(A/N): I have received motivation from knowing that a few people to have this finished. Thank you, and you know who you are :)

Plus, for self-proclaimed fans of this, updates will be faster now. I need to fix some things to make them make sense, though. I want to change a bit of the last chapter...

BOOK ONE: MEMORY LANE

CHAPTER ONE: DISAPPEARANCE

I looked up from my newspaper to find a man I didn't know sitting across the coffee shop. He was staring at me again, with his bright green eyes. He had been all day.

I'd been thinking about going over and asking what his problem was. But he came over for me. He gestured to the chair. I nodded, letting my black hair make a curtain around my face, and he sat. He looked like he was in his late twenties to mid-thirties.

"Have you seen the news?" he asked.

I held up my copy of the New York Times. "You should know that I've been reading all day."

He smiled sheepishly, and changed the subject. "Did you hear about the disappearance of the small town in England recently? It's really strange."

"No. What happened?"

"Well, every man-made thing within a five mile radius of this one place… just disappeared. No windstorm, and everything natural remained. So there goes the theory that they went to Oz," he laughed. His blond hair flopped a bit as he laughed. "My name's Charles, by the way."

I held out my hand. "Hi, Charles," I said. Something about him reminded me of… and then I was shaking and sobbing.

I had developed a minor case of depression around seven years ago. It hurt me to remember some… traumatic events in my life. It wasn't as bad as it was before, though...

Charles put his hand on mine and waited until I stopped crying. I still had shivers, though. It was still scaring me... Memories… I shuddered.

Charles looked at me with pity. "Did you know someone there?" he asked. "In the town?"

"What disappeared?"

"Well, there were a few houses… an old barn… some apartment building, I think… Fortunately there were only a few people in the radius at the time, so there were few casualties. They're not even sure if they died, really. They're all just gone."

"Who died? Please!"

"Let's see…" Charles opened his newspaper and flipped by a few pages. "Two women in their eighties, an old man in his nineties, and a couple in their forties, according to this. The old man has quite a strange name… probably a misprint. Did you know a 'Bobinsky' by any chance?"

I was sobbing again. No shaking, this time. But I knew who all of them were. My mother and father had stayed in England while I came to America for college. And then Misses Spink and Forcible, and Mister Bobo…

All dead.

"It's okay," Charles was saying. "It's okay."

I controlled my crying, to speak. "I knew all of them. We moved there when I was eleven. I came to America for college, and now… they're all dead." I didn't start crying this time. I let the words out slowly and quietly, and in my mind I was cursing the one who was behind it, or at least, who I thought was. I wouldn't let myself think of… her… as anything more than the subject of my cursing.

"You're scared of that place."

"Yes." It was a fact.

"You might be interested in this, then. I'm gathering an investigation team to work on this case. I could take you in for an interview, if you wish. Or we could talk here. I just want to see what you know about this from personal experience.

"So… will you talk to me?" Charles asked. He already knew my answer.

"Yes."

(A/N): I think I might add a little dedication to this... maybe, at the end. But I don't know... depends.

Hopefully my desire expressed over that sad turkey's wishbone is gonna happen...

Please review!