‘Invisible’ by Eya B
Rei walked and stood by the top of the stairs, the floor groaning under the weight. She heard her mothers’ voice before she saw her. Her head hung low as she spoke in hushed tones to her father, who paced back and forth in the kitchen muttering some incoherent words. Her mothers’ eyebrows furrowed as her grip on the letter tightened, crinkling some of the paper before she scrunched up the letter entirely and threw it in the bin. Rei decided it was time to retreat back to her room, disappearing just as quietly as she came. It was hard to get her mother in that kind of state, so when the letter was thrown away in the bin, Rei couldn’t help but wonder what was written in it.
The morning came quickly and quietly. The harsh coldness that came with October Mondays made its presence known the moment she came into consciousness. She went on with her normal routine with the events of last night clawing to get her attention. At the table, Rei contemplated whether she should bring up the letter or not. She glanced wearily at her father and mother and, after careful consideration, decided to just let it go. Rei left the house and began walking to school. She rubbed her cold hands together and slightly shivered. She passed an alley and adjusted the winter hat that was too large for her head before she felt an unknown force ram into her. Rei fell over, landing on her forearm. Luckily, her school blazer cushioned her fall so she wasn’t too hurt. Rei looked over to whatever hit her and realised it was a man. A seemingly tall man that was scrambling to pick up the papers that had now been scattered across the concrete. Rei wondered where he came from as she didn’t hear or see him approaching. She looked for a beat longer before helping the man gather the papers.
“Sorry about that sir,” she said, handing the rest of the papers to his gloved hands.
“That’s quite alright,” the man said. He had a scratchy voice, the type that sounded like his throat hadn’t had water in days. Rei was now aware that the man was looking at her so she raised her head to meet his gaze. She froze. The man had pale skin, similar to that of a vampire, and a greek nose. But that wasn’t what caught her attention. His eyes were calculating. Observant. It was almost as if he was looking right through her, like an examiner looking at an examinee. All of a sudden, she felt bare. Her clothes were no longer providing the warmth that they were supposed to, as the harsh winds raged loudly around her. She sucked in the air she could as she felt the oxygen in her body leave at an alarming rate. Rei scoured her memories, desperately looking for anything that could indicate that she had met this man before. While lost in the labyrinth of memories, the man spoke again. “Miss,“ the strange man began. “Are you alright?” Rei did know one thing. Trust her instincts. So when her instincts were screaming at her, begging at her to leave, she did. She walked at a normal pace first but that eventually turned into a jog and then sprint.
As usual, school passed in a blur and the strange man she met weighed heavily on her mind. When she got home, she saw her father looking at the letter from last night. He seemed deep in thought so she decided to just go up to her room. She got her homework out of her bag and began working on it. Before she knew it, it was evening and she was at the table again. The only sound that could be heard was the tapping of her fathers’ fingers on the hard wood and the scraping of forks against the ceramic plates. There was a strange feeling lingering in the air. The feeling that is like a bottomless pit in your stomach. Dread. Rei held her fork a little tighter.
It was not unknown to Rei that unlike her parents she was a light sleeper. So when she felt her body being lifted and moved around she couldn’t help but wake up. When she fully came into consciousness she noticed she was in a car. Rei looked to the screen and saw the time read 3:34. She looked to her right and saw her father in the driver’s seat. He had a similar expression to the one at the dinner table. He hadn’t noticed she woke up yet so Rei spoke.
“Father?” she said sitting up a bit straighter now. “Where are we going?” Her father didn't answer at first, his gaze locked to the road in front of him.
“No where you need to worry about,” he said in a way that told her it was the end of the discussion. So she didn’t say anything after that and looked at the road ahead.
When her father took the final turn, she saw a man with sunglasses, dressed in all black, standing outside a small building. The vehicle finally came to a halt and her father got out of the car and gestured for Rei to do so as well. It was only then when she realised she didn’t have any shoes or any other clothes on but her pajamas. The cold air fell on her harshly as she walked over to where the man and her father were standing. They seemed to have finished talking by the time she walked over because her father slightly crouched down to her height and started to speak. “This is Micheal Anders,” he started. “He’ll be taking you into the facility.” Rei’s eyebrows furrowed as a frown littered her face.
“What facility?” she asked though a little fearful for the answer. Her father didn’t answer. Instead he just gave her a half smile and started walking back to the car. When she tried to follow, the man grabbed her arm and started pulling her away. Rei screamed and thrashed around until her throat was raw but it was no use. The man had an iron grip on her and didn’t have any intent on letting go of her.
The next few hours passed in a blur. Rei came to know that she wasn’t the only child there. Various children from what seemed to be aged eight and above were scattered around the main room. All of them wore the same white gown or pair of shorts and T-shirt as she did. She wasn’t the only kid given up by their families with little to no explanation. Most of the children cried and screamed but there was one kid that stood out to her. A bright-haired boy covered in grime and soot was pounding at the door. He was saying things like how the police would find this place and arrest our kidnappers along with some colourful insults. Rei was highly doubtful. If they had managed to kidnap this many children already without being caught then these adults must be incredibly skilled. She never got to know the boy’s name, but she was sure she would never forget him. His fiery spirit was already engraved into her memory.
Rei wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting in the room for. She'd been staring at the cobwebs in the corner of the ceiling, when she felt it. That suffocating feeling from before. He couldn’t be here, could he? she thought. But when she started to have a shortness of breath and the walls seemed to close in, she knew. Standing in the doorway of the room was that man from before. The one with the venomous green eyes and unnaturally pale skin. Rei couldn’t focus on what he was saying, she was too focused on trying to contain the bile rising in her throat. When she found the courage to look up, she found his gaze already on her. He smiled with his sharp teeth and shivers went down her spine.
“I must commend you all for coming,” he said with his chilling voice. “I understand this must be confusing for you all but worry not, for it shall be over in due time.” He then reached into his pocket and brought out a remote and an object about the size of his hand. She squinted at the object. It was black with a small screen that displayed 00:00. He clicked a button on the remote and gave one last smile before he left the room. The object now displayed 1:00 and started counting down. She let out an inaudible gasp before covering her head with her hands and tightly closing her eyes. What the other children in the room didn’t seem to realise was that the remote wasn’t a normal remote. It was a detonator.
She didn’t scream as she felt the building shake. She didn’t scream as she felt her insides being ripped apart. She didn’t scream as parts of the building flew and penetrated her skin. She simply kept her eyes shut until it was over.
When Rei woke up, there was a large cloth over her. She tugged it off and stared at the ceiling above her. It was different from the one in the facility. Rei figured she was in the hospital, from the way there was a screen to her right and an IV stand to her left. She stepped off the bed and headed for the door. When she opened it, she noticed her parents and some nurses and doctors near the waiting room. Rei called out but she wasn’t answered. It was as if they hadn’t heard her. She walked closer and called out again. No answer. The nurse closest to her parents spoke, “I’m sorry, we did all we could.” She wondered what they were talking about before it clicked. The nurses and doctors' guilty faces, her mother’s grief-stricken expression and her father’s blank one. The fact that they couldn’t hear her. Rei ran back to her room, tripping over her feet as she ran. She pushed open the door and then paused when she entered. The heart monitor portrayed a flat line on the screen. There in the centre of the room laid her body covered in a bloody cloth. She looked at her hands, now translucent, and screamed.