I Have Been Chosen

Cody 25

Saturday 13th March

When almost four hundred people randomly appear in an alleyway, and all city camera footage shows no one entering or leaving on either entrance, something is going on. Especially when all of them do not live in the city and are from foreign countries with not having gone through border control.

It was all over the news how hundreds of people, who had been reported missing from all over the world, had suddenly materialised in a single snickleway of a city in Yorkshire, England. The police guided everyone to a large enough building to find out who they were all, and asked about this strange anomaly, as no footage showed any of them being anywhere else in this country until now, apart from, of course, Oliver and Cody, who lived there. Oliver was interrogated first, as there was footage of him entering that snickleway, and only coming out an hour or so later. There had been several other citizens that walked through that alleyway afterwards, amidst his disappearance and had not seen him at all, apart from his work bag with his ID in it, which a good-natured person had handed into a nearby patrolling police officer.

Not everyone, at first, told the police what had happened, not wanting to sound crazy, but not everyone was as concerned, blurting out and crying about the giant monster that had held them captive, how they were under some sort of spell and couldn't stop repeating that line 'I have been chosen, and I am going home.'

After a week, everyone was soon let go, their travel expenses paid for to return to their homes as the incident was dismissed as large-scale human trafficking, with everyone under powerful narcotics. Though they were all offered therapy, no one was taking any of them seriously that there was some cosmic being that had taken them, and it was going to take everyone else eventually one day.

During that week, Cody and Oliver had to stay in the building, sleeping in makeshift bedding like everyone else despite living in the city themselves. In this time, Cody talked to the others, consoling them, but more importantly, took their contact details. If no one was going to believe them, that therapists would dismiss them as crazy or had been drugged, all they had was each other to talk to.

The snickleway was closed off as the police investigated in search of the entrance to where everyone had been held captive, but even after such a thorough search, they drew a blank. That alleyway was kept closed off to the public, though that did not stop people from attempting to go through for a dare. 'Snickleway' was what the monster soon was dubbed online, though news channels kept a more professional title when reporting the incident.

Online was filled with conspiracy theories as to whether this monster existed and how everyone from all over the globe came to be in the same place with no evidence of them travelling, the most common theory being that the alleyway was a subspace teleporter and, of course, in time became a tourist attraction, another stop on the horror and ghost story trails through the city.

Some of those who had been taken by Snickleway appeared on television, giving interviews or starting social media channels, talking about their experience. Depending on what country they were in, they were either taken seriously or seen as a joke. Cody had heard a few of them were placed in physiatric clinics due to the experience. Oliver had asked Cody what they should do, if they should tell their story, especially considering that it was them that were called the anomalies, that broke the monster's spell and in that chain of events was why there were all free. However, at the moment, Cody just wanted to grab ahold of his previous life, having missed three weeks of it in that monster's lair and one being kept by the police. Perhaps in time, he had replied, when his mind wasn't so... frazzled.

When they were finally free after that week, Cody immediately rang his parents, with Oliver informing their friends, Cody's landlord, and Heather, who told all of Cody's workplace.