The Vanishing: Continuation of The Mayor

Two police cruisers sat outside city hall. The officers were there to meet with the mayor. Helena had been gone for twenty-four hours. She officially was a missing person in the eyes of the law. As the mayor’s wife, hers was a high-profile disappearance.

John felt the guilt inside him. Every time he thought about turning himself in, the demonic entity inside him took over. The demon inside John was slowly replacing John, gently edging him out of the driver’s seat. John was beside himself with grief as he sat there rocking back and forth.

While the officers took Helena’s information, John rocked back and forth. The booming voice in his head was deafening as it shouted instructions. It fed John what to say, how to say it, and where to point the authorities investigating Helena’s disappearance.

“I was in my office, waiting for my wife to meet me,” he told the officers.

“We found her car a couple of blocks from here,” explained Officer Stevens. “Your wife’s belongings were behind the car on the ground. It looks like she got out and something happened as she walked away.”

“Oh god!” exclaimed John.

“Have their been any threats, or do you know anyone that might want to harm you or your wife?” asked the second officer.

“No, everybody loved Helena,” sighed John, hearing the voice in his head approve of his delivery.

“Alright, Mr. Mayor, we’ll be in touch. We’ve got everybody in for this. Both state and county have been alerted. Everybody is looking for her,” explained the officer. “If you think of anything that might help us.”

“Absolutely,” John answered, standing and shaking their hands.

“Good. Very good,” echoed the voice in John’s head.

His stomach was in knots. John began to see the price of his mistakes. Opening himself up to a deal with a demon brought his family riches, power, and prosperity to his town. But at what cost?

Helena was gone. The police were involved. He’d lied to his closest friends. Looking at himself in a mirror, John rammed his fist into the reflective glass, cutting his knuckles in the process.

“Sir,” a voice chimed over the intercom. “Mr. Winston is here.”

John shrugged his shoulders. He needed to get on with the charade.

Convincing his friends that Helena’s disappearance was random would be difficult. Harry was already suspicious and asking questions about last year. Steven had his concerns, but he’d been quieter. Either one of them could do irreparable harm.

Harry walked into the office as John was wrapping his hand. Blood soaked through the rag. Harry paused and looked around the room. He was unnerved to see his friend this way. With the news of Helena vanishing floating around town, he knew John wasn’t in a good place.

“Are you alright?” he asked the mayor, pointing to his hand.

John quickly excused the mess on the wall and his hand. He wrapped it tighter, showing Harry he could move his fingers. John made up an excuse for what Harry was seeing.

“I sort of lost my mind for a minute,” he told his old friend. “The police were just here. They still don’t know anything.”

“Every person in town is being visited. The bulletin went statewide. You have to have faith. They’ll find her,” assured Harry.

John knew that wasn’t the case. Even as he sat there and slowly nodded that he understood, his inner monologue argued with the voice in his head. Like a barking master, the thing inside him demanded to know if Harry was a problem. And while John believed he could control his old friend, even he didn’t know with certainty.

John played the dutiful husband, faining his concern for his missing wife, knowing Helena wasn’t returning. He had a city to run and asked Harry what brought him to the office. John was trying to give Harry the brushoff.

“It’s nothing personal, buddy,” he told Harry. “I’ve got a lot on my plate and with Helena missing in action I need to focus on work until the police find a clue.”

“Oh, sure,” Harry relented. “If you need anything.”

“I know where to find you,” admitted John.

When Harry left the office, closing the door behind him, the two officers who had visited the mayor were standing outside. He walked past them, trying to avoid engaging with them. Harry was suspicious of things that had happened but never imagined his friend could bring harm to anyone.

“Excuse us, sir!” the senior officer yelled.

“Mr. Winston, stop!” yelled the second officer.

Harry stood frozen in place on the sidewalk. He looked over his shoulder at the two officers approaching him. He told himself to play it cool, but dealing with police wasn’t his specialty.

“I’m sorry, officers. I’m a little distracted. My best friends wife is missing,” he told the two blue-uniformed men.

“Outside!” echoed the baritone voice in John Jones’s head.

“What’s outside?” John wondered.

“You’ll see,” suggested the entity inside John.

As Harry stood on the sidewalk outside city hall, anxiously avoiding too many questions from the officers, John looked down at him from his second-floor window. He rubbed his chin, wondering what they were questioning Harry about. Harry didn’t know anything about Helena’s disappearance. He only knew that John had been sick, performed the ritual, and the city and all in John’s circle prospered.

“He knows too much!” bellowed the disturbing voice.

“No, don’t even consider it. I swear, I’ll do something to get myself locked up if you do. Harry and Steven are off limits,” demanded John.

John didn’t know as much about the thing piggybacking around with him as he should have learned. The thing inside him didn’t need John. It could come and go as it pleased. Even worse, it could manifest into any form it desired.

“I don’t need you to take care of them. I’ll do it without you,” announced the entity.

“Please,” cried John. “No, not them.”

“Why?”

John thought about the lifelong friendship between Harry, Steven, and himself. They’d been friends for more than two decades. He couldn’t bear to lose them.

“Dammit, I gave you Helena.”

John regretted his decisions. Seeing his friends happy, his town thriving again, and his life turning around meant everything to him. Now, he feared he was going to end up alone because of his actions because he revived the ritual and raised the demon.

“You’re going to give me much more, John. Or did you forget our agreement?”

The entity inside the mayor had different plans for Harry. Harry was useful. John may not want Harry dead, but he could be used to throw suspicion off of the mayor.

“Fine,” sighed John, feeling helpless. “It’s better than killing him.”