In The Silence, I Hear

Episode 4, A Day in the Park

** Warning this fictional story contains scenes of gun violence, physical and sexual assault, and human trafficking. **

Fredrick Appelton was stretched out on the lawn in the park; a cool summer breeze blew, he fell asleep. A red and white tartan patterned blanket was on the ground beneath him, and his lunch was in a carry case near him. It was his first trip to the neighborhood park. This park, near his new home in Archer, Arizona, a small town where he was sure he would be able to sleep and not be haunted by dark characters doing evil things. Two voices woke him in the blackness of the dream space where demons presented themselves. He frowned, sitting up. Normally his dreams come after a direct physical encounter with a person. He had not even met anyone yet in this new town. So who was it he was dreaming of?

In the dream, a male said, “look at that, who comes to a park alone and sleeps.”

“Think he’s homeless?” Another young male asked.

“Nah, his clothes are new and clean. Bet he is queer.” The first voice said.

Fredrick looked around, trying not to be noticeable. Soon he spotted them. Two guys in a truck in the parking lot. They were having a conversation now and not paying him much attention, so Fredrick watched. Reading lips, he caught some of the conversations.

“Ok, so the bus will pull in over there. Where… be?” the first man spoke.

“Over there on the bench in the shade of that tree.” The second one said.

“Good, I will be over there on that bench. When … bus … fire and keep … until they are all dead. Then,” the first man was speaking.

“Hey, look at queer boy; he is staring at us.” The second man said.

Fredrick stood, moved items off the blanket, and began to fold it. As he knelt to put things in his backpack, the two exited the truck and walked toward him. The first man was saying something. Fredrick watched them approach.

“I said, what are you staring at us for? Are you deaf or something? You look retarded just staring at me like that.”

Fredrick knew what was next. “I am deaf; I have to look at a person directly to know what they are saying. I read lips,” Then he remembered he had been staring at them in the truck. Ah, shit, he thought.

The faces of both the young men morphed into that face Fredrick had seen a million times. Disgust, confusion, pity, or hate. In this case, hate.

The second young man laughed, “Wow did you hear that? He looks and sounds retarded.”

“So, were you reading our lips just now? Is that why you were staring at us in the truck? Were you eavesdropping?” the first young man said. They appeared to be in their early twenties.

“No, that is too far away. I had just woken up and was trying to clear my mind. I just happened to be looking in that direction.”

“You sure you didn’t see us talking and decided to spy fagot,” The first man said, pushing Fredrick. The second young man laughed and kicked Fredrick’s lunch bag spilling the contents.

“Don’t touch me or my stuff; leave me alone,” Fredrick said, putting the items back in the bag.

The two kept talking even though Fredrick couldn’t see them.

“What are you going to do to stop me, queer,” the first young man said.

“He cain’t hear you unless he is watching your lips,” the second man said.

The first grabbed Fredrick, spun him around, and hit him. The second jumped in, kicking Fredrick in the side. Fredrick tried to back away from the two, but they continued. Another punch in the face, another kick. Fredrick fell and curled up, trying to protect his head.

“Hey, stop that; I am calling the police,” A young lady said. The man she was with was walking over toward them.

“Time to go, Joey,” the second man said to the first, reaching out and touching him.

Joey stopped punching Fredrick and looked around, Seeing the good Samaritan approach, the lady on the phone, and his friend pulling on his sleeve. He turned and made for the truck. As they got in the truck, the man reached Fredrick and knelt, unconscious and alive.

“Hum, so that’s what it feels like to be beaten unconscious,” Fredrick often spoke to himself in his dreams.

Fredrick knew he was unconscious. He also knew that he had been beaten to unconsciousness by a man named Joey and his friend Todd. As his dreams always go, the blackness was broken only by sound. In his sleep, he became blind rather than deaf. In his dream, the voices would tell him specifics that let him know who was speaking and what they were doing. Unfortunately, evil people doing evil things haunted the darkness of his sleep. The first time it happened, he discovered the horrific abuse his friend Jenn was suffering at the hands of her father. There had been many more since then. Fredrick’s entire basement was devoted to the mementos he collected from each evil being he cleansed from the world. He knew Joey and Todd were up to no good just from what he saw in the truck. They were pointing and speaking about attacking a bus and killing.

Joey and Todd drove along laughing about the fag they had just beat in the park.

“Where we going, Joey?” Todd asked.

“To the shack man. Beating that dude’s ass has me wound up. I need a chill and a bang.”

“Nice. Me too,” Todd agreed.

This dream was different, and Fredrick was uncomfortable. Even a bit unwell with the mix that was happening. First, the blaring music of the two men that attacked him. Then He could hear and feel the attention being given to his beaten body. Then suddenly, a blinding flash of light and an image like a Polaroid. The gravel pit along Rural Route 5, they were headed north. Then the ambulance pulled in and stopped, his body jostled about on the gurney, sliding glass doors open and close as they wheeled him into the ER.

“Which one you want, Todd? I’m feeling generous.”

“I’ll take the little blond one, Joey. Thanks.”

Another blinding flash of light and another image materialized a dirt road off RR5 and mile marker 342. A period of just Honky Tonk music. Finally, Joey turned off the truck, and the two men got out. Fredrick could hear their footsteps, a gravel path to where they were walking. Someone stuck his arm. It felt like an IV.

“Dang, those boys must have really screwed me up,” Fredrick said to himself in his dream.

“Oh crap, drugs.” Within the blackness of the dream, lightning flashed, his feet and hands went numb, and all was silent. The darkness encompassed him and then nothing.

Fredrick’s dream world returned to him as if waking from sleep. “Odd. Very odd,” he said to himself.

Someone was snoring; he knew he was still asleep because the blackness of his dream world was all he could see.

“No, no, no, please let me go; I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“You close your mouth, girl. If you beg for anything, you better be beggin for the opportunity to pleasure me. If it ain’t that, shut up.” Joey said, then the sound of a hand slapping something.

The woman cried. Joey must have slapped her.

“Here, take this. It will feel good.” Joey said.

“No, please, no more drugs; I’ll do what you say.” The young-sounding lady cried.

“I know, and I said take it. Unless you like more of this,” Joey said. Then, with a flash of light, another image materialized. It was the one Fredrick believed to be Joey, naked, standing over a woman, her face not visible. He held a pill in one hand; the other was closed in a fist. Another flash of light, another image fades into focus. A missing poster. Amber Redding, a young blond woman, age 17 Last seen on 15 May 2014.

Fredrick woke. His eyes snapped open, and he breathed in deep. The nurse who was checking in on him jumped back.

“Oh my god, you scared the living daylights out of me,” she said.

“Sorry.”

“Can you tell me your name?” The nurse said as she stepped through the privacy screen surrounding Fredrick. “Please inform Doctor Sanders that Patient 3a is awake. Then returned to the bedside.

“Fredrick Appleton,” he said.

“Do you know where you are?” The nurse asked. An elderly man entered the area and stepped to the bedside.

“I am in a hospital,” Fredrick watched as the nurse turned to the Doctor, looking concerned.

“Are you deaf?” the Doctor asked.

“Yes,”

Relief spread across the nurse’s face, and she smiled.

“Good, good, we are trying to determine the impact of your head trauma. I thought it was deafness that sets your speech apart from others but needed to make sure.” The Doctor said, making notes on Fredricks’s chart.

“How bad is it?” Fredrick asked.

“I have seen worse, but we always want to treat these things as if the worst has happened,” the Doctor said.

“Would you like a mirror? The nurse asked.

“Sure.”

The nurse handed a mirror to Fredrick. He took it and looked. Both eyes were blackened and swollen, his entire face seemed bruised.

“Wow, they really did a number on me, didn’t they?” He asked.

“Yes, they did. So we plan to keep you overnight, run another CT scan on you, and barring any signs of trouble, release you tomorrow,” Dr. Sanders said.

“Great,” Fredrick said.

“The police want to get a statement from you. Let Nurse Cline know when you feel up to it, and we will call them over.”

“Ok, actually, we should probably call them over right away. I remember something about the encounter. I think I should tell the police now.” Fredrick said.

“Ok, we will give them a call,” Dr. Sanders said, and he and Nurse Cline walked out.

Fredrick took a deep breath and excelled with some force through his nose. He did this several times, finding relief from the burning sensation in his nostrils. He closed his eyes.

In the darkness, he heard the sounds of physical abuse from Todd or Joey to the young lady, Amber. He started crying.

“WTF? Am I dream crying?” He asked himself. His entire body ached with a desire to jump up and find the two bastards. He had something special in his mind for these two.

A flash of light, an image appeared of the two men carrying duffel bags to a truck. The pitch-black surroundings of his dream space unfolded.

“Ok, we have an hour. You ready for this,” Joey asked.

“Absolutely, this will be hilarious. I hope there are some of them pretend ladies dressed all slutty like. I so want to put a hole in one of them,” Todd said.

Frack, it’s today; I need to wake up and get the cops. Fredrick said to himself.

“Then a Barbecue with the guys over at the house,” Joey said.

“Nice,” Todd replied.

Shit, Fredrick said to himself.

“Mr. Appleton, are you asleep? The police are here to talk to you,” Nurse Cline touched Fredrick’s arm. He woke.

“Mum, yes, I’m up,” he moaned a little the ache in his side throbbed.

“Where is the pain? I can get you something if you like.”

“Oh, it’s my side; I would like something, but not till I have finished with the police, please,” Fredrick said, looking around and seeing the two officers.

As the conversation started, progressed, and intensified. Fredrick found himself fighting the typical bias against the handicapped, the feigned difficulty in understanding his speech, and the disbelief that what he was reporting could happen in “this town.” Finally, he lost his temper.

“Look, Officers, I am telling you these two men are planning on killing people today at the park. I dare you to not do anything to prevent it. I promise I will tell everyone I can through every medium available that I told you. You now have twenty minutes to prevent it. I am through talking to you. Nurse!”

The two officers left. Nurse Cline came back.

“I need to make a phone call. Fredrick said then I would like some pain killers.”

The nurse brought the phone over to Fredrick and left to retrieve the medication. He dialed 911.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“Yes, there are two men in the park on 3rd Street by the community center. They have guns. I think they are targeting the LGBT event that is starting soon,” then he hung up, turned the ringer on the phone off, and laid back, hoping his actions would be good enough.

Nurse Cline returned and injected the narcotic into Fredrick’s IV. Lightning fired across his head; his hands and feet went numb; he leaned back, took a deep breath, and fell asleep. At the park, police rolled in; the entire force of the small town, seventeen officers in total, pulled into the park through every entrance the park had. The bus had just pulled in. Joey and Todd were about to act, but when the police pulled in, they decided to shoot at the police.

In the blackness of his dream, Fredrick heard the deaths of Joey and Todd. Then, the blackness drifted into silence.

To Be Continued

Up next, Episode 5 Amber Redding and Sally.

Find Episode 3 here.

© 2022, T. Mark Mangum

I am T.Mark Mangum. From an early age, I was hooked, addicted to the imagined, unfathomable worlds of Star Wars, Star Trek, Conan, the Lord of the Rings, and many others. I love writing fiction tales. I love writing in multiple genres. However, my favorites are Sci-fi and Fantasy fiction. I am a father of six; we have two cats and two dogs. Tabletop gaming is a passion.

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