Caught In Time

Chapter 9: Pranks Aren't Funny James

Ethan hopped on the edge of the table and opened Emily's file, this time reading out loud the police reports.

"Found no trace of a body, interesting. Victim's children were there to witness their mothers disappearance. Victim's mother was there also. Each of them describe some sort of white light." He raised an eyebrow and continued to read.

"Victim lifted up into the air and vanished with what was described as a whooshing sound. Victim's husband was found DOA at their home when police arrived."

Ethan paused.

"What does DOA mean?" he asked.

James cleared his throat, "it means dead on arrival." he said quietly. 

"Oh..." there was another pause.

Ethan got serious all of a sudden.

"It says that the husband was found deceased inside the home from a gun shot to the abdomen. But no gun was found...there were shell casings near the body."

He continued to read.

"No blood evidence, either. The dude didn't even bleed out. It was almost as if he were shot somewhere else then brought back to the house but police couldn't locate a primary crime scene."

"It goes on to say that foul play might have been the cause but this was never determined."

James started pacing. And thinking.

"Hang on, it looks like the husband was a wife beater. There's medical records. There was suspicion of mistreatment of the kids and his wife..."

James shot Ethan a look.

"Dude, I wouldn't open those if I were you. That's private stuff. None of your business, ya know."

"Yeah but we already broke into the police station and are looking at classified files. We already are prying into people's personal lives here. It's kind of too late."

"I guess, but still. We shouldn't be looking. Those are medical records. Way different then crime scene reports."

"I guess...still prying though."

James had a point.

Cassedee got up and walked over to where the rest of the case files were on the tables.

She opened the lids and began to flip through each file.

"Guys..." she said prolonged.

"But it doesn't make sense. If Emily were to run away from her crazy husband, why would she try to kill him? Nothing in these reports indicates that."

"Okay, Mr. Investigator." James said.

"GUYS." Cassedee said it more firmly now.

They both turned around and looked at her each with a blank stare.

"All of these reports say the same thing. That each person that disappeared had been caught in some sort of trouble. They had been suspected of a crime then they vanished. Poof. Gone. Right into thin air. Just like Emily."

She began opening drawers, one after the other finally stumbling on something she had been looking for.

She grabbed the nearest pen and began scribbling notes down.

"Okay, so we know all of these people disappeared for some reason, right? Well what if that reason was to protect them in some weird twisted way?"

James pulled out a chair and sat down across from Cassedee, sliding one of the files near him.

He took out the folder and looked through it.

"Their ages are the same, they disappeared around the same time. Each report details of the same white light exploding then a loud bang. This is not a coincidence."

James peered into the cases again, this time pulling out something they all knew too well.

"Hey, look what was in here...Cass, Ethan...it's the same--"

He pulled out a camera, exactly like the one Nole had. Exactly like the one in Emily's case file.

James couldn't speak.

His mouth was moving but his speech was slowed.

He had accidentally pressed the button.

The same button that had made Nole vanish.

Everything went quiet, it was dark then a whooshing sound and the room suddenly filled with bright white light.

They had all disappeared.