The Invisible World

Chapter 19: Who Can It Be Now?

Things were very normal from then until Jenny's hearing. I kept living in Jack's house since it's only a matter of time before the book ends. Why bother moving into an apartment when it was going to cease to exist with the rest of the town sooner or later?

I would also be accompanying Jack to work today since Jenny was busy moving into Brian's house. She got real serious about it real fast. She must have been waiting for that signal from Brian that he was just as interested in her as she is in him. She lived in her old place for such a short time that she's going to use the money from selling it to pay off the mortgage she took out to buy that same house. "It's a net zero of money, just about," she explained.

I sat in the passenger's seat of Jack's pickup truck, neither of us talking to each other as we pulled up to the Inquisitor.

I broke the silence. "So what's on the menu for today?" I asked.

"We're getting this story on the void written," Jack replied, not bother to look back at me. "We've got the interviews. We've got the pictures. We've got the list of names. What's stopping us?" He sat down at his desk.

Jenny and Brian were both absent from work, so I figured there was nothing wrong with taking Brian's chair and pulling it up to Jack's desk.

"So how should we start this story?" Jack asked me. "What's a good hook?"

Was...was he talking to me? "Are you asking me to help you write this story?"

Jack shrugged. "Somebody's gotta help me. No man is an island."

If he insists. "It should be something captivating like, 'From the darkness of Jack Schulz's basement, Cat Tatulli and Misty Scott emerged.'"

Jack shook his head. "Too dramatic. This is a news story. It's got to be objective, tell you the who, what, when, and where."

"What the heck? You just asked me for my help."

"Well, you don't have an education in journalism. I didn't expect your help to be the best."

"Then why did you even ask? Look, my suggestion had a who, a what, and a where. You can just add the when, and we'll be set."

"How about this?" Jack began typing on his computer. "On August 13, 1982, Misty Scott, 16, and Katie Tatulli, 22, appeared in the basement of Jack Schulz, Scott after being missing for a year and Tatulli after being missing for six months." He looked back at me. "There can't possibly be anything in here you object to. I got everything factually correct."

I sneered at him. "Yes, you did."

"Alright, then. Now that we've got a hook, let's find a good quote to use. I think Misty would be a good source to start this off with." Jack began looking through his interview notes.

Meanwhile, my eyes drifted towards the list of names. I don't think I've gotten a good look at this since that ghost encounter. What were all the names on it? I read them over.

George Bailey, Misty Scott, Katie Tatulli, Austin Foster, Daniel Lowell, Chelsea Munson, Linn Strange, Avery Lacey, Cody Elliot, Ellington Masters, Christian Gale, Gus Derricks, Madeline Ayers, Brandon Queen, Aaron Yates, Henderson Lindsey, Bartholomew Gray, Lily Stamp, Tiffany Abbey, and Adeline Mynatt.

"Hey, give that back." Jack took the list out of my hand. "This is important evidence."

Evidence? What peculiar word choice. "For the story or for the hearing?"

"For the story," Jack replied. "I wanted to use it for the hearing, but Mr. Bergeron won't give it up."

"This would be great, though. Just in case the void comes up, we can use this as proof it exists. Are you sure he can't even make a copy of it?"