The Truth To The Disappearance

Arthur opened his eyes, it was already sunset. He looked at his phone and saw many notifications. He clicked into it and saw the others discussing what to do. He typed a message to the group chat.

'Hi guys, what did you guys talk about while I was gone?'

Evan answered him.

'Just some theories and what we should do. By the way, where were you? You were gone the entire day.'

Arthur typed back.

'I was sleeping.'

They all answered back.

'No way you slept after what happened.'

'I couldn't even get a wink of sleep.'

'I could only nap for an hour or two.'

'Same.'

Arthur answered them.

'I wasn't really bothered you know. A lot of stuff happened to me before this.'

Emilia answered him.

'At least you got sleep.'

They talked for a while and Arthur closed his phone and went downstairs. He cooked up some instant noodles for dinner since he wasn't in a mood to cook. After eating, he watched some tv and played some video games on the console. Then, he decided to go to his parents room to look for clues. He looked through drawers and closets in the room. Nothing was found. Only old belongings they left behind. After that, he went into his father's study room. He looked through everything except the study table his father always used. Looking through it, there it was. A diary of his father's. He took it out and sat at the table and opened the book.

Most of the diary was just his father's daily life and his father's love life with his mom. In the final quarter, everything changed. In there said that his parents found a weird package at the front door. They took the package in and opened it. Inside was a weird book. It looked old, but it looked new at the same time. The pages wasn't damaged, the cover of the book had next to no dents or damage. It seemed like the book was never touched. This all happened before he was born so he never knew about this book. His parents took it into the study room and started reading it. Just like what happened with him, his parents was transported into a weird place. It seemed that the places was different than his. They got transported to a town. They said the entire town was the ghost itself. The ghosts controlled the people living in the town. They escaped the town after trying multiple things.

Arthur was shocked. Now he was more certain about his theory. His parent's disappearance was definitely related to the book. He read through the entire parts of the diary. All of them talked about what happened and where they were transported. It seemed that if they died they would lose a life instead of dying in real life. There was only a few pages left, his parents only had one life left. Even without reading the last few pages he knew what happened. He was already born at that time, in fact he was already 4. He never realized what was happening to his parents. The last page said that they were going to lock this book in the attic in a chest hoping their son didn't find it. His parents both wrote stuff in the diary as they knew they would not be coming back. Maybe one day, their son would find this diary.

'To our son in the future, it must have been hard living alone. We are sorry we had to leave you. We left all our money for you and planned out everything for you. You must have grown big now. By the time you read this, you would probably be all grown up already. Maybe you are already in the working society. If you read this, don't open the book. Throw it away, sell it, just don't open it. Well i guess this is it, we have to leave to somewhere far away. I hope you won't hate us for disappearing.'

Drops of tears started coming out of his eyes. All the hatred he had for his parents were all gone. They suffered through so much for their son. If only he had found this diary sooner. If only he didn't hate his parents and couldn't stand going to search their rooms. His friends would be safe. He wouldn't hate his parents. But it was too late. He took the diary back into his room and kept it in a drawer beside his bed. He couldn't sleep. He thought and thought for hours and hours. It was already 5. He changed into some new clothes and went out for a walk. It was dark, the sun hasn't come out yet. The streetlights lit up the street dimly. Just enough to see his surroundings. It was cold, quiet, and windy. The lights in his nearby houses were closed. Everyone was sleeping, he walked and walked.

A small figure appeared in front of him in the distance. It was Emilia, the lights reflecting on her hair making her hair shine in an iridescent glow. Her eyes locked with his. She started running over towards him, her smile had an aureate warmth that lit him up. She waved at him as she ran over to him. He smiled softly and waved back at her. She approached in front of him. She was out of breath from the running.

'W-what are you doing outside so early? Couldn't sleep like me?'

He looked down to meet her gaze.

'Yeah i guess. I found out something about my parents. I couldn't get any sleep after that.'

She looked at him and said.

'I see. Want to take a walk together? You could tell me everything. I've been friends with you since you were a child. I even knew your parents a little. I should be able to help a little, right?'

He nodded.

'Sure. Let's go.'

They walked through the dimly lit up sidewalk. He began talking about what happened as they walked. After listening to what he said, she answered.

'I'm sorry. You must have been sad. You always hated them. You always thought they abandoned you. You must have regretted hating them. They tried to protect you. But it's not your fault Arthur. It was never your fault. You did nothing wrong. You don't have to hate yourself for it. And you can always come to me for help if you want.'

She smiled softly and hugged him. Her small figure hugging him gave him a kind of warmth he had never had in a long time. A warmth that he last felt with his parents. Tears started to come out of his eyes. He cried loudly. He held onto Emilia tightly. She didn't resist at all. He knew how much he suffered through the years. She was glad he was finally able to release all that pent up feelings. They stayed like that for some time. After that, he stopped hugging her.

'Sorry for that.'

Emilia smiled.

'It's fine. I said i would be there for you.'

They walked for a while more. He escorted Emilia back to her home. After that, he started walking back to his home. When he reached home, he sat in his father's study room. He read through books that his father wrote. Then, he went into his parent's room and took out the album in one of the drawers. It was his parents. Their love life. They went on lots of trips. Then it was him and his family, he looked through the album with tears coming out. After looking through all the albums, he looked around at his parent's belongings. He went back into his room after. He didn't sleep. He went on his laptop and watched some videos online.

After some time, sunlight shone through his windows lighting his room up. He went downstairs and made himself some breakfast. After eating, he left his house. He went to a place his parents and him always went to. It was in the forest behind their house. It was a small treehouse. They used to play there all the time. After his parents disappeared, he never went up there again. After entering the treehouse, memories of his past started coming back to him. All the times he used to play up there with his family. His father made this for him for his 4th birthday. He was always up on the treehouse, drawing, playing and even sleeping. It was like his second home. It was the best gift his father ever gave him. He saw all his old drawings and toys. He stayed up there, looking at all the items and furniture. Each reminding him of a specific memory of him and his parents. He stayed there for hours, just reminiscing.

After an hour he came back down. He went further into the forest. There was a lake. His father always took him fishing there. His mom sometimes tagged along too. He saw the small wooden docks they used to fish on. He sat there and stared into the lake for some time, Admiring the view. After some time, he took a small walk around the lake before returning back home. After returning home, he went to the attic. He looked around to find a box. After finding it, he took it down. It was old books and CDs he and his parents used to read and watch together. He spent the entire day watching those movies and reading the books.