It was disturbing, grossly, intensely, and completely disturbing. The disappearance of a place he knew by heart shocked him completely; he staggered backwards with no regard to the people around him. His hands tingled down to the very tips; he knocked straight into a man in a business suit who threw him a disgusted look and began dusting his jacket with his hand. Strangely enough, he could remember with detail his old corner, the way the factories looked from across the street, the stores surrounding his corner. Yet when he looked once more to see it for real, he was met once again with a disturbingly empty space. His eyes searched about wildly, but he could barely keep them fixed on the space for long before they ached.
So once again he set to walking, dropping his remaining papers, determinedly refusing not to stop until he reached somewhere safe. But where to go? His sister was at home doing piecework with his mother. Kloppman would only scold him for skipping work had he chosen to try the newsboys' lodging house. Struck with something like inspiration, he made his way through the streets, headed to one area where he knew he'd be safe. One area he hoped, with everything he had, that was not yet gone.
Her apartment was usually vacant, and he could never understand why. Furthermore, he could never understand how she could keep the rent. He never saw her mother and father, though he saw traces of their existence when he let his eyes trace the room while he held her. Truly, it was very curious, and she always evaded the topic when he spoke of it, but, blinded by his affections for her, he had decided to wait a bit longer before he tried once more. Now, it seemed, it was too late.
The one-room apartment was dusty and dirty, with two mattresses in separate corners of the room and a black, filthy stove lurking in another corner. He opened the door and it slammed against the wall. The room was just as he remembered it; he walked in and flopped down on her mattress. David's mind was racing; he didn't know that things like that could just happen. The sight of the fragmented street flickered in his mind, frightening him more and more every time. It was difficult to wrap his head around the concept. Even worse was having to put the blame on Anna, his dear, sweet Anna. Perhaps, he thought, perhaps she was merely the scapegoat for a larger force that neither could control. Perhaps she felt just as lost.
Although that thought gave him hope, he knew it was dead wrong. He had a sinking feeling that this was very Anna, and there was nothing that he could do. Disturbingly enough, there was no solution. There wasn't even a coherent problem. And he could trust absolutely no one. If he told anyone, he would probably be committed, and that was the last thing he needed. However, it wasn't just every day that the girl you loved just disappeared, and then the city just started fading into white space, yet nobody noticed...
Was he crazy? Maybe he really did need to be committed. David paced around the room, muttering to himself, trying to grasp the situation. He went over the things he knew: Anna disappeared, but not before letting it slip to him that there was something very, very wrong. She told him that he didn't exist, quietly expanding upon silly theories but growing silent five minutes after she began, and he laughed in disbelief, never believing until she was gone. Soon after her disappearance, he came to grasp her final words and then, it became extremely clear once he saw the jagged edges of the city.
There was virtually no way of finding her. She probably never even had a family, and he knew that she was friendless. It wasn't often that street rats knew all that much about one another, but David figured that perhaps his friends would know something, or would know someone who knew someone who knew something. Seized with the hopes of finding answers, he left the apartment just as hurriedly as he came, seeking out his best friend.
Jack never liked to have just one selling spot; he found it best to be free and uninhibited by a normal corner. He was in the marketplace, standing obtrusively in the path of the people. "Jack!" David called. Surprised to hear David's voice, his best friend turned to see him.
"Hey, Dave," said Jack. "Where's your papers?" David paused, confused, then looked down at his empty arms.
"I have no idea," he said slowly, trying to remember what he could have done with them. Jack raised an eyebrow. Resting a hand on David's shoulder, he leaned closer to his friend.
"David, are you okay?" David shook Jack's hand off of his shoulder, suddenly feeling nervous and confused.
"Have you seen Anna?" Jack gave David a strange look.
"Who?" he responded. David's jaw dropped; seeing this, Jack looked confused. "I'm getting the feeling that I should know who you're talking about, here. What was her name? Anna?"
"Anna," David repeated, as if Jack had gone insane. "My girl, Jack."
"Hmm, oh her?" Jack replied vaguely, as if he really still had no idea.
"You don't remember her?" asked David in disbelief. Jack shrugged.
"I didn't know. You never said much about her. You aren't real public about things like that, Dave. I don't even remember you having a girl. You sure you aren't making this up? If you need a girl, we can find you one..."
"No, no!" David cried, grasping his head in frustration. "I don't need to find another girl; I need to find this one! The one I want is impossible to find!" The people were heading home, another day of shopping complete, passing the pair of boys and giving them strange looks.
Jack noticed this and said, concerned, "Listen, Dave, why don't you go home and have a rest, huh?" David nodded dumbly.
"Yeah, I'll see you later," he mumbled, walking off and disappearing into the crowd.