Mara Webb and the Town of Arlington Park

17: Meanwhile Back Home

As Ruth returned home from her late shift at the diner, exhaustion weighed heavy on her shoulders, but her weariness was quickly overshadowed by concern as she stepped into the empty house. The silence enveloped her like a shroud, the absence of her daughter Mara and her friends palpable in the stillness.

Her heart pounding with dread, Ruth's eyes fell upon the backpacks lying forgotten on the floor of the foyer, a silent testament to their sudden disappearance. Days passed in a blur of frantic searching, as Ruth and the other parents, Amelie, Rachel, and Fletcher's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Briggs, reached out to the local law enforcement for help.

Led by Officer Allen Wood, the town mobilized in a desperate search for the missing teens, combing every corner of Arlington Park in a desperate bid to find them. But as the days turned into weeks and still no word came, Ruth's anxiety grew with each passing moment.

Driven by a gnawing sense of dread, Ruth ventured down to the basement—the last place Mara and her friends had been seen. As she sifted through the remnants of their presence, her eyes fell upon the research papers scattered across the floor, her breath catching in her throat at the sight.

"Isaac, what did you do?" Ruth whispered aloud, her voice filled with a mixture of fear and disbelief. It was then that the pieces began to fall into place, as she made the connection between the research and the inexplicable disappearance of Mara and her friends.

Parallel universes—a concept too fantastical to comprehend, yet now staring Ruth in the face with chilling clarity. As she struggled to come to terms with the unimaginable truth, Ruth knew that she would stop at nothing to find her daughter and bring her home, no matter the cost. For in the depths of her heart, she knew that their fate was intertwined with forces far beyond their understanding, and that only by unraveling the mysteries of the universe could they hope to find their way back to each other.

As Ruth shared her recent discovery with the other parents and local law enforcement, she was met with skepticism and disbelief. The Briggs family, with their logical and practical approach to life, almost laughed in her face at the suggestion of parallel universes playing a role in their children's disappearance. To them, it seemed like nothing more than a work of fiction, a fanciful notion that had no place in their reality.

"You're wasting valuable time with these wild theories, Ruth," Mr. Briggs scoffed, his voice laced with frustration and impatience. "We need to focus on finding our kids, not chasing after fantasies."

Amelie, while not as vocal as Mr. Briggs, remained silent on the matter, her expression inscrutable as she watched Ruth with a mixture of doubt and uncertainty. It seemed that no one was willing to entertain the possibility that there might be truth to Ruth's claims—no one, that is, except for Officer Wood.

As Ruth and Officer Wood exchanged knowing glances, a silent understanding passed between them. Despite the skepticism of the others, they were united in their belief that there was more to the story than met the eye. And as they set out to follow this lead blindly, they knew that they were taking a leap of faith into the unknown.

For Ruth, the decision to pursue this avenue of investigation was not without its risks. But deep down, she knew that it was the only explanation that made sense—the only way to uncover the truth behind her daughter's disappearance.

As they bailed into the unknown, Ruth and Officer Wood were driven by a fierce determination to uncover the secrets that lay hidden in the shadows. And as they ventured deeper into the mysteries of parallel universes, they knew that they were on the brink of discovering a truth.