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Chapter 6

  "Open up Lindsay", Zane coaxed, "c'mon, open up."

   It was Zane's turn to feed Lindsay her lunch. He didn't mind doing it at all, but for some reason she wouldn't eat for him. She'd eat for Mom, she'd even eat for Dad, but she never ate for Zane. "Open up that loud mouth of yours, Linds", he ordered playfully. "You have no problem opening it when you're not eating."

   Lindsay let out a loud giggle and clapped her chubby little hands together. "Oh, you think I'm funny now?", Zane asked. He put on a fake grumpy face and pretended to stare hard at her. "Do I look funny now?", he asked grumpily. Lindsay only laughed harder as she stared back at her big brother. "What? What are you laughing at? Is there something funny about my face?" Lindsay gave a small nod as her laughter grew even louder.

   Zane saw his chance and slipped in a spoonful of her peaches and cream mush into her mouth. "Don't choke on it", he chuckled as he helped her get it all in. Lindsay stared at him for a minute, then let the food spill out of her mouth and down her chin. "Hey!", Zane exclaimed. "Put that back in there, Missy!"

   "You get her to eat yet?" Mom asked as she walked into the dining room.

   "Nope. She still thinks she's smarter than me. The little stinker."

   Mom chuckled. "Well, I don't have anymore work to do today without your father, so I'll do it."

   Zane stood up as Mom slid into his seat. "Thank you for at least trying."

   "No problem", Zane replied. To Lindsay, he gave a playful glare and pointed a finger at her. "This isn't over yet, you little tootsie roll."

   Lindsay just laughed, as if to say, "It is today, big brother!"

   "You and Dad have been pretty busy lately", Zane replied, taking a seat next to Mom.

   Mom shrugged, sighing. "Somewhat. We're trying to reschedule all of our appointments for next month. We want to stay up in Washington for a week. Your father and I agreed we were way overdue for a family vacation, so we thought what a better place to vacation than Washington, just in time for the picnic."

   Zane nodded. "Cool. Are we camping out again, or staying at a hotel?"

   "We were thinking of doing a hotel this year. Less stuff to worry about, you know?"

   Zane nodded. "Yeah, I know. I don't care either way, though it'll be nice to not work on vacation for a change."

   "I know, right?", Mom replied. "Tenting was getting a little old for me. Not that I don't like it; I do enjoy getting out into the great outdoors, but we can't always camp out." She spooned some mush into Lindsay's mouth. "And thankfully, your father is in total agreement."

   A ding! noise went off in Zane's pocket. It was Josh.

JoshRogersInTheHouse!!: So I messaged president Ben-Judah about the issue. He said he'd already been alerted about the issue and was working on the problem.

   Zane typed up a message.

Zaneiack: Good. Let's hope he figures out what's wrong soon.

   "Who are you talking to?", Mom asked.

  "Oh, just Josh", Zane answered.

   "Josh from Facebook?"

   "Yep."

   "Oh", she said thoughtfully. "How is he doing?"

   "He's good."

   Ding! Josh again.

JoshRogersInTheHouse!!: He's Levi Ben-Judah of course he'll figure out what's wrong.

   Zane shook his head, amused.

Zaneiack: K man

   "Actually", Zane started, setting his phone down onto the table, "we're trying to figure out a problem that's been happening on Facebook."

   Mom raised a curious eyebrow. "Oh, really? Something's wrong with the site?"

   "That's what we thought at first", Zane answered, "but it turns out it's happening to people outside of Facebook. People keep disappearing at random times."

   Mom looked thoughtful as she fed Lindsay another spoonful. "How'd you find this out?", she asked.

   "We found out when we tried to get in touch with Erin. Her profile has completely disappeared. Then a kid at school told me that his brother went to Washington for a job interview and disappeared too."

   Mom had now stopped feeding Lindsay. Her cheery face was now creased with worry. "People don't just disappear, Zane", she said slowly. "Something has to happen that causes them to vanish from the public."

   "I know that", Zane replied, "and that's what we're trying to figure out. We've been asking other people at school and online about it. Josh even sent a message to the President."

   Mom sighed. "That's good. President Ben-Judah will know what to do." She paused, taking that moment to spoon more lunch into Lindsay's mouth. "He'll take care of everything."

   Zane stared at his mother. She had never been one to be so quick to worry. She was always keeping her cool. Like when WWIII was officially announced, she had pulled Zane (who had been eleven at the time) into a big hug and held him close. "Everything's going to be alright", she had comforted. "We'll be fine. No one's going to hurt us. I promise."

   Seeing her look so worried made Zane suddenly nervous. "Mom", he said, placing his dark hand on hers. "It's okay. You don't have to worry."

   Mom didn't seem to hear him. She stared off into space, her mind elsewhere. "Mom", Zane called out, shaking her hand. "Mom."

   She blinked at the last "Mom". "What? Oh, I'm sorry Zane. I was just....letting my fears get the best of me." She straightened up and smiled, "which we should not be doing. We should just leave it up to President Ben-Judah. He'll take care of everything."

   Zane nodded, but he couldn't help but think that she didn't sound so confidant.