Disappearances:

It all started with people disappearing from our neighborhood. At first, it was the creepy looking ones. You know the type. The people that your parents would warn you to stay away from. We would hear about it the next day.

Around that time, Kat signed Lyle and I up for summer programs in the activity center. She didn’t want us being idle around the house.

“It is not good for youth to be lazy over the summer,” she told us. So, we ended going out of the house more often. First came the swimming classes. This, I did not mind. Lyle and I went in rather smug. We could do this. Kat taught us how to swim already. This should be a snitch. Still, it was something to kill time with. We always took the bus to the activity center around ten o’clock. We stared at the glass doors before us. Lyle held onto my hand.

“Ready to do this?” he asked.

“As soon as you let go of my hand,” I said.

“I can’t do that,” Lyle said. “You get lost too easily.” I stuck my tongue out at him.

“No, I won’t!” I said.

“Yeah, you will,” he said back. “Remember the street fair last year?” I frowned as I looked away.

“I got distracted,” I mumbled.

“Enough of this,” he said. “Let’s go.” He dragged me inside by the hand. I tried to vain to pull away from him.

“I can go in by myself!” I barked.

“Quit playing around,” Lyle whispered. We came up to the first desk. The lady looked down at us.

“Good morning,” she said. “Please sign in.”

“Yes ma’am,” Lyle replied. He walked over to a computer stand just his size. Last week, Kat got us summer passes for the activity center. They’re pretty easy to use. Lyle placed his fingerprints on the keypad while a camera scanned his eyes. The machine clicked in approval. Good, he’s in. Now, it’s my turn. I have to stand up on my tip-toes because I’m so short.

“Need help?” Lyle asked.

“No, I’m good,” I said. The machine clicked in approval for me as well. Now, we’re both in. I asked Kat about that machine on the day she got our passes.

“Do the machines scan us?” I asked her.

“To prevent identity thief,” she told me. “They have to have your name, fingerprints, and the scan of your eyes to confirm it’s you.” It made sense, I guess. Lyle turned to me once we were all signed in.

“Ready to go?” he asked. I gave him a sharp nod. We took on the mission of first day swimming lessons as we parted for the locker rooms.

The girls’ locker room looks like the pricey lobby of a hotel. There’s a couch in the corner and a hot tub in the middle of the room. I almost always want to drive into the hot tub every time I see it. Kat frowned upon this idea, however.

“You cannot go in until after your swimming lessons,” she said. I looked longingly at the heated, bubbling water before me. Oh well, I thought. I frowned as I began to walk away from it. But then, I paused and looked over my shoulder at it.

“I will be back for you,” I mouthed to the hot tub. Then, I walked over to a locker and changed into my swimsuit.

The pool is the same type that they use for the Olympics. The size itself is something to be proud of. My little eyes always grew big every time I saw it. I spotted Lyle near the edge, looking at the pool. I walked really fast over to him. He looked up and saw me.

“What took you so long?” he asked.

“The hot tub,” I replied.

“Don’t tell me you tried to go in it first.

“No!”

“Good. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“Oh sure.” I stuck my tongue out at him. A whistle blowing broke up everything between us. Lyle snapped to attention.

“That’s us, let’s go!” he said. I gave him a quick nod.

“Yes!” I said. We hurried over to the other end of the pool to where our class was. There are only about twenty kids in the morning swimming class. I heard it’s much bigger than the afternoon. Kat gave us the option of going in the morning or the afternoon. We chose the morning to have more fun in the afternoon.

“Okay,” she said. “But you’ll have to get up early. I hope you understand that.”

“Yes,” we said.

“Alright,” she said. To my surprise, it’s easier to wake up swimming lessons on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday than it is for school. Maybe because there’s not much brainwork involved. I guess because swimming lessons involve something fun to do.

However, today’s lesson felt cold and distant around me. There was only one topic on everyone’s mind. As I lowered myself into the icy water of the shallow end of pool.

“They are taking people at night.”

“Old Man Beyer disappeared last night.”

“I heard boots stomping outside last night and in the morning. Three old men had just disappeared.”

“Where do you take they are taking people?”

“I heard that they were taking them away to these experiment camps.”

“Experiments for what?”

“Maybe for cruel torture.”

“That’s so creepy.”

Kids in our class were whispering about it as well. I looked up at my brother.

“Lyle…” I mumbled. He waved me off as he kept his eyes on the teacher.

“Don’t worry about it,” was all he said. Then, he swam out to join the class for water warm-up exercises. I floated in the water as I bit my lower lip.

“Okay…” I mumbled to myself. I took one more look around in the water. Suddenly, I noticed Milo Cash in the back corner of the pool. My face instantly lit up.

I didn’t know he was in this class!, I thought. I waded over to my American friend. He looked up and noticed me coming over towards him. I paused and gave him a little wave.

“’Ello,” I said. He only gave me a little wave as he looked off elsewhere. I tilted my head at him. I will never get that kid.