Crisis of Identity

The next day I woke with the mother of all hangovers. I needed a coffee before I did anything. I shuffled into the kitchen on auto pilot. Such was my craving, I settled for the instant shit they provided in the rooms, while rueing our tardiness in buying real coffee from the supermarket.

While waiting for the kettle to boil, I checked my phone for messages and reviewed my drunken posts. Sarah emerged from the bedroom wearing my t-Shirt–the other half to the track pants ensemble, I was wearing.

‘Morning…’ she said. She ran her hands through her matted hair.

I glanced at the wall clock. ‘Afternoon,’ I said, admiring the view.

‘I hope you don’t mind.’ She tugged down on the T-shirt hem.

I waved a hand. ‘Of course not. It looks better on you anyway. Coffee…? I only have instant.’

‘Oh, coffee would be great… thanks.’

We took our brews out on the outdoor setting, taking in the view. Conversation was light while our brains waited for the caffeine to kick start them awake.

Holding her cup in both hands, Sarah asked, ‘How many shots did we do last night?’

‘I’ve no idea. I lost count. It was a top night though, wasn’t it?’

‘It was. What time do you reckon we got here this morning…?’

‘All I remember is the sun was up when we were walking along the beach. Did you catch the strange looks we were getting from the early morning joggers and walkers…?’

‘Ah… I sure did. Was a little uncomfortable, but hey… I’d just had the best night I’ve had for a while,’ she said, then sipped her coffee.

‘What is it about this kid who went missing from your street all those years ago that everyone seems to be so interested in?’

‘It was tragic. A little boy gets stolen right out of his front yard and no-one sees anything, knows who did it, or where he is.’

‘Why the interest after twenty-five years…? I would’ve thought after all this time people would forget about him… you know, maybe with the passage of time, accept that he met with foul play.’

‘For one reason or another, his case remained in the media every year.’

‘Really. Why?’

‘Every time there was a new lead, or another suspect, it was reported on.’

‘There must’ve been plenty of leads, or suspects if people still remember the case twenty-five years later.’

‘When he went missing, the community banded together searching. I think everybody hoped for that happy ending.’

‘It is quite tragic when you take the time to think about it,’ I said. ‘Mitch reckons his old man looks like me in 30 years…’

‘Yeah, I can see that, I suppose. But I think you look more like the photos the cops have of what they estimate Jayden looks like today. Did you know Jayden’s father passed away a couple of days ago…?’

‘Yeah, it was on the news.’

‘My family knew him. I’m going to his funeral tomorrow with mum and dad.’

‘As freaky as that is… You’re not the first one to tell me I look like this missing kid, since I have been here.’

‘No?’

‘Yep. A cop came up to Mitch and me at a bar last night and asked me if I was…what’s his name…? Jayden Evans…’

‘That’s right.’

‘Problem is…I was born and bred in Western Australia. This is my first trip to Queensland, so you can imagine my surprise when people keep thinking I’m someone else.’

‘That would be weird…’

‘Morning you two…’ Mitch said as he and Sarah’s friend, Bec, shuffled into the kitchen. Like me, Mitch was dressed in his track pants and no shirt. Bec wore her clothes from last night–a little red dress, minus the heels.

‘Kettle’s hot,’ I said.

By the time we’d all finished our bitter instant coffees, I suggested we head down and grab some breakfast from somewhere, or rather lunch, given it was well after 1pm.

The girls declined due to only having last night’s clothes. Something about the walk of shame.

I offered to drive them home to Robina to get changed, but their preference for an Uber won out. It was probably the right choice given the number of shots we did last night. I doubt I’d pass any breatho.

We parted company with the girls when the Uber turned up.

After our showers, we went in search of some food, preferably something greasy.

Old habits won out over being adventurous with meal choices. After all, there’s nothing better after a big night on the beers than a Macca’s hamburger. So, McDonald’s it was for brunch.

While we dined in, chowing down on our orders of hamburgers, fries, and a Coke to wash it down, I got to thinking about this missing kid.

I wiped my mouth with a serviette and said to Mitch, ‘We’ve only been here five minutes and there’s been three people—you, that cop and Sarah— who have all compared my looks to this missing kid from twenty-five years ago. Am I the only one who finds that intriguing?’

Mitch gulped down a huge mouth full before answering. ‘Not at all, bro… I agree with you.’

‘Maybe the family really is some distant relative to dad’s family line,’ I said. ‘Could explain the apparent genetic similarities.’

‘Maybe…’ Mitch said before shovelling some fries into his mouth.

‘It’s got me intrigued,’ I said. I Googled his name. ‘I have to find out more about this mystery kid. Why the resemblance?’

Pages of hits returned from my search of “Jayden Evans”. ‘Check this out… There’s a Wikipedia page for this kid,’ I said. ’It’s called, “Disappearance of Jayden Evans”.

‘You’re shittin’ me…’

The page had a photograph of the missing three year old boy. The 1994 photo was of average quality and did not reproduce well. ‘So that’s what you look like…’ I said, thinking out loud.

‘Show me…’

I handed Mitch my phone. His eyes flicked from the screen, to me and back again several times. ’I suppose there’s some similarities there… Long bow for mine, though. I reckon you look more like his dad.’

I accepted the phone back. ‘Says here he was three when he went missing from Robina on 8th of May 1994. He was playing in his front yard. His mum went inside the house to use the toilet. When she returned, she couldn’t find him. He was gone.’

I continued reading. ‘It says here that two hundred volunteers joined police and emergency workers searching overnight. Police divers searched dams and waterways. They even searched every house in the area, several times. No clues were found.’

‘Do you think it’s all legit…?’ Mitch asked. ‘I mean…Do you think the family was involved? Doesn’t that sound a little unusual to you? She went inside to go to the toilet… And the kid goes missing.’

‘Who knows...? But it says here, the cops cleared the family of any involvement.’

‘That’s just tragic bro… Probably some fucken rock spider grabbed him.’

I continued reading the web page. ‘Funny you should say that. It says here there were forty-three registered sex offenders living in the Robina area at the time this kid went missing.’

‘Forty-three. Are you shittin’ me? Unbelievable. Did they suspect a paedophile grabbed him, though?’

‘According to this they did, at first. They had a suspect with over one hundred convictions relating to child sex offences…’

’100… What the fuck. What’s he doing out on the streets?’

‘Good question. This rock spider was even seen in the area on the day the kid disappeared.’

‘It had to be him, bro…’

‘You’d think so, right. But apparently he had a solid alibi,’ I said. ‘Listen to this… It says a car was sighted driving slowly passed the kid’s home more than once on the morning he disappeared… A green sedan. Could they be any vaguer on the car’s description?’

‘So… No suspects?’

‘On the contrary. It says here they interviewed a total of eight suspects, but none was ever charged.’

‘The kid just vanished into thin air,’ Mitch said, dripping with cynicism.

‘There has been 2468 sightings of this kid since he disappeared…’

‘2471…’ Mitch corrected. My frowning eyes questioned Mitch. ‘If you add me to the two more from last night bro…’ Mitch said with a grin. ‘The cop and Sarah…’

I couldn’t contain my grin. I had to give him that one. That was little bit funny. ‘So it just goes to show…with 2468 sightings…I’m not the only one around here who looks like this missing kid.’

‘Maybe they just want it so badly, their minds mess with them. You know… they think they see the poor kid, even when it’s not him,’ Mitch said.

‘Tell me about it. No-one knows that more than me. Oh wow…’ I kept reading. ‘There’s a one million dollar reward offered by the Queensland Government… And it’s still current today,’ I said. ‘Maybe that’s what motivates people on these never-ending sightings. It says here that on his birthday, every year for ten years after his disappearance, the cops made an appeal for information on his whereabouts. No wonder folks around here can’t let this go. They had an annual reminder of it.’

I returned to the browser. ‘What was the street name Sarah said she lived in…?’

Mitch shrugged as he sipped on his watered down Coke.

‘Woodlands Drive, wasn’t it?’ I said. I typed this street into Google Maps. ‘I’m getting sucked in, Bro. I wanna see the house this kid lived in…’

‘Do you have a street number?’

‘No.’ I fired off a quick text to Sarah. Her reply was instant. Number 14. I did a ‘street view’ of the house. Nothing special about it. White weatherboard with a white picket front fence. A rope swing hung from one of the tall trees in a large front yard. There is a driveway down the side to a garage at the rear of the block.

Mitch checked his watch. ‘This is all really intriguing bro… but the sun’s out…it’s about 35 degrees out there and we’re sitting in here looking at a phone…Let’s go body surf the shit out these waves.’

I ‘hibernated’ my phone. ‘You’re right. Sorry bro. I’m there.’