Official Statement

The change between the barrier and reality was much more obvious this time around. John was completely disoriented by the sudden change. A moment ago, he was in a tranquil world of isolation. Now, John found himself amongst a small group of his neighbors. He released a small sigh as he noticed that his sudden appearance was completely ignored. ‘Just like she said, no one even acknowledged me.’

There were three vehicles situated in front of the house, two of which were the standard Springfield police cruisers and the third was an all-black vehicle. His gaze shifted to the front of the house. At the bottom of the small porch stairs was yellow tape that had the words “POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS” on it in bold black lettering repeatedly. At the top stood a uniformed male officer, speaking to an attractive woman that was dressed casually with a police badge on her belt. Behind those two, flashes of cameras could be seen coming from the home’s entry.

His attention suddenly shifted when he heard the cries of a familiar woman coming from the side of the house. “Is there any news on my son yet? Please find my baby boy!” He looked over to see his distraught mother yelling at an officer.

He was initially wondering if he would be able to correctly portray the emotions, he wanted to sell his story. As he walked over to his crying mother, his feelings surged up. He’d almost died in some unknown barrier; if he had, there wouldn’t even have been a body to comfort his mother. “Mom, I'm right here,” John interrupted the officer’s attempt at reassuring the woman while doing his best to hold back his tears.

The moment the words left his mouth, his mother turned and looked at him with her tear stained face. “John! Thank god you’re ok, baby. I thought I lost you.” Brenda pulled him into a suffocating hug while she cried tears of joy into his shoulder. Sniffling, she asked, “Sweetie, where did you go? I had no idea what happened to you. I called you a bunch of times, but your phone wouldn’t connect. I was afraid something happened to you.”

His tears began to flow freely as he enjoyed his mother’s warmth. “I’m sorry to worry you, Mom. When I walked into Meadow’s house, I freaked out. I was panicking so much I couldn’t even call out for her.” His voice came out as a mousy whisper. “I wanted to search the house, Mom, but I was petrified, I could barely process anything. Luckily, I was functional enough to call 911.” He wrapped his arms around his mother to return her hug. “The operator was a woman named Sandra, she helped me calm down while I explained the situation. Afterwards I agreed to wait out here until the police showed up.”

John separated himself from his mother’s embrace and wiped his face off using the sleeve of his shirt. “After that everything was like a trance, I berated myself for being so pathetic. I began walking to clear my head and before I realized, I was sitting in the park staring at my reflection in the small stream.” He was apologizing in his heart for lying to his mother. He couldn’t tell her the truth about what really happened or his plans to look for Meadow himself. “I started walking back here a few minutes ago. When I heard you cry just now, I looked at my phone and realized it was flooded with notifications.”

Brenda’s tears had stopped flowing as she listened to John recount everything to her. She was still sniffling as she began to speak. “John, being afraid isn’t bad. You had no idea what was going on. You did the right thing, son.” Her expression shifted from one of care to the serious face she gave him when scolding him. “It was very irresponsible of you to not follow instructions and wait. You should have at least come home and explained everything to me. Instead I had to find out what happened when an officer came looking for you.”

John was about to respond when the officer Brenda flooded with questions decided it was a good time to interrupt the pair. “Ma’am, I’m glad that your son is alright. I’ve informed my colleagues of his safe return. We were hoping to get his statement now if that is alright with you.”

“Yes, of course. John, this is Officer Jones, he is the nice man that waited with me patiently while I asked him every 2 minutes if there was any news on you,” his mother quickly introduced the officer to him. “He needs to question you for the official record. Answer him truthfully so that he and his colleagues can find Meadow.” Phone already in hand she added, “While you do that, I’ll call your father and let him know that you’re safe so that he can calm down. Hopefully he hasn’t already bought a plane ticket to fly back.”

“Of course, Mom,” John gave a swift reply and shifted his gaze to the uniformed man before him. ‘Just keep calm, be as truthful as possible. I can’t let on that I’m lying in any way.’ He extended his hand to the officer and started talking. “Thank you for being there for my mother, Officer Jones. I’m sorry to have caused any trouble.”

Officer Jones reciprocated the handshake John offered him and responded, “Just doing my job. You should be more mindful next time, your mother was worried. Ok, shall we get started?” the man asked professionally. “Are you comfortable here or would you like to have a seat on the steps?”

“Here is fine, sir” John answered respectfully.

“Good,” the man pulled out a small notepad, ”walk me through everything.” John began to recount everything. The Gamer told the officer everything he just explained to his mother. Officer Jones asked a follow-up question once John finished, “Your mother informed me that you spoke with Ms. Clark this morning. Can you tell me when that was? It will help narrow down our working time frame.”

The question cut right into the heart of his story. John did a surprisingly good job keeping a straight face while thinking of how to handle his lie. ‘Fuck, of all the things the small lie I told Mom is my storiy’s weak point.’ His gaze shifted to his nearby mother on the phone. He quickly decided to go with the truth, it was what was best for the case. He nervously responded, “Well, Officer, that was a lie. I didn’t speak to Meadow this morning. The truth is I burned all my allowance to buy a new game. I lied to my mom to avoid getting scolded about my negligence. I planned to borrow money from Meadow, but you see how that ended.”

The Officer let out a small sigh and shook his head. “I’m not trying to give you a free pass on lying to your mother, but it sounds like if you were honest we might not have been involved until much later.” John felt relieved when he heard the man’s words. “With most missing cases, the sooner we get involved, the better our chances at finding the person. If you didn’t talk to Ms. Clark this morning, when was the last time you did?”

A small blush appeared on John’s face when he thought about the last time he saw the blonde tomboy. “Meadow was over at our house last night to celebrate my birthday. I walked her home around 9.”

“So, a bit less than twelve hours ago?” John gave a quick nod in response. “One last question, do you know if anybody had any sort of grudges with Ms. Clark?”

“I’m sorry, sir, as far as I know, Meadow was loved by everyone. We went to different schools, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you if she had any issues at school. She never told me about anyone bothering her.”

The man closed his book and gave John a pat on the shoulder. “Thanks for cooperating, we’ll do our best to bring your friend home safe and sound. Here’s my card, if anything comes to mind, don’t hesitate to call me. Go head home with your mother.” The officer left John and went into the house.

John walked over to where his mother was waiting, surprised at how easy it had been for him to lie to the officer. ‘I don’t know why I was so worried. That went a lot better than I expected.’