Disappearance (4 page)

With this realization, I think it's best I make my way to Abby's office. Deep down I have a feeling that this is the right thing to do. Abby works in Chesterfield, Ohio, which is a fairly large city by my standards. I remember looking it up once and seeing it was something like the twelfth biggest city in Ohio. There are bound to be some people there. Even if an immediate evacuation of the city was declared, with over sixty thousand people some of them are likely to stay put. I know when I make my way over there I may or may not see Abby, but I'll definitely see somebody. That I'm sure of.

Abby normally gets off work at 5:00, and gets home at 5:45. Because she didn't drive to work today, her schedule may be a little off so I better get there soon. She would be very worried if she got home and I wasn't there.

Before I make my way out, I want to see how much gas is left in Abby's car. Even if her tank is almost empty, I'm still going to Chesterfield. Having gas in her car though gives me more options assuming the power is out for the next couple of days. I open her door and, using the key I have, I turn the ignition halfway. The dial shoots its way up and I see she has three-quarters of a tank. Woo-hoo, I'll take it!

I plan on making a down-and-back trip, so I'll still take my car over. It has about 130 miles left before it runs out of gas and the round trip to Chesterfield is about ninety miles. That gives me some wiggle room in case I want to drive around.

I manually open up the garage door and start the drive toward Chesterfield. It's time to get some answers about what's going on.

Chapter 4

During the trip, I make a point of paying more attention to what's going on around me. This is not the time to bury myself in thoughts and forget the drive. I think back to the movie
Shaun of the Dead
, one of my favorite zombie/comedy movies. There's a scene in the beginning in which he goes about his morning routine and is so oblivious to his surroundings that he doesn't even notice everyone around him is a zombie. As silly as it looks in the movie, I could see myself doing the same thing.

To get to the highway, I must take a similar path to the one I took to the grocery store earlier. As I look around, it looks like much of the same. Everything appears normal except for any trace of human existence. You can still see the occasional car parked at the end of a parking lot. The buildings obviously still appear exactly like they did the day before, but the traffic lights aren't working and no cars are out on the road.

It reminds me of driving on an early Saturday morning. I like to get up early, even on the weekends. Occasionally, I make an early grocery-shopping trip when there isn't any food in the house for breakfast. Whenever I leave, I'm always amazed at how few cars are out on the roads. I mean, I've driven on highways before at four o'clock in the morning, and there are always several cars out. Early morning in town, though, I rarely see anyone out. In its weird little way, early grocery shopping is a fun and pleasant experience.

The highway is only a block or so away from the grocery store. I feel the anticipation of what's to come starting to build up inside me. Sure, little Nowhere, Ohio may be a ghost town, but it's a large world out there and I'm ready to see that things are normal just over the horizon.

I pull onto the on ramp and head west towards Chesterfield in pursuit of my Abby. It just occurs to me, if I make my way over there and see her, she's going to be shocked to see me. She knows this is a big day for me, and she'll probably expect a report of great news. I'm going to have to think about what I'm going to say first. Saying I was a scared little puppy and that everyone is gone and I had to run away from home is an embarrassing story to tell, even if it is Abby I'm telling it to.

I'll bet when I do tell her what I've done today, she'll give me that "You're an idiot" look and remind me of the reason why things are the way they are. That, or she'll roll her eyes and think I'm crazy.

The highway is completely deserted for as far as I can see. In my younger days I would have loved this and driven as fast as my little Chevy Cavalier would take me. My reckless days are gone now though and I drive like an old person. I feel as if I'm living on the edge when I drive any more than five miles per hour over the speed limit.

Today is different. There's nobody around, and I'm starting to feel more and more adventurous. It's the first time I've ever pulled onto I-70 West and not had a string of cars willing to run me over for entering their highway. I can see about two miles in front of me and my foot starts to push harder on the pedal. I don't quite reach the 90 or 100 of my youth; when I hit eighty-five miles per hour it's enough to give me a heart attack. I feel a small rush of adrenaline pour over me as I speed down the highway at a speed I haven't driven in ten years.

It makes me feel old knowing I've been driving for ten years. Many of my high-school friends are driving around in Minivans carrying a couple kids. The years go by so fast.

As I zip around the corner, I slow down to be near the speed limit. The last thing I need is to flip the car over. It's amazing how slow the speed limit feels when you've being going so much faster. It seems as if you could get out of your car and walk faster. When I see no one is coming and I have a long, straight stretch of highway in front of me, I kick the car back to over eighty miles per hour.

Up ahead I remember there's a small town where I used to golf. It has electric carts so there's no chance of filling up my tank. The town is the kind of place where everyone can walk to anywhere they need. Every time I've been there, there are always lots of people outside. It's just off the highway, so a quick drive by the main road seems like a good idea.

I pull off the exit ramp and make a left off the ramp. I laugh a little because I notice I still put on my turn signal. Of all of the things drivers do and don't do, not putting on a turn signal annoys me the most. It's pure laziness. How hard is it to flick your wrist up or down when you're turning?

I approach the main street area where there are a few local stores and restaurants on the left. On the right is a great little ice cream shop I usually hit up after my round. It has a playground in the back that's normally packed with kids playing and wearing ice cream stained T-shirts. Because it's fall, I have to admit I've never actually been here during this time of year. I only play golf when it's nice out. When I pull over I see the still, empty swing sets. The local coffee shop up ahead is empty too. All of the lights seem to be out in every little store as far as I can see. There are still a few cars parked on the road so I haven't given up hope yet. Not as many cars as a typical day but enough for me to believe people were around in the not too distant past.

The unsettling part though is the lack of people. Every time I've been here the entire community seems to be out getting their daily fill of gossip.

The day is cool, but not cold enough to prevent everyone from being outside. Seeing I only have so much gas left and want to be sure to save enough for the real reason I made the trip, I conclude I've seen enough of this little town. I do a quick illegal U-turn and make my way back to the exit ramp. As I do I take one last peek at the town, trying to see any form of life. I'm not 100% certain nobody is here, but I'm almost convinced. Now that I see this town is deserted I know it's not just my neighborhood that's acting strange today. The real truth though will be when I get to Chesterfield. If that entire city is deserted, I'll know I'm in big trouble!

Chapter 5

As I pull back onto the highway, the anticipation builds inside me. In about fifteen minutes the world that I know could dramatically change. If everything is normal in Chesterfield, it will be a huge sigh of relief. If it's like everything else I've seen today, things are going to get bad in a hurry. I'm usually calm, cool, and collected but seeing the entire city of Chesterfield deserted would be tough even for me to take. I say to myself over and over that there's no way an entire city as large as Chesterfield could completely disappear. Somebody has to be there, and I'll do everything I can to find someone.

I look down at the speedometer and notice I'm going over ninety-five miles per hour. At this point though if the cops pull me over I'd get out of the car and give them a hug. My car barely handles this speed, but I've never been in such a rush to get somewhere as I am now. Abby's office is the third exit from the highway, and only a couple miles or so once you get off. You have to go through several different stoplights and what seems like an abundant number of stores to get there. Chesterfield is a city that's unofficially divided into two parts, the north and the south. Thankfully she works in the north side of town where the middle-upper class elderly people are. If she worked in south Chesterfield, she would need to pack a gun in her purse.

The south part really isn't that bad by big city standards; the people are friendly and there's nice diversity. But, there are a couple streets and neighborhoods in that area where you can't help but pray for your life while driving through.

This is exactly what happened to Abby and me almost exactly a year ago. Abby, God love her, is lousy with directions. I'm not exactly a human GPS but I'm much better than she is. We found ourselves at a charity event for her work to raise money for a new building add-on to the nursing home. It was a Walk For a Cure event on the south side in an area she wasn't very familiar with. Afterward, we were trying to make our way back onto Main Street, a road that seems to stretch across the entire city, when we made a wrong turn. Of course, this just happened to be the one time we had left our GPS unit in the house to update the stupid maps. I would love to go back in time to see exactly what turn we messed up, because to this day I have no clue what we did to get so lost.

During our little side trip we made our way down the scariest neighborhood I've ever seen. Every house was in need of a paint a job, and there was graffiti and litter everywhere. We drove up to a stop sign on the corner where there were about eight guys who looked like gang members gathered together. One of them ran out in front of our car while the others started to gather around. I couldn't help thinking we were going to either get our car stolen, get shot, or (most likely) both.

One of them looked in through the window and said, "What the fuck are you doing here?" I completely froze up, gave a blank stare and didn't know what to say. Fortunately, Abby is much better at thinking quickly, so she smiled and apologized saying we were lost. The guy took a small step back, looked around at our car and said, "That's a fine car there, don't mind if I take it for a spin do you?" Everyone around them started laughing.

I should mention we were in Abby's black BMW, another little gift we treated ourselves to with the eighty thousand dollars we received from Abby's grandparents. If we would have been in my Cavalier, they probably wouldn't have even bothered us. Abby later told me if we were in the Cavalier they probably wouldn't have taken it if we had given it to them. Because we were in the BMW though, and appeared to be well off, these hoodlums took a strong interest in us driving down their street.

At this point, I decided to step in and say, "Look, we don't want any trouble. We are lost and we'll be sure to never return here again."

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say because the guy at my window said, "Boy, you better get the fuck out of the car right now." As he started to reach down in his pocket for what most likely would be a gun, instinct took over and I stepped on the pedal not caring if I ran someone over in the process.

"Get down!" I told Abby as I grabbed her head and pushed it down. Meanwhile I ducked down too, getting as low as possible while still being able to peek over the dashboard to see where I was driving. I thought for sure I would soon be hearing gunshots, but they never came. I never looked back to see what kind of reaction those guys were having. Were they laughing? Were they chasing after the rich white kids that dared to drive down their street? I'll never know and I don't really care to know. After a few more minutes of wandering around, we somehow managed to make it back to Main Street and were on our way home.

I look over and see Exit 91A, which is Abby's exit. This takes you right through the north and south division. The first couple minutes are technically the south side, but as long as you stay on Main Street it's safe. I take the exit and make my way down the ramp with my heart rate starting to race even faster. This little area is filled with run-down shops, fast check stores, a few fast food places, and a couple gas stations. I look around, and at first glance it appears just like everything else I've seen today. There are a couple of cars here and there, but everything looks mostly deserted. It's hard to tell because it's mid-afternoon, but it doesn't look like any lights are on in any of the stores. The streetlights are all off, and the most telling sign is that there are no cars on the road.

I glance around looking for any signs of life, and when my eyes turn back to the road I'm forced to slam on my breaks.

A little black cat jumps out in front of me and makes its way across the road. I put the car in park and get out, slowly walking toward it. The cat stops for a moment to look at me and see if I'm a threat to its survival. For all I can tell, this appears to be a normal-looking cat. Of course it's a normal cat, why wouldn't it be? Once it sees I'm not getting ready to pounce on it, it continues walking across the road, probably to go look for food somewhere. Based on its ragged-looking hair, I'm guessing it's a stray. I wonder whether or not I have any reason to either follow the cat, or take the cat with me. I quickly dismiss both ideas. If it doesn't have an owner, why should I care what dumpster it's making its way toward? I also hate cats, so why would I take it with me?

Truth be told, I'm a little scared of them. Every cat experience I've had from friends growing up has been a bad one. I grew up with a dog and, for whatever reason, all dogs seem to love me. Cats, though, always give me that look that they're going to attack if I come close. Because of this, I've always stayed away from my friends' cats, which never drew any complaints from the cats.