An afternoon

 Listen carefully, we have your daughter. If you don’t follow our instructions she will die. You have until 14:30.

I am sitting in this coffee shop, waiting. I am seeing a lot of people around me but they can’t see me, why? It could be because I am wearing strange clothes. I don’t feel comfortable with what I am wearing. I had to wear some socks with these horrible blue sandals. Why did I choose these sandals? I had to choose the red ones. However, these pants are so comfortable, it reminds me of my pajama’s pants, white, soft and large. Mmm, my T-shirt is small but it helps to adjust this horrible vest. It is too big and heavy and the wires that connect the charges hurt my chest. The worst thing is this horrible bear coat, I don’t know how humans can kill an amazing animal only to make a horrendous coat. 

What time is it? it’s 2pm, I can ask for a cup of coffee. I am so nervous.

Radio: Please be caref.. aslkaasd. Today June 25, Pump Radio will put the best song of Michael Jackson in memory of his death. This is Billie Jean by Michael Jackson.

• Waiter: Do you want something to drink or eat?

• A cup of coffee please.

Oh! A woman with her daughter, I remember when I used to come to this mall with my daughter. 

She always enjoyed going to the cinema and then going for an ice-cream. I hope she is ok. Talking about my daughter, I miss her long brown hair, her big eyebrows, her chocolate eyes, her beautiful mole near her left eye, and her slim nose. I remember that everyone told me that she is a copy of me, but I am not sure at all. 

What is that sound? Agh, why do they have to put a technology shop in front of a coffee shop? A coffee shop is supposed to be a quiet and relaxing place but the other shop with their lights, cameras and speakers bothers the rest of the people. 

I hate that shop. 

2:16 pm: There is a couple in front of me and my coffee cup isn’t ready yet. They look so nice; I feel bad for them. 

My friends used to say that I am a very friendly person and so it was very easy to love me, but I don’t think so. I think they only wanted to take something from me. They always called me every time: when I was eating, when I was taking a shower, when I was sleeping, it was horrible. The only person that I spent all my time with is my daughter, I really miss her. Anyway, I hate them, but it was my fault to answer them every time. I only wanted to be a nice person. It is incredible that I am going to do this.

2:17 pm: How long does it take to make a cup of coffee? I hate waiting so much. It happens to me too much when I go to Dr. Cole. 

His waiting room is so boring, four white walls with two typical doors, eight blue chairs distributed three per side and two in the back, on each side of the two chairs there is a square coffee table with magazines. All the magazines are so boring too, all of them only talk about science and how to overcome a crisis. But the worst thing about the waiting room is the “motivational” picture at the back. Who in their right mind thinks that “do not believe everything you think” is a good motivational quote.

The last time I went to Dr. Cole's office was two days ago. That horrible day when they took my daughter away from me. 

A little tear down of my cheek.

My daughter is at that age when she could be alone, 12 years old is enough, right? I just go into the office to refill my prescription. Dr. Cole said that he already had my medicine and I only had to come and take them. That was the reason I went with my daughter. 

Tears streaming down…

I only have a professional relationship with Dr. Cole. We only talk about my situation and my episodes. It was strange, that day Dr. Cole wanted to know about my daughter. He wanted to know because it was the first time that I said that I came with my daughter or because he wanted something else. The worst thing is that I can’t call the police. 

I start to cry. 

When I left the office, my daughter wasn’t there. I returned to talk with Dr. Cole and he said that he was going to check the security cameras, he was going to call the police and I went to my house, took the pills and waited for his call.

When I arrived at my house, the first thing that I did was call my friends but nobody answered. I tried to call my parents but nobody answered. I tried to call Dr. Cole but he didn’t answer. The night arrived, I was in the floor crying, waiting for someone to call me, thinking why all this was happening, thinking about all the fear that my daughter was feeling, thinking all the things that the kidnappers could do with her, repeating all the day in my mind trying to find some detail, any detail, but nothing came to my mind. I was thinking a lot until I fell asleep. 

1:00 am: the telephone rang. I woke up quickly, I thought it could be someone of my friend, it could be one of my parents, it could be Dr. Cole but instead of that a very rough, aphonic and thick voice said something that in my whole life I expected to hear.

• Listen carefully, we have your daughter. If you don’t follow our instructions she will die. You have until 2:30 pm tomorrow. Wait for the instructions and for the good of both, don’t call the police.

At that moment, a cold feeling ran down my spine. The telephone was still in my ear listening to a continuous beep sound. My hands began to tremble. My eyes began to crystallize. I started to lose the strength of my legs. My heart started to throb like the dreary beats of the drums they played early mornings in his military school. My breath began to accelerate like I was running for a thousand kilometers. My mind was only thinking about all the things that the kidnappers could do to my daughter, my beloved daughter. When I realized, I was watching the roof and how it was getting far away from me. I felt like I was falling. The velocity of my fall I couldn't fathom. The few seconds between I started to fall down and the moment that I touched the floor I felt peace. All the bad things went out. In these few seconds, all the voices in my mind stopped. In these few seconds, I understand that nobody will help me. In these few seconds, I understood that I will do everything to help my daughter even if this meant to destroy the world. Then the lights went out.

2:19 pm: I have to dry my tears, there are a lot of people here. My coffee isn’t ready yet. I see a grandpa with his wife and his grandchild asking for a birthday cake for the child. A waste of money.

2:20 pm: Oh! A lot of people are arriving. I remembered, the shop in the front will have an event. Now I know what the objective of the kidnappers is. Now everything makes sense.

6:00 am yesterday, Dr. Cole knocked on the door, it woke me up. He told me that he was calling but I didn’t answer because he wanted to talk about the security cameras in his office. He told me that the cameras don’t show anything. He asked me if I had been taking the pills but with everything that happened, I lied to him. I thanked him for coming and when I was closing the door, I saw a letter on the desk to the right of my door. I asked Dr. Cole if the letter was his but he said no and he left the house. 

I have a strange blue house. My house has 3 floors. On the first one, I have the living room, the kitchen, the dining room and a room where I keep all the cleaning materials and wash the clothes with the washing machine. On the second floor, there are the living rooms, there are 4 living rooms, two of them have their own bathroom. I used two for me, where I sleep and my study, and my daughter uses two too with the same use. My daughter is very organized and independent so I never enter her room and I never wash her clothes. I am very proud of her.

A tear starts to trickle down.

On the last floor is the attic, we use it to store what we are not going to use but there is one more floor, it is the basement. The basement has two entrances, one from the kitchen and other from the path in the back of the house. We have electrical showers so we don’t use the heater in the basement. Practically, we don’t use that floor. It is strange to me what the letter said. The letter said:

• Go to the basement, you will find three containers. One blue, one red and one silver.

• Pour the content of the blue and red container into the silver container.

• Mix it until you see a homogeneous mixture.

• In the back of the basement, you will find a machine.

• Pour the mix in the different drying trays and put them into the machine.

• Set the machine for 16 hours and 60 oC

• You have to finish it before 8:00 am, if you don’t, you know. We are watching you so don’t do anything stupid.

When I went downstairs to the basement, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I expected a very dirty place because I hadn't been there for a long time. What I saw was a very clean place. On my right side, I could see a lot of tools in order, a big metal table, six huge glass bottles, glass sticks, a gas stove, on the table a lot of jars that said nitric acid, hexamine, sodium nitrate, hydrochloric acid, copper. On my left side, there were three metal containers of different colors, a desk with some papers, a big table with drying trays and in the back a big machine that said forced air machine. On the top, there was a security camera with an old clock that marked 6:37 am.

I was in shock, I tried to relax but the only thing that I could think was in the tic toc of the clock that I was listening. I took a deep breath and started to follow the instructions. I finished at 7:47 am when my telephone rang again. I ran to answer it, it was my parents to ask me what happened and if they could go to the house, obviously I said no because all that was happening. I had to go to work so I took a shower and went to work.

2:25 pm: A lot of people are coming for the event and some of them are ordering something. I think my coffee won’t come. It doesn’t matter anymore; I am so tired.

After work, I ran to my house and an absolute silence filled the house, only the little annoying sound of the machine working coming from the basement. I was alone there. A big house with only one person. A whole life living alone. A whole life living for someone else. I tried to call again to my parents and friends but like always, they didn’t answer. I thought, nobody will help me, and I began to cry. I decided to catch the kidnappers on my own. I thought that they had to come to pick up whatever that they put me to cook. I was waiting and waiting, and nobody came. I waited for one hour, nothing. I waited for two hours, nothing. Then the machine stopped. It was 23:47 pm.

2:26 pm: I am really tired (yawn) but I don’t know if I slept late. It is almost time. I really need that cup of coffee.

Yea, I slept late. I was waiting for a long time and then I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was 1:16 pm. I thought I failed. I wanted to cry but I didn’t have any more tears in my body. I wanted to call my parents again but I didn’t do it. I wanted to yell for some help but I didn’t do it. I only stayed in my bed looking at the ceiling. I was remembering all the beautiful moments that I spent with my daughter. Asking me why it happened to me. Again, I was alone in the house. I sat down on my bed and in front of me was a chair with three horrible things, a vest, a horrible coat and a letter. I took the letter and I read it. In this moment, I knew that I had to make a choice, hundreds of people or only one life. What could a father or mother do to save their children?

2:27 pm: 

• (waiter) Sorry for the delay, here is your coffee.

• Thanks.

I don’t want to do this. I really don’t want to do this. I need to be brave. I do this because of her. I have to read the letter again. If I don’t read it again, I wouldn’t do this.

• Dear mom, I am fine. Don’t worry about me. I want to be with you. I miss you. I love you <3.

Oh! her beautiful way to write, always colorful. Always one letter of each word with a different color. Always with pens that have fruity smells. Always creative. 

This beautiful letter was ruined with the letter of those horrible people.

• You have to make a choice. You have to wear the vest, go to the mall in front of the metro and detonate yourself with all the people that are there. Your daughter will be fine, I will take her to your parent’s house. Or you can let your daughter die and save a lot of lives. 2:30 I will call you to know your choice.

2:28 pm: A voice tells me in my ear “Dr. Cole is the guilty”. What was that? Dr. Cole? Could it be? No, I don’t think so. Wait. It is possible. 

Why he wanted to talk about my daughter, he never was interested in the other sessions that I talked to him about her. The kidnappers refer to them like a group, Dr. Cole could have another person in his office that they. He told me that he was going to call the police but if he did that, why didn't the police come to talk with me, they didn’t know what my daughter looks like. How much time takes to review 30 minutes of video? Why did he wait until the next day to tell me that there is nothing in the cameras? Why did he not call me only to tell me that? Was he the person that put the letter on my desk? 

2:29 pm: Uhg!! My head is killing me. There is a lot of noise. I can’t hear my own thoughts. There is a lot of noise coming from the event in the shop in front of the cafe, not only with their technology but also with all the people who are there. 

Wait. Is he Dr. Cole? What is he doing? Oh, he looks like he is with a security camera. Does he want to erase the evidence? The voice that I heard is right. I trust in him. I can’t trust in anyone. Now I understand the quote “do not believe everything you think”. I thought Dr. Cole was a good person.

2:30 pm: My cell phone is ringing. 

• Who?

• What do you decide?

• Save my daughter. 

• Fine, she is taking a taxi to your parent’s house.

7:31 pm:

• (Police officer): Detective Adams, we were waiting for you.

• (Det. Adam): Sorry, I had other 6 cases like it. I had to visit all the locations. Did you find something?

• Yes, the person who exploded is Mr. Adam Taylor but there is something interesting. He was going to a psychologist. His doctor was in the area of the explosion, his name Dr. Cole.

• It doesn’t look like a coincidence. I have to search for more information. Give me the fingerprints of Mr. Taylor. Thank you.

(Det. Adam) I am watching all the information but something is not fitting. It is frustrating. The fingerprints of Mr. Taylor were in the rest of the 6 locations. The type of explosive is exactly the same. Tomorrow I will visit the house of Mr. Taylor, then the office of Dr. Cole.

Well, I am in Mr. Taylor’s house. Everything looks good on the first floor; I am going to go to the second floor. It is a big house only for one person. Four rooms but only 3 have things. Two of them were used by Mr. Taylor. The last one is full of Christmas and birthday presents. Lula? Mr. Taylor has a daughter? But all the presents are closed. I am missing something. Nothing inside, let's see out of the house. 

Oh! There is a door to the basement. What the hell is this? There are all the things to make bombs. There is a desk. Is this a degree?

• Ms. Taylor? Chemical engineer? Online university?

Who is Ms. Taylor? I need more information. The police will arrive soon, I will go to Dr Cole’s office.

Well, let's check his file. 

• Thursday. June 24. Case: Adam Taylor:

• I put this in today even if it happened yesterday later. At night, I received the recordings of the other offices. I was watching the recording of every point of view but I didn’t find anything. I called him but it was like he was talking with someone so I decided to go to his house. I went to Mr. Taylor’s house to tell him that nothing appeared in the cameras but when I arrived, the telephone wasn’t in the base, Mr. Taylor had the floor markings in his face. I think he is not taking his pills. I think I need more cameras in my office to avoid these situations.

• Wednesday. June 23. Case: Adam Taylor:

• Mr. Taylor came to my office for his prescription. Every session that we had, he started talking about his daughter. Today he said that she came with him but I checked the cameras and no one was outside the office. I wanted to know a little bit more. Would it be another identity?

• A few seconds after he left my office, he told me that his daughter was kidnapped. I thought it was an episode due to him not taking his pills. I watched my security camera but Mr. Taylor arrived alone in my office. I asked for the recordings of the other offices but they will give me later. I can’t give a fake call to the police. I am going to wait.

• Monday. June 21. Case: Adam Taylor:

• We didn’t finish our session. Mr. Taylor came to my office furious about his friends and parents. He said that he wanted to kill them. I have to pay attention to this. He looked like another person. The strangest thing was he wanted to refer to him like her, like Ms. Taylor. It could be a sign of dissociative identity disorder. I have to be careful.

• Wednesday. June 16. Case: Adam Taylor:

• The session was about his closest people. We talked about his friends and his parents. I wanted to talk with his friends to have an idea about other aspects of his life not related to his daughter. It was strange, I called the place where he works but the company couldn’t give me some information about him and his friends. I wanted to talk with his parents, but there is no information about that. Could they be a product of his mind? I hired a private investigator. I need more information.

What is that on Dr. Cole’s desk? Private investigator results and a medical profile. He didn’t finish. Medical profile, updated Friday 25.

• Medical Profile

• Name: Adam Taylor Watson

• Father: Adam Taylor

• Mother: Kate Watson

• Observations: 

• Parents died in an accident while they were sleeping. Cause of the accident: gas tank explosion. Adam Taylor: 6 years old. He said that the voices told him to go for an ice cream that morning.

• His uncle, on his mother’s side, took care of him. Uncle died in an accident when he was working in the garage. Cause of the accident: gas torch explosion. Adam Taylor: 12-year-old. He said that someone called him into the house, he thought it was his uncle.

• His grandparents took care of him. Grandma died in his car. Cause of death: Car explosion. Adam Taylor: 18 years old. He said that he forgot something in his room.

• Grandpa died in his bath. Cause of death: gas heater explosion. Adam Taylor: 26 years old. He wasn’t at home.

• Medical estimate:

• Schizophrenia. Visual and auditory, related to his DID.

• Dissociative identity disorder. At least 3 identities confirmed: Mr. Taylor, Ms. Taylor, daughter. 7 identities to be confirmed: Parents and friends. 

• Psychopathic tendencies. Require exams.

• Pyromania variant. Require exams.

Someone is calling me:

• Hello

• Good afternoon, Det. Adam, we are in the house of Mr. Taylor. We have a phone book with the numbers and address of his parents and friends. The phone numbers are not complete, there is a missing number for each one. The worst thing is that the location of the other 6 explosions coincide with the address in the phone book. 

• So, tell me, how many people died?

• In the mall, 150 people. In the supposed house of the parents, 7 people. In the house of the friend 1, 2 people. In the house of the friend 2, 5 people. In the house of the friend 3, 5 people. In the house of the friend 4, 2 people. In the house of the friend 5, 10 people. In total 181 people.

• (sigh) Thanks.