Hollow World (3 page)

This second day brought the Walkers to Charlie and Meghan’s favorite park: EPCOT Center. Although the park officially dropped the ‘Center’ in the mid-nineties and became Epcot, Charlie still used its original name. Meghan, having only started coming to Walt Disney World after meeting Charlie, still didn’t quite get why her husband felt the need to call it EPCOT Center. Similarly, she didn’t fully understand why he spoke of “going to MGM Studios” when the park is now called Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Charlie laughed it off every time the question came up but held firm to his roots, leaving his terminology unchanged.

In the mid-afternoon, when the oppressive-yet-welcoming Floridian sun had passed the halfway point of its journey around this side of our planet, the Walkers found themselves outside The Seas with Nemo & Friends. The girls were eager to ride, but Charlie had indulged in one too many free samples of obscure foreign sodas from Club Cool—smartly avoiding the infamous Beverly—and he found the need to excuse himself in favor of a trip to the nearest restroom. Meghan and the girls agreed to meet him at the nearby benches after their ride. Waving goodbye, he headed off to the nearest facilities.

Feeling much better after his little pit stop, Charlie had a few extra minutes to explore while he waited for his family to finish the ride. He decided to take a stroll into a nearby shop called Mouse Gear—his personal favorite in all of Walt Disney World. Lazily wandering through the near-endless racks of merchandise, he was thankful that he had set a strict budget or he’d have taken half of the store home with him. Checking his watch, he was surprised to learn that he’d been hypnotized by the sights and sounds of the store for much longer than he’d planned; Meghan and the girls were surely waiting for him outside the ride.

Quickening his pace, he left the store empty-handed and made it back to the large area near The Seas’ entrance and exit. This being the end of March and the week that most young children had off school, the parks were extremely crowded. The grounds in front of the attraction and the attached Coral Reef Restaurant were no exception. Placing a hand to his forehead to shade his eyes from the sun, he scanned the area to no avail. Once he saw a flash of blonde and mistook it for Meghan but, upon closer inspection, he realized the golden curls belonged to a stranger.

Charlie hadn’t checked the wait time for the ride before he’d parted ways with his family, but knew from past experience that there was never much of a crowd—and when there was, it moved along swiftly. He’d been gone for a half-hour; more time than he’d intended. Chalking it up to an unexpectedly long line, he sat on the bench on which he was supposed to meet his family and pulled out his phone to send Meghan a text message.

How’s everything going in there? Long wait?

After sending the text, he waited on the bench for another five minutes, checking his phone now and again. With no sign of his family and no reply to his text, Charlie started to become concerned.

Leaving the bench, Charlie made his way to the exit of the ride, finding himself inside an aquatic-themed store. The place was more crowded than he’d ever seen; finding the girls would not be easy.

Traversing the first floor to no avail, Charlie moved on to the second floor, knowing there was a long tunnel with a cul-de-sac at the end. There were never many people in this area, even though it afforded the best views of the aquarium. He remembered this as being a favorite spot of Violet’s, who could spend countless hours with her face pressed to the glass, searching for sharks and trying to snap pictures of them with her mother’s phone.

Charlie’s instincts told him not to worry—that he would find his family—and he was relieved to see flashes of light coming from the far side of the central pillar at the end of the hallway. He was sure that it was Violet being Violet and he relaxed, making his way more casually along the pathway, occasionally stopping to admire the sea life lazily gliding past.

Making his way around the right side of the pillar, he spotted Violet, furiously snapping pictures, with Katie asking if she could have a turn with the phone. Meghan was nowhere in sight, but the area was not very large, so he assumed that she was simply on the far side admiring the sights. Violet and Katie had yet to notice Charlie as he strolled up behind them, enraptured as they were by these creatures of the deep. All of a sudden, Charlie had that feeling in his chest that he occasionally experienced while on duty—that instinct that told him something was not quite right. The only people he’d seen down this entire stretch of hallway and its resulting cul-de-sac were his children. Even though people didn’t often come this way, he’d expected there to at least be someone—anyone—but it remained empty save for the girls.

When he rounded the curve, he saw Meghan where he’d assumed she would be, but she was not alone. She had her back turned to Charlie and the children, and she was looking out into the aquarium with a man standing next to her—so close that his elbow was brushing against hers. Meghan Walker, while arguably the nicest and most polite person Charlie had ever met, had an aversion to interacting with people in public, even though she was a professor.

“Bad cell reception?” Charlie asked, causing Meghan to spin around with a start. Her anonymous companion remained with his back turned to Charlie, hands clasped at his waist.

“Charlie!” she blurted with a small nervous laugh. “You startled me. I meant to text you, but I had no reception and then Violet stole my phone to take pictures.”

“Who’s your friend?” he asked, not masking his apprehension at finding a strange man standing so intimately close to his wife.

The man slowly turned to face Charlie. Upon initial inspection, Charlie sized the man up as being in his mid- to late-twenties; he appeared to be athletically built, with piercing gray eyes. He wore the costume appropriate to this region of the park, and his Cast Member name tag read: Leroy. Charlie also noticed that Leroy’s hometown was Auburn Hills, Michigan—forty-five minutes away from where the Walkers lived. Charlie observed that he heavily favored his right leg, leaning most of his weight on it, which betrayed the fact that he suffered from a limp. This was more than likely a hockey injury judging by his build and hometown. A deep scar marred the left side of an otherwise mild-mannered face. Glancing at Leroy’s hands, Charlie noted the absence of a wedding ring, but did spy the slight discoloration of the skin-colored makeup that Disney Cast Members often used to hide tattoos in visible areas; it covered the knuckles on both of his hands. The makeup was well done; an average person may have never noticed but Charlie made a living observing and noticing details that others overlooked.

“This is Leroy; he works here. He was just telling me about two injured manatees that have been brought in from the observation center in Fort Pierce. Remember the Manatee Center, babe? We went there a few years back but it was cold and the manatees didn’t show up.”

“I remember,” Charlie acknowledged, still wary of this stranger. Something just wasn’t right about this man.

“Your wife and kids have taken a quite liking to the aquarium, Charlie,” Leroy stated. “I was telling them about some of the things we do here to raise awareness for the sea life. Violet even said that she wanted to work here when she grew up.”

“Yep!” Charlie heard from somewhere behind him, as Violet confirmed Leroy’s statement. It made Charlie uneasy to know that, in the few minutes this stranger had been alone with his family, he had been able to learn all their names—including his.

Being a police officer meant that to trust an unfamiliar person was to invite danger to oneself and this situation was no different. Though he rightfully disliked and distrusted this man, he attributed it to the fact that Meghan was a strikingly beautiful woman, and that she attracted nearly every male that made her acquaintance. Many times Charlie had been forced to politely turn away men who were completely ignorant that Meghan wore an engagement ring and wedding band and—in this case—had two young children with her.

Wanting to get his family as far away from this strange man as possible, Charlie broke the heavy silence.

“Come on, girls,” he said, eyes still on Leroy. “We’ve got dinner reservations and we don’t want to be late.”

Meghan looked relieved to have the opportunity to excuse herself from Leroy’s presence. At that point Charlie believed that his initial instincts were right: this man was obviously trying to charm this beautiful woman when he was interrupted by the untimely appearance of her husband. Charlie began to doubt his deductions though, after Leroy abruptly cleared his throat. Meghan halted dead in her tracks with an odd look on her face for just a split second—was it fear?—and stood still while Leroy spoke.

“Thanks for visiting The Seas, guys. And hopefully I’ll see you all again very soon. Have a magical day,” said Leroy, giving Meghan a look that lasted just a moment too long, lingering on her backside—not well concealed beneath her skin-tight shorts. Grinning, Leroy casually turned on his heel and headed down the hallway, the sound of keys jangling away into the distance.

Pulling Meghan aside, out of earshot of the girls, Charlie decided to get to the bottom of the situation.

“Mind telling me what
that
was about?” he asked.

“I…I don’t know. One minute the girls and I were at the window, looking out at the aquarium with a few other families and the next minute that…that
guy
was here and everyone else was gone.” She rubbed the back of her left elbow as she spoke, as if trying to rub away the memory of his touch.

“Did he touch you?” Charlie asked, knowing that the first sign assailants tend to display before becoming violent is the urge to put their hands on another person, whether it be a gentle graze on the hand, a pat on the back, or anything more unwelcome.

“He…uh…did put his hand on my back for a second as he was pointing out one of the sharks in the tank. It was harmless though, babe. Really, don’t worry about it.”

Charlie nodded, sighed and laid the matter to rest for the time being. He made a mental note about Leroy’s borderline-inappropriate conduct and decided that he would file a complaint at Guest Relations. It seemed like a harmless scenario, but the underlying feeling of dread remained within Charlie’s mind, and he could not get that split-second image of Meghan’s face out of his head. He had no doubt that what he saw was genuine fear in his wife’s eyes. She betrayed the emotion only for the tiniest instant, but Charlie had seen the look before she could mask it, and he could not let it go.

The next few hours went smoothly until just before dark, when Meghan suggested they leave EPCOT Center and go to the Magic Kingdom. Charlie was a bit confused, considering they’d spent the previous day there. He told Meghan as much.

“I…I just really wanted to catch the fireworks, you know?” she said. “We rarely get to see them. I don’t know…I just think it would be nice and I want to get there early to find a good place.”

Charlie agreed, but he also noticed that a change had come over his wife during the past few hours. She didn’t make eye contact when she spoke to him and it seemed as if she was nervously watching the crowds around her. She was doing her best to mask her feelings—to act normal—but Charlie was just a little bit too keen of mind to be fooled. Still, he knew not to press his wife. Whatever problem she was dealing with would be revealed in time. He became more concerned later in the evening when, emerging from the bathroom, he noticed that Meghan’s eyes were swollen and red. It was clear she’d been crying but he couldn’t fathom why.

Meghan Walker was a strong woman and the strange event with Leroy in the aquarium, although inappropriate and bizarre, should never have fazed her. Charlie became convinced that something else was worrying his wife and it troubled him deeply. He bit his lip and tried to carry on with as much normality as he could muster.

The longer the night dragged on, the more distant Meghan became until such a point came when it was almost awkward to be around her. Violet and Katie were oblivious, enjoying the joyous sensory overload that is The Most Magical Place on Earth. The pregnant silence that hung between Charlie and Meghan was almost palpable. Charlie could swear that the situation had become so severe that other people were starting to notice the nearly lifeless woman hardly focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.

Darkness had fallen over the Magic Kingdom and the myriad assortments of colored lights basked the park in an entirely different glow. This was Charlie’s favorite time in the park, especially in Tomorrowland where the brilliantly placed lighting worked wonders painting the structures every hue in the spectrum.