The Sanctuary

Intro…
Edwin Wallace

The Sanctuary was written with those people in mind who are forgotten by the politicians, the criminal justice system, and in some cases by friends, and relatives. Often, they have come to the end of the road with murder or suicide being their most obvious option. Sometimes, plagued by their personal demons, and often having a somewhat disabling personality disorder, life becomes messy, and to them it looks like there is no way out. Generally, society isn’t interested in them or their plight. Even though the various agencies and political bodies spill a lot of ink claiming otherwise, spieling how their intentions are altruistic; the results speak a different truth.

Friends, family, and neighbors attribute generous motives to themselves as they apparently stay happily oblivious to those living in this hell. And, they will claim they never knew. Ignorance isn’t just bliss, it is frequently cruel and barbaric. The worst of the lot are those who use their politically correct language to give themselves good motives for treacherous behavior.

The Sanctuary is usually considered the last stop for its prospective residents, so they often arrive with little hope for their future. Outsiders have claimed the Sanctuary performs miracles, however, they see their role as little more than being supportive to already talented people. The Sanctuary doesn’t remake these people; it simply awakens something in them, that has always been there, a power based on honesty and instincts that each human being probably possesses.

The first part of this series is about life at the Sanctuary, however, that is not the real story.  The real story is about what these individuals experienced that left them with no other option than to go to the Sanctuary.

The Sanctuary: Chapter 1
Curt

He was about six foot tall and two hundred to two hundred ten pounds. I guessed his age as about forty five when interviewing him.  He laughed and said I was being generous and suggested that I add at least a decade onto my guess.

Although, there had been a recent nasty incident at The Sanctuary, which the press picked up on, Curt was in good spirits and showed no sign of being suspicious. I was there to start a journalistic investigation to get the big picture. The climate wasn’t what I expected, it was more like a meeting of old friends than an in depth investigative interview. He actually appeared to be looking forward to the task we had at hand.

I wondered what nationality he was and thought there may have been a hint of Latino blood there, but didn’t ask. The news media had made him out to be a fiercer fighter than Bruce Lee with the mentality of Napoleon. He was built more like Sean Connery than Arnold in his prime. His hair was dark and slicked back, which didn’t quite fit with the age implied. What was most noticeable was his natural sense of humor and ability to tell a story without sarcasm or negativity.

What drew the press attention was a murder near the grounds and the murder victim might have had a connection to a resident. At first, they didn’t think it was a murder until the coroner reported the person died due to an ice pick in the heart, by then it was too late to save much of the evidence. Curt Turner, the man I was interviewing, was not a suspect in the murder, however, his unusual history and due to the uniqueness of his nonprofit business, he managed to spark the interest of the news media.

The Sanctuary was called Curt’s brain child and had been around about a decade. It was basically a shelter for women in trouble and sometimes abused, and in a few cases men, also.

It was a shelter with a twist and not everyone who could go there would go there. Many county workers would not refer the Sanctuary because they said it didn’t fit their criteria, which in more honest language meant it wasn’t politically correct enough.

They had a unique set of rules that needed to be agreed upon before they were admitted. If, for instance, it was an abused wife with her children, she must agree to let her husband know where she and her children were.  She must agree to training in self defense, which included marksmanship with a pistol. Additionally, she must agree to use every legal channel available, both civil and criminal to deal with the abuser. If she changed her mind at any time The Sanctuary would recommend referral to another placement.

There was a fleet of top flight lawyers available and most of the time they received reasonable compensation. However, they would also be available even if not compensated, which was rare.

I asked Curt where it all started.  He said it goes back to a man called Ed Hauser. He wasn’t sure if he was dead or where he was because they hadn’t had contact for the last few years.

Ed’s father was a politician and much of the time they lived in Washington D.C. when he was a child.  For a few years, when he was a teenager, they lived in China or somewhere in the orient. Ed was just the right age when World War II started and he ended up as a Marine in Special Forces. He had some training in Judo and he was known to able to handle himself in a brawl even before Judo training. Ed was about six two and weighed in at two thirty five and had muscles like a mule. He was probably the most quietly confident human being Curt had ever known. Yet, he seemed gentle as a lamb.

During the war he fought in the islands in the South Seas. Some said he was the only man that scared the hell out of McKenzie’s Raiders; they called him “the snake”. He would go behind enemy lines and capture key leaders and bring them back for interrogation. The man was like a secret weapon. Some said he must have special powers, but most that knew him said he just had the best instincts they ever saw and that the mystical stuff was BS.

After the war he operated a small construction business East of L.A. He also, occasionally, was a consultant for the police particularly when gang activity was involved. He could profile a gang leader more accurately than the psychologists. He also ran a martial arts training group as a hobby. He was very selective on who he would train in self defense. His training group shed some light on his abilities in the war; it was evident that there were no mystical abilities because he trained others to do exactly what he could do.

And, that was where Curt and Ed’s paths crossed, several years before when Curt received training from Ed. They soon became friends. Curt was one of Ed’s remarkable students at least according to Curt.

Curt had martial arts training near San Jose several years ago, however, he never finished because the trainers discouraged him and bluntly said he was too lazy.

Curt spoke of Ed with near worship and I knew that if I didn’t change the subject we might not get past Ed today. Ed was the only man that Curt admitted was more skilled than he was. I asked Curt about some of his background and he talked about dropping out of law school after being only months from graduation. He then bounced around at police work and later he worked in Silicon Valley, then soon became bored with it.

He did manage to invest well and also received stocks when working for a technology company near San Jose. He dumped the stocks at the right time and turned them into cash. He had accumulated enough money to be independently wealthy. That was what financed his purchase of this seventy acre chunk of land with several buildings. It was near a small town East of L.A. He left the company in Silicon Valley partly because a coworker who was a friend that also worked for the same company left in disgrace after being accused of sexual harassment. He had no chance to defend himself and there was no proof but he was forced to resign and there was a quiet campaign to keep him from other employment. Curt also mentioned politics and some examples of his disgust with the currently politically correct climate and what he called terminally incompetent senators from California.

He could have also got stuck on the stupidity of the current politically climate but we needed to move on. This clearly was a dark side to Curt who on other subjects was the eternal optimist.

What is The Sanctuary about? Curt was wound up and started with the overall plan. He said he was tired of people being intimidated and losing their freedom. Why do we have protests for convicted murderers and the same people protest for late term abortions where live babies are killed? Women are raped and then victimized in court.

Tell me about The Sanctuary. The most common client we serve is women with children who are being terrorized by their partners, although we also serve a wide variety of women and a few men. We will follow the process with a typical admission. During admission she is oriented to the rules and many decide to go elsewhere. We ask them to allow us to notify their family and the offending spouse where they are we immediately set the resident up for a medical and psychological workup. Next one of our attorneys interviews them and develops a civil and/or criminal case if it makes sense. When a new resident is admitted here they stop running and we have the resources so they confront their problem and are assured of being safe. We expect a high level of discipline, be on time and complete your work with enthusiasm or leave and go to a place of your choice with lower expectations.

We have security here with six highly trained security guards four men and two women. All were trained by Ed and each became a trainer in self defense. We have an excellent relationship with the local law enforcement and the state police plus there are at least eighteen of the residents fully capable of defending the place against a small army. All former residents continue to support the work in any way they can.

The second week they are here they start martial arts training, instruction on small arms, paralegal education and basic medical training all of which provides them with college credit. They also receive miscellaneous other training such as clerical work, advanced computer courses and psychology. By the time they leave they can more than hold their own in a street fight and can thrive in the criminal justice system. Many have gone into law enforcement when they leave here.

I asked Curt if I could interview some of the residents. He told me he had a few things to do and would be back in a half hour so feel free. I sat down with Melinda and had coffee she talked freely. She had three children who lived there and said she left a husband who beat the hell out of her. Interestingly he was a police officer in Northern California and according to her, a son of a bitch that was getting what was coming to him. She said a former resident was working in a hospital in ER in the same area and treated his new girl friend for various bruises and a broken rib. So after several months they had the goods on him for beating Melinda and now it looks like his new girl friend is filing charges. And the nurse knows exactly how to use the information, consider him dead meat. I was a little surprised by her candor.

I asked her what it was like living there. She said it was difficult for the first few weeks but after that it was great. I had the impression it was run like a military complex, what she described was quite different comfortable, supportive and inspiring.

She said most of her life she lacked confidence and took crap from everyone. Now she said no one intimidates her. She wants her children to have what she has now and not have to wait until they are almost forty years old. She couldn’t understand why they don’t teach this stuff in school.

When she was in high school she said she was a good student but afraid of many of the teachers. Her parents treated her OK and were satisfied she kept her grades above a C average. School was not fun and none of the teachers seemed to take an interest in her she alternated between anxiety and boredom. After high school she worked selling hamburgers and later worked in a local restaurant.  She thought things were looking up when she met this cop and they were soon married. After the first year of their marriage, their attitudes became sarcastic and defensive. After each child the marriage deteriorated a little and finally the beatings started. She moved back in with her parents and he terrorized them also. Calling the police department in this small town in Northern California didn’t help. She even feared for her parent’s safety, finally after one of the beatings the nurse in ER told her about The Sanctuary.

I started to talk to a couple of the other women there and they gave me similar information. Then Curt was back and we went to his office.

Is there anything special about the martial arts training? Yes, Ed was a one of a kind trainer. He focused on developing the natural instincts to a high degree, so much so that many thought he was psychic. It had nothing to do with being psychic. One of the exercises was mirroring the other persons behavior to such a degree that if you are an expert at it you can predict reliably what the other person is thinking. There are other ways to develop the instincts and other than that most of the physical moves are ordinary military Judo. It takes about three months for the average person to become proficient at the art and nine months to a year to be an expert. He laughed at how upset some of the martial arts big shots get when an unknown so perfectly copies his behavior.

Are there any interesting stories about the place? Curt went through a decision making process on just what to tell, actually he wanted to tell it all. He said that they had a reputation for turning out remarkable talent in the martial arts. One of the owners of a martial arts studio in L.A. came and discussed having a little unofficial contest. Being we only had two men here at the time he said he would bring a few their new students with only a moderate level of skill.

Lettie had been here for only four months and wanted to try out her skills she drew a young man that was known for his rapid advancement. She couldn’t seem to take him down so she changed her strategy about two minutes into the bout. She slapped him hard and backed off very quickly and then slapped him again. He couldn’t seem to touch her. She repeated the slap about six times and he became enraged and made a dive for her. It looked like she grabbed him on the neck. He ended up flat on the floor and out like a light. Later on she improved her skills and truly became an expert.

George had been a resident for over eight months and was expert at martial arts. He was part of the contest and defeated his opponent in less than a minute and it was barely obvious that he had touched the other guy. George turned up here with an ex-wife and a lawyer hot on his trail and worse than that the IRS had pretty much destroyed his career and finances. George said it was his ex-wife’s accounting and gambling and eventually he was proved right. Proving the facts to the IRS is another matter and demanded a room full of lawyers. There were numerous lawsuits pending the most important was against the IRS.

When George performed so well the training manager asked if he could compete with George. George was built a lot like Frank Sinatra in his scrawny days. He didn’t even seem to move quickly but there was magic there. The bout lasted about two minutes and the last minute George was playing with Bob the instructor. He looked like he was trying to be careful and finally took two fingers and punched him in the solar plexus and Bob was out. We forgot to mention to Bob, George also hard some medical background as a neurosurgeon.

Now you would think that the word would spread fast about this weird contest but it didn’t. We asked them before hand to agree to our rules. Don’t talk about it and we video tape the event and keep the only video. So if any one starts spreading goofy rumors we release the video to the local press.  The local press has always been very friendly to The Sanctuary. Of course the L.A. papers called us a cult and compared us to Scientology without ever talking to any of us or doing any investigative work. We just hoped they sold a lot of papers and all publicity is good publicity and all that rubbish. Sometimes after a story we received donations and a few times very generous ones. We even take money from the nuts.

We continue to have this contest as a periodic event. The next time they brought the big guns. It was heart breaking for them to be beat by a girl whose name is Susan and leaves little chance of the word getting around. In a strange way Ed is still with us. Susan was unique and had her own fighting style. Susan was had training and experience as an actress. Most couldn’t take her serious and pulled their punches. Even her mirroring was different, she had such strange style, and it was so limp that it looked pathetic. When she decided to end the match a change took place and those that knew her agreed she resembled a Black Panther ready to kill its prey. Some were afraid for her, those that knew her were afraid she would kill somebody, but she never did as near as I know. There was something very primal about her much like Ed, however she never knew Ed. She was always exciting but sometimes scared the crap out of you.

What about the recent negative publicity. Curt seemed amused and asked if I wanted to hear the whole story. I said yes and informed him I would be verifying what he said with other sources. He said fine and if he had bullshit me let him know because sometimes he told people more than he knew himself.

It all started shortly after two admissions to the program a few months ago, Ellen came in and Marcy came in a few days later. The staff had reservations about both of them and they weren’t quite sure why. When Ellen came in she had an ex-husband after her who had threatened to kill her and continued to stalk her in spite of numerous legal proceedings. Some of the apprehension was due to her aggressiveness and appearance of confidence. She came from a good home and grew up in Seattle. She was a nurse with the kind of physical appearance that always drew attention.  At five foot six with dark hair and a certain pushy attitude and she was quite a piece of work.

Marcy came in a few days later and was somewhat a ringer for Ellen in general appearance but more blond. She was not as aggressive as Ellen however like Ellen she did command attention when she walked into the room.

Marcy’s story was that her boyfriend in Palm Beach was a drug dealer. He started getting rough with her and she went to the police for a restraining order and also a long conversation about his drug dealing and associates. This infuriated a lot of people not just her boyfriend. The word was out on her and when she realized the error of her ways, it was too late and she must get out of town fast and maybe that won’t even save her.

There was some worry at first that she was a drug addict but that didn’t prove to be true and her story checked out. She soon fit in well and was cheerful and little silly.

I really wanted to know about the murder and if he had a theory. He said the dead guy was finally identified as a gang member from Miami and he had a criminal past as an enforcer. They found a small caliper pistol with a silencer which had not been fired recently. He also carried several hundred dollars in cash. There also was a map of the seventy acres of The Sanctuary and the road leading to it.

Curt had been connected to the crime not by the police but newspaper articles. A few years back he was asked to do some police training in the martial arts and disarming criminals with a minimum of fuss and bother. Some of the new recruits were amazed by him and may have exaggerated a bit. Soon the rumors were out that he could kill a man with little more by a mere snap of his fingers. He admitted he didn’t do anything to discourage the rumors. It didn’t take any prompting to believe that a known dangerous and dead criminal was found near The Sanctuary which might add to his real and imagined skills as a killing machine and there you have it solved in the mind of some of the public. No one local saw Curt as a dangerous killer but more like the man that performed a public service, none of the locals were afraid of him.

Curt said let me give you a little more background so you better understand the situation. Some of the women are bad girls now and then. They go to town or where they want as they please but usually due to working or going to classes during the day they go in the evening. One evening three of them went into town and a sleazy looking guy started following them and also made crude remarks. Susan viewed it as a gift from God, she was always looking for an opportunity to test her skills and said watch this. She mirrored him and he became more aggressive she kicked him in the butt a couple of times she reached his hand and broke his little finger. She let out a blood curdling sound between a scream and a roar and the other girls swore he pissed his pants. She enjoyed every minute of it. The police came and she told them it was just a misunderstanding. The police looked the guy over laughed and left. They had encountered the women from The Sanctuary before.

Another incident later on was more serious at a later date. This time three other women went to town when they were ready to leave they started talking about a man they noticed watching them from a distance. They had just left an appointment with an attorney and after they walked out of the Wilson Attorney Group office. They were talking in the parking lot by the pickup truck they drove. He was standing by a BMW pretending to be wiping his window off. The more they talked the more sure they were he was bad news. They decided to encounter him before they were near him they thought Lettie should take the lead because she had great excellence in the martial arts. When they approached him he asked them what they wanted. Lettie said we want to know what you want. He said get out of here bitch before I drop you. This wasn’t for fun this was serious. Before he could breathe in he was face down on the parking lot out cold. She had moved to the left and when he made a dive for her she moved to the right with lightning speed. She had grabbed him in the carotid artery with her left hand and he went out, there also was a little blood but not serious. May said is he dead and Lettie said hell no but if he screws around anymore he will be.

They called the cops and immediately went through his pockets he had a gun, some pills a taser and identification that showed a Miami address. He also was sporting numerous grim tattoos. The police came and picked him up before he was completely conscious. He looked dazed, confused and kept shaking his head. They put him in jail and filed charges for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.

They had hoped that they could get him on drug charges but it was nothing but aspirin. He was out the next day. But you see how stories get started and things get blown out of proportion. According to the daily news they make it sound like the women from The Sanctuary are more dangerous than a Mongol hoard and I make Charles Manson look like a choir boy. Good old California where perception is reality and insanity is sanity. I had the idea he was enjoying every bit of the publicity and believed he really thought it was all quite hilarious.

We talked about the likely possibilities about the dead guy. Curt said what some suspect, is that it is connected to Marcy and her drug dealing ex-boy friend. However it just doesn’t seem right and truthfully I don’t have a clue as to who did that job.

After touring the grounds and talking to more of the staff and residents I made some more notes and left for home. So when I put my notes and interview together plus verified the various sources I realized I would never have more than half a story until the murder was solved.

Sometime later there was a story in a San Diego paper about two murders and an assault at The Sanctuary; I also had a call from Ed. It seems that Marcy’s case had nothing to do with it. It was a concentrated attempt to destroy the lawyers group in the nearby town that often worked for The Sanctuary. Several people were wounded and one innocent person and one criminal died in their ill fated endeavor.

It did have a connection with a woman that had been in The Sanctuary five years ago and George’s wife. Meg Harmon’s ex-husband had a multimillion dollar business in computer software sales. The Wilson Attorney Group nailed him for a size able settlement and physical abuse of his wife the trial took place while she was a resident at The Sanctuary. He blamed them, the attorneys and The Sanctuary for costing him millions of dollars and worse yet, humiliation.

George had been a physician with a thriving practice in neurosurgery and wealthy parents that left him more than a million dollars. Phyllis wasn’t too upset with the divorce and actually had initiated it, her attorney told her she would easily get her share, however before any legal papers were handled the IRS stepped in and all was lost. Phyllis had been livid with rage ever since it had been proved that it was her incompetence and her gambling that wrecked their financial situation, she would not accept the responsibility. She never got over the rage of being left with limited resources and endless humiliation.

Phyllis, George’s wife met Charles Harmon of Harmon Software in an attorney’s office and later they had a drink and discussed how they were screwed by the attorney group and that damn cult at The Sanctuary. During the next few weeks they met often and developed a plan to get even. They hired a detective to check out the attorney group and The Sanctuary. That got them nowhere but the detective did give them a contact that would probably rough them up and teach them a lesson.

The contact wasn’t what they wanted either but he lead them to another contact in Miami when they called he said wire me ten grand and I will see you tomorrow to create a business plan. The next day they met Louis and told him they wanted to destroy the Wilson Attorney Group and The Sanctuary. He said do you want them killed or just out of business. They said they didn’t care. He told them he would have his people research the problem and report back in two weeks or less. He estimated the job at half a million. It was at that moment they both realized the money didn’t matter it was about revenge for the intolerable humiliation. They celebrated for several hours and ended up really drunk and happier than they had been for years.

When Louis reported back he said the most effective way to topple The Sanctuary was to kill Curt Turner because everything revolved around him. The Wilson Attorney group was more difficult but what he suggested was to terrorize them over a period of time and kill one if necessary. He thought the attorneys should be dealt with first and after that they would kill Turner. He said send one hundred thousand dollars to five separate banks off shore in escrow accounts. It would take both Charles and Louis signature to withdraw the money.

Nothing happened and in two weeks Louis asked for a meeting. He apologized for one of his men who he said was supposed to be gathering information and was found to be in a bar shooting his mouth off about being in a gang in Miami. He appeared genuinely embarrassed and determined to make this a positive business transaction. Louis said he had taken care of the problem. He said The Sanctuary was having some problems by being implicated in a murder.

One day they read in the paper that a man from Miami was found dead and later other articles reported he was murdered with an ice pick near The Sanctuary.

It was a few more weeks and Louis asked for a meeting and Phyllis said he better not ask for more money but of course it was all Charles Harmon’s money anyway. Louis apologized once again and told them one of his men was gathering information on The Wilson Attorney Group when three women came up and ended up getting him arrested. He thinks the women may have been crazy. He said this is an unusual case and he has always maintained the highest professional standards. He had to send one of his best men back to Miami and replaced him.

In the following days there was an explosion in the lobby of the Wilson Attorney Group a day later one of the younger attorneys was murdered in the parking lot in his car with an ice pick in the heart. Two days after that the Wilson Attorney Group had their entire computer data destroyed in both the local office and their L.A. office. The police in L.A. said that a computer system expert destroyed the data in the offsite backup system also.

They story in the paper speculated that it was doubtful if the Wilson Attorney Group would ever recover. Phyllis and Charles were ecstatic and it was time to hit the bar again.

Curt was in his the office which seemed like a dumb thing to be doing late on a Saturday night, particularly in spite of the public’s perception of his exciting lifestyle. Many of the residents were down town to the mall even George went along. Susan called Curt and reported that security had alerted her that a BMW was parked about a block from the entrance. There were six men in the car and one was wearing a dark suit moving in a zigzag pattern towards Curt’s office. Curt said don’t worry about it and said I will be OK.

Sooner than he expected someone crashed through his door with a small caliper gun with a silencer. Curt hit the gun with his hand but the gun went off and he felt a sting in his left foot. Curt was too late to retaliate, Ellen had him, there was a faint cracking sound next, he was out in mid air and his head hit the desk with a sickening thud, but he didn’t feel a thing.

Six females with nine millimeter pistols filled the office then they turned the lights out except one that was dim, Curt stood back so anyone from the outside would only see his shadow. The women stood outside in the dark shadows in perfect silence, all dressed in dark clothes with three to each side of the office and a security guard stood in the dark in front of the adjoining offices on each side with semi automatic assault rifles.  Curt always liked the dramatic and Dirty Harry was his favorite movie, so he carried a forty four magnum.

The five remaining men in the car started heading for Curt’s office all armed with assault weapons. The poor bastards had no idea that it was all but over. They came to within fifty feet of the office and then when it was way too late they saw laser lights on their legs and they all went down in a heap. One fired several shots in the air other than that they were silent; a nine millimeter slug tends to settle things at a close range. They heard what sounded like one long loud shot. All nine millimeter pistols had gone off almost at the same time. Later they inventoried the ammunition and discovered less than twelve cartridges had been used and quite possibly each one had hit its mark. Curt never bothered to fire a shot. He said maybe you are bitches from hell, he admitted they scared him a little. They laughed and engaged themselves in relating to the police Curt’s heroic stand. The only shots the security guards fired was at the tires of the BMW. They didn’t need to bother no one was going anywhere.

No one died but one of the gang came close to bleeding to death. Curt tried to interrogate them but had little results not because they wouldn’t talk but because they knew very little.

It must have been mind boggling to hear Curt tell the story to the police and later to the press. He never really lied but he was a genius at helping them come to a conclusion. I have every reason to believe they told me the real story which was a one sided gun battle that lasted at most a few seconds. To hear Curt tell it to the press it was a John Dillinger shoot out and in spite of his near fatal wound he kept on fighting. The truth was he had a very minor wound in the foot from a twenty two caliper bullet and he never fired a shot. When George returned from town he took Curt to ER where the nurse shook her head and put on a band aid.

The stories in the papers were much better than reality. The Sanctuary figured they may not need to bother to lock their doors at night. The assault on The Sanctuary was not connected for several weeks and it took law enforcement several months to connect the whole plot to Phyllis and Charles and start prosecution. And The Sanctuary was flooded with applications and donations.

This should have satisfied my curiosity, however I left with more questions than I came with. Time was short I had to leave, other deadlines must be met.

I had the feeling that I still knew only very little about Curt. I had noticed books on Alexander the Great, Hannibal and the Greek philosophers. He had an autographed picture of a tattooed man who was wearing gang clothes. I didn’t ask any of these questions or about his past personal life or his childhood. With his tendency to ramble on I might never have finished the story.

I wondered about Susan and Lettie and suspected each may have a story more fascinating than the one I wrote. There were so many stories here that a group of journalists would have enough material to last a lifetime, but much of it would be too unusual to believe. I wonder if those that encounter a flying saucer feel like I do now. George was a neurosurgeon that looks like a Gomer and fights like Bruce Lee. He seems content to live at The Sanctuary permanently and should have every reason to have left some months ago.

There had been rumors of the residents engaging in witchcraft and when I asked them they said it wasn’t true but they didn’t deny the stories publicly because it freaked people out and they enjoyed that.

But, the real story that keeps me awake at night is about Ed Hauser. Who the hell is he?  I only had enough information to fire up my curiosity. Is Ed dead or did he just leave? And why does he still have this presence at the Sanctuary and there presence at the Sanctuary and there is so much talk about him in the present tense?

Someday I just have to know and it annoys me that I can’t forget about it.

 Click Here to Read Chapter 2 of The Sanctuary

Tagged alcoholism, chapter 1, codependence, Edwin Wallace, fiction, short stories, The Sanctuary