Ross woke with a start, his hand going for a gun that wasn’t there. He looked around his room, trying to pinpoint what had startled him awake. Everything appeared to be in place, but the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end. He quietly rolled out of bed and pulled open his bedside drawer. His gun was still in there, why did that seem wrong? That was where he always put his gun when he was at home.

He pulled it out, checking the safety and ammo.

There was a round missing.

Ross frowned and stepped into his shoes, what had happened? He remembered being at The Study Hall, the news had been on, talking about Maggie. And then there had been the government spook.

He had been going to take him down to the station. But he couldn’t remember actually doing that.

He couldn’t remember anything after The Study Hall.

Ross checked his gun again to make sure the bullet was actually missing, then he headed out of his room to check the rest of his house. Nothing seemed to have been moved, but the whole place just seemed off for some reason. The feeling of unease followed him as he returned to his room and got dressed and checked his phone. Three missed messages, all from-

What the hell?

October 12th. It was October 12th? But, but it had just been the 9th! He checked his messages again, scrolling through them. Three missed messages from Becca, four missed calls from work, two missed calls from Becca. He pressed the callback button for Becca and holstered his gun. Something weird was going on, and he was going to find out what.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Becca answered almost immediately, her voice a mixture of anger and relief. “Ross! Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you since you went off with that agent! Officer Richard said he hasn’t been able to reach you either! We thought you had been kidnapped!”

“No, I mean, I don’t know. Shit, what day is it?” Ross ran a hand across his face as he tried to keep calm.

“What day is it? Ross, what do you mean what day is it?” Becca was sounding more and more alarmed.

“Just- sis, just humor me, please?”

“Saturday, Ross are you okay?” Becca asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry to worry you sis.” Ross stepped out of his house and looked around the sleepy little street. Nothing out of place, nothing strange that he noticed. His car was in the driveway where it usually sat, papers were piled up at the door from the last few days, his mail was still in the mailbox, and his tiny lawn was covered in leaves.

Nothing seemed out of place, but he had lost two whole days somehow.

“Sorry to worry me? Ross, I’m coming over. Call your boss and tell him you aren’t dead. Okay?”

Ross rolled his eyes, but he knew better than to argue with his sister when she got a bug up her butt. “I’ll see you in a few minutes. Oh... any word on Maggie?”

There was silence on the line for a moment. When Becca talked her voice was quiet. “Not yet. I’ll see you in a few minutes big brother.”

“Right.” Ross hung up the phone and just stared at it for a moment. Maggie had been gone almost a week now. The odds of finding her alive at this point were slim to none, even discounting weird flying RVs. He scowled at his phone, resisting the urge to punch something. Becca was right, he had to contact Rick, and then he was going to have to do some investigating.

And he knew just the guy to talk to. He’d be working at the laundromat tonight, and would like nothing better than to talk his ear off about government spooks and UFOs.