Chapter 5: Revelations
Alice continued on to the houses listed on the page given to her by Jonathan. The stories were all about the same: the strange behavior before the disappearance, the lack of evidence of force, and the dropped comfort objects. Alice noticed that each child left behind their toy or blanket when they disappeared.
"Odd," Alice thought to herself, "that each child dropped their toys and didn't bring them. That means that they must have trusted the something or someone they left with…" Her thoughts trailed off, trying to solve this new dilemma. Just as she was wandering the road back to Jonathan and Elisa's house, a voice called out behind her, making her jump.
"Wait!" The voice called to her. "Hold on! I have something that might help you!" She turned to see a boy; he was tall with dark hair and dark eyes. He jogged up to her. Alice stared at the young man quizzically.
"Why hasn't he disappeared?" She questioned herself. "Another mystery presents itself…" The boy caught up to her and stood catching his breath for a moment. "Who are you?" Alice inquired.
"I'm Evan Santori. I'm Jack's older brother. Here." He handed her a worn sheet of paper. "My brother was writing on this the day he went missing. I've not been able to figure it out, but it might prove useful to you."
"How old are you?" Alice asked, taking the paper and glancing at it.
"I'm eighteen this coming December. Why?" He replied.
"It's just that you look younger than you are, and I had been wondering why you're still in the village."
"Hmm…I don't know." Evan remarked. "It's only the younger children, I guess. All the parents here, with the exception of mine, are fairly young. There aren't that many kids my age around here. Oh! But there is Elisa."
"Yes, I've met her. I'm staying with her and her father, actually." At this, the boy's face blanched. "What's wrong? You're so pale all of a sudden!"
"…We're not supposed to talk about it…" He replied. "I've got to go!" With that, Evan darted back down the road from which he came.
"I wonder what that was all about." Alice said as she turned to head back. As she wandered back towards the house, her head was buzzing with the case. When she returned, she found the house empty. Exhausted, she flopped down upon her bed and tried to pull the mystery apart. She fell asleep quickly, and began to dream. Alice opened her eyes and looked around. She was on a brick walkway outside; she could only see darkness, and there were oppressive clouds obscuring the moonlight. She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and turned. What she saw made her blood run cold. Strewn across the ground were countless, small, pale, bodies. Alice ran over and reached out her hand, hoping her touch would somehow revive the lifeless creature she saw before her. The skin was ice-cold; she picked the child up, but when she saw him, she turned away and became sick. The child had no face.
Alice woke up screaming. Jonathan ran into the room, a look of terror on his face.
"What is it? What's wrong?" He asked urgently. Alice was sitting bolt upright, gasping for air.
"I-I… it was horrible…" She responded brokenly, attempting to force the image of the faceless body from her mind. Tears were pouring down her face as she tried to move from the bed. Alice swung her legs over the side of the bed, and gently placed her feet on the floor. Standing up, her knees buckled and her legs went out from under her. Jonathan tried to catch her but she fell too quickly, landing hard on the wooden floor.
Alice opened her eyes to darkness once again. She turned around, searching for something indicating her location. Seeing nothing, she began to run. Alice ran with reckless abandon, desperately searching for some sign. Pushing her body still further, she pounded her feet upon the invisible ground. Suddenly a flash of red shot across her vision to the left. She heard calling from the direction she was heading, and turned back toward it. Indistinct voices called to her, asking for help.
"DO NOT GO THAT WAY!" roared a voice to her left. She turned to see the familiar red coat begin drifting away into the darkness.
"But they need help…" she protested in a daze, her feet slowly and clumsily taking her forward again.
"Yesssss…help usssss…" the voices whispered, persuading her. "We need you… Only you…" Alice stumbled forward, towards the whispery voices.
"Go that way and you will be lost…" the other voice called back, sounding distant. Alice continued drifting, single-mindedly, forward. She felt a cold hand snap around her neck, and a scream lodged in her throat. A searing pain roared through her stomach, like being burned by ice. It slowly concentrated itself over her heart, and became unbearable. As the pain grew still greater, she began to lose all sense of herself. Everything that mattered, why she was there, what she was looking for, it all became hazy and unclear. The warmth began slipping from her fingertips. "Now, for the final step," the voices whispered, high and shivery. "it is time to claim her."