Vanished
1481 Words
Jack alighted from the cab. He had been so sure he was not been followed.
He stood still as he saw a crowd of people in a noisy scene. There were so many pressmen and camera men there. The police, Fire survive and Safety agency were all there.
Jack wondered what was going on. That was the road to his project. He moved pass some of the crowd.
“Hey what is going on here?” He asked a man who too confused to reply to him. Jack moved through the crowd and saw the crime scene tape.
It was what he saw behind the tape that got him into his most flummoxed state. He turned his head back, making sure the cabby alighted him before Craves Chicken Palace. He was sure this was his neighborhood.
What the hell was going on? Barley Projects had over five hundred blocks with two thousand and five hundred apartments.
Part of these apartments was his house where he lived with his mother and sister. He left the projects yesterday and was back today because he slept over at Trisha’s mansion.
It was even less than twenty-four hours ago. How was this possible?
All Jack could see behind the tape was a vast, empty and well swept land.
The land which had over five hundred blocks of houses was now an empty, barren land. Was he the only one that noticed that all of the houses, people, cars, or anything that existed in the projects was gone?
Jack turned at a policeman.
“What is going on here sir?”
“Calm down young man.” The cop said as he saw how agitated Jack was.
“How do I calm down? I left my family and neighbors with the houses yesterday and now I can’t find a single person or house and you expect me to calm down?”
“We don’t know exactly what is happening right now but I promise we will look into it. There is no eyewitness, camera recording or anything to help us figure out what happened. All we know is everything that existed on the project land vanished. No trace and there is no sign of the forces that did this. It happened around 3:00AM. I am sorry about your family and the hundreds of missing families. An estimated two thousand people are missing.”
Jack stood still for a few seconds, trying to assimilate what the cop just told him.
The is the most mysterious and bizarre things he had ever witnessed and seeing Boe get shot by Dolbycato and did not die makes the second class.
Jack tried to call his mother’s number but it was said to be switched up. Hopelessly, he tried his sister’s number and got the same result.
Jack could hear people give different comments, hypothesis and lamentations.
“This is not possible.” A man said. “I was standing right there, and just a turn to glance at my car, the project is missing within a second. I am like is this hallucination? Then I heard my Patrick say, what the hell is going on? I can’t see the projects. That is when I see people screaming and I know it is for real.”
“This is incredible and befuddling!” Another man said. “How could people, houses, cars and everything just vanish like that?”
“I guess it is the new dimension.” Someone said and Jack turned swiftly towards the source of the voice.
The man who made the comment was walking past them. He wore a red cardigan over blue denim pants. Jack could not see his face because he turned his back towards her.
New Dimension!
Now the phrase was not just a coincidental phrase that had been popping up amid the mysteries.
Dolbycato kept talking about it in a way that he did not understand.
Then he remembered seeing it while he cracked the code. There was an APP called ND and the slogan is let’s take a new dimension.
Jack moved after the man.
“Hey.” Jack called but the man did not turn. He was walking away from the crowd.
“Hey.’
The man increased his pace and did not turn back.
This was strange. Jack felt the man knew something. Jack doubled his pace. The man made a quick cross over the road. Jack followed him; crossed over the road and made sure he had his eyes on him.
The mystery of the missing project had gone viral now and it was all over the internet and news channels.
The man glanced back and Jack saw the silhouette of his face.
“Please stop!” Jack said and started running. The man began to run too.
Jack ran as fast as he could, the image of his mother and sister displayed in front of him, as he threw his legs powerfully, pushing his body through the air, his gaze fixed on the strange man.
He stopped abruptly.
Where was he? The man disappeared. Jack looked at all directions, checking the people that moved but there was no sign of the man.
That was strange. He had to find Trisha. If he had known, he would have cloned the project database and just go ahead to find answers.
“Jack.” Jack turned to see Teks.
“Damn! Teks, what are you doing here?”
“I heard about the projects.” Teks said and Jack noticed the shivering in the voice. He looked so paranoid, glancing from left to right as if he was being chased.
“It’s crazy.”
“Everything is crazy.” Teks said, “I am crazy, right? I mean officially?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I was on my way home when I heard, do you really don’t believe in magic? I was high and felt it was a program on the FM and I am like Magic, supernatural, paranormal are all a fraud. Then I hear a laughter and the voice say, come on Teks, don’t be so naïve. The other world is vaster than can imagine. You have eyes but lack vision. You walk but crippled in reality.”
Teks sighed. Jack had never seen him look so scared.
“I stop and I say what the hell that was? And the voice is like you are right, I am that of the hell, buried stories I have to tell, when they reject he that fell, they subconsciously cast on themselves a great spell. The spell of a few can be broken, the bog heartedness is a token, from the one above who has spoken. Believe in the other world and believe in me.”
Teks wiped his face with a hanky before lighting a stick of cigarette.
“I think is a programmed voice but it was responding to my question. No one programmed my words. So I freak out and throw it away. It says no one can take care of you like I will. A bond to lift you higher and have a constant companion that makes you excel. I am you’re your most relevant friend.”
Jack did not know what to make out of this. It sounded crazy and Teks looked like he was out of his mind. Was this a result of drugs? Did he know what he was talking about? How could a phone speak to him like that?
“Are you sure about this?”
“You know better that I did not believe in anything outside the content of science but this s**t happened to me. I threw it in a trash can.”
“Okay, we will talk about that later. I need to find someone. I need answers to certain questions.”
“I need to go back.’
“Go back where?”
“The phone.”
“You said you threw it away.”
“Yes but it said says no one can take care of me like it will. A bond to lift me higher and have a constant companion that makes me excel. It say it is my am most relevant friend.”
Jack did not know what to make out of this. It sounded crazy and Teks looked like he was out of his mind. Was this a result of drugs? Was he so high?
“If what you are saying is true, you better forget about...”
“No! I am going back to pick it. I made a mistake.”
Without waiting for an answer, Teks turned and started running. Jack shrugged and moved on. He had to look for Trisha. Oh no! His family.
- Writer
