The Disappearance

Trigger warning: suicide

May 7, 2096

Constantly changing--no--constantly evolving. That's how he described it to me. The company was always doing something new and I would be a part of each step along the journey to making the world a better place--no--safer place. I was told that perhaps today would be that day. But major life changes can ever be pinpointed to just one particular day. 

It’s my birthday today too. A major change for me--no--for my life. I’ll be turning 21, a year most would look at as exciting--no--as essential. It would be the year that I can legally drink alcohol which affects every aspect of a person’s life; both negatively and positively. However, I would not be drinking any until my work has been completed because today is the day of change and I’ll need every bit of my brain to be working in full gear. The president of the company, Mr. Andrews, told me that in order for every employee to put forth their best effort--no--work, a clean environment is essential. And, being that I am the head of the cleaning committee, I am to organize the cleaning of every desk, every bench, every light switch, every little thing that could collect dust and disturb the work from being done. 

My birthday has always been something that I’ve looked forward to. A day where people come together and celebrate all that’s been accomplished in their life and look forward to the achievements that they will do as their life continues. I never imagined myself being a part of a project as important as this one. Everyone’s life revolves around this project--no--depends on this project. It’s been something that the world’s been working on for years--no--lifetimes. As the person in charge of  cleaning, I make sure that the workplace is in its utmost condition for everyone to be able to think clearly. Without the little people--no--without the little things being done, the project would not be able to continue efficiently. 

Last year for my birthday, I got this job. I wasn’t sure if this was what I wanted to do with my life, but after being told how important it would be for everyone and how much I would be helping with the project, I decided that it would be my honor. After all, how would the workers all function without me keeping everything in line? My job is just one of the many jobs that help this project along it’s way to being successful. The question that has haunted humanity for life will finally be answered--no--discovered. And of all days, on my birthday. 

Living on a planet with limited resources and an ever growing society has always been a concern for people. But no one has ever been able to find a solution until recently--no-- until, well soon. The workers have come together with their solutions for their annual meet and a conclusion is to be reached. Of course, Mr. Andrews has said in the past that this day has come. Every year it seems that the meeting will find some solution and every year there hasn’t been. But that does not make the meeting’s or the hope pointless. It’s what drives us to the next and the next meeting. And so, just as every year, we believe that this is the day that a solution will be found.

Usually on my birthday, I meet up with a few of my co-workers and we all go out after work. Today, we had to postpone our plans until later in the evening because of the workload. People from other companies will be joining in for the meeting on the project. Everything has to be cleaned especially well. It is difficult to think in a cluttered environment, however, with my direction, my team will be able to have it looking spotless. Afterwards, I am delighted to say that I will be able to join my colleagues in a celebration of drinking. However, if I were to drink now, my work would not be acceptable. 

Drinking is a pleasure that must be handled in a responsible way. If Mr. Andrews knew that I was intoxicated while working, especially on such an important day as this, I would be fired on the spot and bring dishonorable mention to the workers of the project. No other company would hire me then. The Recovery Project H2O (or RPH for short) company is well known throughout the world. If it was marked on my resume that I failed them in finding a cure for the world, no sensible company would hire me. 

Not to mention how that would affect the workers of the RPH. If a replacement for me was not found in a timely manner, the place would begin to get dirty and finding an answer--no--solution to the depleting water of this world would be difficult to do. 

The job is such a stressful one knowing that the fate--no-- the result of the world lies in you maintaining the building’s cleanliness. All the tests on H2O might be hindered if  dirty tools were to be used. And for all the efforts throughout the years, they deserve to have a clean workspace. I often wonder if others were to contribute to this cause that the solution would be found quicker. Every birthday I would think of what I wanted to be in the world and how I would want to help. This job allows me to help, if not in the most impactful way as the people who run the tests and attend the meetings. No, the people who find solutions are the ones who truly matter, but keeping their needs met is essential and makes the cleaning department just as important. 

…. 

The meeting went on as scheduled and of course was in the cleanest shape it could be. Regretfully they tell us that the solution was not reached but that ideas to help were brought up. The time had come that I could go out with my colleagues and celebrate as one does on his birthday. 

My co-workers and I had gone off to the bar on Winston Street just off of the nearby lake. The city was proud of their man-made lake as it was a sign of hope for the RPH’s efforts. Seeing water helped the mindset that saving it was achievable. Of course, it was late in the evening and I was so tired that the joy of having a drink faded. My colleagues persuaded me and after a while I decided to have a few glasses with them. My birthdays in the past were always filled with deep discussions of the future, particularly my future as it was my birthday. We would always find ourselves talking about what we did that year and how we contributed to life. Being the head of a cleaning company for the RPH was always a notable achievement, but we always found ourselves wanting to help more. It was the brains--no--the workers of the company with their experiments that truly mattered at the end of the day.

As I drank I found my spirits to be much higher as was everyone else's around me. We all continued to drink with the association in our mind that drink equaled happiness and the more drink the more happiness. Or perhaps it wasn’t true happiness but instead the absence of sorrow. Wild ideas began to spring in our minds and we found ourselves outside. I can’t say that all of our actions were remembered but I do remember feeling like nothing could bring me down, not even the obvious fact that drinkable water on our planet was becoming scarce and we would all soon cease to exist without a solution. In fact, I do remember a time thinking that the lake right near the bar could last us forever as long as the fish didn’t breathe it all (being drunk affects the mind more than anything as I have found). As the night continued on, the contentment--no-- the illusions of the alcohol seemed to fade and reality once again became clear to us. 

Looking back on the experience-- only hours ago--has made me realize that alcohol is the only thing that kept my co-workers going. Drinking brought them into a world without troubles and this made it seem possible that our world could someday be filled with the same happiness that was falsely present in the drunk world. 

Being in the bathroom now, I stare at the reflection through the mirror and wonder (I am not completely over the woosieness of the alcohol, but I believe that I am able to think much clearer now). I think back at the lake and how much water that is there. It seems impossible looking far down in the water of the lake that the world has none. We have oceans and seas of water, but drinking it has become a problem. If only we could take the water from the lake and drink it forever. The reflection of the mirror shows only endless supplies that we can not access--no--don’t access. Perhaps we could go into the world of our reflections and find water there. Or perhaps the people that stare back at us through the mirror--no--through the water in the lake, have found a solution to this water shortage. It seems logical that the world of our reflection in the lake has endless water as our reflections are endless. Tonight I shall go to the lake and venture into the reflection in search for a solution to the water shortage. Perhaps there, we will find clean, drinkable water that shall provide the happiness--no--security we get from alcohol. We’ve just been looking in the wrong places. 

Mr. Andrews put down the journal and thoughtlessly looked out the window of the young boy’s apartment. The police had left a few minutes ago, but he just couldn’t seem to budge. It was as if every fiber of his prevented him from leaving the boy’s room. It couldn’t have ended like this, there must be something else in this room that we have missed, another reason perhaps for his disappearance. Mr. Andrews thought to himself. This journal was the only clue that linked to the boy’s disappearance. But it couldn’t be right. The police already searched and searched the lake, but no traces of the boy were found. All camera’s and footprints lead into the lake. Nothing was seen coming out. But there was no body, no clothes, no shoes, not even a hair fiber found: so where was the boy? Could he have found a hidden world in the reflection after all? If there was a world on the other side of the lake, would the world that they live in be the true reflection?