Chapter 2
The chaos and mayhem that followed was mind boggling. Planes dropped out of the sky, cars
and trucks ran each other off the road. On campus thousands of people had disappeared. Jeff and
his friends were trying to help people, calm them down, and try to get people organized. Everyone
was in a panic, people wee trying to get to loved ones, and trying to get of campus. Most of the kids
who commuted, were trying to get home, to no avail. Jeff and his friends were spread all over the
campus trying to round people up. One of the professors had set up a area in the center to have
everyone on campus meet and then they would try to find out who was there and who was missing.
During all of this Miriam was shanking her head. Jeff knew what she was thinking, she knew what
had happened and she was disturbed by it. After several hours, all the students who lived on campus
were in the student center room. Everyone was all talking at once, and everyone was very shaken by
what had happened. The outside world was getting more and more chaotic. The phones were
jammed, the Internet was impossible to access. Everyone was trying to see if their loved ones were
gone or not. Jeff felt both relived and saddened to know that he didn't have to worry about that. Jeff
had been a ward of the state, and he never knew any family members. He had lived in foster homes
and half way houses sense he could remember. He never stayed long in any one house, so he never
grew attached to any one family. The only people he could even consider being his family was his
friends and they were all here. He was not sure yet whether that was a good or bad thing. The
professor that was trying to get everyone together, was now trying to get some attention.
One of the students was trying to help him by setting up a sound system. Jeff Recognized the
student, he was in the theater department at the school. Jeff had a class with him, but he couldn't
remember what his name was. There was some horrible feed back from the microphone and
speakers, and once it died down the professor addressed the assembled students. " Ladies and
gentleman, for those of you that don't know me I am professor Samson. I am a professor of history
here at the university. First of all , thank you for coming here. I know you all are scared and
confused, and you want to know what is going on. I will tell you what I know and what some of the
speculations are. Here is what we know for sure. According to news sources, thousands of people
have disappeared all over the world. That's right, this is not a local thing, it is global. Second of all,
we are now getting a tabulation of all the students here at the university that are missing. As soon as
we have confirmed that the missing students are in fact missing, we will post the list of missing
students. Now to the order of what happened. In case you are wondering why I am the one
addressing you and not the dean of the university, is because he has vanished also. Most of the staff
here have also disappeared. There are a few of the faculty left. I will assume the role of dean until
we can find a suitable replacement. All classes are suspended until further notice. The state has
declared a state of emergency. Keep to your dorm rooms and do not venture out unless it is a
emergency. Most ways of communication are either down or jammed up. We will slot times for
each dorm to use the phones to make outside calls. Do not, I repeat do not try to use the phones, or
Internet, unless your dorm is the one slotted. As for you students who commute, I suggest you find
someone to stay with here on campus, if you cannot you can stay here in the center if you wish. I
would not suggest trying to make it home anytime soon. If you must leave then all I can tell you is
good luck. As for the question of what happened, I honestly don't know. As soon as I hear
something I will address the university again. Until that time, please stay in your dorm rooms and
do not leave the campus unless it is a complete emergency. If you do leave, please let someone
know that you have left, so we don't count you among the ones who have disappeared. Thank you,
and good luck".
Everyone stood around, not sure what to do next. Some people tried to talk to Prof. Samson,
hoping to get more information. Some left immediately to get to their dorm and something familiar.
Jeff was looking at the guy who set up the sound system. He was now taking the mock stage and
sound system apart. Jeff tried desperately to remember his name. Just then the young man looked at
him and smiled. " Oh great" Jeff thought. He is going to come over here and try and talk to me and
I can't remember his name. Jeff was looking for a way to get out of his sight when he noticed the
young man was about five feet in front of him. Jeff sucked in his breath, trying desperately to
remember his name. " Hey how ya doing" the young man asked. " Fine" Jeff said hoping the
young man would not ask if Jeff remembered him. " This is crazy" the young man said as he looked
around. " did you know anyone who vanished?" he asked Jeff. " No, not really" Jeff responded
inching away. " I don't have any family, and all my friends are still here." " That's good" the young
man mumbled. Jeff could tell the young man was nervous about something. " Um, I hate to say
this" the young man said in a very soft quiet tone " but I don't remember your name." Jeff almost
laughed out loud. He couldn't believe it. He had been so worried about not remembering this guys
name and offending him. " It's Jeff" he said laughing. The young man took his hand, " My name is
Jim" he said. Now Jeff remembered him. He was in Jeff's' Modern Lit class. He was a theater
major, studying to be a technician. Jim looked over Jeff's' shoulder, "I think your friends are
motioning to you to come over". Jeff looked over at his friends. They were in fact motioning him to
come over. " I better see what they want" he said to Jim. " Yeah sure" Jim said. " I have to finish
taking this stuff down anyway. Nice talking to you, see you later". As Jim turned around Jeff
remembered something. Jim was a commuter. He lived about an hour away from school. " Hey"
Jeff yelled trying to be heard over the din. Jim turned around. " Do you have anywhere to stay" he
asked. Jim shook his head, " I am going to try and make it home. I know a few back ways and I
have a off road truck. I'm sure I can make it in at least a few days time." Jeff was about to tell him
to stay with him when he had an idea. " Before you go could you come to my dorm room, I want to
talk to you about something" " Sure" yelled Jim. Jeff went over to his friends and they all walked
out to their dorms togther. " I think we should all stay in one dorm for awhile." Steve suggested. " I
agree" Tony stated, " I think it should be Jeff and I's dorm rooms, we live next door to each other
and we can open the a joining door." Everyone agreed and they headed to the dorms.
When they got there everyone plopped down on some form of furniture and breathed a huge sigh.
It had been a very weird few hours and their collective brains were still trying to comprehend what
had happened. Miriam was very quiet through all of it. In fact Jeff realized she had not spoken a
single word sense the vanishings. None spoke as they all laid in Tony's dorm room. Finally after
several minutes Steve spoke. " Well I don't know about you all, but I am starving. You got
anything to eat in here". Tony looked at him with a disgusted face. " Thousands of people are
missing and all you can think about it food?" " Hey relax, big guy. Don't blow a gasket, I think
better when I have food in my belly". Tony ignored him and Steve looked though all the drawers
and boxes for food. He found a packet of Ramman noodles, and put it into a tupperweare container
and popped it into the microwave. As he waited for it to finish he sat down on the bed. " Besides"
he said " We don't know what caused the people to vanish. So why worry about it." " I know"
Miriam whispered very softly. Everyone was so startled by her speaking that they all turned to look
at her. She had her head down and she was looking at the floor. For a moment they thought she was
not going to speak again. When she lifted her head they saw she was still pale white and it looked as
if she had been crying. She looked out into space. " Well" Steve said impatiently, " what
happened". Miriam looked at him with sadness in her eyes. " It could only be one thing. It was the
Rapture".