Broken Heroes - Chapter 1 {Cobra Starship, The Academy Is...}
William Beckett had been missing for three months; gone, off the record with no traces, no leads concerning his disappearance, and then, one day, without any warning, he was back. Not back at work, not back at his usual haunts, just…back. The hunt for him had almost been closed, nearly dismissed and William had been a couple of weeks from presumed dead by those who still held on to even a glimmer of hope, people like Gabe Saporta. Until Gabe got a call - got the call that changed everything. Again.
“Hello?” Gabe answered the phone, his voice tired and hollow, tone mimicking the way he felt and looked. William had been his best friend and even though he hadn’t known William the longest by any stretch of the imagination, he cared for William more than almost anyone who knew him. Needless to say, after Sisky and William’s direct family, it was Gabe who was hit hardest by the disappearance and, in the end, it was Gabe who had filed the missing persons report.
“Gabe, it’s Sisky.”
“I know.” Gabe nodded, automatically recognizing the voice.
“They found William.”
“What?” Gabe nearly dropped the phone, his response barely the ghost of a whisper, his jaw falling and the color draining from his face. “Where? How? When? Is he alive? Is he ok?”
“Slow down.” Sisky’s voice was calm, quiet and patient. He didn’t sound excited, and that scared Gabe. “One question at a time.”
“Is he alive?” Gabe went with the most important question on his list, the one that would make all of the others either matter or seem indifferent, depending on the response.
“Yes.” Sisky’s words permitted Gabe a sigh of relief, and he lay back on his bed.
“Where did they find him?” Gabe asked.
“It’s twisted.” Sisky paused. “They found him in fucking New Mexico.”
“Tell me the whole story, Adam.” Gabe could tell that things were going unsaid - after all, New Mexico itself wasn’t as twisted as Sisky had made things seem.
“He was in a brothel, Gabe. The report said that police found him in a routine bust…it was a lucky fucking break, really, but it wasn’t good. I mean it was good that they found him, but not how they found him.”
“What was it like?” Gabe asked, concerned and worried for his friend.
“Apparently they had kept him one fucking room - they kept all of their ‘employees’ in solitary rooms with one wrist attached to a long chain so that they could reach the bed, the bathroom and such but not get out.”
“Oh my god…” Gabe gulped, trying hard not to picture William in the situation. “And…how is he?”
“I haven’t seen him yet, they just got him back to New York about an hour ago, that’s when they called me, up until then only his family knew. From what I’ve heard, he’s in pretty bad shape - I mean physically he’s going to be fine, but he’s even more underweight than he was before, he’s exhausted and he has a lot of, well, bruises and injuries from, um…customers.” Sisky winced just saying the word and Gabe felt like throwing up just thinking about it. This was William, his William, his best friend, the boy that he had refused to give up hope on.
“And…mentally?” Gabe asked cautiously, not sure that he even wanted to hear the response.
“Not good.” Sisky shook his head. “He hasn’t said a fucking thing since they got him out. They said that he seems completely calm; no panic attacks, no screaming and no signs of hallucinations, but his mom said that he seems just...empty.”
“No.” Gabe shook his head. “Not William.”
“I don’t know, Gabe, really, I don’t.” Sisky bit his lip, trying not to cry as he spoke to Gabe. “Look, the label and his friends are being notified of his return, but they are limiting visitors pretty strictly.”
“How strictly?” Gabe asked.
“Mostly just his family - I can’t go.” Sisky paused. “But you can.”
“Wait, why me and not you?” Gabe asked, confused.
“Because you filed the missing persons report.” Sisky shrugged. “I don’t understand it, it’s some sort of technicality in everything, but apparently they mentioned you and William didn’t show any signs of objecting - then again, he’s not really showing signs of any emotion. They asked me to call you and let you know that if you so choose, you can go see him during normal visiting hours, which are ten to noon and four to seven.”
“Oh.” Gabe bit his lip. He wanted to see William, wanted to have proof for himself that his friend was alive, but he wasn’t sure that he could stand seeing William without his normal life, without his previous animation and visible creativity. “I - I’ll go this afternoon.” Gabe checked the clock. It was one in the afternoon, so he had a few hours to compose himself. It didn’t matter, he realized, if he didn’t want to see William. It wasn’t his choice, really. William was his beset friend and right now, he was scared, weak and alone; it was Gabe’s responsibility to be there for him, even if it wasn’t something that he wanted to do.
“You should,” Sisky nodded. “And…you know, when you’re done, will you tell me everything? I want to go see him but I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on anyone right now. His family has enough to deal with without me begging them for visitation rights.”
“Sisky, you know if you asked I’m sure they’d let you visit.”
“I know,” Sisky nodded. “I just don’t feel like it’s the right time to ask yet.”
“If you’re sure,” Gabe nodded. “I’ll tell you everything, I promise.”
“Thank you.” Sisky sounded grateful for Gabe’s promise. “And Gabe…be careful with him, ok? I want him back, I miss him.”
“I know, Sisky. I do too.”
“God, I thought that he was dead, Gabe.” Sisky sighed. “I’m not even sure that I deserve to see him - I gave up on him, almost everyone did; everyone but you.”
“Don’t beat yourself up.” Gabe shook his head, even though Sisky couldn’t see him. “It’s not in my nature to lose hope on anything or anyone and there were some times where even I was sure that I would never see him again.”
“Do me one more favor?” Sisky asked, his voice sounding pained.
“What?” Gabe questioned.
“Don’t tell him. Please, don’t tell him that I lost faith in him, don’t tell him that I thought he was dead; as much as I deserve whatever contempt he would feel towards that, I don’t think that I could handle it.”
“Don’t worry.” Gabe shook his head. “I won’t tell him anything like that.”
“Thank you. I have to go…I have to call the rest of the band, but Gabe, you take care - and don’t forget to report back.”
“I won’t forget. Thanks for the call.” There was no goodbye, just the clicking sound on the other end of the phone that let Gabe know Sisky was gone. With that, he dropped the phone and grabbed his pillow, pulling it close to his chest, trying as hard as he could to take in all of the information that he had received through the phone call.
William was back. He was alive, he wasn’t going to die, but he was broken and empty and Gabe didn’t know whether it would be worse for William’s body to be broken or his soul.