Jyri woke up to find the house still free of Oliver. As much as he enjoyed having one less person around, he hoped Oliver was okay. Not only that, but how was he to get to work? Although there was a phone in the kitchen, Jyri had never learned to use it. Neither had Faye or Ran.
“Guess we get a day off.” Faye sat on the couch, watching something on the TV.
A day off would be nice, but it didn’t feel right not telling anyone at work they weren’t coming in. Hopefully Oliver had only spent the night with Shawn, and would return any minute.
Those minutes turned to an hour. And about an hour after Jyri should have arrived to work, the phone rang. The group wandered into the kitchen to investigate.
It rang again. Jyri did what he’d seen Oliver do, so many times at work. He picked up the phone. “Wattavolt Electronics.”
“What?” a woman’s voice sounded confused.
“Uh, Jyri speaking?”
“Jyri? It’s Brittney.”
Brittney! How fascinating, to be able to speak to Brittney from such a far distance. She must be at work. And yet her voice was as clear as if she were next to him. “Hi Brittney.”
“Why aren’t you, Faye, Ran, Oliver, Shawn, and Jessica at work today?”
Jyri swallowed. Then, frowned. Jessica? “Oliver never came home. Faye and I have no way of getting there. And this is the first I’m hearing about Jessica.”
“Yeah, Jessica’s missing too.” Brittney said. “She always calls to tell us if she’s not coming in. It’s weird for her not to.”
“Oliver could have overslept with Shawn.” Though that didn’t explain Jessica’s absence.
“I’d think so too. Except Craig saw Shawn’s truck parked at Dunkin Donuts.”
Jyri heart raced as his body stiffened. He recalled seeing a sign that said "Dunkin Donuts" when he first entered this world. “Really?”
“Yes. Jessica’s car too.”
That didn't make any sense. Why would Jessica have gone there? She left work early the previous day because she wasn't feeling well. Was that a lie?
“And Craig didn’t see them anywhere. He even checked all the nearby shops and asked around. It’s like they’ve vanished.”
How could Shawn and Oliver possibly have known to look for a portal in that location? To possibly even find it? And would they really be so stupid as to go through it, if they did? Or was it just a coincidence that the two were last known to be in the parking lot of a doughnut shop? And what of Jessica? Did they drag her into it as well? Jyri furrowed his brow. Now that he thought about it, she did say something about wanting to stop at a place called CVS before going home. Maybe this CVS was in the same area. But why would her car still be there almost a day later?
“Are you still there?” Brittney asked.
“Yes. Can you come pick us up so we can go to work? We have a lot to do.” It wasn’t true, but work was within walking distance of the portal. He, Ran, and Faye would be able to sneak off to do some searching of their own.
“You don’t want the day off? You all have plenty of PTO saved up.”
PTO? Jyri briefly wondered what that was, then decided he didn’t care. “No, we need the distraction.”
“Of course.” Brittney’s voice softened. “I’ll come right over.”
Once at work, Faye, Ran, and Jyri did their jobs for a bit. Jasper was thankfully out, which put everyone in a good mood. It would also make their plan go a lot smoother. Ran ended up spending most of his time in Jyri's cubicle. Without Jasper there to boss him around, he had nothing to do.
Jyri waited until he was certain no one would notice him leaving. Then, he and Ran walked to the lobby, towards Faye's desk. Faye’s eyes met Jyri’s and she nodded. The group sneaked out the back door. Before leaving, they checked the abandoned building one last time for Holger. No sign he ever even returned.
The walk to the Dunkin Donuts took them about ten minutes. It was located in a large parking lot with other stores. Shawn's truck was in the center of the lot, and Jessica's car was parked a few spaces away from it. Behind that building, he saw a few familiar faces.
“You came to see us!” Lavina’s face brightened when she noticed Ran. Kirsten smiled as she watched them embrace.
“Did you sleep here?” Faye asked Corvin.
“Where else can we?” Corvin asked. “What brings you all here anyway?”
“Shawn and Oliver are missing,” Jyri said.
Corvin tilted his head to the side. “Who?”
The two men you were talking to yesterday, before we interrupted.” A thought occurred to Jyri that caused his stomach to sink. “What were they talking to you about?”
“They kept asking us all these questions about where we came from and how we got there,” Kirsten said.
Just as Jyri expected. He directed his attention towards Lavina. “You didn’t happen to mention anything about portals, did you?”
“Was I not supposed to?” Lavina asked.
Jyri covered his face with his hand. That explained how Oliver and Shawn knew where to go and what to look for. Shawn in particular would want a distraction from his breakup with Valerie. The only real mystery was Jessica. He glanced around. “Do you know where the portal back is?”
“You don’t think they’d actually be that stupid?” Faye asked,
“Where else would they have gone?” Jyri groaned. “We’re going to have to go in after them.”
“Why? It’s not like they’d do the same for us.”
Jessica would. He could imagine Oliver doing it, though reluctantly. Shawn never would. And if it was only Shawn, Jyri would leave him there. But Oliver had been nice to him. Impatient sometimes, but he’d been a big help. “We owe it to Oliver, for letting us live with him and helping us navigate this place.”
“I guess,” Faye said. “I suppose you’re also worried Jessica might have somehow followed them in there?”
“Yes. I’d want to get her out of here the most.” Though Jyri wasn’t entirely confident Jessica went with Oliver and Shawn. It didn’t make any sense. She hated Shawn. So why would she willingly go through a portal with him? Unfortunately, there was no other explanation for her disappearance. Her car was right there. Chances she went through were high.
“How do we make the portal show up?” Faye asked.
It couldn’t be too difficult, if Shawn and Oliver managed to go through. “It’s gotta be hidden around here somewhere,” Jyri said.
“Let’s look for anything out of place,” Kirsten said.
The group spread out, heads moving around as they searched through bushes and under a couple of cars. Jyri’s eyes wandered towards a large, green, smelly container against the back wall of the building. “Do you suppose that thing is involved somehow?”
“Yeah, it could be hiding behind it,” Lavina said.
“But we didn’t come out of that,” Kirsten pointed out.
“How do you know for sure? We just, appeared on the ground.”
“Is anyone around to see us?” Corvin asked. “I want to use magic to move it.”
Jyri looked around but saw no one. The back of the building was a secluded, empty area. “No.”
“Good.” With a flick of his hand, Corvin moved the container aside, revealing more wall, along with a nest of rats against it.
Kirsten scrunched her nose. “Gross.”
“No portal there,” Corvin said. Before he could move the container back, two of the rats scurried a few feet away. Then, disappeared.
“There.” Jyri pointed to the spot. “The portal has to be around there. It’s invisible.”
The group huddled around the area the rats disappeared at. Jyri pushed his hand against the solid wall. Nothing happened. Everyone else tried different spots along the wall.
“Over here,” Faye said, her hand through the wall. She pulled her arm back, and inspected her hand. “That’s gotta be it.”
Lavina pushed her hand through as well. Jyri did the same, his hand disappearing right in front of him. He pulled his hand out. “This is definitely it. Now what?”
“We walk through.” Without further word, Lavina stepped through the wall, and out of sight.
“She did not!” Kirsten gasped, and hurried through. Corvin quickly followed.
Jyri, Ran, and Faye held hands as they walked through. There was a jolt, followed by pressure in his chest. And the world went dark.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjTX7oLvYnt
and then Add to home screen.