I walk up to the bar at the local dive, order a double whiskey and tell em to leave the bottle. "Rough night?" the barkeep asks, as they prepare my drink and place it and the bottle in front of my hunched over form. I had my head down on my crossed arms on the bar, and when I look up to answer and take a swig of my poison, the dingy light in the bar illuminated my bloodshot eyes and dark bags beneath them. My 5 o clock shadow that I've never been able to grow before I took on this cold case.
"You don't know the half of it, buddy." I reply in a deadpan voice before taking the first gulp of whiskey. I wince from the burn, but it doesn't burn nearly as hot as my passion for answers. I pull my wallet out to pay for my whiskey and as I hand the money to the bartender, I look down at the photo in my wallet, an equal mix of pain and frustration on my face.
"Thanks for the drinks," I say, without looking up from the photo in my wallet.
"If you don't mind my asking, what's got you so down, stranger?" the bartender asks, while cleaning some glassware behind the bar.
As I pour myself another whiskey from the bottle I'd purchased and gulp it down, I reply "Cold case. Entire family went missing 24 years ago. Nobody else in their small village ever even spoke of any of them after the disappearance. Not of the mother, the father, or their young son."
"Well, why are you working so hard on a cold case nobody else seems to even care about?" The bartender asks, confused but intrigued.
"Because, kid," I say as I pour my last drink before getting up to head back out on the case, "maybe you don't care, maybe all their neighbors don't care, maybe I'm the only one in the world that gives a damn what happened to that family. All's I know is I'm tired of losing sleep at night over this unsolved mystery. At this point, I'm not in it for justice, or glory, or even for them. Now, I just need answers, and I'm gonna get them if it kills me. Have a good night." I finished, as I left a tip on the bar and headed out.
I step out into the cold night air and take one more look at the photo in my wallet, before muttering to it,
"What the fuck happened to you and your family, kid?!"
I wander off into the night, in my endless search for answers that may never be found.
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