Tanya's Testimony on The Disappearance of Branderson and Ritchie

I repeat to you GENTLEMEN, that your inquisition on this particular matter is fruitless. There is nothing in this world that I could do, however I would like to on the case revolving around Branderson few weeks ago except for the fact that his nail marks were found outside of Tanya's window. Whatever you might want or need to know about this particular gentleman could only be found through his diary which, the record was ended abruptly on the fateful day. Or, if you do desire a more comprehensive yet peculiar testimony of the case at hand, you shall listen to what I say as I am the only person that Tanya ever confided in before her demise into peaceful oblivion, few hours ago. She left neither notes nor confession in the notebook that you, my kind GENTLEMEN have handed to her during your most curious custody.

I, William Toothe bear witness to Tanya’s testimony of what happened a few weeks ago in her room. It all started on 13th March 1990, three days before the infamous Branderson’s case. As all of you GENTLEMEN are aware of, Branderson was the son of a socialite in the heart of New York. Being a rich descendant of such influential person, he was also of an esteemed beauty in his face. A handsome, young and tall man he was, crowds of beautiful women constantly throng around his arms and shoulders, like bees fighting over a spot for the flower’s embrace. He was in particular, was deeply fond of a young maiden called Tanya White. She was not part of the bees thronging around Branderson as the other ladies, she was his classmate from college and has not shown to have taken any interest in whatsoever matters pertaining to her handsome classmate. Which I believed was quite frustrating for Branderson, it seems that he’d never get what he wish for, which was the full attention and desire from Tanya White towards him.

But as you all know too, Branderson inherited the strong will and determination from his father. He took every opportunity in class to be in the same assignment group and the same club just to be close to Tanya White. It was during the badminton club competition that our Tanya finally took notice of his desire towards her. But to his dismay, she rejected his invitation for a date, stating that she was seeing someone at that point of time. Which Branderson found out to be untrue when it was too late.

On 13th March 1990, it was a rainy day at St. Johnson’s College. During Geology class, Tanya White, who was seated at the front row saw Branderson eating a sandwich. You see, he was sitting at the back row off the class. At first, it seemed normal for him to eat a sandwich. But as time goes by, she realized that it was his fifth pack of sandwich and to remind you, even an overweight glutton would struggle to finish the fourth pack. But for our young gentleman here, he finished eating the fifth pack without any discomfort or any sign of ceasing. It was as if, he was hungry all the time. At that time however, she paid no notice of anything else except for the amount of sandwich he consumed.

On the next day, it was still raining. It had been raining all night since yesterday. Tanya White went to the library to have a study group with a bunch of friends which included another young man called Ritchie, a person of particular interest in Tanya’s testimony. They spent about five hours from morning to evening, doing their study in the library. Once they finished their session, they went separate ways except for Tanya and Ritchie. Both have been good friends since they were in Primary School. Since their respective home were on the same route, they walked together until they were stopped dead in their tracks. Branderson was standing in the middle of the walkway, an obstruction to their journey. At first, he gave kind greetings towards the two of them. But all of a sudden, his sharp gaze turned towards Ritchie and he started to hurl offensive words. His eyes were filled with hatred and pure jealousy. He shoved Ritchie to the ground and was about to hit him in the face when two passerby came and held his arms and pushed him away. Branderson looked angry yet horrified by his actions. He ran away and soon vanished from their view. Tanya and Ritchie was stunned, but there was something else that Tanya noticed about Branderson on that particular day, his stomach was getting bloated, probably from all the eating he did in class yesterday and there was a bruise on his shoulder which can only be seen because of his soaked wet shirt. Eventually, Tanya and Ritchie went to their respective home.

Come 15th March 1990, Branderson was absent from class. Having felt guilty for the yesterday’s incident, Tanya made a call to Branderson’s residence and apologized for rejecting him and explained to him that Ritchie was just an old friend of hers. Branderson did apologized back for the sudden outburst and invited her for an apology dinner at his place in the Branderson Mansion. He assured that everything was going to be alright for them and he would send his driver to pick her up later. Tanya finally conceded and agreed to have a dinner together that evening.

At seven in the evening, Tanya was already in a Royce driven by Branderson’s private assistant. He was anxious and sweaty throughout the journey but she spoke not of it in fear of offending the assistant. They arrived at the Branderson’s gate twenty minutes later. He was waiting at the door when she arrived, took her hands after opening the door and led her to their fancy dinner table in the middle of a dining hall.

At first, it seemed to Tanya that it was a normal dinner where they would go through delicious meals and shared glasses of red wine. As the dinner progressed however, she found something peculiar in his demeanor. Branderson was able to consume an exorbitant amount of foods in a single chew and drank two glasses of wine without wearing himself down. He kept on eating without saying a word, went through the meals like a starving fellow who was finally able to get a hand on free foods. Witnessing all these, Tanya admitted that she felt a sense of tingling - the strands of hair behind her neck stood stiffly as she saw his mouth was getting larger each bite he took. It became evident that her instinct was right, the longer she stayed, she would be more exposed to danger when she saw fluids leaking out of Branderson’s torso. Greenish in color and smelled like rotten fish, Branderson was oblivious to the leakage from his body.

She immediately excused herself to go to the washroom to avoid any suspicion from Branderson. Little did she know, Branderson knew what she was thinking.

Tanya sneaked through the front gate without the rest of the household noticing and soon made her way out from the mansion. She took the bus and hid herself in her room. Not daring to turn on the lights and expose herself to whatever things that may lurk outside her bedroom. It was starting to rain again in Broadway Street that night. Tanya found herself sleeping in her arms, leaning against the door. She kept it that way for another half an hour. Then, her telephone rang. It rang for three times before it stopped ringing. It rang again for the second time and stopped at the third ring. When it rang again, Tanya answered the phone.

‘Hello, who’s there?’

There was silence over the telephone for a moment. Then, Ritchie’s voice emerged, ‘Hell, hello… Tanya… Ritch here, I… I…’

‘What’s wrong Ritchie? Anything alright over there?’

Then, the whispers came, ‘Branderson… I think he’s here. He is here to get me…’

‘Ritchie? Ritchie? Did you call the police? Ritchie?’ Tanya was borderline screaming at this point. She tried to call Ritchie’s voice over and over again, pleading for him to answer the phone and yet that was the last time she would ever hear his voice.

The telephone crackled, revealing a haunting voice that sent shiver to her spine, ‘Ritchie is… gone. If I cannot have you, none will. And I will come and get you.’

She claimed that the most unexpected things happened later that night in her room. Someone tried to barge in to her room from the window - her room was located at the third floor. The person knocked her window without stopping, asking for her to open the window and let him in. That person sounded like Branderson, yet it sound forced and mechanical like the sound made with a tape recorder and played on loop. All that time, she hid herself in a cupboard facing the window. So she could see the appearance of the person trying to barge into her room through the slight opening in between the cupboard door.

It has the appearance of a rotting body with a half-torn face and cracked skull. It was almost unidentifiable except for the bruise mark on it’s shoulder and the eyes of a person she just saw earlier that evening. She claimed it was Branderson, that Branderson attacked Ritchie on the same evening. Branderson had turned into a some-type of zombie or flesh eating monster. Something that none of you fine GENTLEMEN will ever entertain.

She was sent to the Peace Mental Institute to be examined, I was there when she was admitted and I was the person recording her statement from that time. I tried to prod further into inquiring more about Ritchie and Branderson but she denied having to do with their vanishing. As a professional, it is my judgement that she was somehow involved in the disappearance of these two fine gentlemen and her worsening condition prohibited her from the being able pinpoint their current location. In other words, I believe that she murdered them and burrowed them under the ground, which may remain a mystery as long as we are living. With this, I rest my case.