(3) The Remaining

by Dequincyx

Clare arrives back in Chicago, Illinois after venturing out through a world she no longer recognizes. Once back home, she finds that most of her friends are gone...while few have been left behind. The CPS worker must find answers as to what happened. Clare and her friends may have survived the aftermath of the vanishings, but can they survive as...The Remaining?

3. 3 (2)-Jackie

(2)-Jackie's Place.

As Clare drove through the suburben neighborhood, she couldn't help but see how deserted it was. This disappearance of millions of people was tragic, but what had been left behind was far worse. She could remember a time before the vanishings when children would be out playing with each other in the neighborhood, as well as people walking their dogs and chatting with one another. But then the disappearances happened and everything instantly changed. Including the remaining people's lives.

But no felt more affected by this sudden, instant change than Clare. Looking back at the past, that didn't even feel like that once was her life. It felt like it was someone else's life from another lifetime. Even though the disappearances had only happened just the other night.

Clare soon arrived at Jackie's house, got out of her car, and ran up to the front door where she started knocking. "Jackie?!" She called. But there was no response. She knocked again. "Jackie?!" Still no response.

Clare then used a key that Jackie had given her to the house to unlock the door, and then she opened it. "Jackie?!" She shouted as she went inside the house and closed the door, followed by locking it back.

Clare beagn to look around the house for any sign of Jackie as she ventured through it. But there was no trace of her. "Jackie?!" She called.

Clare then looked up the stairs. "Jackie?!" She called. No answer. "Jackie?!" No response. "Are you up there?!" She shouted.

Clare then slowly began ascending the stairs. "Jackie?" She called. No reply. She soon made it to the top of the stairs and headed for Jackie's bedroom. "Jackie?" She said as she made here way to bedroom door. She opened the door, slowly made her way over to the bed, slowly pulled back the sheets, and her hands flew to her mouth, with her eyes instantly going wide.

Lying on the bed under the covers were Jackie's pajamas...just like Irene and Raymie's. Her worst fears had been confirmed. Jackie was gone too.

Clare then sat on the bed's side. "NO! NO! NO!" She screamed. "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" She screamed, looking up at the ceiling, letting whatever force did this have it. "I hate you." She said cryingly as she started sobbing. She didn't know what caused most of her friends to disappear, or why it took them. But she knew one thing: This global vanishing act was not God's doing. God was love and he wouldn't take millions of people off the face of the Earth and leave their loved ones grieved and confused. This was not of God, it couldn't be.

There was every theory out there explaining the disappearances. UFOs, spontanious combustion, nuclear radiation...and...the Rapture. She knew she had to pick one of the scenarios to try to make sense of all of this, otherwise she would go insane, as many other people had due to the vanishings. She didn't want to believe the other three theories, 'cause that would mean that her friends were either dead...or...they were in Heaven and this event truly was an act of God.

In that moment...Clare had decided to go with the first theory: UFOs.
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