Disappearance Read Online Free PDF Page B

the lack of people. Every time I've been here the entire community seems to be out getting their daily fill of gossip.
    The day is cool, but not cold enough to prevent everyone from being outside. Seeing I only have so much gas left and want to be sure to save enough for the real reason I made the trip, I conclude I've seen enough of this little town. I do a quick illegal U-turn and make my way back to the exit ramp. As I do I take one last peek at the town, trying to see any form of life. I'm not 100% certain nobody is here, but I'm almost convinced. Now that I see this town is deserted I know it's not just my neighborhood that's acting strange today. The real truth though will be when I get to Chesterfield. If that entire city is deserted, I'll know I'm in big trouble!

 
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    As I pull back onto the highway, the anticipation builds inside me. In about fifteen minutes the world that I know could dramatically change. If everything is normal in Chesterfield, it will be a huge sigh of relief. If it's like everything else I've seen today, things are going to get bad in a hurry. I'm usually calm, cool, and collected but seeing the entire city of Chesterfield deserted would be tough even for me to take. I say to myself over and over that there's no way an entire city as large as Chesterfield could completely disappear. Somebody has to be there, and I'll do everything I can to find someone.
    I look down at the speedometer and notice I'm going over ninety-five miles per hour. At this point though if the cops pull me over I'd get out of the car and give them a hug. My car barely handles this speed, but I've never been in such a rush to get somewhere as I am now. Abby's office is the third exit from the highway, and only a couple miles or so once you get off. You have to go through several different stoplights and what seems like an abundant number of stores to get there. Chesterfield is a city that's unofficially divided into two parts, the north and the south. Thankfully she works in the north side of town where the middle-upper class elderly people are. If she worked in south Chesterfield, she would need to pack a gun in her purse.
    The south part really isn't that bad by big city standards; the people are friendly and there's nice diversity. But, there are a couple streets and neighborhoods in that area where you can't help but pray for your life while driving through.
    This is exactly what happened to Abby and me almost exactly a year ago. Abby, God love her, is lousy with directions. I'm not exactly a human GPS but I'm much better than she is. We found ourselves at a charity event for her work to raise money for a new building add-on to the nursing home. It was a Walk For a Cure event on the south side in an area she wasn't very familiar with. Afterward, we were trying to make our way back onto Main Street, a road that seems to stretch across the entire city, when we made a wrong turn. Of course, this just happened to be the one time we had left our GPS unit in the house to update the stupid maps. I would love to go back in time to see exactly what turn we messed up, because to this day I have no clue what we did to get so lost.
    During our little side trip we made our way down the scariest neighborhood I've ever seen. Every house was in need of a paint a job, and there was graffiti and litter everywhere. We drove up to a stop sign on the corner where there were about eight guys who looked like gang members gathered together. One of them ran out in front of our car while the others started to gather around. I couldn't help thinking we were going to either get our car stolen, get shot, or (most likely) both.
    One of them looked in through the window and said, "What the fuck are you doing here?" I completely froze up, gave a blank stare and didn't know what to say. Fortunately, Abby is much better at thinking quickly, so she smiled and apologized saying we were lost. The guy took a small step back, looked