Found (Patreon)

I found this story on an old laptop. The name of the story is "Found", so it's not just me describing it. Unfortunately it is not finished and I left myself a cliffhanger. I have no idea where I was going with this, and this feels a bit like deja vu for me as if the story exists fully written somewhere. Perhaps I did publish it and forgot about it, but if I didn't it makes sense that I feel like I did, since at one point I had the entire story in draft form in my head. I can recall a few things. I know James will get caught shoplifting, and the police will let him off with a warning. I have some vague feeling that the parents were going to behave differently and that would play some role in how the story ends.

It was 51 hours since the search had begun when Mrs. Cobb got the call. They had found him! Somewhere out in one of the forest areas outside of town he had been found confused and wandering aimlessly, as if drunk. His hands had been tied together behind his back, so there was no question of foul play, but at that moment the only thing that mattered was that James was found and alive.

Mr. and Mrs. Cobb rushed to Greenfield hospital, where they had taken him, and met officer Brown at the entrance. He explained that James had acted erratically on the way to the hospital, mostly confused and docile, but with outbursts of rude language and outright aggression. He'd asked if there were any family history of mental illness, which there wasn't. He'd asked if James had any outbursts or antisocial tendencies, if ever so small, which again they couldn't think of. The rushed tox screen showed a wide range of drugs in his blood, not just the ecstasy and weed kind, but more medical ones as well. It was impossible to untangle at this point what was what, and if the hormones were caused by the stress the body was under, or if they too had been injected.

The theory of the crime, Brown explained, was possibly straight forward. Young boy on his way home from school is kidnapped, drugged and vandalized, and then dumped in the forest outside of town. Who, how, and why was now up to honest police work, but he insisted that they put their minds on rehabilitating James. He would likely need support after such a traumatic experience.

Mr. and Mrs. Cobb were on the verge of exploding. There was a time for all of this, important as it was, but right now they wanted nothing more than to hug their son and tell him everything would be all right. Did he say vandalize? Officer Brown looked pained. James wasn't found wearing his school uniform, and there had been things done to him. A nurse and a forensic technician were just wrapping up a full documentation.

Anxious they opened the door to Jame's patient room. 

"Fucking about time. We're leaving, right? Can't stand this fucking boring room, and it's no smoking everywhere. Didn't we leave fucking Europe already to get rid of shit like that?"

They've seen him in athletic attire before, of course, not that he partook much, but this was different somehow. Dirty, worn sweatshirt with matching trousers, sneakers and white socks pulled over the lower ends of the trouser legs. Hair shaved down to a few millimeters, piercings in both ears, and a tattoo snaking up the neck. But it was the whole demeanor that was shocking. The stance, the look. Both rude and dismissive. Even his accent had changed. They've never seen anything like that from him before.

The greater area police had dispatched a trauma psychologist who explained that James was still under the influence of a cocktail of drugs, but there would likely be some changes after events like these. She recommended that James stayed in the hospital at least until all drugs were out of his system, and another 24-48 hours for counseling. They would need to get a statement as soon as possible to aid in finding the perpetrator as well.

11 hours later James was consistently lucid, although seemingly stuck in this new persona, and threatened to break out if his parents didn't drive him home. It was concluded that a familiar environment was the best move forward. While he refused to put on any other of his clothes, he agreed to shop for new ones if he got to chose.

The first few weeks the Cobbs were just happy James was home with them. As long as he was left to his own he was behaving reasonably. He was taking more space and attention, even when acting indifferent. The tracksuit he chose kept making noises for every move and made a distinct swish-swish sound whenever he walked anywhere. He was sitting wider, eating louder, fart and burp as he pleased, and almost subconscoiusly be obnoxious. You could hold a conversation with him though, as long as you kept to trivial things. What would like for dinner? What's your favorite movie? But as soon as you started talking about what had happened, how he felt, if he needed any kind of support, he turned defensive, rude, or destructive. Telling them to piss off, shouting, slamming doors, and in once instance hurling his plate with fish sticks and mash into the kitchen wall.

Brown had a theory of neurological damage and wanted to run tests like MRI, but James had made it abundantly clear he would take no part in anything involving the hospital or "the pigs". He didn't take any part in school either but instead spent his days around town together with kids from the estate. Mrs. Cobb was of the opinion that he could take however much time he needed to sort himself out. Mr. Cobb thought there needed to be some boundaries and cut off James' supply of cigarettes. James smokes just as much, if not more, after that, and when asked by Mrs. Cobb he flatly told her he nicked them from the store.

The leads quickly dried up. There were no witnesses of the actual kidnapping, forensic evidence from the scene James was found, his restraints, and his clothes went nowhere, and with no useful information from James himself the investigation winded down. There was some degree of unease around the case. It wasn't a crime of passion, opportunity, or random events. There were no indications the perpetrator personally knew the victim. Everything told them this wasn't a one-time incident. The only thing they could do was keep the files and hope he made a mistake next time.

James' condition deteriorated over the next few months,