Disappearance

"Hey loser, Fancy seeing you here. Playing games, huh? Why don't you go play with your widdle dolls?"

Sure enough, it was the bullies from school. The first to speak was a big guy who looked exactly like those stereotypical bullies from movies.

Then, a thin guy appeared and chimed in.

"Yeah, go play with your dolls, Sean Grey. More like Sean Gay. Kahahaha."

Sean did not know nor care about their names so he only referred to them as bully 1 and bully 2. The pair looked like that particular lion with a scar and the hyena that followed it.

Thankfully or not thankfully, this made Sean snap out of his mesmerized state and the attraction he felt earlier was suddenly gone like it never existed. He looked back and stared at the bullies for some seconds.

'Really guys? Let's not do this at a sacred place.'

Sean wanted to say it, but he just ignored them like he always did. He was suddenly reminded of his purpose for coming to the store in the first place and walked to the shelf for newly released games. On the way, bully 1 and bully 2 bombarded him with low-level insults. They shut up after a while and just followed quietly as Sean did not react to any of their provocations.

On the shelf, only a single copy of the game he wanted to play was left. The bullies were quite sharp as they sprinted to the shelf and took the game as soon as they saw Sean's gaze.

"Later, loser."

Bully 1 pushed Sean and bully 2 followed up with his signature laugh and left. One employee who saw the scene snickered at Sean who was now on the floor. Embarrassed, Sean took a random game from the shelf and left the store. He ran back home but made sure to be careful when crossing the road.

"Haah, fuck my life. Oh well, it is what it is. First, let's see what we got from the store." Sean pulled out the random game he took and immediately felt overwhelmed by the power of too much pink color and frilly dresses. It turned out to be a cutesy baking game for girls. This reminded Sean of what bully 2 said to him and he chuckled a bit.

"Meh, might as well play it since I already got it. Let's see what you have in store for me."

Sean booted up the game and... he did not get a sliver of sleep that night.

Chirp! Chirp!

"Holy crap, it's already morning. This game is dangerous. But, it was fun. Who would have known that this girly game would be so addicting? They really meant it when they said 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. Well, in this case, a game by its cover. I guess I'll sleep a bit and head to sch-"

Sean's sleepless gaze met with the clock's face whose hour hand proudly pointed at ten.

It was speedrunning time.

"Shit, I'm late. What kind of birds only tweet at ten o' clock? Aren't you guys supposed to symbolize morning and stuff. This is a scam!"

With heavy panting and a body coated with a layer of sweat, Sean arrived at the school gate.

[Due to circumstances, the school will be closed for today]

"God damn, nothing is right today."

'I mean I'm happy that school is closed but why the hell did I run a marathon for?'

Since he couldn't spot any student anywhere, either they already knew the notice or they came here and went back after seeing it.

'I'm sure it's the first reason. They definitely just wanted to screw me over and intentionally left me out. Oh well, Imma just head home and bake some more.'

Sean saw some of the teachers talking about something and as he walked past them, he overheard their conversation.

"How did this even happen? I knew that kid was a problem."

"Yeah, now we have to deal with this shit. Even police are involved. If only he didn't disappear out of nowhere."

"I'm sure that kid is just messing with us and hiding in his secret place or whatever."

Overcome with curiosity, Sean blurted out a question.

"Who disappeared?"

The two teachers looked at Sean and they replied just the way Sean anticipated.

"Why the hell should I tell you? It's none of your business. Now, get lost."

The first teacher looked like a gorilla and was often teased as such by the students so much that his temper became shorter than his… mustache. Yes, mustache and not something else at all.

"But don't actually get lost. We have enough on our plate with one disappearance already. Why are you here, anyway? Didn't you get notified that the school will be closed today?" Another teacher chimed in. This one was bald and Sean had never seen this fellow before.

"I wonder why I didn't get the notice. My classmates are helpful and kind so there's no way they would intentionally leave me out. No way!"

Sean's sentences were so full of sarcasm that you could grab some and have a barbecue.

"Haah. Okay, sonny. I'm sure your classmates just forgot to remind you. Now, go home already."

Sean nodded and fled the scene.

"At least Baldie is nicer than Gorilla. Sadly, with that kind of special feature, his temper will become shorter in no time as well."

Growl! Sean's stomach demanded food.

"Damn, that was loud. I missed my breakfast for no reason. It'd be nice if someone come pick me up and treat me at a restauran-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a car pulled up right beside him.

'Hey, I remember this car.'

It was the driver from yesterday.

'Maybe, my wish came true and he's gonna treat me as an apology even though I was in the wrong. Meh, food is food.'

"Hey kid, remember me?"

Sean nodded at the driver. 'Who would even forget a person with that kind of goatee.'

"That's great, then. Hop on, kid."

Sean was expecting an invitation already but he was still taken aback by the stranger's overly friendliness.

Seeing Sean's reaction, the driver realized that he had just asked a random kid to get in his vehicle which was quite a suspicious act.

"Umm, sorry. I was too rushed. Let me introduce myself properly first. The name's Bobby Tenners. You can call me Bob or anything you like, really. What about you?"

'I don't know if I should be sharing my personal information with a stranger, but meh. What can possibly go wrong?'

"I'm Sean. Sean Grey and I'm not a kid. I'm a responsible young adult."

"Who almost ran into my car yesterday."

"Hey, that was a one-time incident. Please don't bring that up and I'm sorry."

Growl! 'Not now, you dumbass stomach.'

"Well, looks like someone is hungry. I'm starving too, so wanna hop in and join me at some good joint? I'm not trying to kidnap you or something. So, what do you say?"

"Umm… I'm not sure."

Sean replied hesitantly.

"I know a good place. The food there is as delicious as a mother's cooking. You in or not?"

"Say no more, I'm in." Sean replied without any hesitation this time, which surprised Bob.

"Well, my motto is to never reject twice. Which is usable most of the time."

Bob nodded in approval and took a mental note. The pair rode off to the restaurant in question which they arrived in just a few minutes. Judging from the way Bob drove there, it appeared that he was quite a regular at the restaurant.

'Complicated way to get to the restaurant, check. Looks run down and borderline dirty, check. The owners barely speak English, check. Cheap menu, check. Alright, the food's gonna be divine.' Sean concluded and his expectations were exceeded.

'We even got yelled at by the owner. This is the restaurant of all time, for real.'

"So, what do you need from me?" Sean asked out of the blue as soon as they were done eating.

Bffrt! Bob was casually drinking water when he was suddenly surprised by Sean's sudden question and he spitted the water back out, just not from the same orifice it went in.

"How did you know?"

"Well, I'm not stupid. I know nothing is free in this world. So, What do you need?" Sean asked again in a firm voice. He was in serious mode, now. Seeing this, Bob also activated his business mode.

"Okay, Sean. I might not look like it but I'm actually a detective." Bob pulled out his detective card and showed it to Sean.

'I would believe you if you said you are a sheriff out of the blue. I don't even need to see your ID card. You are either a law enforcer or a pirate with that kind of goatee. No in-betweens.' Sean nodded in approval.

"I need your help with something. Can you answer some of my questions?"

"Ask away, Mr. Detective. I'll help as best as I can."

"Did you hear about the disappearance of a student at your school?"

"Yes, I did and No, I do not know who disappeared. You see, I'm quite an outcast at school. So, I don't think I can be of much help to your investigation."

"Well, the boy who disappeared is someone in a similar situation like you."

"So, he's also an outcast."

"That's a blunt way to put it, but yes. I asked around already and the people I talked to weren't exactly cooperative."

"Sure, sure. So, who disappeared?"

"Are you familiar with the name, Tetter Green?"

"Di-d you just say Tet-ter Green?"