Its so strange to think that one minute she was here and the next she was gone. Mortimer had struggled with his wife's sudden disappearance for years and usually he managed to keep himself together but today was one of the rare exceptions. His head was throbbing as he pondered what could have happened. Did she leave, was she kidnapped, does that good for nothing Don Lothario have her blood on his hands... or is it something else entirely, something supernatural. Most people would rule out the supernatural without a second thought but Mortimer had always been a big believer in all the possible aspects of the universe. It was Bella actually who had first shown interest in his scientific mumbo jumbo.
...
It was late in the winter of his eighth year that the two of them were walking to Bella's house after she'd finished her ballet lessen and he his scouting session. "Do you believe in ghosts?" Bella asked completely out of the blue. She was always asking random questions like that, but he didn't mind, he loved that about her... even at that age.
"Yeah, sometimes at night I can almost see some from my window. I think they come out of the graveyard down the road because sometimes I, I don't know, I just feel this weird chill come over me."
"I believe too. Not for any reason as dramatic as that but just because I like to think that there's something to look forward to after we die. What else do you believe in?"
"I don't know. Lot's of stuff I guess. My Dad read me a book about aliens and stuff and I don't know if I believe it all but I like the idea of their being something out there."
"What kind of aliens? Where do they live? Where are they from?" Bella asked enthusiastically.
"I don't know. Anywhere, I guess. I want to find out more though, I want to know everything there is to know about aliens and ghosts and even vampires. I want to be like a keeper of knowledge. People would come to me whenever they want to know something and I'd tell them all the stories I can."
"How would you make money?"
"I hadn't thought about that much, the knowledge is the part I like imagining. The rest will work itself out. Maybe I'll get a job somewhere to pay the bills, maybe I'd live with my parents till I die..."
"You could live with me. I could get a job and pay the bills and you could keep the knowledge."
"Sounds good. Team Beltimer."
Bella picked up a stick from the side of the road, "Team Beltimer will rule the land!"
...
Mortimer swallowed an aspirin and closed his eyes for a moment to make the memory go away. It was to painful to think about her. But he had to, whatever happened to her he had to find out what it was and bring her back where she belongs. Unless... she left... herself. "No, she wouldn't, and even if she did it doesn't matter," he said out loud, "I love her, and I will learn the truth."