The night glowed with neon lights and the sound of music filled the city as the Cyber Music Festival was taking place in the futuristic city of Techtonia. People were gathered across the city, virtually tuning into the festival as the streets were now filled with their euphoric singing and dancing in hopes of escaping their reality.
Meanwhile, in the Belric district, sounds of clanking metal and working mechanics filled a mechanic workshop where Ethan, a young man with black hair and hazel eyes was fixing a hovercar while vibing to the music festival with his best friend Tony who had blonde hair and blue eyes.
“Ba De Ba Ba Da Da Da Dum uh Tony, can you pass the fuser?” Ethan asked while humming the beat of the music. Tony tossed the fuser to Ethan, “I’ll need it back soon.”
“Sure, I just need to fuse these two components then I’ll be done with it,” SHWROOOOOSHHH roared the fuser as Ethan used it then momentarily, “Okay I’m done with it, here.” He tossed the fuser back to Tony, “How’s it going with that machine?”
Tony shook his head, “It’s too damaged to salvage, it’ll need a few new parts for it to work optimally again.”
“Then we’ll have to call our client and warn them about the extra costs,” said Ethan, “For now, let’s take a break from this.”
Ethan dragged himself away from his work area and dropped himself on the couch then he gazed out the window with a view of the neon city and the luminous night sky that was disrupted by the passing hover cars, “(Sighs) I need a break from all this.”
“Then why don’t you take one?”
“Because we’re in high demand right now. If we close shop now, we’ll be losing opportunities that could get us to work with big companies like Nano industries,” said Ethan.
“Will that even matter if you’re in bad health from working too much, there’s a reason why businesses give their employees days off you know. A break from the work environment replenishes the mind so that it can focus on work when they come back from leave,” said Tony.
“I understand all that, but you already know why I’m working so hard, it wouldn’t feel right if I just went on vacation without Alyssa,” said Ethan
“Yes I’m well aware, but your sister would prefer you to be happy and healthy rather than working yourself to death,” said Tony.
“I doubt she would want me to be happy."
"I’ll rest when she wakes up and is healthy but for now, I can’t afford to take vacations nor do I deserve any vacations,” said Ethan, “Anyways, enough about that. Let’s get onto the next machine that needs fixing. Tony, why don’t you call our client and tell them about the new parts and extra costs included.”
“Sure”
The sounds of clanking metal and a roaring fuser once again filled the mechanic shop while Techtonia continued partying in their music festival as it went on through the night.
..........................................................................................................
"Ethaan. Ethaaan, wake uuup," the sound of his name tickled his ear as he opened his eyes and saw a blurry figure, "Mom?"
"Morning Honey, did you sleep well?"
"(Groans) You should be asking if I got enough sleep."
"Why? Did you spend the whole night in your lab again?"
"Well yes, I'm almost finished with my new invention so I-"
"Ethan... as much as working is important, sleeping is also important. Don't make me ban you from your lab after dinner,"
"Sorry Mom, I'm just too excited for my new invention."
"I know honey, now get ready for school and come down for breakfast, (Sniff sniff) Hopefully this time your dad didn't burn the breakfast?"
Ethan's mom rushed out of the room leaving the door open. The smell of fire and a hint of burnt toast assaulted Ethan's nose as he slowly began breathing heavily with every tick that came from the clock in his room. Clomp...Clomp, Ba-Doom...Ba-Doom rang in Ethan's ears as the footsteps came closer in the passageway outside the door. CLOMP, CLOMP, CLOMP, CLOMP... Ethan began hyperventilating at the sight of his worst nightmare standing menacingly at the door as his creation was holding the heads of his family members like trophies. Tears gushed from Ethan's eyes and paralysis overcame him. In the blink of an eye, stands before him the demon that torments him every time closes his eyes to rest. To his sweet relief, a ringtone abruptly ripped him out of his vivid nightmare. The continuous ringing brought Ethan back to reality, he controlled his breathing and wiped the sweat off his face then answered his phone call in the dark as the sun hadn't risen yet.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"H-Hello"
“Mr Odessen?!?! Sorry to call you this early but this is urgent, I don’t know how but your sister has disappeared somehow.”
“.…Wait, what do you mean she disappeared!?”
“Well, we don’t know how sir, all we know is that she’s gone, along with some of our other patients.”
“So she’s not the only one missing?”
“Yes sir, it’s all over the news. Hopefully, that will help you understand the situation.”
Ethan switched on the TV, “Breaking news, more than half the population of Techtonia has disappeared in a flash of green light as this incident occurred out of nowhere. Authorities have been investigating this situation and have found out that unknown humans and other sentient beings have appeared as well. This phenomenon has not just occurred in Techtonia but in other cities worldwide. Up til now authorities have not a clue as to what is going on, all they can do now is continue investigating.”
Ethan sat there on his bed for a moment to collect himself then jumped out of bed and grabbed whatever he saw in the wardrobe and hopped into them then ran out of the house to his hover car and drove to the hospital where his sister was being kept which was in the Jazzid district.
"I hope Alyssa is alright, I need to be sure she’s gone missing due to this unknown phenomenon and not by any other possible reasons.”
When he arrived at the hospital and spoke to the nurse who was in charge of looking after his older sister. “Madam Nurse, I'm here."
The nurse looked at Ethan, "Oh uhm who are you, sir?"
"Huh? Madam Nurse your age is starting to show. I come here every day to see Alyssa and you've already forgotten me?"
The nurse scanned Ethan, "Ethan? I didn't recognize you looking like that. Usually, you have a better fashion sense than this."
"Heheh... I was in a rush to get here after you told me my sister disappeared. Anyways when did you notice that she was gone?”
“Roundabout the same time we discovered that many of our patients were missing,” said the nurse.
Ethan goes to the room where his sister was kept and investigates the scene, “Let’s see now… the bed seems normal, no signs of struggle… (Puts on special augmented reality contact lens then scans the room) okay, no unknown footprints or fingerprints.” He then used his augmented reality contact lens to hack into the surveillance system to see what happened in the room. The room became a holographic depiction of the surveillance footage of his sister’s room, he saw no intruders but he saw his sister disappear.
“So she disappears into a green flash of light like half the population… I would’ve preferred that she was kidnapped then I would have been able to track her down, if she disappeared due to the unknown phenomenon then finding her would be difficult since she could be anywhere. I hope she’s okay. In her current state, she is vulnerable to anything. I’m gonna need more info on this whole situation,” said Ethan as he pulled out an earpiece from his pocket and called an acquaintance from the authorities.
“Hello… Ethan?”
“Hello Fred, I need some info on the phenomena that occurred earlier today,” said Ethan.
“As always straight to the chase with you, what would you like to know?”
“These new unknown humans that have shown up, have you been able to identify any of them?” asked Ethan.
“No, we haven’t, we’ve run a majority of them through our database and none of them matched any identity. We’re starting to think they’re aliens as well but the higher-ups are hard denying it for some reason.”
“Something tells me they’re not aliens, have any of the missing people been found in another city?” asks Ethan.
“So far no, Valis & Luna are still looking but so far we’ve found nothing, not even a trace.”
“Have you guys discovered anything interesting,” asks Ethan.
“No not that I know of, they are keeping things secret even from us.”
“(Sighs) Expected honestly. If anything interesting uncovers, keep me in touch,” said Ethan.
“Same to you.”
Ethan hung up and looked at the one last time room before going to his hover car. He sat in his hover car for a while as he sighed, "Worrying about Alyssa isn't going to bring her back... I need to investigate this whole phenomenon and find Alyssa as soon as possible."
He headed home where he found people outside his shop, “What the? I wonder why there are so many people outside my house.”
When the people saw Ethan, they rushed to him in desperation, “Detective! Please find my son.” “No find my daughter!” “Find my husband please!” Ethan was overwhelmed, “Can you guys calm down? I can’t do anything if all of you keep shouting at me at the same time.”
The people became silent and Ethan walked into his house, “Judging from all that, they’re here to acquire my private detective services. Well since I’m going to investigate the situation, I might as well hear them out."
Ethan sat at his desk, “So what can I do for you guys?”
“Detective, I’m sure you know of the incident that has occurred in this city. Our family members were few of the millions that disappeared, we wish to acquire your services to find our missing family members.”
“What makes you think that I can find your missing family members when they just disappeared supernaturally, why not leave it to the authorities?” asked Ethan.
“Well detective, you already know how useless the authorities are. So we have no one else to turn to but you, since you’ve never let us down when we've needed your services. We know this is asking a lot but we’re asking you to at least try your best to bring them back or give us closure.”
“.....Okay then, I will try my best to find your loved ones,” said Ethan.
Everyone sighed heavily in relief, “Thank you, Detective.”
“Please transfer the data of your missing loved ones to my database, data such as the full name, recent picture, and fingerprints of the missing persons’ then I will do the rest,” said Ethan.
After the people did what they needed to do, they left Ethan’s house.
“(Sighs) Well this is a good start to my day… let’s get to work. Tony?!”
Tony came running down the stairs, “Yes Ethan?”
“We have received several cases of missing people that need to be solved and found. We’re heading out soon so get your detective mode ready,” said Ethan.
“Oh, yeah! It’s been a while since we got a case,” said Tony as he went to his room to get ready.
Several minutes later, Ethan & Tony headed out in their modern detective uniforms, Tony wore a neon hoodie, sweatpants, and neon sneakers while Ethan wore a t-shirt, neon cargo pants, a long jacket, and special sneakers as both of them also wore shades as they walked out into the city to begin their investigation.