TERROR (any gender, late thirties to late life)
No, ALL the money is going to him. The whole family fortune, if we have to give it up, it is all going to that man. The police have dropped the case-- I know they say they haven't-- but let's be real, they've dropped the case. That man, though, he IS going to find the Wilson family's daughter and he's going to find the kidnapper.
That's what counts. That's all that counts for me right now, honey. Not world hunger, not protection of the environment, not victims of war or natural disaster. This. This-- how can I explain...
Look, you're a fan of Stephen King right? He says there are three levels of Terror. The first is the gross out. Blood & guts. The second one is horror. Vampires and werewolves.
And the third is Terror, PURE Terror. Like where everything is normal on the surface but there's something very, very wrong underneath... like if you made a video of a sunny day and but you put someone screaming on the soundtrack. Screaming really quiet but screaming nonstop.
And that's what has happened to this town, honey. My town. I've lived here every year of my life and these are my people and we are NOT a place where children JUST disappear.
Only now we are. And everything is the same but it's all wrong now.
And I will not permit that. All the other tragic stuff going on in the world, that's just gross out to me, maybe horror. This is Terror. I'm just a human and humans do everything they can to end feelings of terror. Our money is coming out of everything else and going to that man. Do what you need to do about that... but I have no choice.
Copyright 2016 by Matt Haynes.
If you would like to use this piece, please credit: "Courtesy of Matt Haynes and The Pulp Stage"