6. Charlotte's Shocking Morning.

"Uh...Bryce and, uh...Will, i...thanks. I guess hearing what other people have gone through, and are going through, well...that helps." Stine said.

"How?" Bryce asked.

"Good question. We'll figure that out. Okay?" Stine said.

"Yeah, whatever." Bryce said.

"We will." Stine assured. "Uh...Charlotte, are you ready to tell us your story?"

"I don't know." Charlotte said.

"You wanna just...give it a shot, maybe?" Stine asked.

"Uh, i guess. But i gotta warn ya...it ain't pretty." Charlotte said.

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Charlotte was awakened in her bed by the sound of sirens coming from outside. What was that noise? Was it the police? Could something have happened over at a neighbor's house? Wanting to investigate the matter, the 10-year old blond pushed back the covers and got out of bed, revealing herself to be wearing a pale pink long sleeve night-gown that went down to the calf of her legs. She was also barefoot. The half-awake girl put on her pale pink bunny slippers, exited her bedroom, and went downstairs into the living-room and went to the front door, opening it, and she saw the back of her 9-year old African American friend, Summer Trinity, standing on the sidewalk in her blue robe and black house-shoes.

Summer had light brown skin and brown curly hair that stopped at her upper-back.

"Hey, Summer!" Charlotte called, but her friend didn't turn to face her. "Sum, what are you doing?" No response. "She must be half-awake." The 10-year old girl said before exiting the house, closing the door, and running towards her friend. "Summer?! Summer!" She said as she ran up to the 9-year old black girl. "What's the matter, can't you hear me?"

"Huh?" Summer said as she turned to face Charlotte, revealing her eyes to be brown.

"You alright, Sum?" Charlotte asked.

"Don't you know what's goin' on?" Summer asked.

"What do you mean?" Charlotte asked.

"People are missing, Charlotte. All over the state of California, people have disappeared. I woke up this morning and found that my babysitter was missing. Her stuff is still in my house, but she's gone without a trace. I think my parents are gone too, because they never came home from their date last night. I tired calling their cells, but...they never answered." Summer explained.

"What are you talking about, Summer? People don't just disa-"

"Watch the News." Summer said, cutting Charlotte off. "It's all over TV, just watch. I think it's the end of the world."

"Sum..." Charlotte then noticed several police cars parked outside many of the homes in the suburban neighborhood. "Summer, what are those police cars doing here?"

"Several people disappeared from their homes this morning." Summer answered. "Almost the whole neighborhood, it seems. My guess is that someone phoned the police when people didn't show up for work and kids and teachers didn't show up for school."

"Neighbors? Teachers? Kids? Disappeared?" Charlotte asked. "Uh-oh." She said.

"What?" Summer asked.

"My Dad is one of the neighbors in this neighborhood. He lives on this same...block." Charlotte said. She was some-what fully awake now. The 10-year old girl was so drowsy, that she hadn't thought about her father...or her mother.

/

"You gotta understand at this point i'm still a little sleepy upstairs, like...start'n to get an idea, but...Anyway, i ran back inside my house, i turned on the TV to see what was happening on the News and that completely freaked me out. I went upstairs to my Mom's bedroom where i found out she was gone. Which made zero sense, because her car was still in the garage when i went to checked." Charlotte explained. "(Sniffs) I'm standing there and my Mom is totally gone."

/

Charlotte rushed into her room and got her cellphone off the night-stand and called her father.

"My Dad lives on the same block of the neighborhood as me and my Mom, so i tried to call him."

"Come on, Dad, answer the phone. Dad? Dad?!" Charlotte said as she waited for her father to pick up on the other end.

"You've reached Bob Dallas. There's no one home right now. Please leave a message. Thank you for calling." #BEEP# Said the voice-mail of Bob, Charlotte's father, on the phone.

"Dad, are you there?! If you're there, pick up the phone!" Charlotte said. "(Crying) Dad, it's me, Charlie!" She said as tears filled her eyes. "Charlie" was her nick-name her father had called her by.

"Charlotte?" Came a male voice on the phone.

"Dad!" Charlotte said excitedly.

"No, it's Carl. One of your Dad's work-mates." The male voice known as Carl said. "Yeah, uh, listen, he's not home."

"(Crying) Well, where is he, when will he be back?!" Charlotte asked as the tears ran down her face.

"I don't know, he's just gone! He's disappeared!" Carl said.

"Ugh! Seems to be goin' around!" Charlotte said.

"Your Dad was working the night-shift at the space center last night. I was suppose to meet him and a few other work-mates at iHOP this morning. They were ten minutes late, so i called the center and this cop answered." Carl said.

"And?!" Charlotte asked frantically.

"He told me your Dad was gone and so were the other staff-members that were working the night-shift. When the cop asked why i was calling at the space center, i told him i worked there, and that's when he asked me where i was and i told him i was at the diner and he told me to stay there, 'cause he and another officer were coming to ask me a some questions. So i waited at the diner and finally the officer i spoke with on the phone, and another cop, rushed in and told me your Dad's car was still at the space center along with the vehicles of all the other staff-members who were there." Carl said.

"What?! And?!" Charlotte gasped.

"And they said it was just your Dad's car that was there! Your Dad was nowhere inside the building or anywhere on the property! And neither were the other staff-members that worked overnight with him!" Carl said.

"You already knew he had disappeared, didn't you?" Carl said.

"I think so." Charlotte said, wiping the tears from her face with her right hand. "Listen, i gotta go." She said before hanging up. "What am i gonna do? Oh, man, what am i gonna do?!" She asked herself.

Charlotte's parents had gotten divorced last year in 2009 due to them always fighting and her Dad had moved out the day they had decided to end the marriage while Charlotte was at school. Once the divorce was finalized, her Dad let her Mom have full custody of her, as he didn't want the divorce to be more hard on Charlotte than it already had been.

Despite the divorce, however, he Dad still remained apart of her life. She would get to stay with him for a month and stay with her Mom for a month. While it was painful for her at first, she knew it was better for her parents to be apart and on good terms than for them to be married and under the same roof and at each other's throats. But now neither of her parents were in her life. Not anymore. Not her Mom...Nor her Dad. They were both gone...just like thousands of other people around California.

"Tina!" Charlotte said, mentioning the name of one of her other friends, who was 10 years old. She then called her friend's house-number and waited for someone to answer.

"Yeah, hello." Said the voice of Tina's mother on the phone.

"Hi, is Tina there?" Charlotte asked.

"I haven't seen her this morning. Then again, i just got up myself. Tina, phone!" Said Tina's mother. "Tina?!" She called. "Tina?!" She called again.

"No." Charlotte said disbelief. Tina couldn't be gone too, could she?

"Hang on a second, she's not answering. Let me see if she's up there." Said Tina's mother.

"There is no way." Charlotte said to herself. Surely Tina wasn't gone too...right?

"I'm sorry, she's not in her room. She must've gotten up early and gotten ready for school while i was asleep. That's a first. But it's logical, since her pajamas are lying on the floor in her room." Tina's mother said.

"Where exactly are her pajamas lying?" Charlotte asked.

"By her bedroom window. Why do you ask?" Tina's mother said.

"No reason. I just wanted to know." Charlotte said.

"Okay. Bye." Tina's mother said.

"Bye." Charlotte said before hanging up. "ISN'T THERE ANYONE I CAN TALK TO?!"

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