(Just like I promised, here's the next chapter. I've been very encouraged by the reviews I got for the first chapter. Thanks to T.S. Quint, DTO, SideshowJazz1, ZabuzasGirl, Liliana Celeste, and duchessofbooks for being the first people to review!

[Chapter 2 Song Suggestions: "Into Yesterday" by Sugar Ray]

Chapter Two

Vanished

"All that we see or seem/ Is but a dream within a dream."
- Edgar Allan Poe

It was 3:20 pm when Valerie got out of her History class. The blacked out obituaries had been plaguing her mind all day. Her mother's reporter instincts had been passed on to her and Valerie had been anxious to get back to researching the story behind them. This is why Valerie was at the library until eight-thirty that night, trying to gather information.

Usually, while she did her homework, Valerie would have music playing in the background. At the moment, she had her iPhone's ear buds in as she listened to her favorite song, "Into Yesterday" by Sugar Ray. So she didn't hear the Head Librarian come up behind her and yelped when a hand tapped her shoulder. She whirled around and pulled the ear buds from her ears to see an equally startled elderly woman.

"Sorry," the librarian apologized. She held up copies of old newspapers. "I found the years you were asking for."

"Oh thank you!" Valerie took them and her eyes eagerly began to scan for anymore oddities.

"Doing a report on the sixties?" the woman asked, a little fidgety.

"Something like that," Valerie responded absent mindedly.

1960, 1961, 1962, etc. the whole sixties decade was here!

The librarian cleared her throat. "Just what is this paper going to be about? Maybe I can help you narrow down the articles? I was a teenager during the sixties after all." She reached out to grab some but Valerie waved her off as politely as possible.

"No thanks. I can do it." Then the lady's last remark made Valerie rethink her answer. "Actually…" She turned to the librarian, glancing at her name tag; Teresa Hemming. "Have you lived in Springwood all your life?"

Ms. Hemming nodded.

"I know this is going to sound like an odd question, but do you remember is there was a serial killer in Springwood?"

The woman's mouth fell open. "W,what?"

Valerie immediately regretted asking. "Um, never mind. Forget I asked." Geez, old women can be really sensitive to questions like that, Valerie thought. She shuffled the papers into a stack and stifled a yawn.

"Maybe you should head on to your dorm," Ms. Hemming suggested. "It's getting late."

"Is it?" Valerie checked her watch and lifted her eyebrows. "Oh wow. I didn't realize I've been here for so long." She began to gather the copies but Ms. Hemming spoke up.

"Um, I'm afraid you can't take those with you. Regulations, you see."

"Oh." Valerie was sure she remembered being able to take a copy of a newspaper with her for a previous assignment during her freshman year. Maybe the rules had changed?

"I'll just come back for them tomorrow. Could you put them aside for me?"

"Of course. Your name?"

"Valerie Snider."

"I'll be sure to keep them ready for you."

"Thanks. Good night."

She shouldn't have stayed so late at the library. It was dark outside and the campus looked deserted on her walk back to the dorms. Isabelle had borrowed Valerie's car to make a run to the grocery store for some microwavable meals and drinks.

"You're a big girl, Valerie. You can suck it up," she told herself. An owl hooted. "Just walk really, really fast." A twig snapped from behind. "On second thought, running sounds much better."

"Valerie!"

Valerie stopped herself from taking off and turned around to see who called her. Relief washed over her. "Kevin!"

Kevin Michaels jogged up to meet Valerie, wearing his signature red hoodie. His closely cut, black hair nearly blended in with the dark but his grey eyes shone back at Valerie with a hint of mirth.

When he caught up he stuffed his hands into his hoodie's pouch. "What's got you so jumpy?" he chuckled.

"Owls, man. Owls."

"Owls?" Kevin repeated with an amused smile.

"Owl hoots at night make things ten times creepier."

As if to prove Valerie's point, an owl hooted nearby. Kevin pursed his lips as if in thought. "Hmmm. Yes. Yes, I see what you're saying." He gave Valerie a pitying look. "Would you like me to walk you back to your dorm?"

"Oh dear lord, yes," she answered quickly, grateful she wouldn't have to walk alone.

"Right this way, milady," Kevin said, offering her his arm.

Valerie hesitated for a brief second. "It's Kevin, Valerie. Kevin." She threaded her arm through his and they walked on.

"So, Kevin, what are you doing out here this time of night?"

"Charlie and I were working late on a film project for our Final in film class. It's got to be at least an hour long. We've only got ten minutes worth so far."

"Isabelle's got the lead role in your film, doesn't she?"

"Yeah. She's a great actress, you know," Kevin gushed.

Valerie smiled. She knew he had a crush on Isabelle, but Isabelle didn't realize it and she also had a boyfriend; Marv Baldwin. Although, Valerie had noticed her friend was getting more distant with Marv. Not to mention more annoyed.

"Marv has no ambitions, Val," Izzy had told her a few days ago. "He's lazy, he dropped out of college last month, and I don't think he's taking our relationship seriously. I asked him what kind of a future he wanted for himself and he sad working at the car shop suited him just fine."

Valerie glanced at Kevin. Kevin was good looking, well kept, considerate, stayed committed to the things he set out to do, and had no nasty habits. He had goals in mind for his future.

"He would be a good guy for Isabelle."

Isabelle and Valerie had met him during their sophomore year, so it wasn't like he and Isabelle had been friends for so long that dating each other would be weird.

"Maybe if I gave Izzy a little nudge in the right direction…"

Kevin's voice broke through Valerie's thoughts. "Alright. Here we are. Safe and sound."

"Thanks, Kevin."

"No problem, Valerie. Tell Izzy I said 'hi'."

"Will do."

She waved good-bye and entered the dorms. At the front desk sat a security guard. "Hello, Mr. Dalton," Valerie greeted.

"Hello, Miss Snider."

"Everything secure so far?"

"Eight-fifty and all's well," the guard declared.

"Good-night, Dalton."

"Good-night."

Valerie's dorm room was on the second floor of the three story building. She took the stairs, a decision she'd started to make since meeting the health nut, Isabelle. When she unlocked the door to her dorm, she found Isabelle sitting Indian-style on Valerie's bed, arms folded over her chest, and a very ticked off look on her face.

"Izzy?"

"I'm breaking up with Marv tomorrow."

The suddenness of her statement took Valerie by surprise for a moment. "Uh…Okay."

"Let me tell you why." Isabelle pointed at the space next to her. "Sit."

"Would you like me to roll over too?"

The tension in Isabelle's face eased. "I'm sorry, Val. It's just… Marv broke the final straw tonight."

Valerie shrugged off her book bag, slipped off her shoes, and sat next to Isabelle. "What did he do?"

"We were supposed to go out tonight but no. He calls me and cancels, telling me he doesn't have the money to take me out. I asked him why that was. He tells me he didn't get a good paycheck this week. Ask me why he didn't get a good paycheck, Valerie. Ask me why."

"Why didn't he ge-?"

"Because he didn't show up to work for two days! His excuse? Because he didn't feel like it! You know the only reason why his butt doesn't get fired is because his uncle runs the place!" Isabelle flopped down on the bed. "Ugh! What did I ever see in that guy!"

"If I recall, you said something about his butt," Valerie dead panned.

Isabelle huffed. "That sounds about right."

A few seconds of silence passed by. Looking for a way to cheer her friend up, Valerie grabbed a few locks of Isabelle's brown hair and arranged it on Isabelle's upper lip like a mustache. It succeeded in making her giggle.

"Okay, Izzy. I have an idea. Movie night in my room; tomorrow. I'll even buy ice cream."

"Deal. You want me to call Bianca or should I?"

"I will. You go get some sleep."

Isabelle blew air out her mouth, making her lips vibrate and the make-shift mustache to slide off. "Fine. I guess I should." She slid off Valerie's bed and headed for the door that led to the bathroom which connected Valerie and Isabelle's dorm rooms. "There's left over Ramen noodles in the microwave if you haven't eaten."

The empty feeling in her stomach reminded Valerie that she hadn't. "Mmmh. Delicious."

"Thanks for letting me rant," Isabelle said over her shoulder, then disappeared behind the door.

Valerie pulled out her cell phone and dialed Bianca Cates' number. Bianca was another friend she'd made during her freshman year. She and Bianca hadn't clicked like she had with Isabelle but she still liked her despite the fact Bianca could become a little self-absorbed at times.

Bianca had the kind of beauty that was found splashed on the covers of magazines and on the silver screen. She never had a problem getting the guys attention with her red hair, blue eyes, slender legs, and pouty lips. At the moment though, she had no steady boyfriend but was dating here and there. While pursuing a modeling career, Bianca was also taking cosmetic classes.

Valerie was about ready to hang up and try again later when Bianca's voice greeted her. "Hello, Valerie," she said, breathlessly. A boy's voice could be made out chuckling in the background.

"Awkwaaaard," Valerie thought.

"Hi, Bee. Uh…I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Valerie prayed Bianca would spare her any details.

"Uum," Bianca giggled, "Not really. What's up?" The guy's voice was heard asking her to end the call quickly and she shushed him playfully.

"Uh-." Brain, work! Now! "Isabelle's breaking up with Marv tomorrow-."

"Well it's about f-ing time!" Bianca declared passionately. "The guy is such a slug."

"Anyway, I was wondering if you'd join us for movies and ice cream."

"As long as you buy me some sugar free ice cream I'll be there."

"Consider it done."

"Great. Hate to cut this short, Val, buuut," she giggled and the guy could be heard chuckling as well. Some kissing noises were followed by a squeal from Bianca.

"Uh- say no more- please! I'll let you get back to, to, to whatever it is you're doing."

"Byyye," Bianca sang and hung up.

Valerie scratched the back of her neck. "Well that was awkward." Her gaze landed on her face reflected back from the mirror. Long blonde hair that ended at her shoulder blades, big green eyes, full lips, heart-shaped face. Bianca had once tried to convince Valerie to go into modeling but Valerie had laughingly passed it up. "People will be too busy adoring you, Bee, to notice me."

Her stomach rumbled, reminding her it had been awhile since lunch time. She shuffled over to the microwave and re-heated the leftover Ramen noodles. As she ate at her desk, she logged on to her laptop and tried to do a little more research on those blacked out obituaries before going to bed.

Math. It was torture. Pure and simple.

Valerie readjusted her black rimmed reading glasses, her hipster glasses as Izzy called them, and tried to focus on what the professor was going on and on and ooooon about. A few more minutes and her attention began to wonder again.

"Eight in the morning is too early for a math class."

Something light collided with the back of her head and fell onto her desk. It was a crumpled paper ball. Valerie smirked. She had a pretty good idea who had sent it. Flattening it out, she read the message inside.

How are you holding up in here?

Valerie turned in her seat to look back at Charlie Grey, sitting behind her. She lowered her voice. "You could just whisper, you know?" she said.

Charlie shrugged. "Meh. I need something to distract me."

"You're supposed to be paying attention. Remember what your dad said?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Either I bring my grades up or he sends me off to a military college."

"Exactly."

"Don't care."

"You should."

Charlie leaned back in his chair, hands linked behind his head, and smiled. "What are you; my mother?"

"Worse. I'm a friend."

The professor cleared her throat and gave them the evil eye. Both suppressed a smile and refrained from speaking to each other for the rest of the class. Once it was over, Charlie walked Valerie to her English class and he went on to meet up with Kevin and Isabelle for their filming.

After English, Valerie had three more classes. Psychology 416; Cognition, French II, and swimming at the gym. She was really looking forward to only two of those listed. Psychology and swimming. But today she was itching to get to the library and start looking at those newspaper articles. Maybe she could skip swimming and – no. She just couldn't skip swimming.

When she had been living in California, Valerie visited the beach at least five times a week and because of that she had become an excellent swimmer. Her mother used to call her a mermaid. Since moving to the beachless Ohio, Valerie jumped at the chance to take the swimming classes even though she was well experienced. She just missed the feel of the water. Luckily her dad had moved into a home with an in-ground pool that she could use whenever she visited him. Speaking of her dad…

Every Tuesday and Thursday she called her dad just to talk and since he lived a little over three hours away, she visited him every other weekend. She'd been at her dad's the past weekend, so this weekend was free for her.

"I'll call him before I go to the library," she decided.

Psychology class went by too quickly for Valerie. French II, despite Bianca sitting in the desk to her left, was excruciatingly slow. Bianca had a knack for foreign languages and helped Valerie when asked or when she noticed Valerie having a hard time comprehending something. Valerie only took this class because it was a requirement for her Major and managed to keep her grades in the B range.

"How do you do it?" she whispered to Bianca.

Bianca twirled a lock of red hair around her finger and smiled. "Je ne sais pas," she replied.

"Phft. Sure you don't."

Quickly toweling off, Valerie headed for the girl's locker room. The swim had eased some of the day's stress which she was grateful for but she couldn't get dressed fast enough to get to the library.

It was four o'clock when she pulled into the library's parking lot. She remembered to phone her dad just s she was stepping out of her vehicle.

"Valerie?"

"Hi, dad."

"Hey, sweetie. What's going on?"

She told him about the project she'd been assigned and the blacked out obituaries. She heard him chuckle. "Sounds to me like you've got a little mystery," he said.

"You know how I get with mysteries, dad."

"Mm- hm. You become obsessed."

"Hey!"

"I love you, honey. But you do become a bit obsessed when stuff like this comes on your radar. You get that from your mom."

They talked a bit more for nearly ten minutes and said good-bye. Valerie stared at the library and bit her lip. This 'mystery' as her dad had called it, was more than it seemed. She just knew it.

Once entered the building, Valerie went straight to the front checkout desk where a student sat. "How can I help you?" he asked.

"Hi, I'm here to pick up some copies of 1960s newspaper articles reserved for me."

"Name?"

"Valerie Snider."

The student nodded and looked around the desk. Then frowned. He went to a back room and looked around there too but came back with the same frown. "Um, sorry. I don't have anything here for you."

"There's gotta be a mistake. The Head Librarian, uh, Ms. Hemming, reserved them for me last night."

"Let me check again." But he came back with still nothing.

"Maybe she forgot and put them back," Valerie mused aloud.

"Could be," the student said with a shrug.

Valerie sighed. She was hoping to get straight to work but now it was put on hold. She took the stairs to the second floor of the two story building and trudged her way to the back where the newspapers and microfilms were kept. She searched for the 1960s … and found nothing. There were no newspapers under the entire 1960s decade. Maybe they had been misplaced? She shuffled through the other decades, even looked through the eighties and nineties, sparse as they were. Which she found to be a bit odd. But they were nowhere to be found.

Something kept niggling at her. Check the microfilms. She pulled out the drawer which should have contained the 1960s. Nothing.

"Okaaay. This is getting weird."

To her right was the door to the room that contained the original newspapers and other old documents. She went over and tried the knob. Locked.

She went back to the front desk and told the student her dilemma. "Is the Head Librarian here? I'd like to ask her if she remembers what she did with the copies."

"I'll ring her up."

It wasn't very long until Ms. Hemming arrived from her office. Valerie smiled at her. "Hi. Remember me from last night?"

"Oh yes. I gave you a bit of a scare, didn't I?" the woman chuckled.

"Yes, you did. Well, I came to look over those copies and they seem to be lost."

"Lost?"

"Yeah. They're not reserved or put back with the copies upstairs. I thought I'd try to find the original articles and recopy them," here the librarian's face had paled it seemed to Valerie, "but the door's locked."

"Student's aren't allowed in that room," Ms. Hemming said tersely.

"If you wouldn't mind making me another set of copies?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't."

Don't tell me the originals have gone missing too, Valerie thought dryly. "Why not?"

"Because," Ms. Hemming seemed to falter a bit, then went on, "Only a certain number of copies can be made and until we find the original set of copies I made last night I'm afraid I can't make a second."

"Bull crap!" Valerie wanted to shout.

"Okay." She licked r lips as she thought of a plan B. "I guess I'll just have to go to the public library."

"I'm afraid so. Sorry about the inconvenience."

Valerie doubted she really was but she gave the woman a pleasant good-bye and headed for the doors. Ms. Hemming waited until Valerie was out of sight, then hurried to her office and dialed Springwood's Public Library.

Valerie blinked rapidly for a moment as she absorbed what the Public Library staff member had just told her.

"You're kidding right? All the newspapers from the 1960s to the 1990s were destroyed in a fire?"

"Burned down the East wing nine years ago," the staff member said.

Valerie ran a hand through her blond hair. "This is so not real," she muttered.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Valerie glanced at her watch. The girls would be at her dorm for movie night at seven. It was nearly five-twenty and she still hadn't bought the ice cream she'd promised her friends.

She let out a frustrated sigh. "No thanks," she replied and left. Once outside of the building, Valerie used her phone to look up the number of the nearest out of town library and called it. She told the person who answered who she was, the project she was working on, and the kind of articles she was looking for. The employee asked her to hold for a few minutes as he checked the records. Three minutes later he was back.

"I'm sorry. But the Springwood authorities took possession of all the articles concerning Springwood some time ago. Back in the mid-90s, I believe."

"…All of them?"

"Yes. Is that all I can do for you?"

"…Yeah. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Valerie had been suspicious before but now she was convinced. Springwood had something to hide. But she was going to find out what it was.

(Wow, I am so close to falling asleep from working for so long on this chapter. My back is killing me! I hope you enjoyed this chapter so that the pain will be worth it.