ruiz: The Black Cadillac

He ran as fast as he could back to Braxton Street. While he flew as fast as he could, crazy thoughts ran through his mind: Was his friend okay? Should he have gone in the house instead of running to a pay phone to get help? What if the guy wasn’t bad at all?

Zach wanted to believe the last question so much, but something in his heart told him that his friend was in trouble. In the pitch-black, he ran as fast as he could back to Braxton. Shortly after he arrived in front of the corner house, a squad car was driving down the street, and Zach waved it down. Two officers stepped out of the police car.

“Are you the kid that called 911 about your friend?” said the first officer.

“Yes, I am. Please help my friend. His name is Cody, and he is in that house,” Zach said with urgency.

“Calm down. I’m Officer Harris, and this is Officer Quinn. We are going to help you, but please explain some things,” said Officer Harris.

The second officer said something into his radio while Officer Quinn started walking toward the driveway of the house with Zach.

They stopped at the sidewalk.

“Why are you guys at this man’s house?” asked Officer Quinn.

“It’s a long story, but I can explain quickly.”

Zach proceeded to tell both officers what he and Cody had been doing over the last month. The second officer radioed for some backup assistance. Zach’s tone became more hysterical.

“We are wasting time out here. Please go check on my friend,” instructed Zach.

“If you are wrong, Zach, you are going to be in a whole lot of trouble. We will go knock on the door,” Officer Quinn replied with an annoyed look.

“I understand. Now please, please go check out my friend!” said Zach.

The officers proceeded to the side door of the house.

While Zach ran for help, the side door flew open, and the man stormed into the house, locking the door behind him. Cody was upstairs when he heard the door open. Cody desperately looked around the room for anywhere to hide. Looking to his right, the boy found a closet and peered in it. The closet was big with more items hanging on the wall. Cody flipped on a light and couldn’t believe what he was looking at. There were locks of hair pinned to the wall. Polaroid pictures of girls tied up were side by side on the wall. On the floor, there was bucket with tools and knives in it. Dozens of jackets were hanging up on a rack. One jacket had some sort of badge logo on it.

Hearing the man moving down stairs, Cody quickly thought of an idea. He turned the closet light off and walked back in to the room. He purposely left the closet door halfway open. He was trying not to make the floor creak as he paced, but a floorboard made a tiny creak. The man stomped through the downstairs of his house as he heard a noise.

“I know someone is in here!” the man’s voice echoed angrily.

Cody put his hand over his mouth and stayed as quiet as he could while wrapped in the sheet hanging from the ceiling by the wall. Room by room, the man stomped through, looking in every closet and hiding place he could. He walked violently through the kitchen, unlocked the door to the breezeway, and walked in. He saw a long metal item on the floor.

Getting angrier and angrier by the second, the man opened the back door to the house and saw that it had been jarred. The man stormed down the basement stairs for a brief moment and came back up. He turned around, flew back through the kitchen, and ran up the stairs.

“I know you’re in here. I’m sorry to inform you, but this is a bad day for you. How did you find out, anyways?” the man calmly said as he stepped up to the top floor. “Do you know who I am?”

The man had a crazed look on his face as he walked slowly. He continued, “I bet you saw my souvenirs, didn’t you?”

Cody’s heart was racing like crazy, and he could hear it through his chest. The man looked around the room and went straight to a closet on the opposite side of where Cody was. It took every ounce of effort to keep quiet as the man reached for the handle on the door. Before the man could open the door to the closet, Cody bolted from the sheet he was wrapped in and headed for the stairs. Part of the sheet was still wrapped around his leg as he made it to the stairs. The man lunged for Cody and missed as the boy flew down the stairs.

Cody ran into the kitchen, looking around, and the man was coming down the stairs not far behind him. Cody saw the side door to the left and hurried down the few stairs to the side door. The door was dead-bolted, and the handle was locked as Cody tried twisting the handle to open the door. The man stared at Cody as he saw that Cody was trapped between him and the basement. Having no choice, Cody sprinted down the old basement stairs. The man slowly followed the helpless boy.

Cody reached the bottom of the stairs and saw something more shocking than what he had discovered in the upstairs loft. There in the corner of the basement was a little girl in chains, lying on a mattress. Cody knew right away it was Mandy Coefield, the girl who had gone missing in Sheldon Township. She was in dirty clothes and had a bandana wrapped around her mouth. She looked starved and weak. The little girl appeared lifeless as she saw Cody at the bottom of the basement stairs in the dark. Cody ran to her and pulled a string to a light switch right in the area of where she was.

“It’s okay, little girl. I’m going to help you. You’re Mandy, aren’t you?” he told her as his voice trembled with fear. She didn’t respond.

The slow knocking of each step of the man’s shoes sent shivers down Cody’s spine as he tried to loosen the chains on Mandy’s wrists. There was no hope of freeing her. The chains were attached to the basement wall.

Through the pitch-dark, the man’s voice boomed through the cold and damp basement.

“Hey, I know you. I know you from somewhere, yeah. You’re that kid at the gas station last week. The real quiet one. Say, how did you find out about me?” the man said.

Cody didn’t say a word as the footsteps came closer and closer, then he spoke, “I found your car by the church on Lincoln Street in Tippwood.”

The man continued, “Wow! You have been spying on me. What are you trying to accomplish coming here, kid? You think you are some kind of hero? I do give you credit, though, and you do have courage.”

Cody spoke up as a tear dripped down his cheek, “I know who you are. You’re Melvin Werner, and you offered me a ride to school a few weeks ago. I have spent every day since trying to find you. Why was your car parked on Lincoln Street?” said Cody bravely.

The man stood in the dark, just beyond the stairs.

“Very good, kid. Very good. I knew that I saw your eyes before the gas station. My car is on Lincoln Street because I volunteer at the church. Kind of ironic, isn’t it?” the man said, motioning over to the little girl. He continued, “I am impressed. I really am. Your parents taught you well, didn’t they? Had it been you that decided to get in my car that day, it would be you locked to the basement wall like her.” He thought for a second. “Well, maybe I would still have her too.”

More tears came down the boy’s face as he tried to hold Mandy, who was now slowly gaining consciousness.

“You are a monster! And if—”

Cody was interrupted by the man.

“Save it, kid! Was that your friend out there with the ‘lost dog’?” the man said, mocking the boy.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Cody, lying, wondering if Zach went to get help or if the man did something to his friend.

“Mmm… well, let me ask you something. Was it really worth it? Did you think you were going to come here and do something to me? This isn’t a movie, kid. I am going to do bad things to you, and your parents will never see you again,” said the man convincingly. “In fact, I will be the last person you will see just like all of the others. Do you have any clue what I have done in my past, kid? I am responsible for many missing children over the years. Who are you to try and stop me?”