Annual Purge || tøp

Chapter 1: People Are Going Missing

Ashley Frangipane was sitting at her kitchen counter, munching on a smoothie bowl that had bananas, berries and acai in it, topped with coconut flakes and chia seeds as she watched the news closely. Her eyes were squinting unwillingly, her left hand resting on the side of the bowl and the other supporting her chin.

The female reporter, sternly and slightly afraid, spoke:

'Breaking news: over the course of fourteen nights, there has been up to thirteen reported cases of people going missing in Columbus, Ohio. They were at all ages, with the youngest being only twelve years old. Many families are in fear, after their son; daughter; father; mother and even grandmother vanished. Out of thirteen cases, nine of which disappeared after one single night, with their bedroom windows being left open and a strange link of symbol graffitied on the wall.'

And Ashley's eyebrows knitted together when a picture was shown. The symbol, ").( ¿+?", did not at all seem to make any sense, but the fact that one of them kind of looked like a cross the way it was graffitied. The camera panned around the rooms of the missings, showing that most walls of these rooms were splattered with either black paint or (hopefully not) blood.

Ashley shuddered, as the male reporter picked up where the female left off.

'But it's not just that. Last week, there has been five cases of missing students from a university here in Los Angeles, California being reported to the police. By now, only one was rescued, alive and safe. Johnny O'Donell, President of the Student Council, was found only several miles away from campus, where he was tied and muffled.

'Speaking to the police, Johnny recalled: "I was only half asleep that night, and my roommate was in the library studying. This shadowy figure, I don't remember his face, shattered the window and jumped inside, he was wearing black and had a ski mask on. But while I was fighting against him, I ripped part of his shirt, and he had a full sleeve of tattoos. He hit me several times and dragged me out through the window, and when I woke up, I found myself by a road".'

Ashley picked her phone up, just as someone was calling her. "Hello?"

"Ashley," a familiar voice chirped, one that belonged to her good friend, Debby Ryan. "Did you see the news? So many people are going missing in such a short time."

"Yeah, I knew." Ahsley replied, putting her smoothie bowl into the fridge as she has now lost her appetite completely. She just couldn't eat, as long as they kept talking about how people are mysteriously vanishing. "It's creeping me out."

"It's almost like one of those cases documented on BuzzFeed Unsolved or something, but this is way beyond, you know," Debby said. "Thirteen people in just two weeks, it's like one person is going missing every single night." Then she added, with a nervous laugh. "I don't think I'm leaving the house for a week."

"Ha, good luck." Ashley laughed, too, being just as nervous, before saying a quick goodbye and hung up.

-

Meanwhile, in Columbus, Ohio, Jenna Joseph was worried sick. It has been one full year since her husband and his best friend disappeared out of nowhere. She has never stopped trying to search for both of them since the missing: digging for informations on Tyler's cancelled flight ticket, calling the people who worked at the jail they used to be kept in, and putting up fliers everywhere in the neighborhood.

"Tyler, come on, babe..." Jenna whimpered while running her fingers through her hair, sitting in front of her computer, frustrated and devastated. There was no way that her husband could have just gone like that, not without some sort of note or clue for her to find him. After all, they are married, should it not be Jenna's responsibility to make sure that Tyler is alive and safe and healthy? And happy?

She went to his messages, and looked at all the texts she sent him, six months old and up.

Her hands hovered over the keyboard for a moment, hesitantly and unsure, before she went and typed: Ty, where are you? Why won't you come home?

And she pondered. He probably never received or seen those messages anyways. So what is the point? Is she even helping at all, or is she just making this all annoying for Tyler (if he sees them)? Could it be that Tyler wanted some time for himself? But why so long? It's been an entire year.

Still, she pressed Enter and sent it. She had a reason to hope. And she wasn't going to give up on it soon.

Her phone rang.

Jenna jumped and looked over, hoping that it would be Tyler. But it wasn't. Not exactly. It was instead Maddy - his younger sister - calling her. She sighed and picked up, only to be greeted by a rather frantic Madison Brett.

"Jenna, did you see the news?" Maddy asked, her voice filled with honest concern.

"What?" Jenna asked, already searching the web. "Did they find Josh and Tyler?"

"No, well, it might have to do with Josh and Tyler," His sister continued, noises on the other side indicating that baby Mia was there, too. "Other people are going missing, too."

Jenna froze.

Ohio. California.

"It's in Ohio and California," she whispered to herself, slightly frightened. "And just in time with last year."

"Jenna?"

"..."

"What do you think happened?"

"I don't know. I think I'm gonna pay you a visit, Maddy."