Chapter 2 - Vanish
Aliese
Tonight was my night, I remember thinking, as I smiled widely and handed out candy to the three kids dressed as farm animals; one little boy a horse, another a cow, and the little girl a sheep. I giggled and laughed and asked them if they'd gotten very much candy. When they smiled, exchanged glances and shook their heads, I laughed and gave them another handful. They just smiled wider and laughed, and turned around to continue on.
And then they disappeared.
I remember thinking that I needed to lay off the apple cider and I giggled nervously. Dimly, I think I may have feared for my mental health. But then again my mental health was something that I feared for on my best days. And it wasn't me that saw things. I just heard things. Whispers…
I'd called for Lacie and Jeff, my adopted parents, and had just shaken my head when there was only silence. I didn't panic. Nothing was wrong; Jeff probably just had the TV on too loud again.
I didn't start to panic till I went into the kitchen and saw the box of cheerios on the table and the milk carton half empty across the floor. I stared at it for a second, watching the pool slink closer to my feet. I'd never seen anything like this in my life… Okay, so that may sound weird, but Lacie was a complete control freak with major OCD. There wasn't a speck of dust out of place in our entire house. The house was quiet.
Even from my mind.
The pool of white reached my toes, and I shivered as it began to seep under my foot.
Now was about time the panic set it.
"Lacie? Jeff?" I shouted, running through the kitchen to the living room. Nobody. I took off up the stairs, past my room, past Courtney's room. The door to Lacie and Jeff's room was open. The actual room itself was deserted. "LACIE! JEFF!"
I paused a moment in my frantic shouting, taking a few seconds to be thankful that at least Courtney was out of the house, and trying to calculate the possibility that Lacie and Jeff were dead and stuffed in a closet somewhere and now the murderer was searching the house for me. That thought alone was enough to shut me up and race down the stairs. I slipped on the milk puddle and landed in it, soaking my frost blue fairy costume. Unlike some people who don't notice a thing when they're panicking, I noticed, and I cursed the highest power I could possibly think of. I stood up quickly, catching myself on the kitchen table, and grabbed my phone and Lacie's car keys.
The adrenaline running through my veins propelled me foreword and out the front door. I didn't stop to look back, but I did stop as I reached the end of the driveway.
Tonight was Hallowe'en. The moon was up, it was only 9: 30, and it wasn't that cold. All perfect conditions for trick-or-treaters, so… where were all the little kids?
The street was absolutely blank. No kids running around, just fake Hallowe'en decorations blowing in the slight breeze. Not even Mr. Jansen taking out his trash. I ran, the sidewalk rough and uneven underneath my feet, to the next house. I banged on the door; nobody home. I ran to the next one; bang, bang, bang. Nothing. Next. And the next.
I'd almost made it around the whole street before my breath began to come in pants and my lungs and calves burned.
It was like… my breath caught in my throat; like everyone had just disappeared.
Like those little kids I saw disappear.
"Fuck!" I screamed, my voice disguised as a sob. Remembering the phone in my hand, I clumsily flipped it open and tried to dial Courtney's number. She was into this kind of stuff. The impossible stuff. She would know… It took me a few tries before I got her number right, between the tears and the hyperventilating.
Beepbeepbeepbeep. No…
So the phones weren't working.
I cursed and started to hop on my toes. Just for something to do to distract my mind.
Had Courtney ever said anything about a safe place? A meeting place? Think, think, think, I chanted internally."God, Aliese, listen!" Courtney whined playfully, poking me in the shoulder and dragging her fingers down my arm like a cat. I stuck my tongue out at her."What?" I asked in mock annoyance, looking up from my laptop. We sat at a table in the far corner of a café, drinking hot chocolate. It was the day before Courtney's 16th birthday, so I was only 13. That whole week Courtney had been acting weird, all smiley… and giggly. She giggled a lot more. And she sneaked out of the house when she thought I was sleeping. I knew enough not to tell Lacie or Jeff, after all, Courtney was my sister. We were family.
But right now… I would never admit it, but Courtney was beginning to scare me.
"Aliese… We need to have a place we meet up. Like… if we ever need to find each other." Courtney said staring at me, frowning."But how do we know the other will be there?" I asked naively, staring at her with wide eyes."Well…" she stalled, biting the end of her pen. "You have your mind thing. And I have my visions."
My anger flared at her words. "Oh. Oh thanks."
Courtney stared at me obliviously as I turned back to my computer, pretending to ignore her. "What? What did I say? Aliese… please, I'm sorry for whatever I said. Just… I dunno, tell me or something." She ranted, trying to get my attention. "Don't be mad…"
"Don't be mad?!?" I whispered harshly. Her green eyes stared at me in surprise. "Courtney, sometimes I don't get you. You act all protective, all older sibling, but then treat me like a freak the other half of the time when we're alone.""What? No I don't, Aliese. When have I ever-""Like right now!" I exploded, slamming the top down on my computer and beginning to stuff it in my bag. The few other people in the café stared at me. I began to whisper heatedly. "You're always talking about how you have visions. Visions. Premonitions. You have about twenty names for it, but what about me?! I just hear things. It's a 'mind thing'. I fucking hear people's thoughts, Courtney."
We sat there in total silence, just staring at each other. Courtney would never admit it, but she was fucking pissed. She just had more self restraint than I did. "You're a pain in the ass, you know that Aliese? And don't swear. It's bad."
"But you swear!""But I'm the older sibling.""… idiot.""Jackass."
She stared at me until we both broke out in laughter. A sudden thought came to me. "Here," I wheezed in between breaths.
"What?" Courtney asked still laughing, staring at me in confusion. "Here. We'll meet here. This will be our safe spot."
I watched the smile break across her face. "And hey, if it makes you feel any cooler," Courtney rolled her eyes. "I'll call it reading. You're ability."
My smile softened and I wanted to jump over the table to hug Courtney, but the people in the café were already giving us weird glances, even though we hadn't spoken loud enough for any of them to hear us. "Thanks, Courtney. You're really awesome, you know that?"
She brushed off the compliment. "I've always been awesome. That's what older sisters are for: to make their little sister look better."
A second ago, I wanted to hug her. Now I wanted to slap her.
Courtney's eyes glazed for a moment and when she came too, she was glaring at me.
Stupid visions, I thought. "What?" I said innocently, staring at her.
She smirked.
"The café." I gasped, snapping the phone shut and clutching the keys tighter in my hands. Thank god Courtney had taken it upon herself to teach me how to drive when I'd turned 14. Legally, I didn't have my license. But whose gonna stop me? I thought rebelliously.
I ran to Lacie's car that sat in the driveway. It wasn't ideal on speed, but what other choice did I have?
"Hotwire," Courtney would have told me.
I shook my head. I thought older sisters were supposed to be protective, not encouraging of bad behaviors.
The panic was now flushed out of me, and all I could think were depressing thoughts of, what if…? What if she had disappeared too? Why was I left?
Was I dead?
No. I refused to think those thoughts. I threw the car into drive and stomped on the gas, peeling out of the driveway with ease. I silently thanked Courtney for always thinking ahead.
The drive was long and silent. My cell phone sat on the seat beside me, and I glanced at it every few seconds, contemplating trying to call Courtney again. Even knowing that it wouldn't work. I was jittery and jumpy and my fingers played a rhythmic beat on the steering wheel as I drove precariously through the blackened streets and around deserted cars.
In the end, the silence was too much. I was driving through deserted streets with nothing but the moonlight; and it felt like a spotlight centered on me and only me.
"Screw this," I mumbled, plugging my iPod (which had been in my pocket) into the adapter and pressing play.
"It's the end of the world as we know itIt's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel 's 6 o' clock – TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn,return, listen to yourself-"
NEXT. I franticly pushed the skip button.
"Mass starvationContaminated waterDestroyed citiesMutilated bodiesMemories of tomorrow – too latefor sorrowPush the button,kiss goodbye the nuclear arsenal-"
WTF? Since when did I have all these world destruction, end of the world songs on here?!? Growling at the irony of it, I scrolled down to my play list entitled "Happy." and pressed play.
"I'm sitting in a room,made up of only big white wallsand in the halltheir's people looking throughthe window and they only know exactly what we're here for."
I shook my head in frustration and grabbed the ipod and threw it on the seat.
Fuck, life was idiotic.
The fact that I'd been driving for only about 4 minutes caused me to groan, slam my forehead against the horn and press on the gas. I bet I could've been a racecar driver, had this not happened. Hey, that was actually a good idea. Note to self: Become professional racecar driver.
Note to self: Never tell that idea to Courtney.
Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up... I just wanted to see Courtney. I just wanted to be able to see that she, even if everyone else was gone, would be alright.
I pulled into the deserted parking lot, parking between a white SUV with the door still open and a black I-don't-know-what muscle car. I glanced at it in interest before grabbing my things and rushing to the front door of the cafe; maybe Courtney would let us hotwire that car when we needed to drive out of here.
The cafe was, obviously, deserted. Blank. Devoid of any human life, except... I stared around the lone room, with the walls painted a earthy shade of green, and the dark coloured tables and chairs, and I felt something. I took a step into the cafe, the door bell ringing noisily in the pure silence.
A thought occurred to me; Reading. If anyone was in or near the building, I'd be able to hear them. I closed my eyes and began to massage my temples, trying to... I don't know how to explain it. Pick up a signal, almost. And just as I touched something, it pulled back.
Shit.
That thought hadn't come from me, but the next one did. Fuck! I could feel the barrel of the gun pressed up against my back, and I tried to suppress the sob that threatened to slip off my tongue. I should have known, where there is Courtney, there is trouble. But my thoughts were a mile away. Had they caught Courtney and forced her to tell them that this is where I'd be? Did they have someone with my same ability? That would still leave the fact that they would have to be within range of Courtney, and I found that hard to believe that they would have done that without Courtney shooting them first.
And who the hell were they?
My heart lurched at the sound of a voice: a voice I could never forget. It came from my right, but I refused to turn my head with the person holding a gun to me."Aliese...? Is that... you?"
I scoffed, of course it was me! Who else could it be? "Courtney?" Tears threatened at the back of my eyes. "Courtney, is that really you?" My voice broke. I was surprised when the pressure on my back dropped and something barreled into me. I hugged Courtney around the waist, considering she was a whole half a head taller than me, and cried into her chest, spitting out garbled nothings. "I thought I'd lost you... Why did you leave...? The phones... not working... Nobody. Absolutely nobody left..." I ranted uselessly, as Courtney just ran a hand soothingly over my hair, cooing things like "it's alright," "you're safe now," and "I'm here. I won't let anything hurt you."
We were together, she hadn't vanished, and now, we were alone. Everything would be fine.
Then who was holding the gun on you?
That thought made me break away from Courtney as she stared at me with sorrowful eyes. For the first real time, I looked around. Two figures came into view, and I had to squint to make them out. The one looked almost familiar... But the other was a loss. I would have remembered him, had I ever met him before.
"Who the hell are you?" I hissed at them, grabbing Courtney's hand for reassurance that she was still there. Courtney giggled and I stared at her hard. Well at least she knew these people enough to trust them, and she wasn't going all protective, so my tense shoulders relaxed.
Before Courtney could introduce me, the taller of the two stepped foreword and stared at me. "You said something about 'nobody left.' What did you mean by that?"
Courtney snorted and glared at the tall figure, making him flinch and take a step back. I felt a warmth of pride inside my chest. My sister could take on a 6 foot something guy with only a glare! I glanced at her in awe. My sister was awesome. I waited patiently as she snapped at the guy. "Croatoan, Sam. That means everyone's gone. Nobody. Is. Left."
"Whoa, chill Miss Genius," the short one responded, holding up his hands to signal the taller one, Sam, to shut up. "Sam and I, we've been through this before. They don't just vanish. It's a virus. Some of them stick around for a bit-"
Just then, I let out a startled cry as something pierced my shoulder followed milliseconds later by the sound of breaking glass. It felt white hot and I swear to god, I'd never been in so much pain before. The shock of the wound did seem to somehow numb the pain, but not enough. I pressed a hand to my shoulder, pulling my hand away, I saw a dark red smear.
"Someone just shot me." I said. Or maybe I thought it. Though I'm pretty sure I said it because the short guy snorted and before going all... crazy zombie attacker, Left 4 Dead, and spinning around to let louse a string of gun fire. Courtney stared at me in horror as the wound bled out and I fell to the ground, my head spinning. Before I knew what was happening, someone picked me up and we were running through the now broken door. My head lolled to the side for just a moment.
The moment I saw Courtney take out a gun and shoot one of her best friends. Sadie, I thought. But something made me keep from shouting out; the look on both their faces as Sadie jumped through the window of the cafe. Courtney's was one of broken pain. Sadie's one of sheer madness.
I think I may have passed out, because when I came too, all four of us were pilled into the black muscle car I'd parked next to and Courtney was in the back seat with me, holding something over my searing shoulder. My head felt light, like it might float away, but my thoughts stayed put.
"You just shot Sadie." I mumbled, barely coherent. "You've know Sadie since you were seven."
"That wasn't Sadie." Courtney replied shortly. "Now stop moving."
And somehow, remembering the look on her face, I believed her.
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A/N: Hey people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hai, so if you're reading this, then obviously you've read the latest chapter in my story. I'll be updating quite often, hopefully, so I really hope you'll stick with the story and review your thoughts. Thanks so much!!!!!
OH! I have a slight challenge for you: If you want, I'd like you to either review or message me with how you think Sam and Courtney know each other and if you think that they should get together in the end. Just keep in mind, your comment will not affect the story in anyway(I don't think, unless it's a REALLY good idea) I would just like your opinion. :D Thanks!!!!!!
