The Mystery Of Red Herring
Chapter 4: Uncertainty

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It was late at night, her parents sleeping when she was watching TV to get her mind off things. She couldn't sleep at all, and when she barely drifted off to "sleep", she had nightmares of everyone leaving her going to wherever everyone missing had gone to. She felt uneasy looking outside the windows. Each glance another fearful sensation. Her confident attitude towards finding what happened had diminished, and the boredom of not being able to go outside, see her friends, or even just see a Sim being other than her parents had taken a toll on her.


She wasn't gaining anything though from this. Not finding a missing person. Her mother's words echoing in her mind. Of course, solving this mystery should be the police's job. But who else could if the police had vanished too?
She had called Dan and Ruby ten thousand times, yet no answer at all. Disappeared, just like that. She had a feeling she was next. Zoe and her family was the only people who hadn't gone missing.


Zoe sighed. What if she could do something?
An idea struck her. If she went investigating once again, maybe a clue would pop up somewhere, sometime. Perhaps she hadn't seen something or missed a hint during searching with Dan. Either way, she had nothing to lose and everything to gain.


Once again, she walked to the front door. It took her 5, maybe less seconds to reach it, but to her it felt like ages. Chances are she wouldn't find anything.
Then she silently opened the door and walked outside. The air didn't feel that chilly, but she got goosebumps either way to the sight of an empty, desolate neighbourhood. It was like someone had stopped time and everything looked so delicate. The buildings were still as beautiful as the memories she remembered with them, but it didn't look right without people.
She cleared her mind and thought of where to first go. Maybe the small store would be a good start.


Eventually, she reached the tiny shop. The atmosphere was eerie and she still looked around even if she knew no one was anywhere.


She pulled the metal door and cautiously went inside.
She gagged.
The store was always seemingly bare and small, but this time it just looked fully deserted. She took a deep breath and started investigating.


She glanced at the cashier's counter, and was surprised to see customer's goods carelessly placed. She was curious to know when these were put there as they had never been paid for let alone given to the customer. So... That would mean the employee cashier and the customers had disappeared right there on the spot?


She looked at the other side of the store and saw... Opened packaging, vegetables and other food thrown in together. Someone should have probably opened them just like that, infront of the staff? That didn't make sense.


She started being a bit creeped out with all these weird things. She went to the door and tried to open it.
It wouldn't budge.


Suddenly, the small fire sprinkler started spewing out water. Zoey jumped, shielding herself from the spraying waters and tried to push the door out.
Tried pulling...


Maybe kicking the door would break it?
Seems like a long shot.


Yeah, seemed like a long shot.
Now what?


The sprinkler wasn't stopping at all. Door wasn't opening. No fire was around in order for the sprinkler to freak out.


...
After half an hour or so, the rain of pointless sprinkler-malfunction stopped and Zoe could finally take a second to breath. Her hair had gone all wet as well as her clothes, but that was the least
thing that she was worried about. How would she leave?


Trying not to think about the fact that she was in huge trouble with her parents, she tried to think logically.
Not even a small spark of fire to trigger the sprinkler. But she set that issue aside.
How could the door have locked itself? Who could have locked it?


...
She woke up on the floor of the store. Apparently she had gotten too tired and drifted off to sleep. She hadn't come to a logical conclusion either way.


She needed to call for help, but to who?
She couldn't just be stuck there.


"But Leonard, what if we just don't find her?!"
"Ava, I am ninety-percent sure where she is. We'll go and find her when we make and finish our breakfast, okay?"
"How can you be so sure?"
"Just trust me for once, okay?! I understand you're afraid, but seriously, you can count on me."
"Alright..."

Maybe this was it after all, Zoe thought. Maybe everyone got locked into wherever they were. But this still doesn't explain the empty supermarket. All this information is confusing me...