THE JOURNEY HOME

Prologue: GONE

There was chaos and panic everywhere. Rustling. It had happened before and it was happening again. Someone else was gone. It wasn't new, of course, this had been happening in this town for quite a while, over a hundred years to be precise, but it was so infrequent and sudden that it always attracted the attention of the townsfolk. 

There were many rumors about those who vanished. Those who vanished were always closely related. No one truly knows why the indigenes of this particular town tend to disappear but legend has it that it started a century ago when a queer man moved into the environs, he was of course, the first to vanish or so the tales say.

He vanished and his entire family followed thereafter. It was a custom in this village to act as though those who vanished never were. This could be done so effectively because you always knew the ones who would vanish so you could prepare beforehand to erase their existence from your consciousness. 

There were signs. They always looked lost, they had this look in their eyes as though all of reality was a dream. Yes, dreamy perfectly describes the state they were constantly in. 

They acted as though they were asleep. And days or weeks before they vanished, there was a remarkable difference in their countenances. These dreamy folks, who wandered about like they were lost in the world, would suddenly become spry as though a light had come into their lives. They would go about singing happily, alive, awake as ever, more awake than those around them could ever be, and with mirth uncommon even among children.

At these times, they were known to sometimes comfort their families, for no reason whatsoever, but for all the consolation they would give, they were always happy to leave. Those periods brought great sorrow to the family members but cheerily, the voyagers would give solace with no intention of changing their minds as though no sorrow could compare to the inexplicable joy they would feel upon arrival. Even more puzzling was the fact that those who left were always those of the greatest sensibilities, the most selfless, yet on this one occasion, they had cause or so it seemed to care for themselves. 

Ophelia had the same experience when 'she' left. She would sometimes call Ophelia out and tell her she had found the secret to life, that Ophelia must follow her where she went. Pearl would make promises to ensure that Ophelia would follow soon after she left. 'What of your family?' Ophelia would ask time and again.

Not that she genuinely cared as much as she wanted to seem, Ophelia was trying to use any methods she could employ to make Pearl stay. Pearl's reply was always that she would also make plans for her family's relocation to the new country.

Pearl spoke of her voyage like she was just leaving home, going to a different country to start a new life. She made it seem, or rather, she was convinced that this country was a better one, it was therefore only natural that her family and friends should come and join her. But Ophelia knew this was not so for those who vanished could never be traced.

However, there was cause for hope as it was not uncommon for serial disappearances of closely related people to occur in a short period. Pearl had also followed someone else, who had made preparations for her, one close to her who had vanished, albeit a while ago.

On the morning of that fateful day, Ophelia knew she was gone, how she knew, she was not sure, but, certainly, Pearl had gone away to her far-off country, never to return except to take her away as well. But Pearl was gone, meaning she never existed, as was the queer custom of this town. Her family had only three daughters, the fourth, or rather the first, never was. 

There was always an uproar whenever one vanished and although it happened quite infrequently, as it had happened consistently enough to be recognized as a pattern, one would think this townsfolk would be used to these occurrences by now but the novelty of each new disappearance in the minds of these people can be explained or at least explained away by the understanding that in pretending those who vanished never were these people had the strange ability to actually forget them and consequently, the fact that they ever disappeared, they would only remember again when someone else started showing the signs anew.