The Mystery Of Red Herring
Chapter 2: Discussions
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"Let's run through this once again," Dan said. "You think everyone in the city is missing?"
"Yes! I swear! We searched everywhere!"
Ruby's parents had called her to come back home, so she couldn't join the search, but Dan and Zoey had investigated the whole city to find the reason of why everyone was nowhere to be found.
"This is nonsense. People are probably in their homes." Dan suggested.
"We went in shops too. No shopkeepers. And also, stores are open today, so there's no reason they wouldn't be. No vehicles either."
Zoey had a point. No one was in the streets. No chatting at parks, not even birds chirping. Silence, everywhere.
"It still doesn't make sense, Zoe. How would our parents still be here when everyone is gone?"
It was Zoey's turn to think. What Dan was saying was true.


"..But it still doesn't explain..."
"How about we call someone? If you call your neighbours?" Dan recommended.
"That's... Okay then."
She tried dialing Ms. Taylor, the woman who lived next to her house, but there was no answer.
"I knew it!" Zoe shouted.


They just sat on the floor, defeated and tired. Zoey noticed the sun had set and the moon was showing through now.
She checked her room's clock. Evening.
"Why don't we just tell our parents?" Zoey groaned.
"We already told them there was no one at school rather than a few students."
Plus, she didn't know whether her parents even knew what was going on. It was all just weird.


They sat on the bed and pondered, each person lost in their thoughts.
"Maybe it isn't that big of a mystery. Just a randomly bizarre day, and tomorrow it's over."
"Let's call Ruby."
"Still thinking about that idea, huh? Okay then."
She stood up and went to her desk. She tried calling Ruby. No answer.
Then Ruby's parents. No answer.


She sat on the bed once again. Was she just hallucinating? Was she just dreaming? She pinched herself, but she felt it.
"So?"
"She doesn't answer, nor her parents do."
"But they always do!" Dan insisted.


She looked out of the window. She expected a little bird to come and tell them "Hey, you're dreaming, wake up" or something like that.
"Are your parents even here?" Dan said curiously.
"Why do you ask?"
"I can't hear the TV. They were watching it when we came here." Dan answered.
"They're probably in the kitchen cooking food or something..." Zoey said, still looking out of the glass window.
"But I can't hear footsteps also." Dan insisted.
Suddenly she became afraid. They always informed her when they left to go out or something.


Her worries were interrupted when she saw something weird outside.
"What are you thinking?" Dan asked.
"..What's that?"
The "that" was a neighbouring house's window suddenly lighting up. That meant someone was finally there.
"Dan, look. Someone IS here, after all."
"I told you. This is so silly."
"Hey!" Zoey shouted from the window.
"Do you know why no one is outside?!"
The curtains opened and revealed a man with a confused expression on his face.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"There aren't any shopkeepers nor people on the streets!"
"Are you off your rocker or just pranking me? Look outside, kid!"
Zoey did.
No one was there.

She begun to think it was all just one big hallucination where random people around her happened to share as weird as that sounded, when she felt faint. The feeling of confusion took over and she closed her eyes.