Chapter II

2249

Garth

Missing

As Garth was walking home, the earlier buzzing now morphed into a faint, metallic siren. As he continued, the sound got louder until a fire truck finally went flying down the street.

"Wonder where that's headed?" mused Garth as he recovered from jumping out of the fire truck's way.

When Garth entered his street, he saw something that filled him with terror. At the end of the street there was a run-down house with bright, orange flames pouring out of it. The fire truck was parked in front of the house, and firemen raced out of it. Even through the dark, ominous columns of smoke, Garth could recognize his own house being eaten by the blaze.

Garth started a mad sprint towards his house. But when he got there, he was rudely stopped by a fireman in a protective suit.

"This is a restricted area!" came a muffled voice from behind a gas mask. "Go back!"

"But this is my house!" protested Garth, letting his agitation show. "I just wanna know if there's anyone inside!"

"No. There is no one trapped inside the building! Now please leave!" came the voice again, speaking very clearly now.

"Are you sure there's no one---"

"Go!"

Garth was stunned. He couldn't believe his house had burned down and Jeremy was missing. He didn't care what the fireman said. He was going back tomorrow to look for his brother.

The night was terrible. Garth found an alleyway to sleep in, but still froze down to the core. Plus, he was also ravenous throughout the entire night.

 

When Garth awoke, he found a policeman standing over him and prodding him with his nightstick. Garth nearly had a heart attack. Although he was too young to have a heart attack, Garth was sure a few years had been cut off his lifeline. Despite this, the officer threatened to give him a ticket if he didn't 'get his butt up and outta here.'

As he came onto his street again, Garth observed that it was deserted, save a piece of garbage being swept across the street by a gust of wind. Garth noticed that nothing but cinders was left of his house. All of his house was gone. The once warm front room---in ruins. The small yet comfortable second room---devoured by the perilous fire. But when Garth came to the bedroom, he didn't only see burnt belongings, but instead, buried in the debris, his mother's jade necklace. It was as beautiful as when it was sent to them in the mail. It was a deep jade colored necklace inlaid with metallic silver.

Strange though….How did it survive the fire? As Garth wallowed in lost memories while surveying the necklace, he saw an enigmatic inscription: ...Could this cryptic message be addressed to him? Or even more mysterious, who could have written it?