“Lucky guess.” Aaron wasn’t being smart. It would’ve been hard to explain how he guessed it.

“You know, the way he looked at me when he drove past, it was as if I’d seen something that I shouldn’t have seen.”

A man with a goatee and moustache and a white van? Aaron wondered if jigsaw pieces were starting to fall into place.

“Would you be able to show me where you saw the white van?” Aaron was not sure what would come of it but believed that he needed to be active to make things happen.

“Yeah. That’s fine. Can we pick up Churchie on the way. He’s good protection. Keeps the nasties away.”

<°)))><

A bus went past. Jason Bourne stared at them. They all looked at his face and his gun—just an advertisement for the latest Jason Bourne movie. It was the largest advertisement Aaron had ever seen, covering the whole bus.

“He’s my brother, you know,” Mel said.

Aaron turned to look at Mel. Oh no . . . here we go again. No. Be positive.

“Mel Bourne? Geddit?” Mel continued. “You know he has another movie coming, it’s called Bourne Again . . . just another joke, more for Churchie, that one. But I can see that I may be wearing thin with you, young man, so I’ll try and curb my humour.”

Aaron grinned and agreed. Mel's comments were spot on and doubts came again about what he was doing. Did this man ever say anything serious? He had come across people like this before; it was all related to a nervous disposition.

But then Mel got serious. “I reckon this vanishing stuff is going to go on. People are already starting to say it’s some publicity stunt. I suppose they’re expecting one of the television stations to say it’s a ‘surprise’ or what’s that other show that used to be on . . .? Candid Camera. But I tell you, we’ll see the same thing happen soon. There’s something unfolding and I’m not sure what.”

Aaron wasn’t sure what to say. He looked at Churchie, who nodded.

“As Mel knows, I can see things, and I’ve never seen so much evil, so many demons. Something’s definitely happening.”

Aaron wasn’t sure how to take this. It was like he’d stepped into another world.

They approached the well-lit park. Mel wanted to be cautious about it. He showed Aaron the bench he sat on. You could hear the comings and goings of the trains in Central Station. Aaron looked around—it definitely gave a good view of the station and the main intersection. The intersection was still closed off. He could just make out the blue and white tape enclosing the area. The bench gave a perfect view of the crossing, and Aaron imagined Mel sitting here talking to himself.

“Do you think it will happen again? You know, I don’t even know your name.”

“It’s Aaron, and it may happen again but not down there. Maybe at another intersection. The people behind this want to prove something.”

Aaron heard Churchie yell out. “There’s Wally”.

And Mel responded. “Where’s Wally?”

Aaron wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. He turned, expecting to see someone in a red-and-white striped shirt, bobble hat and big round glasses, but instead he saw a rough, bearded dirty-looking man heading towards them from the station below. He remembered back at base with some North Americans when a ‘Where’s Wally?’ joke was told. None of the North Americans laughed. Aaron found out it was ‘Where’s Waldo?’ over there.

Was it time for Aaron to make his exit?

<°)))><

They must have all been good mates, because there were hugs all round. Aaron was glad to be excluded.

Mel asked, “Where have ya been, mate?”

Wally didn’t respond, but looked at Aaron.

“Don’t worry about him. He is playing private detective looking for vanishing people,” Mel said.

“Well, he’ll want to hear what happened to me, and he’d better believe it. I ended up in the bush, middle of nowhere and I don’t know how I got there. It was pretty scary stuff—lots of strange noises in the bush at night-time. Found an old hut which I stayed in but I got hungry. Eventually found my way out. I think I was going around in circles for a few days. A man gave me a lift. He was a painter.”

“Another one to add to our vanishing list,” Churchie said.

“Did you know where you were?” Aaron asked.

“No idea, mate.”

They walked back down to Central Station. Aaron needed some time away from these men. He needed to take in the days’ events. He thanked them for their time and told them he would chase them up if he came across anything. They were all concerned about the vanishings.

Aaron hoped it would be the last time he had to deal with this motley crew.

Chapter 19

THEY ALL WENT THEIR separate ways except for Churchie and Wally.

“You don’t mind if I hang around with you for a little while?” asked Wally. “It’s just that I’m feeling a bit anxious.”

Churchie stared at Wally and raised his right hand towards him. He bowed his head and whispered some words. He then looked up. “Sure, Wal, come and hang around the church with me.”

They grabbed a coffee each from one of the volunteer vans. Churchie waited for Wally to put some sugar in his coffee, and they headed over to the church. They got settled on the steps that led up to the main doors.

“You can’t see it, Wal, but there’s an angry demon down near the gate there. He can’t get past the gate because the Lord has made this a ‘demon free zone’. Do you feel any lighter? Because he is a big one.”

Churchie saw Wally’s confusion. “Tell me about yourself Wal. It might be good for you to talk about things.” He nodded towards the gate, “That demon can’t be good for you.”

“You freak me out sometimes, Churchie.” Wally stared at Churchie, then turned and looked up at the large wooden entrance doors. “You know, I’m not sure if I’ve ever been inside a church . . . is that where you find God?”

“That’s a big mistake people make. Church is where people go to worship God, but God is everywhere, Wal.”

Wally nodded. Scratched his streaked rusty-white beard, “Yeah, maybe one day I’ll find him. I’ve made lots of mistakes too, a real Wally. I always seem to make mistakes. The biggest one was being born, and since then the mistakes have just kept rolling in.”

“That’s rather negative stuff, Wal.”

“Nah, it’s just the truth, Churchie. There’s one mistake which hangs around in my head a lot.”

“And you can be sure, Wal, that thing down near the gate keeps reminding you of it.”

“How does he do that, Churchie?”

“He puts those thoughts in your head. What does he say?”

“I should have been nicer to my mum’s boyfriend.”

“How weren’t you nice to him?” Churchie asked.