But Nobody Came Novels & Stories

Greg: He had suddenly disappeared without a trace. In just a matter of days, he ceased coming over for meals or riding his bike around. His absence cast a somber shadow over my days. I kept a vigilant watch from my window, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, but there was nothing. No visitors came to see him either, making me doubt if anyone besides myself noticed his absence or cared about his whereabouts. My longing soon turned into worry, and asking Granny for information was out of the question; I was certain she had no knowledge of his whereabouts.

So familiar. I just nodded and let out a quiet "Mm." Didn't stop him. Just opened the door and stepped out like I'd rehearsed it. Michael didn't hesitate either—hit the gas and vanished. I waited outside the County Clerk's Office the whole day, like I was waiting for some kind of answer. And weirdly? I felt calm. Like my phone—dead silent. Not a single buzz. Even when the office closed, he never came back. No call. No text. Nothing.

But it, too, went unanswered. Then Caleb. No answer. No one was picking up. Where the hell was everybody?

This was a total bummer. I pedaled all the way here just for nothing. Ambrose haven’t showed up at school for the whole week and I thought he’s just going to be here. My brains began thinking about some possible reasons why there’s no one here. Perhaps Ambrose just went downtown to buy something. Or maybe he went to Highmont to see his parents. All are very unlikely.

Nothing. I went anyway. I sat at a corner table at the café she’d named, ordered coffee I didn’t drink, and watched the door for forty minutes past the time we’d agreed on. Somewhere around the thirty-minute mark, I understood, with a cold certainty I had no words for yet, that she was not coming. I called her. It rang through to nothing—no voicemail even, just ringing and ringing into a silence that felt, the longer it went on, less like an accident and more like an absence.

But as he unlocked the door and stepped inside, the apartment greeted him with a profound emptiness. Nora's absence hit him like a punch on his head. He had expected to find her engaging in an argument with someone, but she was nowhere to be found. Panic surged through his veins as he contemplated where she could have gone. "But I told her not leave, how could she have gone out without informing me?" He raced through each room, calling out her name in desperation. The walls echoed his pleas, but there was no response. The apartment remained silent, as if it held the weight of the intense argument that had transpired just moments ago.

I had been telling myself someone was coming for days and the days had kept arriving and the room had stayed the same and the sessions had kept happening and nobody had come. Nobody was coming. Ivin had three days in a chair and a window and a cat and I had held all of that up like evidence of something and maybe it was evidence of something but it wasn't evidence of this. He was good at his job. This was bigger than his job. I understood that now in the clean empty way you understood things when the fever was gone and the hope was gone and what was left was just the truth sitting there asking to finally be acknowledged. He wasn't coming.

"Hannah, I'll come right home, I'll bring those pastries you love." Just as I was about to respond, I heard Nina cry out in the background. Nathan didn't even hang up properly, just started comforting her. "Don't be scared, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere." I ended the call, looking around our empty home, and suddenly laughed. The clock hands turned round and round. Night fell like a black curtain. Only the food delivery guy had knocked on the door. Nathan wasn't coming back. At 3 AM, my phone lit up.

Sumon stiffened, and so did Nathan. They were all there, besides their men there was no one else. He wasn't there. Doreon was not there.

However, no one came to open it. Charles curiously opened the door, only to find that no one was inside. "Hello—"