Why was this significance thing bothering him so much? Mum and Dad always made him feel significant, important. They were good parents. Maybe some seek significance because no one told them they were important. Maybe some take their own lives because they feel insignificant, unimportant, like the world would be a better place without them. It was a frightening thought. Mackenzie was important to Aaron. Did he ever tell her that?
Aaron walked into his study and found the folder he was looking for—the one with his investigation notes on Dad’s death. This incident involved the same technology. It was too much of a coincidence not to, and it looked like it had passed its testing phase. He retrieved the number of the security firm where Lucas worked and called it. As he expected, Lucas no longer worked there and there was no forwarding address. Did Lucas still live in that flat in Morningside? He doubted it.
He thought of Mackenzie and he remembered her faith. Aaron whispered to Mackenzie that he was coming but he needed to work out few things. He asked God to look after her.
Aaron went into the kitchen and found some Thai takeaway leftovers in the fridge. He put the leftovers in the microwave and set the timer. He walked over to the TV, turned it on and started flicking through the stations. It seemed every station was covering the event. It reminded him of the TV coverage of the floods that rampaged the city some years back. The microwave timer went off.
He grabbed his tucker and cutlery, sat down and continued watching the TV coverage. The actual vanishing was caught on CCTV and had been released to the media outlets. Aaron watched and recorded the replay. Although he sensed it, the video confirmed that Mackenzie was one of those that vanished. Was he in some kind of denial? He put down his cutlery and placed his head in his hands. He was angry. He took some deep breaths, calmed down, and watched the replay again. Mackenzie and Paul were pushed from behind by a man being chased by police. He hoped that person wasn’t still with them. The police must have been after him for a reason.
Where had they gone?
Aaron got tired of the coverage of the event and wanted to watch something different. He started flicking stations again and a man caught his attention. It was a familiar face. Where had he seen that face before? The man was giving his view of the event.
“I’m sure there’s a reasonable answer coming. I have met with the Police Commissioner who will join us soon. Our best people are on the job, so I’m expecting some answers soon”.
“As a churchgoer, Mr Windsor, do you believe this could be something similar to the rapture?” a reporter asked.
“No, I don’t.”
“Could you elaborate?”
“Well, I’m still here.”
“What does that mean?” another reporter asked.
“As churchgoers, we believe that the Lord will return one day to take us to be with him. They say in the twinkle of an eye the Christians will be taken up to be with the Lord. Do we know if any of those that have gone missing are churchgoers? And, as I said, I’m still here.”
Aaron shook his head. That’s where he had seen this guy before . . . church with Mackenzie, and the events after church that night. Aaron had briefly seen this man a few times before and had all but forgotten about him. Then he remembered he was hanging around his mum there for a while. He was thankful nothing happened there.
Now he thought about it, he remembered Lucas was connected to this minister guy. He watched further to see if there were any more questions. More rapture-type questions cropped up. Why were they asking questions about the rapture? Mackenzie once explained the rapture to Aaron. He understood that all the Christians would disappear, but today’s vanishing was only eight people.
An aide whispered something in the minister’s ear and handed him a mobile. He turned to the reporters and asked to be excused. He stepped away from the podium.
He came back and spoke to the camera. “We have received some correspondence regarding the vanishings. We have been advised to be careful with jaywalking in the city. Do what the red man says or else you may be inconvenienced and have to make your way back to work from a place far, far away. Yes, it will happen again, maybe the same place, maybe not.” He continued, emphasising the need to pay attention to the red man and not break the law, and don’t be inconvenienced.
Forget about the rapture. This was starting to sound like a Batman movie. Aaron couldn’t make up his mind if the devious Riddler had returned or the Joker has been let loose. But far, far, away? That sounded like Shrek’s kingdom. The humour just eased his stress level.
It was all getting a bit surreal. Inconvenienced if you broke the law? Some believe laws are an inconvenience anyway. He imagined a red man running around with horns in his head and a pitchfork. Where did that memory come from? The day had been too long; he needed sleep. His mind was all over the place.
He lay on his bed in boxer shorts and t-shirt, the reverse-cycle air conditioner keeping him warm. The bedroom curtains remained open, the darkness of the room softened by the glow and sparkle of the city lights. He thought of Mackenzie. He thought of his father. Dad would have pursued the perpetrators and Aaron would do the same. That minister guy had strong links to Lucas. They were all together at the café that night—the night that Lucas and his mate paid Aaron a visit.
They were all connected. They must be. Aaron just needed to work out what to do next. He again asked God to keep Mackenzie safe.
<°)))><
Aaron was tossing and turning as thoughts darted through his mind. He lay there and turned his head towards the window, the city lights reflecting, beckoning him. He got up, walked over to the window, and stared past his ghostly reflection towards the incident site. It beckoned him. He wasn’t tired. What time was it? His phone sitting in its bedside cradle told him it was 21:05. When was the last time he’d gone to bed so early? He decided to respond to the beckoning and take a walk.
He left his apartment dressed in a pair of jeans, t-shirt, a grey zip-up styled hoodie, and canvas sneakers. Out in the street things were quiet. He turned and looked down towards the river. A vapoury mist was floating up from the river bringing a chill to the air. He zipped up his hoodie and started walking towards the incident site.
St Stephen’s Cathedral came into view. Aaron stopped and looked up at the cathedral. A sign described it as the ‘spiritual heart of the city’. An angel sculpture guarded the cathedral’s entrance and stared back at Aaron. It all felt strange, like something was communicating with him or trying to communicate with him. What was going on? Something was being revealed to him but he could not interpret it. He turned from the angel and continued his walk, puzzled.
The incident site stood out, ablaze with huge spotlights, making it more like daytime than night-time. A slight breeze rocked the blue and white tape sealing off the site.
Some people stood watching investigators pottering around doing their thing with some interesting-looking equipment. Aaron looked over to where he’d helped that poor man a few months back. An eerie feeling came over him. He tried to shake it off. Maybe this area had become some kind of Bermuda Triangle.
He stood, watching, wondering where Mackenzie was and hoping she was safe. He wanted so much to talk to Lucas and get the answers. A trip to Lucas’s flat wouldn’t achieve much as Aaron felt that Lucas wouldn’t be there, but he still needed to check. He’d do that later.
Aaron thought of God and knew He would be helping Mackenzie. It gave him a strange feeling of peace. Was this faith? Since Afghanistan, he’d thought of God a lot more. It was probably fear—reaching out to God was merely a crutch for the feebleminded, a weakness for those that want someone to tell them how to live. Yet here he was, asking God to look after Mackenzie. Did that make him weak and feebleminded?
The spotlights had attracted a large moth and a score of smaller moths—he could see the shadow of the large moth cast onto a nearby wall. Aaron stared at the shadow, a body with wings. Do angels have wings? He looked around the environment he was in and saw a man standing in the shadows, near the stairs leading up to the station. He wore a large coat, and his head was bowed down. The man raised his head slowly and stretched his arms back. It was a street person awakening from a slumber, but looked like an angelic being lifting his head and spreading his wings.
This sudden preoccupation with angels confused Aaron.
<°)))><
It was time to leave the Bermuda Triangle.
There was nothing to do except to watch investigating officers at work and police officers logging the comings and goings of people entering the investigation site. So Aaron headed home. Maybe a strategy would take shape in his head on the way and the crazy thinking will go away.
He decided to go a different way home. The thought of getting attacked by the angel outside the cathedral helped with the decision. He headed down Ann Street. Passing a smaller church he noticed a man sitting on steps that led up to the old church building. Aaron glanced at him as he walked past and thought he heard him say something.
Aaron paused.
“Mel saw him. Hey . . . are you deaf or something, mate?” The man repeated “Mel saw him.”
Aaron hesitated, then turned back to the man. The earflap beanie hid most of his face but there was still something familiar about him. “Sorry. You talking to me?” He pointed at himself.
“Well, there ain’t anybody else around is there? What I said was, Mel saw something here today but nobody’s listening to him. But listen, mate, Mel can be trusted and he saw something. You should go talk to him. A few of us have vanished before but no one is listening to us. And, mate, did you know you have a pretty big angel standing next to you?”
