Inadvertent Destiny #002 - Missing
A story about an unwanted destiny with a big responsibility part #002
Missing
The store was closed. It was an odd thing and the number of people gathered in front of the store was a testament to that. There were light murmurs around as the small crowd tried to figure out what exactly could have gone wrong in the Grey’s home. It was a little past 10:00 PM, the shop was usually opened by 8:00 PM, it had been so for the last twenty years. “Has anyone been to their home?” Someone asked. “Yeah, Marty went over there an hour ago, knocked but no one answered”. “That’s odd” another commented. “I checked the ports, all the boats are there, so, they couldn’t have left the island”. “We should file a missing person report” Susan, an elderly woman who lived in the neighborhood said. “It’s not up to twenty-four hours Sue”. “Yeah, but I don’t think that applies here. They just disappeared, the entire family, not just Emery, and Eleanor. Even their kids didn’t make it to school this morning, surely, such a situation has to bypass the norm”. There were murmurs of agreement. Such things didn’t occur within the city. The place was fairly peaceful. They had never recorded any incident of this nature, for an entire family to disappear, something had to have gone terribly wrong and the sooner they found what had gone amiss, the better. A few buildings away, she stood by an alley, watching the residents of the city gather at the store. Her jade green eyes flashed, knowing what must have happened. Perhaps she should never have gone into that store, she had only led them to the family and damned them…..but then, it was either them or her. She hadn’t wanted to do it, she hadn’t wanted to endanger someone else, but the thought of being put through the torture, all because she was trying to save total strangers…..she shivered. She shoved her hands in the pockets of the rather large trench coat she had on and walked away. Hopefully, someone would find the family and help them if they were in danger. It wasn’t her cross to bear any more.
The cab came to a slow stop in front of the house. He looked out the window, at the modest home in which he had grown up. It looked different, apparently, they had done some repainting, the lawn also looked different, the grass was actually green. That was a new sight….also, no one was running out of the house to greet him. Then again, he had never really seen that happening. His homecoming was supposed to be him, returning on some weekday, when everyone would be out, then surprising them all. It wasn’t supposed to be like this though, never like this. He took out some money and paid the cabbie. The man looked like he wanted to say something, maybe offer his sympathies or one of those awkward things he got the feeling he would be getting a ton of, once he returned to the island, but he wisely kept whatever he wanted to say to himself. If he had even attempted to offer his condolences or thoughts, or whatever the hell he wanted to offer, Evan knew he would have shut him up. “Thanks. Take care man”. “Yeah” Evan responded blandly. He got out of the car and slung his bag pack against his shoulder. Walking to the front door seemed a heavy task and he had a brief thought to not enter the house. What would he see when he got inside? Would the house be in a mess? He was aware that it had been opened two weeks ago and the police had done a thorough search, to determine what must have happened to his parents and siblings. After all, it was the police he had received the first call from. Missing. Just like that, there was no evidence of foul play, no records of a debtor, a rival, or anyone who could have wanted them out of the way. They were squeaky clean, honest to the core and they ran a decent business. How could such a perfect family just go missing overnight? How did they just disappear? Evan knew something incredibly fishy must have happened, but he couldn’t say what. Just like the town’s people, he had no recollection of any shady business his parents may have gone into. They were good people, why did something so terrible have to happen to them? Even Edith and Elvis, and maybe if he had been home, the same fate that befell his family, would have befallen him as well. He stopped at the door, stared at it for some time and reluctantly opened it. the house was cold and unwelcoming, almost like it was protesting the entrance of another person into it. Evan walked further inside, taking note of how organized it was. Indeed, it didn’t look like anyone else had been inside. Even the officers that had come to investigate, had left most items intact. He walked past the family pictures, forcing his gaze to not dwell on them, lest he gets emotional. Since he was informed of the disappearance of his family over a week ago, he had barely shown any signs of emotion. At first, he had told himself it was a big joke and they were only pulling it because they wanted him back, but when he tried to call the home lines and nobody picked, he knew something was wrong. Over the course of the week, he had been unable to sleep. Thoughts of his family plagued his mind, the police had said they were trying their best to cover every angle and find a way to get them back, but that wasn’t enough assurance for him. he wanted to be an ever-present force throughout the investigations, if possible, look through any loopholes they might have missed. Even the law enforcement, wasn’t perfect. He walked into the living room and sat down on a couch, burying his face in his hands, he sighed deeply. He would find them, and once he did, he would make sure to never leave them again. “You came” a soft voice spoke, interrupting his thoughts. Evan dropped his hands from his face and moved backward, alarmed by the interruption. He felt his heart jump into his throat as his eyes fell on a tall lady, dressed in an oversized trench coat. He looked her over, noting how young her face looked and how sad it was, but neither of that was as captivating as her eyes. They were an odd shade of jade green, even more striking against her chestnut skin. She stood a few meters away, staring at him like she hadn't noticed his reaction. “Who are you?” he asked, seeing that she was in no hurry to introduce herself. She stared at him, her expression almost blank. Then she looked behind her and Evan couldn't help but follow her gaze, what was she looking for? “They're still on this island….they're just hidden. Only you can find them”. Evan's brows creased. Was she talking about his family? Who was this girl and how did she know anything about his family's whereabouts? “What are you talking about? Who are you?”. She was turning her back to him and walking out of the house before he could finish. Evan was both confused and slightly pissed off, who did this girl think she was barging into this house and dropping such information without proper explanation? Was she even alright? “Hey” He called after her as he stood up and followed her. She neither stopped walking nor answered his call. He walked faster, “Hey, wait” he called. They were now outside and she looked no closer to walking slower or even answering him, “Hey!” he suddenly reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. All at once, his mind was filled with images of his parents and his siblings in a room. They looked worried but fine, another image of a man with pale skin and dark eyes replaced that of his family, but the flash was so brief, he couldn't make out his entire features. A loud gasp left the girl's lips as she pulled her hand away from Evan's grip. He stumbled backward a little as if pushed by the sheer strength of whatever force existed within the girl. Her face was ashen and her eyes filled with fear like nothing he had ever seen, Evan wasn't concerned with her state of mind so much so than what he had just seen, “What was that? That room, where is it? Why's my family there?” he asked. She turned around and this time, she chose to run from him, he ran after her, calling for her to come back. She only glanced at him once before turning the corner, he followed her but bumped into someone seconds later. He stumbled on his feet and lost his balance, falling to the ground at the impact. He stood up quickly to chase after her, but was stopped by a strong hand, “Evan, Evan wait”. He looked into the face of Dean, his father's longtime friend, “I have to get to her Dean, she knows where they are” he stated. “Knows where who is? Who is she?”. “That girl, she just ran past you”. “There's no girl Evan, no one ran past me” Evan stared at him incredulously, “What do you mean? I just saw her. She was wearing a trench coat and she had green eyes and…”. “Calm down Evan, listen, just come with me and I'll get you something to calm your nerves”. He didn't need his nerves calm, what he needed to do was find the girl and get answers from her. HR stretched to look over Dean's shoulder. She was gone. “Come with me, son” Dean said softly. Evan regarded him for a brief period and then grudgingly followed him. He was parched from all that running and seeing visions anyway.
He thought he was seeing things. Dean didn't say it directly, but Evan could decode bullshit well enough. He wrapped his words around sift terms like “grieving” and “lonely” and “sad”....but the bottom line was that he believed he had lost his mind and was worried for him. Then again, having told him he saw some strange girl with green eyes, he was probably justified to think so. No such girl existed in the city. Dean had called three random people in the restaurant to ask if they knew anyone who fit that description and all three had answered in the negative. Evan felt more annoyed than foolish once the exercise was done. He wasn't crazy, she did exist, he had seen what he saw and just because the rest of the town didn’t know her or hadn't seen her didn't mean he had thought her up. The town was yet to see it find his family anyway, and they were all still very much alive. That vision he saw of his family was real enough for him, and all he had on his mind was how he would get home, find a way to contact this girl and make her find his family for him. “Evan” Dean called. He looked straight at him in response, “You alright?”. “Yes, I am”. Dean gave a tight smile, “The police will find your family, okay? I don't want you worrying about them anymore”. Somehow, he doubted the police were capable of that…..not in this case. Nevertheless, he nodded at Dean, there was no point divulging anything to him until he had solid answers, for now, all he had were assumptions. Dean proceeded to talk to him about his travel and how life had been for him. Evan followed his lead, this wasn't the conversation he wanted to have, but it would have to do since Dean was incapable of talking to him about what he really wanted to talk about. He could at least get him to lay off his back once this was done.