Six Years Ago
“Hey, Jerry, can I talk to you for a minute?” Evan asked from the other side of my bedroom door.
“Sure,” I said. He came into my room. He was wearing a long-sleeved, tie dye t-shirt and worn jeans. Around his neck, he wore a bright red stone. I didn’t remember which kind of crystal it was, but I knew he wore this one a lot.
“You know that one author you like?” he asked.
“Aster Sterling?”
“Yeah, him. You have a bunch of his books, right?”
“Yeah.” I pointed at the short, dark brown bookshelf on the other side of my room. On top of it, between two colorful bookends, were the first four books of Aster Sterling’s Starlight Saga. They told the story of a kid who was taken into space after encountering a crashed alien ship. The aliens taught him magic and brought him on adventures throughout the galaxy.
Evan walked over to the bookshelf and picked up the first book in the series. He opened it to examine the inside front cover. A second later, he flipped to the inside back cover. For some reason, what he saw there made him gasp.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“No.” He put the book back. “Everything’s fine.” He flashed me a reassuring smile. “This guy seems pretty cool.”
“He is! He’s super into crystals and spirituality stuff, just like you. There’s a lot of that kind of thing in his books. You’d probably like them. You can borrow them if you want.”
He glanced back at them. “Yeah, I think I will.”
“Make sure and tell me what you think of them once you’re done.”
“Sure thing.”
Present Day
Tragedy at the Galaxy Plaza Leaves Dozens Dead
February 4th, 2017
Tragedy struck yesterday at the Galaxy Plaza, when a sinkhole opened near the Likely Story bookstore during an event celebrating the release of Glorious Dawn, by Aster Sterling, the fifth and final entry in his popular Starlight Saga. The collapse resulted in at least thirty-five deaths and over a hundred injuries, making it the deadliest sinkhole collapse in recorded history. The number of confirmed deaths is expected to climb as rescue workers dig through the rubble in search of buried survivors and remains. Sterling was present at the event and is among those currently unaccounted for.
I sit in front of a computer screen in the local library, quietly reading the text to my boyfriend, Theo, who’s standing behind my chair.
“So that’s the official story?” Theo asks.
“Yes. The victim tally would eventually rise to forty-two.”
“Including your brother, Evan?”
“Yes. Sterling as well. He’s the main reason why people still remember the Galaxy Plaza Disaster.”
Theo rests a hand on my shoulder.
“Thank you for coming here,” I add, “and for believing me.”
“No problem,” he says with a warm smile.
“I’ve read everything I could on the disaster, and Sterling’s death. If you’re going to look into this with me, the first thing we need to do is get you up to speed on what I already know.”
That’s exactly what we do for the next few hours. I direct him to a few important articles about the disaster. Most of them are news reports, but there’s also a peer-reviewed, technical analysis of the collapse and whether it could have been prevented, as well as some information on Aster Sterling’s life. Even Theo seems more interested in Aster Sterling than the other victims. I guess international best-selling authors are just more interesting than average high-school kids like Evan.
“We’ve been looking for a while,” Theo says, after a few hours. “I think it’s time for a break.”
“Okay. If you want.” My gaze does not leave the screen in front of me. “I’ll look into that geological survey while you’re gone.” I happened to notice said survey while searching for one of the articles I wanted to show Theo. I don’t think I’ve read it before, so it could contain new information.
“I think it would be a good idea for us to take a break.”
“I’m fine.”
“C’mon. You haven’t eaten since 9:00 this morning.”
I peek at the clock at the corner of the computer screen, intending to say something like, ‘it’s only 1:00 PM,’ but when I do, I see that it’s almost 4:00. “Alright,” I sigh. “You may have a point.”
The library has a quaint little deli attached to it, full of red chairs and white tables. It’s lined with large windows that distort the rainy parking lot outside. The place is manned by a single cashier behind a black counter. It serves wrapped sandwiches, canned soda, and chips in small bags. It’s large enough to sit a few dozen people, but right now, it’s nearly empty. Besides the cashier, the only people here are a trio of old ladies, and a mother with two young children. We sit far in the corner of the room, where we’re least likely to be overheard, and we speak quietly.
“So let me go over what we’ve found so far,” Theo says, after swallowing a bite of his sandwich. “The disaster killed forty-two people, including both Aster Sterling and your brother, whose bodies they found while searching the rubble. Like many other victims, both of them were crushed thoroughly enough that they had to be identified through DNA and dental records.”
“That’s the official story.”
“And you think those tests were fake, and some of the victims might still be alive?”
“I don’t know about Sterling and the rest, but I know my brother didn’t die in that Plaza.”
Six Years Ago
“How are you liking the Starlight Saga?” I asked Evan. His room was sky blue and contained a large shelf full of thick books. A dozen colorful posters hung on its walls, and crystals rested on every surface that could hold them.
Evan’s hands held the answer to my question. “Wait, you’re already on the second book?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s awesome! You’re really liking them, then?”
“I am.” He put the book down on the bed next to him. “What do you need?”
“I was just going to ask if you’d heard about the release party for the fifth book, the one that’s going to be held at the Likely Story.”
He sighed. “Yeah, I know about it.”
“I heard Aster Sterling is going to be there. If you like the books, you should come too.”
“Actually. I’m glad you brought it up. I was going to talk to you about it.”
“You already want to go, then?”
He shook his head. “You shouldn’t go there, Jerry. I think something bad is going to happen.”
“What do you mean? What’s going to happen?” I liked those books a lot, and I really wanted to go to that release party. It might be the only chance I’d ever have to meet Aster Sterling.
“I don’t know exactly what it’s going to be.”
“Then you can’t expect me to miss the party over it. If you don’t want to go, fine, but—”
“Do you trust me?”
“What?”
“Do you trust me?”
I had to think about that. My whole life, Evan had never been mean to me. He was too old for us to be rivals, but he’d never used that advantage to pick on me. He’d only ever helped and protected me. He’d certainly never lie to keep me from going to an event I’d want to attend. “I… I guess?” I stammered.
“Then, please, trust me when I say you shouldn’t go. It’s going to be dangerous. I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, but it’s going to be bad.”
“How do you know?” He wouldn’t have lied about something like this, but I hoped maybe he could be wrong.
“It might be better if I didn’t say.”
“No. The release of Glorious Dawn is a once in a lifetime event. I’m not gonna miss it unless you can explain how you know something bad is going to happen.”
He took a deep breath. “It’s Callum.”
“Callum Michaels?” Callum was the son Richard Michaels, the richest man in town. He was also one of Evan’s classmates at Cypress High. He and Evan used to be friends, but they’d fallen out a few months ago.
“Callum is going to do something to hurt everyone at the party. I don’t know what, but I know it’s going to be bad.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because he told me.”
That was another thing Evan wouldn’t lie about. He didn’t like Callum anymore, but he wouldn’t accuse someone of something like this for no reason. “Maybe Callum was just saying things to freak you out?”
“No. He was serious.”
“Well, if you’re so sure something bad is going to happen, you should tell the police.” I meant this as an argument against what he was saying. I was trying to imply that he must be less sure than he was letting on.
“I have.”
That froze me. “What?”
“I have contacted the police. I don’t think they’ll do anything, but I did try.”
“Oh. Wow.”
“I don’t know exactly what, but Callum’s going to try to hurt everyone at that party. I don’t want one of those people to be you.”
This had to be true. He wouldn’t make all of this up, and he wasn’t the kind of person who would freak out over nothing or baselessly accuse Callum of planning something terrible. “There’s no way I could go?”
“Not safely.”
“Not even if the police arrest Callum or something? I mean, if you told them he was planning something—”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
I’d been looking forward to this party. I didn’t want to miss it. However, I also didn’t want to disappoint my big brother. “Okay. I trust you. I won’t go.”
“Thank you.”
Present Day
Theo and I parallel park in one of the meter-hosting spots near the Galaxy Plaza. There isn’t much free parking this close to the center of town. We get out, Theo loads the meter, and we approach the site of the disaster.
The Galaxy Plaza was larger than the sinkhole, and half of it looks the same as before the disaster. The plaza’s blue-gray bricks are surrounded by about a dozen shops, including Runes and Relics and the Likely Story bookstore.
The Galaxy Plaza was off-limits for a long time after the sinkhole opened. The damage was extensive. The sinkhole spanned from the fountain at the center of the plaza to the front of the Likely Story. It took over a year for them to transform the sinkhole into what it is now.
Theo and I approach the pit. In contrast to the bricks above, its gently sloping sides are covered in bright grass and colorful flowers. There’s a rail around the top of it, but two gaps in that rail open the way to concrete stairs, which lead down to a circle of path at the pit’s bottom.
It’s pretty. Despite the meaning this place has for me, I can’t deny that it’s pretty.
We descend. The wind carries the flowers’ sweet scent, along with the gentle chirps of birds and insects. Inside the ring of footpath, there’s a tall rectangular slab. Engraved on it in large print are the words “In Memory Of,” followed by a list of forty-two names, including Evan Sanders and Aster Sterling.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Theo asks as I stare at my brother’s name.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “Something revelatory regarding the disaster.” I force my gaze off the monument and scan the walls of the pit. They look natural, like the walls of an ancient crater. If there’s anything wrong with them, it’s that they’re too perfect. Their slope is too gentle, and the whole pit is too perfectly round. You would expect a sinkhole’s walls to be steep, and its shape to be lumpy and irregular. “I’ve done a lot of research on sinkholes. They don’t just come out of nowhere. They form because land rests on top of a hollow space—either a cave, or some human construct like a mine.”
“Didn’t there use to be a mine around here?”
“No. I’ve read everything I could about this, and prior to the disaster, there are no references to a mine this far into town. The closest one was ten miles north of here.”
“That can’t be right. I know I’ve heard that the disaster was caused by a mine.”
“You probably have. After the disaster happened, people started talking their heads off about how this Plaza was built over an old mine. There was an opinion piece in the New York Times about how irresponsible that had been. No one seemed to know about that mine before the disaster, though. I’ve searched and searched, and I’ve never found a reference to it from before the incident, except in digital material that could’ve been edited later. I don’t think there was ever a mine here. I think someone made that up to explain away what really happened.”
“What really happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“And you think we’re up against an organization that could get something written in the New York Times?”
“I told you they were powerful.”
“You’re right. You did. I’m just… are you sure you aren’t in over your head?”
“Of course I’m in over my head. I’m not going to let that stop me.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want something to happen to you.”
“That’s sweet, but yes, I’m sure.”
We examine the pit thoroughly. I photograph every inch of the pit, but we don’t find anything new.
When we’re done, we peruse the buildings surrounding the Plaza. The Likely Story is still open. Part of it fell into the sinkhole when it formed, but that section has been replaced.
The memorial outside is dedicated equally to all the disaster’s victims, but the plaque on the new wall doesn’t pretend to be for anyone but Aster Sterling. Copies of his books, including the entire Starlight Saga, are for sale on the shelves nearby. “Think we should buy them?” Theo asks. “For research, I mean.”
“I have copies at home. I know those books by heart. I don’t think there are any clues inside. You’re welcome to read through my copies, though.”
Theo buys a biography of Aster Sterling as we leave the store.
“That was disappointing,” I say, when we’re done. “I was hoping we’d fine something new.”
“We crossed something off our list. We had to check the site of the disaster. Now that we’ve done that, we can move on to other things.”
“I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”
“Besides,” Theo holds up the biography, “maybe there’ll be a clue in here.”
“Maybe.” I doubt it, though. I think Sterling was just another victim of whatever Callum did.
Six Years Ago
“Where are you going?” I asked Evan, a tinge of accusation on my voice. I’d been lying on the couch in the living room when I saw him walking toward the front door.
“Out,” he said.
“Where? You told me you think Callum is going to do something horrible and dangerous tonight. You should stay home.”
“I know where he’s going to strike.”
“Then stay here.” I rose from the couch. “If I don’t get to go to the release party, you shouldn’t either.”
“Who said that’s where I’m going?”
“Is it?”
He didn’t respond to that.
“I should get to go too, then,” I said.
“No. It’s too dangerous.”
“Then you should stay home!”
“I have to try to stop Callum.”
“You already called the police. What the heck can you do about Callum that they can’t?”
Evan sighed. “Look, the last time we talked about this, you said you trusted me. Is that still true?”
“Yes. That’s why I’m worried.”
“You don’t need to worry about me.”
“I’ll tell mom and dad that you’re going to the release party without me. They know how much I like Sterling’s books. They’ll make you take me.”
“You won’t do that.”
He was right. I’d never tell on him. I respected him too much. That respect also meant that, even though I didn’t like the fact that he’d be in danger, I assumed he knew what he was doing. “You swear you’ll get back?” I asked.
“Yes. I swear I’ll get back home.”
“Okay,” I said, after a moment. “See you later, then.”
“See you later.” Evan left.
Present Day
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Theo asks. We’re back at the same table in the corner of the library’s café, sitting next to each other.
“As sure as I am about the rest of this investigation.”
“Are you sure that’s a yes?”
“I know it’s dangerous, but we have to start somewhere.”
“She could be working for them.”
“Why would someone who survived what happened at the Galaxy Plaza start working for the people who covered it up?”
“Maybe they covered it up because they’re opposed to weird things? If that’s true, someone who survived something weird might be eager to work with them.”
“Look, we’ll be fine. Even if the contents of this conversation somehow get back to them, that shouldn’t be a problem so long as we act natural and don’t contradict our cover story. I’m just interviewing her for a report I’m writing. We’re not going to mention the paranormal or Evan being alive.”
Theo takes a deep breath. “Okay. I guess.”
“Besides, I have you as lookout.”
He chuckles. “True.”
“Just make sure no one comes close to us. I’ll ask the questions.”
“Speaking of,” he gestures toward the main area of the library, from which Jess is entering. She’s a short black woman with long curly hair that disappears past her shoulders. She spots us in the corner as she comes in. She gets some food from the counter, then comes and sits across from me.
“Thanks for coming,” I say.
“No problem,” she says. “I had to do something for lunch today.”
“So,” I begin, “I have some questions about the Galaxy Plaza disaster. You were there, right?”
“Yeah. I was there for the Glorious Dawn release party. I was a big fan of the Starlight Saga as a kid. I remember how surprised I was when I learned Sterling himself was going to be there. This isn’t that big a city, y’know?”
I nod. “Yeah. I was surprised too.”
“I’m honestly a bit surprised you weren’t there.”
“It was a near thing.”
“I guess it’s lucky.”
“Yeah.”
She takes a bite of her sandwich and swallows it. “Before we get too far into this. I should tell you that I don’t really remember the disaster. The chaos of it all makes things blur together.”
“I’m happy to hear anything,” I say. “A lot of the reporting on the disaster is bare bones. Even if you just give me the humanity and texture of an eyewitness account, that will help.”
“I’ll do what I can.” She takes a sip of her drink. “I went to the party with a few friends. We spent an hour and a half waiting in line for our copies of Glorious Dawn.”
“That’s a long wait.”
“It could’ve been worse. We were all fans, so we had a lot of fun talking and being excited about the book. We’d all spent the last year speculating about what would happen after the cliffhanger at the end of Book Four. We also got to enjoy the decorations at the bookstore. There were these blue stars all over the walls and ceiling, and the front desk was surrounded by cardboard standees of all five books’ covers.”
“Was there music?” Theo asks.
“I think so. I couldn’t tell you anything about it.”
“Did you see my brother?” I ask.
“Yeah. He was there with some friends, just like me.” She eats a chip. “I think it was Daisy, Allen, and Lia from his Spirituality Club. They weren’t in line when I got there. I remember being jealous that they’d gotten their books so fast.”
“Did you see their copies?” Given what Evan had said earlier that night, I don’t think he would have bothered to get a copy of the book.
She thinks for a moment. “Not that I remember.”
“What about Aster Sterling? Where was he?”
“He was sitting behind a table near the front of the line, ready to sign newly purchased books as people walked away with them.”
“Do you remember anything else about him?” Theo asks.
“Like what?”
“Did he say anything to you?”
“He had to ask me who to make the autographs out to. Nothing besides that. I’d hoped to get to talk to him for a minute, but they were trying to keep the line moving.”
“What happened once you had your copies?” I ask.
“Me and my friends just hung out, enjoyed the refreshments, and read some of the early chapters of our books. My memories kind of peter out after that. Like I say, I don’t remember the disaster itself.”
“Do you have any idea why?” Theo asks. “It seems like a strange thing to forget.”
“I know what you mean. It’s just fuzzy. I think it was the chaos from everything that went on. I have vague flashes of people panicking, but that’s it.”
“Do you remember where you were when the disaster started?” Theo asks.
“No. Sorry.”
“Are you sure?” I ask.
The very instant I finish speaking, I see a strange flash in her eyes. “Actually, I think we were outside.”
“We?”
“Everyone at the party.”
“Why?”
Again, there’s a flash of realization. “I think Sterling had us gather outside in the Plaza at the end of the party.”
“Do you remember what for?”
“To say something. He gave this sort of wrap-up speech, thanking us for coming, hoping we’d enjoy the new book.”
“Was that it?” Theo asks.
“I think so.” She pauses. She glances as me for a moment. “The panic started during that speech.”
“I thought you said you couldn’t remember the disaster,” Theo says.
“I know what you mean. This time yesterday, I don’t think I could have told you this, but, well, I guess you guys asking is jogging my memory.”
“That’s kinda strange,” Theo says.
“I guess. I mean, yeah, it definitely is. I can’t explain it, but I’m telling you what I remember.”
“You say the panic started during Sterling’s speech,” I say, a bit irritated that Theo is interrupting. I’m getting good information. “You mean that’s when the sinkhole opened, right?”
She hesitates. “Actually, I feel like I remember someone shouting that we should run just before the sinkhole started to open. I must be wrong, though. I don’t know why else someone would want us to run.”
“Do you remember who shouted that?
She hesitates again. Her eyes go wide. “Wait, I think it was Evan.”
“You heard my brother ordering everyone to run?”
“Yeah. At least, that’s who I thought it was at the time. I could have been wrong.”
“What happened next?”
“I ran. A second later, I heard the ground opening behind me. Me and my friends were near the back of the crowd, so we got away from the sinkhole before it finished opening.”
“That’s all you remember?” I ask.
“I think so. Wait, actually…” She studies me for a moment. “Your brother died in the disaster, right?”
“Yes,” I lie.
“Then he must have been in the crowd when the sinkhole opened.”
“Do you remember seeing him somewhere else?”
“Well, this was years ago, and we were in a panic. I’m probably just wrong.”
“Where do you remember him being?”
She sighs. “At the time, I thought I saw him on the other side of the plaza, after I turned to run. He was nowhere near where the sinkhole opened. It can’t have been him, though. It was probably just someone else. I’m sorry. I hope this isn’t hurtful to hear.”
I shake my head. “Not at all. It would have been like him to run toward the disaster, hoping he could help someone out.”
“I guess.”
“It seems like you remember quite a bit,” Theo says.
“I guess I do. Like I say, I can’t explain it.”
“You said a second ago that you heard Evan tell you to run,” I interject “and then you heard the sinkhole start to open. Is that right?”
“That’s right.”
“But you ran as soon as he told you to?”
“I think so.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Theo says. “Why would you run if nothing had happened yet? I mean, if someone shouted at you to run right now, would you get up and bolt out of here, no questions asked?”
She eats a chip. “I see your point. I don’t have an answer.”
“Forgive him,” I say. Theo glances at me. I kick him in the shin. “Try to remember if there’s an answer to that question. Try to see if you can get it to come back to you.” So far, every time I’ve asked her something, she’s remembered an answer. Hopefully, that will happen again.
An instant after those words leave my lips, her face lights up. “Wait, I do remember something. It doesn’t really make sense, though.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I know your brother died—”
“I’m sure. Please, tell me.”
“Okay. So, as I remember things, the reason I ran right away was that, for a few minutes before I heard your brother tell us to run, I felt like I couldn’t move.”
“You couldn’t move?”
“That’s how I felt. I must have been wrong. I wasn’t tied up or anything, but I remember that while Aster Sterling was speaking, I felt like I was stuck in place. I was really scared. Then, when I heard your brother telling me to run, I suddenly could, and that’s why I bolted away as fast as possible.”
“And you’re suddenly remembering this, just now?” Theo asks.
“I guess? I mean, I’m probably just remembering being frozen in shock later.”
“But what you’ve told me is how you remember it?” I ask. “You felt stuck in place. My brother shouted at you to move, you did, and after that, the sinkhole started to open.”
“Yes. That’s what I remember.”
I keep talking with her for a while after this, but nothing else she says is as extraordinary as that.
“I think that’s all of my questions then,” I say, eventually. In a way, it’s not true. I have many, many more questions, but I don’t think she has any more answers. “Thanks for speaking to me. I’m trying to keep everything anonymous with some of the other people I’m going to talk to, so try not to tell anyone about this conversation.”
“No problem.” She leaves.
Theo and I sit there in silence for a moment, long enough for her to get out of earshot. “I think she is with them,” Theo says. “Nothing she said makes sense. She said she doesn’t remember the disaster, but then she suddenly remembers everything?”
“Sometimes, talking about something can jog your memory.”
“What if it was an act? Maybe she’s with them, and she’s telling you what she knows you want to hear.”
“It’s only ‘what I want to hear’ because it fits what I remember. As far as I’m concerned, that’s more reason to believe her.”
“Look, I know you want to find your brother. I do too, but the people we’re dealing with, they’re powerful. What we just heard is very, very convenient.”
“Why would she have put on an act like that?” I ask. “What would be the point of pretending she was getting her memories back as she was speaking to me? If this was an act, she could have just told me all the same stuff without doing that.”
“Maybe she was worried you’d wonder why she’s never mentioned any of this before.”
“I barely know her.”
“Not just to you. To anyone.”
“Look, we know they can erase memories, and we know the way they do that is fallible. Why couldn’t someone start remembering things as they’re speaking to me?”
Theo shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but this smells wrong to me. I don’t think she was being straight with us.”
“My own memories from that night are also pretty strange.”
“But they’re not fuzzy, are they? And they never have been?”
“No,” I admit. “They’re crystal clear.”
Six Years Ago
When my parents and I heard about the disaster, I told them Evan had gone to Galaxy Plaza. Mom called Evan, and he didn’t answer. After several minutes, and several more unanswered calls, my parents went out looking for him. I don’t know where they thought he could be other than the Galaxy Plaza, but I think they wanted to feel like they were doing something.
“Do you really think you’ll find him?” I asked.
“I hope so,” mom said.
Adults always sugarcoat things for kids. If ‘I hope so’ was the best answer she could give, I thought for sure my brother was dead.
Bedtime came and went while they were still gone. Any other night, I would have taken advantage of the fact that my parents weren’t home and stayed up late, but that night, I went to bed. I lied awake, starring at the little plastic glow-in-the-dark stars that covered by bedroom ceiling.
Suddenly, I heard my brother’s voice outside. “Mom!” he shouted. “Dad!” I sat up and I looked out my bedroom window.
It was Evan, alive and intact, sprinting toward our front door. He was pursued by four men in black and grey tactical gear. They were armed, though none of their guns were drawn.
He was calling for mom and dad. He didn’t know they weren’t here. I sprang from my bed and ran downstairs, thinking I might need to open the door for Evan.
The front door flung open just as I reached the bottom of the stairs. Evan ran inside. The four men were close behind him, and they got a clear look at me. Evan slammed the door and locked it. “Jerry,” he said, panting, “what are you doing up?”
“I heard you shouting. Who the heck are those people?”
“I don’t know. They pulled me over as I was coming back from the party. They tried to arrest me.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Open up!” one of the men outside shouted. “We will break down this door.” Then there was a horrible thump.
“Where are mom and dad?” Evan asked.
“Out looking for you. They think you were killed by the sinkhole.”
“Sinkhole?”
“The one at Galaxy Plaza.”
“It wasn’t… never mind.” He ran over to the phone, picked it up and dialed. He placed it to his ear. “C’mon,” he whispered, then “crap!”
“What?”
“It’s dead.”
“What about your phone?”
“I lost it at the plaza.”
“What happened there?”
Another slam at the door. “Jerry, you need to hide.”
“They already saw me.”
“Just do it!”
“But what about you?”
Another slam. “I have a plan. Go!”
After one more moment of hesitation, I ran back upstairs. Just as I reached the balcony at the top, the front door swung open. I dropped prone before the men entered, hoping they wouldn’t see me.
Evan bolted toward the garage. There weren’t any cars in it. He’d taken one to the party, and mom and dad had taken the other to go looking for him. Maybe he was planning to run out the garage door, or maybe he was just leading them away from me. Regardless, he only made it half a dozen paces before one of the men tackled him. He writhed and struggled, trying to pull himself free of their grip. “Hold still!” one of the soldiers barked. “You’re coming with us.”
“Get off me!”
Two more of the soldiers helped pin him. He had no hope of escaping their combined strength. “I said hold still!”
“Let me go!”
Two of the soldiers forced his hands behind his back and cuffed them. They grabbed him, each lifting by one of his shoulders, and carried him toward the door. He kicked and screamed, and one of his kicks managed to hit a soldier in the leg. The soldier stumbled and dropped him.
Evan fell forward. The handcuffs stopped him from catching himself, so he hit the ground face-first. His nose started bleeding. He tried to scramble to his feet, but they pinned him again before he could stand. “It’s over!” one of them said. “We have you. Stop resisting. You’ll only hurt yourself.”
When they picked him back up, he didn’t kick anymore.
There were still two soldiers inside the house. “Where’d the other kid go?” one of them asked.
“Probably hiding,” the other soldier said. “I’ll take the second floor.”
The soldier started coming upstairs. Once he got up here, he’d see me. I had to get away from him. I sprang upward and dashed down the hall.
“Here he is!” the soldier yelled. “Upstairs!”
Now they were both running up toward me. I sprinted down the hall as fast as my young legs could carry me, toward my parents’ bedroom. There was a window there that you can use to get out onto the roof. It was my only remaining hope of escape.
I entered my parents’ room, slammed the door behind me, and locked it. I ran to the window and unlocked it. I grabbed the crank that you turned to open it, and I spun. It wasn’t easy to move, and I’d have to spin it a lot to open the window wide enough that I could crawl through.
“Open up!” a soldier said. They didn’t wait for an answer before they slammed on the door. I spun the crank with everything I had. I thought about trying to break the window instead, but there was nothing around to break it with.
The door swung open. One of the soldiers ran around the bed and grabbed me. “Let me go!” I shouted, kicking and struggling, doing the best impression I could of my brother’s bravery.
“Hold still!” the soldier ordered.
“No!”
“Help me hold him down,” he said to his partner.
It wasn’t hard for two grown men to pin me to my parents’ bed. One of the soldiers reached for something on his belt. It was a needle, like the kind a flu shot would come in. “What is that?” I asked.
“Just something to put you to sleep,” he said.
“I don’t want to go to sleep!”
“Hold him still for the amnestic,” the soldier said.
Amnestic? I’d never heard that word before, but my twelve-year-old brain made the connection to the closest word I knew. Amnesia. Was this going to erase my memory? Make me forget that these people had taken my brother? That couldn’t be possible, could it?
One soldier held my head still while the other shoved the needle into my neck. A powerful exhaustion filled me. Over the next few seconds, I went from struggling to get away to struggling to stay awake.
I lost that struggle.
When I woke up, I was in my bed. It was daylight outside. Just a minute after I awoke, my mom came in to check on me. “What time is it?” I asked, still loopy from the drug I’d been given.
“Eleven,” mom said.
“Where’s Evan?” I was terrified for him, but too out of it for my voice to betray my concern.
“We don’t know. They’ve not found him, but they haven’t found his body either. They’re saying some people are still alive in the sinkhole, buried under rubble. We shouldn’t give up hope.”
Her answer confused me at first. Why was she talking like he’d never come home? Who were those people who’d taken him?
Then I realized what was going on. She didn’t know he’d come home. No one else did. I’d been right about what that ‘amnestic’ was supposed to do. They’d tried to erase my memory of what’d happened, so that they would be able to make it seem like Evan had fallen into the sinkhole.
For a few days, I hoped they would only keep him for a short time, before pretending they’d found him buried under rubble. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
I never gave up on finding him, though. Even after they supposedly found his body in the pit, smashed beyond recognition, but identifiable by dental records.
I wanted to tell my parents what I’d seen. I wanted to tell them that Evan was still alive, that he’d been taken, but I couldn’t. They wouldn’t have believed me, and the thought that I hadn’t been able to accept his death would’ve made them feel worse.
Even if someone did believe me, what would they do about it? The people who had taken Evan were powerful enough to cover up everything that’d happened. What could any of the adults in my life do against someone like that?
So, I didn’t say anything. As my family mourned my brother, as condolences for his loss flooded in, as I suffered through complimentary grief counseling, I pretended to believe Evan was dead.
When my grief counselor asked if I’d had any strange dreams the night Evan disappeared, I realized she was one of them, and that if she was, anyone could be. I could never tell anyone what I’d seen. If I did, word would get back to them. I’d have another needle shoved into my neck, and maybe this time, I really would forget everything.
Theo is the only one I’ve told. That was a risk. When we were first dating, I considered the possibility that he was one of them, but that didn’t make sense. He was too young, and he didn’t act like he’d been ordered to get close to me.
Once I decided I was sure about that, I told him what had happened.
He believed me. He didn’t even hesitate to believe me.
I’m not ashamed to say that made me cry.
It’s been months since I told him. If Theo were one of them, they’d have come for me by now.
I don’t know who took my brother. I don’t know why they did it, or what they want, but I saw them drag him away.
He’s still alive. If they’d wanted him dead, they’d have killed him then and there. Whoever they were, they wanted him as their prisoner. As far as I know, they still have him. When I was a kid, I accepted that I couldn’t do anything against an organization that powerful, that I had to wait until I grew up. Well, now I have, and I’m done waiting.
My brother is alive. He’s out there, waiting for me to rescue him, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I don’t care how powerful they are. I don’t care what I have to do to get him back. I’m going to find him, and I’m going to set him free.
