Valmont Sharp: Monster Hunter

by David Raymond II

  Chris makes it home at five thirty, puts his bike into the garage and then puts his books in his room. He walks downstairs and opens up a bag of chips that are on the kitchen counter. He turns the TV on and switches to the local fox station which is airing one of the good early episodes of the Simpsons. Chris does not know anything is going on with his mom, he does not know she is meeting with a strangely out of sorts lawyer.

  He thinks about Sam Lutz and Ed McCannon, it is strange, they were acting like something out of a horror or sci-fi film. He pretty much agrees with Erik, that the supernatural does not exist and that the store in the mall was nothing more then a scam owned by a con man. Still the coincidence is not one he could just overlook, both Sam and probably Ed were seen at the store at the same time. But what does it even mean and what does it have to do with him? “It probably means nothing.” Chris mutters to himself.

  When the Simpsons ends at six he looks at the clock, “Where's my mom? I guess there is a hold up at the pizza place or she got caught in traffic.” He shrugs off the feeling that something is wrong. Still he picks up the phone just in case. He will call if she is not home in ten minutes.

  Ten minutes passed and he calls his mom's phone, he gets no response as it is turned off, “She never turns off her phone.” Chris mutters to himself. He immediately calls her back and still no response. “What's going on? Well I will give her until Six thirty then I will call again.”

  While that is easy enough to say Chris could not help but worry. There was this knot growing in his stomach and he was feeling nauseous. He gets up and walks to the fridge, opens it and then takes out a bottle of water. As he sets the phone on the counter to open the bottle when the phone suddenly rings. Chris looks at the name on the caller ID, it's his mom's cell so he turns it on, “Mom? I have been trying to reach you. Why was your phone turned off?”

  “Chris, I don't know how long I have so listen up.” His mom sounded strange, she was completely in control of her emotions and yet something does not feel right. There is something fake about the sound of her voice.

  “Mom you sound strange.” There was more he wanted to say but Sharon cut him off.

  “Chris be strong no matter what happens. Remember that I love you and that I did not kill myself.” Chris is shocked by what he heard. She did not kill herself? What is she talking about? This makes no sense, no sense at all.

  “What? Kill yourself? Mom? What are you talking about, where are...” He was about to ask where his mother was when she cut him off.

  “I did not kill myself. Tar...” There is then a sound of a strong breeze of wind and then a crash of a body and then electronics as the signal goes dead.

  “Mom?” He yells into the phone, his mind taking a few seconds to understand what had just happened. His mom is dead and from her choice of words the death was made to look like a suicide and is not. There was also so that final word Sharon tried to say before she died, Chris would not figure out what the word was at the moment, his mind is racing. “Dead?” Chris turns off the phone and then turns it back on and dills 911. “Hello my name is Chris Sharp, I just got a call by my mom. I think she just died.”

  “You think?” The operator asks on the other side.

  “She just called me, then I heard what sounded like her jumping into traffic when her phone went dead.” He knew he had to say those words, “I think she just killed herself and I don't know where.”

  The operator seems to sigh and then says, “The police are currently rushing to the scene of a suicide, I hope for your sake and the sake of your mother that it is not her. It is best if you get off the phone and wait for a call. There is nothing else I can do.”

  Chris turns off the phone and walks to the front door, there he looks out side, he sees some lights and hears faint sirens heading in the direction of the highway near Marsdan park. Some of his neighbors are getting out of their houses and Chris's next door neighbor to his right, Jeffery Laumas has just pulled into his driveway with a very shocked very distressed look on his face. The middle aged, pudgy man who is five foot seven and close to two hundred and eighty pounds. He is the type of man who you can't really tell if he going to be jolly or cranky until you talk to him. He looks at Chris as he gets out of his car and motions for him.

  Chris was grabs his cell phone and then walks out of the house, “Did you just come from the highway Jeff?”

  “Yes.” He says somberly, Jeff Laumas is a therapist for a psychiatric hospital for kids dealing with traumatic incidents. He thought his training prepared him for everything. However none of his experience could prepare him for this. For something to happen to someone he would consider a friend. He's actually glad he got here before the cops did. Jeff looks at Chris and looks at the crowd, “We should go inside.”

  Chris nods and leads Jeff into the house, after they both enter Jeff closes the windows, “I don't know if you heard but there was an incident at the highway, just by the park. Someone jumped from the bridge above the highway head first.” He forces back some tears shaking his head, “I had a good look at the jumper as she fell, I'm fairly sure it was your mother.”

  Chris starts crying, he's not crying hard but it just dawned on him that his mother is dead and his fears his bad feelings have been proven true, “It was her.”

  Jeff who is fairly sure himself none the less is in the business of comforting people so he has to say this, “You don't know that, maybe it wasn't her. It looked like your mom sure but I only got a quick glance. My eyes could be wrong.”

  “No.” Chris wishes he could believe that, “She called me, right as she jumped. She told me she was jumping and that she did not kill herself.”

  Jeff has worked with the police before on cases of child abuse and apparent suicides, “Did she? You didn't by any chance record that conversation.” Chris Shakes his head, “I did not think so, why would you?”

  There is then a knock at the door, Chris turns to the door and can see police lights though the door's windows, it's the cops. He walks over and opens the door and lets the two uniformed officers in, “Hello officers.” Chris rubs his eyes, “I already know.”

  One of the officers is a young Asian man about five foot eight, he offers Chris his hand while his partner a blond female officer stands near by, “Officer Jamie Yan, I regretfully report there has been an incident on the highway. There was a jumper, dead on impact. She had identification on her and it was Sharon Sharp, your mother.”

  “I know, Dr. Laumas told me. He was there.”

  Officer Yan nods, “Has your mother been down in the dumps? Has she been distressed or just acting different in anyway?”

  Chris wipes the tears from his eyes and speaks calmly, “My mother would never kill herself officer. No she was not depressed, down in the dumps, distressed, or acting any different. My mom is perfectly happy and had no reason to want to kill herself. I don't believe she did.”

  Yan frowns, he has seen this before. Families don't want to admit the worst about their loved ones. If a parent is depressed or going though changes that are hard on them children are often left out of the loop and don't know. This is especially likely with with teenagers who often spend very little time with their parents. “We will investigate all possibilities but it looks like suicide. No one was seen with your mom for fifteen minutes, she was seen walking over to the bridge of her own free will and jumped off.”

  Chris closes his eyes, “She called me. Right before she jumped, she called.”

  Yan has a notepad in his hand and is writing stuff down, “What did she say.”

  “That she was not killing herself, that no matter what it looks like I should never believe she killed herself, and I never will.”

  Yan looks at him, “Is that all? Did she say what was happening, or who was making her do this? J”

  Chris tries to remember everything his bother said, did she tell him anything else? Was there a name mentioned? He did not believe so, maybe he is missing something. “No sir she did not.”
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  “I see. That is too bad. Like I said we will have a full investigation underway.” He looks down at the paperwork he has on Chris. “Now you live alone with your mother and your father lives out of state? Do you have anywhere you can stay for the next couple days? At least your father can come and get you?”

  Jeff walks forward and offers the officer his hand, “My name is Dr. Jefferson Laumas. I am the next door neighbor of the Sharps and a close friend of Sharon’s. I am sure my wife will have no problem with Chris here staying with us for a few days, at least until this whole incident is put behind us and his father has been contacted..”

  The officer looks over at Chris, “Is that okay with you son?”

  “Yeah that's fine.” He looks at Jeff, “Let me grab a few things from my room.”

  The next couple hours went by in a blur, Chris hardly remembered anything that happened. The cops continued to talk to him and Jeff, he then went to Jeff's house after the cops finally left and had a late dinner at probably around eight PM. He kept meaning to call his father but never had the guts to. He almost could not believe what had happened was really happening. Did he just spend most of the day investigating trances? Did his day end with his mother dying under a similar trance? He was fairly sure that's what happened. If that's true then Chris must be losing his mind.

  Chris only came to his senses around nine thirty when Jason called and finally broke him out of his funk. Ric called him a few times but Chris intentionally ignored him because he was not in the mood for Ric's antics at the moment. Jason however Jason could help. “Chris man, I did it. I actually did it. I asked Sam out and she said yes. And we are going out again.”

  Chris does not hear most of what his friend says, 'Whaa? Jason, now is not a good time.”

  “I know I know I'm acting like Ric right now but man this day turned out great for me.” Jason then realizes the tone he heard from his friend, “What happened?”

  “My mom died.”

  “WHAT? Wait was she the jump... the one who jumped? Oh man do you need a place to stay?”

  “Na got it covered. I'm staying with Dr. Laumas.”

  “The child shrink? Yeah he's a good man. Oh man now I feel bad for feeling so good. This was a terrible day for you. Want me to come over?”

  “Na I just need to get over it. Don't worry I don't go emo on you. I will probably recover from this in a few days. Just man, happening so close to the holidays like this?” That really is the worst thing, his dad was coming over for Thanksgiving as long as he had no new show popped out of no where. Now there will be a shadow of death surrounding the holiday.

  “Good, the last thing I need is an emo best friend.” Jason laughs.

  “Never going to happen. Anyway man I'm glad to hear about you and Sam. I'm glad you finally made your move. It was obvious she liked you as much as you liked her. Anyway I have something I have to do right now. Something I have been holding off so I have to let you go bye.”

  Chris then goes though his phone book in his cell and hinds his father's cell phone number, he never calls his father though the cell and he was not even sure his father would answer. On the third rind his father picks up, “Hello son.” His father says in a serous tone that is not the norm. Chris can hear from the tone of his father's voice that he heard about Sharon Sharp's death. “I will be there tomorrow I have already booked a flight for the morning. I have been trying to call you, how are you holding up?”

  “Fine.” He does not know if he wants to tell his father that he suspects the suicide is not what it looked like but he doubts his father will believe him.

  “We have a lot to talk about, just be on your guard.” Be on guard? Did Chris hear that correctly, maybe his father will understand.

  “Dad there was something strange about mom's death. She called me before she jumped...” he is then cut off.

  “Don't say any more. We can discuss it later. Anyway I will see you tomorrow, I hope you sleep well tonight.” Chris's father then hangs up the phone, and Chris turns off his cell phone.

  Chapter Seven