The Hopper: Chapter 5

David is getting closer and now is investigating a parking ticket The Hopper left

Detective Towns made the long drive to the other side of town where the van’s parking ticket was initially issued. The further he drove, the more David tended to believe that this was all related to The Hopper. Sure, the ticket wasn’t far from the hospital but it was pretty far from the lady’s house who owned the van. Eventually, David made it to the house which from the outside had a very clean and orderly appearance. David scoped the building out and didn’t seem to notice anything that stuck out to him. David made sure to park at little out of the way from the house to best ensure The Hopper didn’t notice him if it was still there.

David turned his vehicle off and watched as nothing seemed to be moving inside of the house. There was little sign of life as David wondered why the van would have been here of all places. After almost a hour of waiting, David eventually decided to exit his car to check the place out.

As David walked up to the house, he noticed there didn’t seem to be any furniture inside of it. Glancing in the windows, David was able to confirm his observation was true as he didn’t see anything that would indicate that someone was living in the house nor any signs of furniture. Approaching the door, David knocked and waited. A couple seconds passed without a response as David knocked again. As he waited, he looked around and didn’t see anything that would peak his interest. After about a minute or two, David knocked again with yet again no answer.

“Alright, seems like I need to do my own investigation,” David said as he walked away from the house and began to walk around the property. The house was a rather large single house with a driveway off to the side. David walked down it and noticed that the house seemed to be well taken care of. Going around the back of the house, David noticed that just like the front, the back showed zero signs of someone living in the house. This baffled David as the house was clearly taken care of. As he thought about it, something peaked his interest. At the end of the driveway was a rather large garage. David approached the garage door and attempted to pull it up. The door didn’t budge but while he was doing so, David noticed a door on the side of the garage that wasn’t closed all the way.

“Always better to be lucky than good,” David said to himself as he went over to the door and quietly opened. Entering the garage, the entire place was pitch black and dead silent. David pulled out his phone and turned on his flashlight in order to get a better view of where he was. As he did so, he was shocked to see the room was fairly empty. David located a nearby light switch and flicked it on to reveal that the garage was empty… for the most part.

“No no this has to be the place. Why would the van be here if it was just abandoned?” David said to himself as he walked around the garage for any potential clues. As he scanned the room, he noticed a couple containers were sitting off to the side of the garage. Curious, David went over to them and cracked them open. Inside the containers was a mix of random items which didn’t have any rhyme or reason to them. As David dug through them, he found something that spiked his interest, medical gauze. Digging around more, David found more medical items in the container.

“Look at what we have here,” David said to himself as he believed to have found some of the medical equipment that was stolen from the hospital. Finding the smaller items, David began to wonder where the larger items went. He looked around the garage and didn’t find anything large sitting around. Instead, all he found was piles of dust and cobwebs. As David continued to look around, he suddenly heard a loud noise. The noise was something David knew too well, it was the sound of a gun being caulked.

“Well, well, well. It looks like I have a little trespasser who shouldn’t be here. I knew you’d come here, detective.” David’s heart sank as he threw his hands up after hearing a male voice boom throughout the empty garage. Turning around, David was greeted to the sight of a young man with a shotgun pointed at him. David’s mind raced as he realized he was screwed. Based on how the man knew who David was, David instantly knew he was face to face with The Hopper.

“Oh yeah? And… I guess that would make you the legendary Hopper,” David said slowly as he studied the young man and the shotgun. He noticed The Hopper had his finger on the trigger, a clear sign he was prepared to kill David right there.

“You know, I never really liked that name. Makes it seem like I’m some sort of urban legend or something. Now detective, tell me why I shouldn’t shoot you like I did to your father all those years ago.” David’s mind began to spin. What was The Hopper talking about? He didn’t kill his father, it was his aunt. She admitted to it months after that it was her. Why would she confess to a crime she didn’t commit. The Hopper must have noticed David’s look as he began to laugh.

“What? No one told you? It wasn’t your aunt who did it, it was me. You really think she would commit such a crime. No, I did it because I knew he was coming for me. It seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It’s a shame, if it was up to me I’d probably use your poor old mother to do this.” David’s head continued to spin as The Hopper’s words cut through him like a hot knife through butter. The truth was finally revealed and yet it didn’t matter as in a couple seconds The Hopper would be shooting him dead. All David could do in this moment was close his eyes and pray.