Forgotten

2 - The Alley

Earlier that morning

I put the newspaper down. I couldn't bare to find out that yet another child had gone missing in the last twenty-four hours. Just a few weeks ago, a 16 year old girl with grey eyes not unlike mine vanished, marking the start of these mysterious disappearances.It was as though the kidnapper had a rap sheet. Every kid that went missing seemed to be a girl with dark hair and light eyes. I stayed seated at the table staring at the folded bunch of paper in front of me, until something at the corner of my eye caught my attention. The man across the street had come out of his house. I quickly scrambled out of my seat to get a better view of him. Maybe it was intuition, or just the fact that everyone had been on edge the past few days, but something seemed really off about him.

He'd always drive off somewhere, late at night, and come back just before the crack of dawn. During the day, he'd stay in one room only, sometimes coming out once in a while to get a cup of coffee.

'Stalking the new boy again?' came a voice from behind me. I didn't need to turn around to recognise the voice of the other foster child in the family.

'How about you mind your own damn business,' I pushed past the eleven year-old towards the door. She rolled her eyes at me.

'Helen said you're not allowed out of the house. She'll get you kicked out, you know,' she called out to me.

'Helen's gonna kick me out soon anyways,' I replied in an angrier voice than usual, 'I don't care if she doesn't want me out' and pushed the door open hard enough to hit the wall on the side. I spent most of the day pacing up and down the street, mostly just for the satisfaction of disobedience.

But finally, I decided, I would find out what he was up to. So at about 1:30 that night, I slid out the window and climbed down the wall. I felt the soft crunch under my feet as I stepped on the autumn leaves. I jingled the keys around my fingers in excitement as I skipped towards Helen's car. Unlocking the door manually, I stepped inside the vehicle and sat down on the cold leather, and waited for the man across the street to leave his house. He didn't leave for another half hour.

Just before I fell asleep, I was forced awake by the sound of his voice. I turned around to realise that he wasn't talking to someone, but on the phone. He got into his car, but wouldn't leave until he finished his conversation. Finally, he hung up and drove out of the driveway.

I felt a rush of excitement as I turned the keys and started up the car. I followed him down the street, until he finally pulled over next to an alley. He got up, walked towards it, and disappeared in the corner. I quickly followed, running towards where I last saw him. Much to my chagrin, I saw nothing but darkness through the slim walls.

Suddenly, strong arms slammed me against the wall, knocking all the air out of me. For a moment all I could see was darkness.

'Who do you work for?' someone screamed in my ear. When I didn't answer, he shook me again 'Tell me!'

'I don't know, McDonalds? Get off of me!' I yelled back, trying to hide the fear from my voice. The grip loosened, but he still stood intimidatingly close to me, leaving me put against the brick wall. My eyes started to readjust and I could recognize that it was the man from across the street. His brown eyes met my grey ones, and we stared at each other for a moment before he moved back, and continued;

'Can you tell me why the hell you were following me?' I was quick to lie.

'In fact, I was going to get some milk, or I was until you pushed me against the wall there.'

'You were buying milk?' he repeated.

'Yes,' I lifted my chin up, to be closer to his height, 'we ran out.'

'It's two in the morning.' I hadn't thought about that. Trying to change the subject, I challenged him back.

'So why are you up then, huh?'

'Wouldn't you like to know?' he smirked, 'I suggest that you turn around and return that stolen car to your mother.'

'She's not my mother,'

'Right. So do you have a name, or should I just call you stalker?'

'Yes, I do have a name,' I countered, trying to size up to him, realizing only now that I was standing on my toes, 'It's Nora' His eyes flickered at the sound of it.

'As in Nymphadora?'

'Where do you think we are? Hogwarts? No, just Nora,' I repeated.

'Okay, 'Just Nora' are you coming or not?' I was puzzled and my face must have shown it because he then said, 'So you don't need milk anymore or what?'

***

'So you don't remember anything at all before the forest?' The man I later learned was called Connor and I were standing at the checkout line in a Costco, holding our bags of milk. We received several puzzled glances in our direction.

'It used to bother me a lot, but after four years, I guess you get used to it.'

'And you don't have any sort of reminders my ear so that he could see the thin line on the left side of my forehead, just above my ear. He leaned in closer, a look of fascination on his face. There's something off about this guy, I thought for he always seemed to ask the right questions. Although I decided to push these thoughts away, something kept telling me that I had to leave, the moment I paid for the milk, I got into the car and drove away.

By the time I climbed into my bedroom window, It was 3:30 and I was tired enough to fall asleep within minutes.

Nora

Nora

The voice kept getting louder, and louder, until it finally sounded like a scream. I could hear it everywhere. The noise exploded in my ears, but I didn't care. Suddenly everything went quiet.

Gunshots.

I woke up in a cold sweat. Slumping back to my pillow, I stared out the window. It had been months since I last had a flashback, and I finally thought that it had been over. Outside the window, I could see Connor opening the trunk of his car, and pulling out a rather small black object. I squinted harder and came across the dreadful realisation of what he was holding.

A gun.

So, what are your suspicions about Connor? Why are all these mysterious disappearances happening? How many milk bags did they buy at Costco?

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Vanya and Dule