The Disappeared

Jess woke to the sound of her father’s worn boots scraping the floor. The front door squeaked in protest as he eased it closed. She leapt from her bed.

She followed behind him, cat slippers gliding over rough cobblestone. He stopped, sensing a presence, but shook it off and continued forward. No time to waste.

They made it to the Alley without encountering another soul. Jess watched as her dad stepped between the ice cream shop and the used bookstore and vanished into the blackness.

She tried to follow him, but her heart hammered her to the spot.

“Two plus two is four, four plus four is eight…” she whispered to herself, trying to force her brain back into rational thought. She came unglued and sprinted for the Alley.

As she stepped to the edge, ready to dive into the dark, a scream shattered the night. Her father’s. She ran for home.

___

“Jessica!” Mrs. Watson scolded, shaking her from the memory that plagued her dreams. The whole class stared as Jess eased up, drool crusting her right cheek.

“Sorry,” she whimpered as she wiped her face on her sleeve.

“What a weirdo. No wonder your dad Disappeared,” taunted Julian, the class jackass. Elena, Jess’s best friend, stared daggers at him. He shrunk back into his seat.

The bell rang and kids darted from the classroom, messy Jess forgotten. Elena crouched to help Jess pile her books into her bag.

“Thanks, E,” Jess said.

“Can you walk home with me? I need your help with something.”

“Something interesting?” Jess asked.

“Something Alley-related,” Elena offered.

Jess’ heart raced.

___

Jess and Elena strolled toward Town Square. The silence was alive between them, pinging back and forth with unspoken questions. Elena broke first.

“So, I have a problem.”

Jess couldn’t hide her excitement. She loved solving problems, unknotting mysteries, uncovering curiosities. Especially when they involved the Alley.

“Please don’t be weird about this,” Elena said.

“Me, weird? I’m never weird.”

“I think my mom’s gonna Disappear.”

Jess stopped dead in her tracks.

“She told you?” she asked.

“Not exactly, but she’s got that look, the empty eyes.”

Jess nodded. She had described the look to Elena a million times, agonized over every inch of her dad’s face the day before he Disappeared.

“I’m sleeping over tonight. We’ll follow her and stop her. I promise,” Jess said, giving Elena a side hug.

The street shifted to cobblestone under their feet. Jess felt a familiar slither of fear in her guts as they neared the Square. Like a rope suddenly pulling taught, guiding her to the Alley.

Elena didn’t notice where they were headed until they passed the ice cream shop. She shuddered. “I hate this place.”

Even by day, the Alley oozed darkness, like a black hole gobbling all the nearby photons.

“I don’t understand why, J. Why would mom want to go in there?”

“Maybe she won’t,” Jess said. But she didn’t believe it. Deep down in a wordless, ancient part of her, she knew exactly why they did it.

Jess took several steps toward the Alley, mesmerized. The fear was an itch she couldn’t stop scratching. A need, propelling her forward. There was something in there, and she had to know what.

An arm grabbed her and pulled. She screamed.

Elena yanked Jess from the Alley.

___

Jess trudged into her tiny house, a different kind of anxiety gnawing at her: Mom. Mom wouldn’t want her to sleep over at Elena’s, mom didn’t want her to do anything. The constant hovering, the worrying, she sometimes wished her mom had been the one who had Disappeared.

Mom launched in before Jess even got her shoes off. “You weren’t near the Alley again, were you? I swear to God, you just don’t learn. You can’t go near that place, it’s contaminated. If it gets its hooks in you, it’ll never let go.”

“I was just with Elena, mom,” Jess offered. Her mom brightened. “She’s a good girl. I hope she rubs off on you.”

Jess sensed her moment, “Can I stay at her house tonight?”

Her mom marched into the kitchen and returned with a small wad of cash.

“Pick up dinner on your way. Poor Sylvia’s got enough on her plate without another mouth to feed.”

___

Jess woke to the familiar creak of a worn front door easing closed. She shook Elena awake. “I think I heard her go out,” she whispered.

Jess and Elena crept down the street, Elena’s mom nowhere in sight.

As they entered the Square, a white-robed figure loomed ahead at the edge of the Alley. Elena froze. But Jess couldn’t help herself, she sprinted forward.

“Don’t do it!” Jess shouted. But as she neared the figure, the white clothing took shape. A hazmat suit with a dark red handprint on the chest. The figure ducked into the Alley and vanished.

Jess, panting, skidded to a stop. The Alley tugged at her like gravity, inevitable. She stepped inside.

She heard the faint click of a door closing ahead. For a moment, she was back in her house, sneaking after her dad. She took another step. The darkness enveloped her, erased her limbs, filled her belly with squirming dread.

“Jess!” Elena called from the edge. She sounded miles away.

Jess inched forward. There was something ahead. Something alive. She reached out and pressed her hand against cold, smooth steel. A door. She knocked twice, tentative.

The door knocked back.

“Are you ready to die?” a voice asked. Jess could not force a sound from her throat. She was pure adrenaline now. The voice asked again. “Are you ready?”

Jess eked out a “Yes,” and the door swung open.

Jess thought she heard footsteps and shouts, but she could not be sure. She looked back, trying to catch a glimpse of Elena, when a hand grabbed hers.

“Elena?” she asked.

But the hand was too big, too rough to be Elena’s. Jess panicked and tried to wrench free, but the hand held tight. It pulled her through the door. Then, a voice. Her father’s voice –

“Welcome home, Jess.”