The police officer sensed something and sat up straight. The pages on the logbook started flipping over and the coffee cup blew off the table. There came a humming noise followed by a popping sound. Figures appeared. The police officer was a Star Trek fan. What he saw reminded him of crew members returning to the transporter platform aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise.

They stood there covering their eyes, the strong lights blinding them. They searched out each other.

The police officer, on his feet now, stared at them. One of the people mumbled something about no sleepover, no bus trip, just lies. He spoke into his radio, then bent over and wrote in the log: Entities returned 2300. The sirens and alarms came soon after.

He saw lightening in the distance. Dark storm clouds were coming in from the southeast.

<°)))><

Churchie had Mel and Wally keeping him company. The city streets could be boring at times, but the incident site was out of the norm, so they headed in that direction. They heard sirens and noticed a commotion at the site. Before they knew it, there was a camera and microphone in their face.

“Are you some of the people that vanished?” asked one reporter.

Churchie wondered if reporters had common sense as the three of them were standing behind the blue tape with other observers. “Well, yes and no,” Churchie said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well yes, we have vanished before, but no, we are not ‘those people’.”

The reporter took another look at the trio and shook his head to the cameraman and they walked off.

<°)))><

Although it was getting late, Aaron wasn’t tired. He had just checked his text messages, subconsciously hoping to see one from Mackenzie. Apparently, they were unable to find the location of the missing people using their mobile phones, as their phones weren’t emitting signals. The authorities believed some jamming device was being used.

Aaron got up from the couch, walked over to the fridge and started searching for something to snack on. The introductory theme for a news flash caught his attention, and he turned his attention to the television.

The screen showed a reporter interviewing some people. But it was the words travelling along the bottom of the screen that caught Aaron’s attention. MISSING PEOPLE FOUND BACK AT ORIGINAL INCIDENT SITE. He looked up at the main part of the screen again and saw the reporter talking to the motley crew that he briefly hung around with earlier. Aaron smiled, as they looked like who they were—street people whom no one would believe. But he was excited because the missing people had returned. He grabbed his keys and sprinted out the door to see Mackenzie.

He passed the church on the way and saw Churchie sitting there. Aaron stopped and looked at him. “Are you okay?”

He turned and looked at Aaron. “Yeah, I’m fine, just came back from the hustle and bustle down there. I assume that’s where you’re going?”

“Yes. I want to see if my friend is okay.”

“They’re saying not everyone made it back.”

Aaron swallowed. “What do you mean?”

“They did a sort of a roll call. I noticed a person crossing off names on a piece of paper. I heard one of the names called out but there was no response. It was noisy down there but I thought the name sounded like Macca.”

“Mackenzie?”

“That could be it.”

A wave of wrong thoughts started to attack Aaron. “Churchie, I hope you’re wrong.”

“I could be, Aaron.”

Aaron just nodded. He left Churchie and started running towards the site. The crazy people, the gawkers were back. Aaron worked his way through the crowd. People were whispering, talking. Aaron saw the policeman from earlier in the day. He walked over to him.”

“Hi, remember me?”

He looked at Aaron.

“I was here earlier today. I was the army guy that assisted you with moving a lady away.”

The officer nodded his head. “Yep, I remember now.”

“Could I ask a quick question? Have they all returned?”

“Not 100 per cent sure. It looks like two may still be missing . . . a girl and one other”.

Aaron hoped otherwise, but he knew the girl was Mackenzie. He wondered who the one other was.

Chapter 20

AARON WALKED AWAY FROM the site. He wasn’t sure what to do. Dad’s body lying in a car park, bodies in trees, Mackenzie missing . . . he wanted to slam up a barrier to stop the negative thoughts assailing him. Where could Mackenzie be? Was she safe?

As he walked near Churchie’s usual abode, Aaron felt the ground moving. He turned to see a group of teens in a car, their heads moving in rhythm to the booming and thumping of some music. He wanted to tell them to turn their music down—it was distracting his thinking. What bugged him even more was that the pace of the car was in rhythm with his walking.

He saw Churchie, still sitting on the steps of the church, so went and sat with him to watch the exhibition pass. Aaron felt the thumping bass from the music vibrating through the cold concrete. Churchie shook his head in unison with Aaron as the car passed.

The vibrations were gone. The distraction passed.

“You were right, Churchie, some people are still missing, and one of them is Mackenzie.” Aaron paused and rubbed his head. “I hope she’s okay wherever she may be . . . I’m a bit concerned about the character she could be with.”

“God commands his angels to guard his children, Aaron. Mackenzie’s angel will be watching over her.”

He still wasn’t sure of this angel thing. He looked at Churchie. Hair trimmed, skin clean, clothes neat and tidy. Not Aaron’s image of a homeless person. It was Churchie’s eyes that moved Aaron—clear, radiating something. You wanted to look into them, dive into them, like a river.

Aaron pondered what Churchie said. He felt peace for a brief second, then his heart skipped a beat. “I hope you’re not saying she is in heaven.”

“Don’t you think that’s where she’d want to be, Aaron? She’s a believer, isn’t she?”

“Yes . . . but—”

“Aaron. I don’t know where she is. My angel doesn’t either.”

“But I assumed they would know everything.”

“They don’t, Aaron. Only God knows everything. But you need to know that she is being guarded.”

Aaron’s head was throbbing, his mind racing. Heaven, angels—this God stuff was confusing. He shook his head. He just couldn’t get his mind around this stuff. Then something strange happened. It was like he heard a voice from down, way down . . . he wasn’t sure where. Like way down in the depths of a stream . . . something flowing.

Stop trying to work things out. It wasn’t a thought, it was a voice: a still small voice. He looked at Churchie.

“Are you all right, Aaron?”