Gone and Forgotten
“So… what you’re telling me, is that Taylor disappeared yesterday, and now everyone’s forgotten that she ever existed?”
“Um… well… except for-”
“Me?”
“Yeah...”
So… Taylor just vanished into thin air, and now it’s like she never existed. Ain’t that some shit. I immediately have several suspicions, and I’m damn near 100% sure that this is the work of another player. I have no idea how someone could just make someone disappear though. I can’t imagine there’s a skill that strong, at least from what I’ve seen of skills thus far. Maybe it’s someone’s trait or an SR item? The only other reasonable explanation is that Minnie lost her goddamn mind, but I can pretty easily evaluate that isn't the case by just asking around.
Thinking about that, it’s kinda weird, isn’t it? It’s more probable that someone got spirited away with some magical bullshit than that Minnie’s just mistaken. What a world we live in.
Anyways, I’m not sure if this really concerns me. Sure, it’s interesting, and a little scary that someone could just disappear like that, but do I really have time to deal with this? I’ve got my own stuff going on, and getting involved in a Scooby-Doo mystery when I’m already struggling with my current target seems like signing up for failure.
“Well darn,” I snap my fingers to show my displeasure with Taylor’s disappearance, “That kinda sucks, good luck though.” Then I begin to walk away.
“W-w-wait! You do know something! I know you do!”
I look back, “I can assure you, I don’t.”
“Then… why can YOU disappear!” She says, pointing a finger at me in an accusatory manner.
I stop walking away, “...what?”
“On… that day, you were there! I heard you! You followed me the whole way there!”
She… heard me? I think that she’s talking about when I sent her to interrupt Laura and Karlsson. Well, that’s not good. It’s time to use my most powerful weapon. Denying everything.
“Nope. doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Bu-”
“Definitely wasn’t me.”
“I-”
“Nope”
“You-”
“Absolutely not.”
With every attempt to speak, she gets more and more flustered, finally yelling, “I know it was you! Just tell me what you know!”
“I’m just as lost as you.”
I resume walking away, but she jumps at me, hugging me tightly from behind.
With a voice slightly muffled by my shirt, she says “I won’t let go until you tell me!”
I doubt that she’s strong enough to hold on if I really try to wrench her off, but I don’t want to hurt her. I can’t tell her the whole truth, but I can at least share my suspicion in a way that doesn’t break the rules.
The only thing I can do is sigh. “If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone else, alright?”
She tightens her hug, “Yes! Please, I need to know!”
“Everything I’m about to say isn't much better than a guess, so there’s no guarantee it’s even remotely close to correct.”
She shakes her head against my back, “I don’t care!”
“Alright then. If I had to guess, I’d say your friend was kidnapped, and someone used some magic bullshit to make everyone forget her.”
“So it is a kidnapping! I knew it!”
“And that’s the end of my guess.”
“... that’s it?”
“I told you, I’m not running on much more information than you are.”
“What about the magic? How does it work? Can we bring her back?”
“No idea.”
I’m hesitant to share any more than that. I’m not allowed to share anything about the game except with those who are already involved, but I think this vague talk should be fine.
“Can we track the magic?”
“Probably not.”
“Can we reverse it?”
“Dunno,”
“Can we-”
“I really don’t have the answers you’re looking for.”
“But you can use magic, right?”
“I can turn invisible, but that’s pretty much it.”
She lets go of me and throws her fist up in victory, “I knew it!”
I glance down at the spot on my wrist where a watch would be if I owned one, “Wowie, look at the time, I really should be off.”
“Alright! Tomorrow we begin our investigation!”
“...what?”
“We’re gonna find Taylor!”
“I’m not getting involved in this.”
Her jubilant attitude is immediately floored, “W-w-what? But…”
“I’ve got my own stuff to worry about. Sorry.”
“But… but...” her eyes begin to fill with tears, “I...”
Great. Now I feel bad. Whatever, I still don’t have time for this. I turn around and continue walking away, but only get a few steps until the palpable aura of dejection causes me to turn around. Behind me, Minnie is donning the saddest, wettest pair of puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen, Her begging gaze piercing deeply into my soul.
Nope, still not gonna help.
I continue walking away, until I hear a quiet sniffle, and turn back around. Her eyes are the size of saucers, completely filled with tears, looking like the dam will burst at any moment. They're staring directly into mine, begging me for help. She quietly sniffles once again and wipes her nose.
Oh for fucks sake.
There’s absolutely no way that I can fit this particular bit of fun into my schedule, but I can’t just leave things how they are. I think kidnapping takes priority over my current poon hunt, but if I do choose to follow up with this, then there’s absolutely no way that I can dominate Sofia in the remaining time. Damn it. Do I really have to throw this round to deal with this?
I let out a sigh. “Let me sleep on it. I need to think through some things”
With her wavering voice, she says “so… you’ll help?”
“No guarantees.”
She nods in affirmation, and I walk away.
In order to get home, I normally take a city bus, which luckily isn’t too far of a walk from my locker. I walk for a few minutes, sinking deeper and deeper into my mind, trying to come up with a solution to my extreme lack of time. As I round the corner of a building I smack face-first into somebody walking in the other direction. We both fall back, cradling our now injured faces.
“What the fuck!”
I look up to see the person who just spoke. She’s a pretty enough girl, with freckles and brunette hair complimenting an attractive set of facial features. I recognize her almost immediately. This is Ari, one of Anna’s friends. I never got particularly close with any of them, but we were all acquainted with each other.
“Shit,” I use my palm to check myself for a bloody nose, “Sorry, Ari, Are you alright?”
“No, that hurt! Watch where you’re going!”
I get up and offer her a hand, but she just glares at me and gets up herself.
“And don’t call me Ari. I don’t know where you heard that, my name's Ariana.”
With that, she huffs past me, continuing on.
Damn, she really must be having a bad day.