A Man Who Wasn't There

Jessica studied the woman standing in their doorway. She was in her mid-thirties, dressed in a crisp blouse and slacks, her dark hair pulled into a loose ponytail. There was something guarded about the way she held herself, like she was waiting for something else to go wrong.

"Come in," Jessica said, stepping aside.

The woman hesitated before moving inside, removing her sunglasses. Her eyes were red-rimmed, exhausted. "My name is Maria Vasquez," she said quietly. "My husband… Daniel. He disappeared three days ago.

Leanna arched an eyebrow. "Disappeared how?"

Maria swallowed, clasping her hands together. "In front of me," she whispered. "Like he was never there."

Jessica exchanged a look with Olivia. "Has he been having any strange behaviors leading up to this? Sleepwalking? Memory loss?"

Maria nodded quickly. "Yes. For weeks, he’s been talking about... memories that don’t make sense. Dreams about a life he swears he never lived. He said sometimes he felt like the world around him wasn’t real."

Leanna tapped her fingers on the desk. "Do you have security cameras in your home?"

Maria pulled a USB drive from her pocket. "Yes. I pulled the footage. It shows him sitting on the couch, and then—he’s gone. No cut in the video. Just gone."

Jessica took the drive, her mind racing. "We’ll look into it. You said this happened three days ago?"

Maria nodded. "I went to the police, but they didn’t believe me. They said maybe he ran off and I was making up a story. But I know what I saw. Please... I just want my husband back."

Jessica took a deep breath and glanced at Leanna and Olivia. "Alright. First step—let’s see what’s on this footage." Then handed the USB to Olivia.

"Huh," Olivia muttered, turning the drive over in her fingers. "Not exactly standard issue tech."

---

There was always a hum here — the overhead fan, the old fridge, traffic beyond the window. Tonight it felt too still.

The three of them sat around Olivia’s laptop, watching the grainy footage from the Vasquez home security camera. Maria and Daniel sat on the couch, chatting. He gestured, mid-sentence—then he was gone.

Jessica leaned forward. "Rewind that. Slow it down."

Olivia replayed the moment at half speed. One frame he was there. The next, an empty couch.

Leanna exhaled. "That’s impossible. Even teleportation would leave some kind of distortion."

Jessica’s stomach tightened. Something unnatural had happened to Daniel Vasquez. And she had the sinking feeling this wasn’t the first time.

She rubbed her temples. "Looks like we’ve got another mystery on our hands."

Leanna smirked. "Didn’t you just say you wanted normal?"

"Someone thought no one would come looking." Jessica pushed away from the desk. "They were wrong."