Jeremy read the news every morning
as he ate his breakfast and for the last three months he had heard about
multiple abductions of teenage girls in the large city to the north. It was
when he heard about the twentieth abduction that he could feel anger building
up within him, disappointed that there was nothing he could do to intervene and
protect the young and innocent. “Hmm, if I remember correctly, a large white
van has been seen at the location of every abduction,” he said to himself, “I
need to watch for a large white van anytime I travel into the big city.”
He
finished his breakfast, wrote himself a note to remind himself to watch for the
van, placed it on the passenger seat in his car, and prayed that the
perpetrator would be caught and imprisoned. The next three weeks passed and it
wasn’t until the end of the third week that he saw a large white van lying
sideways in the ditch alongside the highway. Stopping his vehicle a safe
distance from the damaged van, he placed a call to 911 that a large white van
was lying in the ditch alongside the highway. He then waited until the police
arrived; he climbed out of his car and had a brief conversation with one of the
police officers.
Jeremy
then returned to his car, took several deep breathes and hoped that the driver
of his van was the one guilty of the abductions. He watched and waited and
eventually saw a very short, very fat, and heavily tattooed man pulled out of
the van, and placed in the back of the police car. “Phew, we can only hope,” he
thought, “I guess I’ll continue listening to the news and see what develops
from this.”
As
the police car drove away from the site of the accident, he pulled out and
continued his drive into the city to make a quick stop at the grocery store. About
thirty minutes later, he began his drive home, and saw that the van had been
removed from the ditch and normal traffic had resumed. He arrived at home and
felt like he had contributed to the improvement of society and hopefully
assisted in the removal of a dangerous criminal from their area.
One
full week passed and Jeremy heard that the one responsible for the abductions
had been arrested and incarcerated. He also learned that the police sent a CSI
team to his home and discovered twenty shallow graves which contained the
bodies of those who had been abducted. “Oh, glory to God,” Jeremy said out
loud, “now their families have an answer about the final state of their loved
ones.”
Jeremy
became involved in multiple conversations about the abductions, the discovery
of the bodies, and possible motivation for someone to commit such heinous
crimes. Two full weeks after the bodies had been exhumed from the property, the
CSI team learned that the young girls had been abused and their hearts had been
removed and stored in several large glass jars in a garden shed on his
property.
Disgusted
and sickened at the suffering these young girls had undergone, Jeremy could not
wrap his head around someone committing crimes like this against people who
were weak and innocent. After three months in county jail, the short,
overweight, and heavily tattooed man was found guilty of his crimes and was
sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Jeremy
breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that he had placed that call to 911, and thankful
that the community would be at rest now that this horrible criminal had been
found, arrested, and imprisoned. “Well, we all know that crime doesn’t simply
stop when one criminal is removed from society, but unfortunately crime will
continue and we can only hope that no more abductions will take place,” he said
to himself.
Jeremy
continued reading the news every morning and was thankful to hear that nothing
horrible or heinous was happening in the city to the north. “Alright, Jeremy,
you’ve done a good thing,” he thought, “I cannot imagine the pain, loss, and
suffering the parents of those girls are enduring right now.” The thought
occurred to him if the short, overweight, and heavily tattooed man was alone or
if he had a family that was depending on him for their needs. “You know, let’s
look up the address of that property, see where it exactly is, and see if it
goes up for sale. I really hope that he was alone in this horrible criminal
activity, if he had a wife and children who were depending on him, they will be
left in a bad spot right now.”
The
CSI team completed their exhaustive search of the property, found nothing else
that would assist them in the investigation, and departed from the property.
One week later, Jeremy saw that the house and the land upon which it sat was
now for sale. “I cannot imagine how anyone would be interested in buying a
house and property that formerly held the corpses of multiple people,” he
thought, “this will be interesting to see how quickly it sells or if it sells
at all.”
Much
to Jeremy’s surprise, the house and land sold after being on the market for
three months. One month after the house sold, he drove by to see the property,
and who currently lived in it. Three years after the short, overweight, and
heavily tattooed man entered prison, Jeremy learned that his cellmate beat him
to death because of the nature of his crimes against innocent people. “May God
have mercy on his soul,” Jeremy thought.
He
continued to read the news, learned the details of the short, overweight, and
heavily tattooed man’s funeral. “You know what, I think I’ll attend that
funeral and see if anyone else attends or if he has family who will be there,”
he said. Jeremy adjusted his schedule, arrived at the funeral home and saw a
middle-aged woman with four children sitting alone and crying. “Wow, this is a
horrible scene,” he thought. “Imagine having no one in your life other than
your immediate family who would care enough to attend your funeral.”
The
casket was carried to the hearse and as Jeremy waited a few minutes, he was
approached by the middle-aged woman and her four children. She gave him a hug,
thanked him for attending the funeral, and asked him how he knew the departed.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” he said, “I did not know the man, I have never met him and I
thought it was the right thing to do to attend his funeral and pray for his
departed soul.”
The
hearse, the woman and her children in their car, and Jeremy in his car drove to
the cemetery and watched as the pine box was lowered into the ground. Feeling
sad for the deceased, and for his wife and children as they were now alone with
no means of income. He offered the woman a handful of cash and condolences for
her loss and that she and her children would be safe and provided for.
The
six of them departed in their vehicles, leaving Jeremy feeling empty and
depressed at such a sad situation. “Well, everyone makes choices in life and
often times those choices have negative consequences,” he thought. “I wonder
what will happen to her and her children?” He drove home, took a shower, ate
lunch, and thought through everything that had happened that morning at the
funeral home and at the cemetery. “Phew, that was rough,” he thought,
“thankfully I have many people who know me, love me, and would be sad if and
when I depart for eternity. Thankfully that won’t be for a very long time, I am
sure that I’ll have at least forty more years before I am lowered into the
ground.”