For Better, For Worse
A goddamned mess. That’s what this was. Feathers, blood, just a goddamned mess. This was the description a neighbor sent to the new hire, Officer Caleb Park, who handed it off to Sheriff Mason Dawes.
“A wild animal? Why are you telling me about a wild animal, Park?” Dawes grumbled, peering down his nose through his glasses at the paperwork.
“Well, sir, I thought you wanted to handle anything involving Sar- Mrs. Marshall and her family. The Watsons wanted to warn families about whatever did this, and the Marshall girls love playing in the woods.”
He read through the second page; Park’s head stretched to see which part he was at, his heart beginning to quicken. Dawes glanced up at him, and Park took a quick step back, “Sorry, sir. As you can see, I was more thorough this time. I know you-”
“I’ll call them,” Dawes interrupted, “You should round up a couple of hunters, see if you can’t catch this thing. The last thing I need is a kid getting snatched up and torn apart in the woods.”
“Yes, sir, will do. I’ll get right on it,” Park turned and left, closing the door behind him. Dawes shook his head and looked at the report over once more. It was a mess alright. Sara needed to know about this. Her girls loved playing explorers in the woods, pretending that they were on Mars or Jupiter rather than what they believed to be middle of nowhere. Perhaps it was. Dawes looked at the photo he kept on his desk. It was Sara and her two girls, Noelle and Rose, smiling brightly back at him during a family vacation to the beach. They were so happy then.
Dawes recalled the sea breeze whipping the girls’ hair every which way. The sound of joyous laughter when he picked them up, twirling around. Noelle and Rose would eagerly show him the different shells they collected. He watched with adoring eyes as they would squint their eyes, trying their hardest to hear the ocean in those shells. Then he remembered the look on Sara’s face. Finally at peace, watching the ocean, letting the waves lap her feet, burying them further and further into the sand. He caught himself thinking, Tom would’ve loved this. That night, he went to bed with tears in his eyes. A singular thought haunted his dreams. God, I wish it had been me.
Dawes picked up the phone and dialed the Marshall’s number. He kept studying the family photo as the phone rang and rang and rang.
“Hello—”
“Hey, Sara, I was—”
“You have reached the Marshall residence. We can’t come to the phone right now, so please leave a message with your number, and we’ll get back to you soon.”
The tone beeped.
Dawes drove down a god-awful gravel road. He felt his seat jolt every which way every few feet. All this to warn the Marshalls. He left a message. Three, actually. He called and called. No one picked up. No one called back. That was yesterday afternoon. He even tried their cells, but the service was spotty out near the densest parts of the woods. Now, here he was, driving to their house. Perhaps he was overreacting, but he had made a promise to Tom. Sara and the girls needed looking after. He had to see the Marshalls today.
Tobias Marshall, the husband, loved his privacy. The only neighbors were half a mile down, but that wouldn’t matter to whatever wild animal slaughtered their hens. When he pulled into the driveway, he saw Tobias’ car outside, but Sara’s was gone. Great, I’ll have to talk to him about it, Dawes clicked his tongue. He parked and rehearsed aloud what he was going to tell him.
“Hey, Tobias. The Watson’s chickens were killed… No, the Watson’s chickens were torn apart by some wild animal, and they got worried about your kids playing in the woods. It’d be best to keep a close eye on them until we got the bastard,” Dawes shook his head, “It’d be best to keep a close eye on your girls until we’ve caught the animal that did this.”
Better. Tobias hated when people cursed to his face, even if it was about something or someone else. He always felt that the world was out to get him, including his own family. Dawes got out of the car and walked to the front door. The porch lights were still on. Dawes rang the doorbell and waited. And waited. And waited.
He rang the doorbell again and then knocked. The door creaked. Dawes felt his stomach begin to unsettle, his heart race quicken just a smidge, and his palms start to sweat. Why he felt uneasy? He didn’t know.
He gave the front door a small push, and it opened. Dawes waited to see if the eerie screech brought someone over to the entrance. No one came. Sara was often forgetful, and Tobias would never be in the right mind to notice these things. Dawes took a deep breath and stepped through the door.
“Tobias? Sara? Girls? It’s me, Uncle Mason.”
Silence.
“Tobias? It’s Sheriff Dawes.”
Nothing.
Dawes shook his head and entered the house. He knew this was wrong from a police standpoint, but to a concerned, old family friend, this was necessary. His body was tense, something felt off, but he couldn’t quite place it. Perhaps it was the stillness. Or the near silence. The only sounds heard throughout the house were the groans it made with each of his steps. Dawes worried he’d break a board at any moment.
Everything was nicely kept. Tobias liked a clean house, so Sara made sure there was nothing out of place. It would look like any ordinary home to most people but stay here for some time and you would see there were some oddities to it. Lighting was sparse. Almost all the light came from the windows, and the family only had a few electric lamps around. Dawes knew they kept a lot of candles around for the nighttime. The girls would pretend they were searching for ghosts around the house or that they were poor servants looking for a snack.
The family didn’t keep any mirrors. Tobias once said something about keeping the family modest or maybe not raising vain children during an annual barbeque. Dawes didn’t pay much attention to Tobias’ ramblings about how to raise a family.
There weren’t many personal items around the house. Dawes could count the number of family photos hung up on two hands. Even then, Tobias was only in a few. He hated being in photos, which Dawes couldn’t hold against him. He himself begrudgingly sat through several photos with Sara and the girls, but it made them happy.
Dawes stopped at the photo before the stairwell. It was at last year’s summer barbecue.
Tobias was at the grill with a few other fathers. The girls were running around, playing fairies with the other kids. Most of the police force’s families were there, enjoying the last days of warmth before the real fall weather kicked in. Dawes remembered he was sitting on the bench, talking to the soon-to-be Officer Parks. Sara was gossiping with the other moms when she excused herself.
Dawes could’ve sworn he saw a tear roll down her face. Or maybe it was the way her face contorted that tugged at his heart. Either way, he followed her into the kitchen.
“Sara?”
She jumped and dropped the paper plates.
“Oh, Uncle Mason, it’s just you,” she said, taking a breath. She stooped down to pick up the plates; Dawes reached down to help.
“Didn’t mean to startle you. Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just the heat was getting to me for a second.”
“Do you need to lie down? I’ll get you some water.”
“No, you don’t need to worry about me, even if Dad ordered you to,” she reassured him. She reached out and placed a hand on his. Dawes nodded solemnly.
“I know… it’s his birthday. We didn’t mean to plan it that way, it sort of just happened.”
“I know you guys didn’t. Though I think it’s nice. He would’ve liked the celebration.”
“He did like barbeques,” Dawes chuckled.
“Dad loved barbeques. He would spend weeks planning them. He made sure everyone could make it.”
Dawes leaned on the counter, recalling those days when his partner would stare at a calendar, searching for the perfect day to host the summer picnic. Tom wanted everyone to be there, even outsiders. Dawes was never sure why.
“He wanted everyone to join in,” Sara said quietly. Her arms were crossed, and she looked at the tiled floor. Dawes wasn’t sure what to say.
“He was… very trusting,” Dawes frowned, “You’re the same way.”
Sara rolled her eyes and shook her head. Her eyes were glistening a little.
“Tobias really is nice. Even if you don’t think so. I know it’s because you don’t really approve of him,” Sara said, “like you do any outsiders”
She nearly whispered that last part.
“Now that’s not true. I like some outsiders. We just… made a mistake with one.”
“But that one scarred you for life,” Sara huffed, “What about Park? You hardly trust him. I overheard you telling your detectives you’d come up with a way to fail him or something like that. Said he didn’t know the town well enough.”
Dawes grumbled.
“You know what I think about outsiders. They just don’t know our rules.”
“‘It’s a small town, and we take care of our own. For better or for worse,’” Sara recited the police forces’ motto.
“For better, for worse. Outsiders don’t get that.”
“Not everyone needs to, Uncle Mason. Yeah, we look out for each other, but what small town doesn’t?”
Dawes’ jaw clenched. He hadn’t looked out for Tom when he needed him most. He shook his head and turned his attention back to Sara.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice you changing the subject,” he said.
“I know, I know. But really, Uncle Mason. He’s a good man. He’s not like him,” Sara took a breath, “I love Tobias, I do. And he loves me. Not every outsider is evil.”
Dawes sighed and nodded, “Alright, Sara. I just worry, okay?”
“Okay”
Later that evening, Dawes was escorting Detective Ryder, who had a few too many drinks, back home. He got into the car and looked in his rearview mirror. Sara and Tobias were in their car; it looked like an intense argument. Tobias’ hands frantically waving at empty air. Nothing to Dawes that seemed like a hand ready to slap her, shake her, harm her. Every couple has their fights, just trust her, he thought to himself. Ryder opened the car door and vomited out the side.
“Okay, Ryder, let’s get you home,” Dawes relented. When he looked back, Tobias was holding Sara lovingly in his arms. Maybe everything will be alright.
Dawes noticed that Tobias never learned the rule. He never quite understood what the motto meant, “for better, for worse.” Even in his marriage. Dawes noticed Sara trying her hardest to please Tobias. He watched her berate herself under her breath whenever Tobias mentioned something was wrong with her food or her parenting or her cleaning. Dawes chalked it up to regular marriage troubles since the two had been seen snapping at each other in public before. Nothing ever got too heated.
Dawes relaxed his jaw and unclenched his fists. He turned away from the photo. A flash of orange caught his eye upstairs.
“Leo, Leo,” Dawes gently called to the Marshall’s somewhat domesticated cat. He headed upstairs. Dawes leaned down and looked around for the orange tabby. He spotted Leo’s tail brush the door that led into Rose’s bedroom. He walked in carefully, hating the idea of walking into a person’s room without permission, especially his niece’s room. He found Leo sat on Rose’s carefully made bed. He reached out to pet him but received a hiss in return.
“Alright, Leo. I’ll leave you be,” Dawes relented. He looked around. As he took in the details of the room, he began noticing that things were off. He felt his heart pounding, getting faster with every new piece of information crossing his vision.
Rose’s closet was wide open, revealing it to be completely empty. He looked at the beige shag carpeted floor beneath him. Her stuffed animals and colorful blocks, usually scattered around, were nowhere to be seen. Dawes began scrambling throughout the room, looking for a sign. Leo jumped off the bed and ran in terror at the sudden movement. He ripped open the drawers of her dresser to find them all empty, save for a few items of clothing that no longer fit her. What about Noelle? Dawes dashed into the older sister’s room only to find the exact same thing. Most of her clothes and toys were missing.
Dawes fell to his knees, out of breath, his mind racing. Where were my girls? Where could they have gone? Sara wouldn’t have just taken them to see other family without mentioning something. She wouldn’t have taken all of their things.Unless…
Dawes dashed downstairs. In his hurry, he missed the second to last step and slipped. The fall knocked the wind out of him. He laid on the floor for a moment, struggling to catch his breath. He gasped for a moment or two. Although he had stopped moving, his mind continued to flurry with questions. Where have my girls gone? Why did Sara take them away? He needed answers. He managed to cry out, “Sara? Tobias? Girls?”
Silence.
His head fell back onto the hardwood floor. Dawes jerked away from a sudden brush against his right arm. An orange tail flicked above his face. Leo meowed and rubbed his head on Dawes’ closed fist. Dawes chuckled despite the circumstances. Maybe he was in shock. He caught his breath; his heartbeat miraculously slowed down.
“Oh, so now you’re friendly.”
Dawes took a deep breath and slowly brought himself up to his feet. He gritted his teeth and stood; his forearm braced against the wall. Leo brushed up against his leg and headed to the open door.
“Enjoy your freedom. Try not to get eaten, there’s a wild animal out there,” Dawes warned. He turned his attention to the rest of the house. There could be some clues to where the girls had gone. He checked the fridge door. All he found were the simple crayon drawings the Rose and Noelle made of the family and a few notes for groceries, emergency phone numbers. Nothing out of the ordinary here.
He looked inside the pantry because you could never be too thorough. Some foods were gone, mostly the girls’ favorite snacks. There, he found the door frame where the girls would mark their heights. He ran a finger over the latest mark. Noelle was 4’1” and Rose was 3’5” now, but Dawes knew that wouldn’t last long. Whenever Dawes visited the Marshalls, he could’ve sworn they had gotten taller.
He closed the pantry and looked around the kitchen. The knife block caught his eye. A knife was missing from one of the slots. That’s not reassuring. He opened the dishwasher only to find it empty as well. Now he was even more uneasy. Why would someone need a knife? From what he could see, there were yet to be signs of a struggle. Nothing to suggest something violent had taken place.
I trusted her judgement, his thoughts echoed in his mind. Dawes shook his head, trying to regain focus.
“Okay, the girls’ things are gone, there’s a knife missing…”
Perhaps he was being paranoid, a side effect of his job. Yet he couldn’t shake this eerie feeling. He felt smothered by the home’s emptiness, from the absence of life within these walls. There must be something he was missing. Something to point him in any direction. He found the landline. There were several messages left. His finger hovered the play button.
This is a complete invasion of privacy. If this were any other officer, I’d fire them on the spot.
He pressed play.
The first two messages were from a few days ago. They were reminders about scheduled playdates for Rose and Noelle. He heard their friends playing in the background or asking for attention from their occupied mother. The next message was from the neighbor, the Watsons. They were just checking up on them; they heard howling the night before. Then there was a fourth one.
“Sara? Are you there?”
It was Tobias. A very drunk sounding Tobias. Dawes’ fist began balling up once more.
“Saraaa,” he sang out, “I need you… I need you to come pick me up.”
There was silence, but the message hadn’t ended yet.
“Sara? Sara? You bitch, c’mon. I can’t drive. You don’t want me to drive back. You better not make me drive back. Samuel’s trying to get my keys, okay? I just really need you to come pick me up. You know what happens if you don’t do what I say. Do you want to spend another night in the basement? Sara? I know you’re there! I know you can hear me! Pick up the goddamned phone, you –”
Dawes heard enough. His jaw was clenched, and his fists were now white. It wasn’t evidence, but perhaps it was enough to warrant some kind of investigation. He rehearsed the proposed scenario in his head. Tobias came home, drunk and angry. Frightened, Sara took the kids and ran off, taking the knife with her for protection. Sara needed to be found so that she could sign a restraining order against Tobias and to ensure her and the girls’ safety. Would the detectives believe me? Or would they think I’m too close to this to see things clearly?
Why hadn’t I seen this sooner? His head spun, but he needed to call this in.
Dawes headed out to his car to radio the station, closing the door behind him. He moved slowly on the uneven gravel driveway. He still felt unsteady from the fall, probably had a few bruises down his back. Even though he was lucky it wasn’t worse, he didn’t feel like it was. He got into the car and radioed the station.
“Sheriff, did you reach the Marshalls?”
“Park… No, something doesn’t sit right with me here. I need you to send a couple of units to the house. Sara and the girls are missing. The girls’ clothes and toys are gone, as well as Sara’s car.”
“Yes, sir. Oh, and an update on the hunters. They still haven’t caught the animal.”
“Alright, thank you, Park. You should head out with them, keep me updated.”
“I will, sir. I’ll send units over now.”
Dawes hung up and looked back at the house. Units will be over soon. Leo would run off. He hated strangers. Perhaps Leo should come with me for now, just until the girls get back. He got out of the car and headed back inside.
“Leo? Leo, where’d you go you mangy stray,” he called out.
Dawes stopped in the foyer, searching for the family pet. His eyes wandered to the folded flag and badge hanging up on the wall. He walked up to it. The glass reflected the glistening eyes of an aged man in distress. He hated looking at this part of the house. He could never bring himself to do it.
“I’m so sorry, Tom,” Dawes choked up, “I failed you… twice now.”
The convenience store on 3rd street had been robbed at gunpoint. Dawes and his partner, Tom Odell, got the call. They raced over, sirens blaring. The shop owner ran out of his store, unharmed. He pointed frantically in the direction of the woods, “Over there, over there! He ran that way!”
Dawes and Odell ran into the dense forest. Dawes drew his gun and flashlight. He scanned the area, but the shadows played tricks on him. He knew he had to be careful, or he’d misfire. He searched around for Odell.
“Tom, Tom? We should stick together,” Dawes called out to his partner, but Odell had already gone deeper into the forest, “Dammit, Tom.”
That’s when he heard the gunshot.
Dawes ran towards the sound. He felt nothing but his feet hitting the ground.
“Tom? Tom!?”
He found a man standing with his back against a tree, a gun in hand. Dawes recognized him, Bailey Turner, the young man who had just recently moved to town. An outsider. Turner lifted his gun and Dawes froze. Although his gun was right at his side, he couldn’t move his arm.
This is it.
Dawes then felt arms wrap around him and heard a second gunshot. His head hit the ground, and he blacked out.
He woke up with officers surrounding him. None of them could look him in the eye. Some had tears in their eyes, and some had their tears already fallen.
Dawes sat up, his head spinning, “Wh-What happened? What’s going on?”
“We’re sorry, Mason.”
He didn’t know who told him, but he recalled a distant voice telling him Odell was gone, bled out from a gunshot wound. An officer tackled Turner before he could get to Dawes. That bullet was meant for him, and he lived with that fact, that thought, that heaviness every day. He told himself, if he couldn’t protect Tom, he could at least take care of those he left behind.
Now here he was, unsure where Sara, Rose, and Noelle had gone. All he knew was that a knife was gone, the girl’s things were gone, a drunk Tobias had left an angry message, and he was gone, too. He stood in front of the folded flag, tears rolling down his cheeks into his graying beard. Soon the units would be here, and the officers could help him look for more evidence. All he could do was get Leo and wait.
He walked around the first floor of the house and then checked upstairs. He found Leo sitting on the windowsill that faced the back of the house, towards the forest.
“There you are. You’re coming with me for a little bit,” Dawes reached his arms out to pick up Leo when he glanced through the window. Time stood still for just a moment.
His aged eyes couldn’t quite make out who was out there, but he could tell that there was someone sitting up against the large, twisted oak tree that was older than Sara, nearly as old as him. What he could make out were the dark reds that bloomed onto their shirt. He ran and time began again.
His legs went numb. He scrambled down the stairs and stumbled through the gravel. Oh god, oh god, please don’t let it be her. His heart pounded. Blood roared in his ears so loudly, he could barely hear his own screams.
“Sara! Sara!”
He didn’t know for sure if it was her. He wasn’t sure if he wanted it to be or not. He stopped in his tracks when he came upon the figure he spotted from the window.
“Tobias?”
His light blue button up was adorned with three prominent bloodstains. He was pale and he had trouble keeping his eyes open. His right fist was bloodied and bruised. Even in the sorry state he was in, he still had the energy to heckle Dawes.
“Uncle Mason,” Tobias laughed, a trail of blood and spit trickled down from the side of his mouth, “You came.”
“Tobias, where are they? What happened?”
Dawes knelt down beside Tobias and put pressure on the wounds using his sheriff’s jacket. Tobias continued his blood loss induced rant instead of giving him answers.
“You wouldn’t believe it, Mason. She… she stabbed me, Mason. That bitch stabbed me and then left me out here. She fucking left me for dead, Mason, for the wolves!”
“Stabbed you… Why? What did you do, Tobias?”
“What did I do? What did I do?! Who cares? I got drunk, and I was angry… What did I do… Maybe I got too heated. Maybe I scared the girls. Maybe I pushed her a bit too roughly. But she lured me out here and stabbed me. She stabbed me, Mason,” Tobias began sobbing pitifully, “All because I hit her one time.”
Hit her? Scared the girls? Dawes got up and took a step back.
“No, no, Mason what are you doing? I need help,” Tobias pleaded.
“You hit her,” Dawes echoed flatly.
“And I’ll never do it again, Mason. I-I-I never hurt Sara before this, you know me. You know I wouldn’t. I’m so sorry, it’ll never happen again. Never again. I learned my lesson, please, just help me. Help me, please. I’m sorry, I promise,” Tobias began rambling on incoherently. More about how sorry he was, how he’d never do it again, but Dawes could barely hear him.
It’s happened again. I failed, and someone got hurt. Again.
Time slowed once more. Dawes’ hands began moving on their own. It was as if his body went through the motions by itself. A small click caused Tobias to bring his head up and look at Dawes.
“No, no, no, Dawes, Dawes. What are you doing? What are you doing? Please, please, please, you don’t have to do this,” Tobias begged. He tried to put his hands up. Sirens wailed in the distance, coming closer every second.
Dawes wasn’t sure what he was doing. He couldn’t protect Tom, and he couldn’t see that Sara was hurting. And now he had a choice. He whispered to himself with less certainty, “For better, for worse… We look out for our own.”
Far up in the northern woods, a gunshot rang out, cutting through the afternoon silence. Park and the hunters crowded around the fresh corpse of a coyote thought to be the culprit behind the slaughter of the Watson’s chickens.
Park sighed, “Good work, guys. He won’t be bothering anyone else.”
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