Vanished

Chapter Thrity-Six

One week later

The town plaza was quiet in the evening. People were still adjusting to the fact that the vanishing was stopped by Jason and Greyson. Everyone now knew you had to refuse the trick created by Ashley, who has randomly disappeared.

Nevaeh sat inside Burger King in one of the beige booths, eating some of the few chicken nuggets that were left. She dipped them in some honey mustard sauce, looking at the bullet holes that were on the walls Zane attempted to fix.

"We need to do something," Nevaeh said.

She looked towards Nelson, who walked out of the Burger King bathroom with his hair soaked in a hockey sweatshirt and shorts. He had the uniform he wore on the counter while eating a burger on a potato bun.

"You feel it?" he inquired.

"The depression from everything that happened. Teagan and Melany are dead; Cindy hasn't been in the infirmary; Bella and Jason have been in their house for days," she sighed. "We have new Uden people who have come to stay, and they barely know what to do."

"Props to Esme for doing whatever she did to Luke."

From around town, she learned that Esme had tied Luke up at the hospital and knocked him out. She had cut off part of his hair, sliced the rest of his arm off and shaved off most of his eyebrows. It was entertaining to see him without eyebrows, but that new arm brought chills.

"People are missing their parents even more now and are scared Luke is going to come back and attack."

Nevaeh knew Zane was trying to control all the questions surrounding why Jason isn't helping or if Luke and them will come back. Most likely, she assumed people were going to find different ways to get away from this place, like death.

Did death actually free them? It's a question she has wondered about for weeks of being in here, but nobody has come up with a solid solution, except stopping the vanishing.

The Burger King door opened to Ilya, whose dark eyes were looking around frantically for something. "Do you guys know where Cindy is?" she asked, shuffling toward her booth.

"Nobody has seen her in days, but I think it's best to leave her right now. Emma's in the infirmary if you need something," Nelson said.

"I asked Emma, but she doesn't have a clue about my medication for antidepressants. I'm just scared he's going to come back and do something."

Nevaeh knew everyone was on edge because of Luke's actions, despite hearing he got punished by Greyson. Although people still pulled stunts despite the fear and chaos that happened.

"What about parties?" Nelson inquired.

"Celebrating that people died?" Ilya asked with her hands gripped.

"No, parties that will distract people from everything that happened," Nevaeh said with a smirk. "Greyson won't be coming down here and—"

The door busted open to Yara, looking startled by the three of them. "They're stealing food!" she managed to get out. "From the grocery store."

"Have Zane or Jason handle it," Nevaeh said. "They're supposed to deal with that stuff now. Who is it from Uden?"

"I don't know; that's the problem!"

Nevaeh stood carrying her small bag of chicken nuggets, pushing open the door, and saw some people eating microwaved ramen by one of the Uden Academy cars.

"Why aren't they moving?" Nevaeh questioned.

"I just told them to sit, and they did. Now they've just been eating what they brought."