LOST IN NOWHERE
BY
MELODY JADE ALLEN
“Every day tens, hundreds, thousands of people are morally experiencing problems that lead them out of their habitual way of life, they lose their lives, they simply leave. Their apathy, phobias, remoteness from society and close people has serious consequences that cannot be reversed. How do these people live? How do they cope? Often they can find the meaning of maintaining… visual maintenance of their meaning of life in small things - listening to their favorite music, watching their favorite movies, hobbies or something more - caring for pets, friends, relatives even feeling away from them. People often see them calm, sometimes even absolutely emotionless. Mistakenly people think of them as those who simply do not have the desire to do anything, they refer it to laziness or their stupidity, which is often the reason for their insults to them. But it’s not right. So it only provokes the development of their depressive state and it slowly pushes them to what they think about too often - suicide. Too often people realize their mistakes when it’s too late, but it’s never too late to reach out to someone who needs it. All we need is humanity. It’s never too late to get it.” Dr. Jonathan Fallon finished his entry. Being a psychologist in the clinic, he noticed different cases of his patients who could not cope with themselves. As he said, “You can defeat others, but you cannot always defeat what you keep within yourself. You can deceive others, burning down in the truth. These banal words almost always hide lies that can push you from everything that was dear to you. Do not be shy to ask for help. This is not a shame - this is the first step to victory over yourself.”
The clinic was filled with dozens of patients with different problems, with different stories and different thoughts about how they were going to finish it before they came here… Jonathan knew that indulgence, pity and hypocrisy could never help them, but understanding, acceptance and faith mattered.
After a morning examination, he went to his office. His colleague Neil Hayes, a young rather professional doctor of their psychiatric clinic was one of the most distinguished of this staff. His life experience made him be what he was now.
He approached him. “Hey, Jonathan. We have a new one.”
“Who is it?”
“His name is Colin LeCompt. His neighbors called the police, the police informed us.”
“Each case is special. What is it this time?”
“At first glance, it’s like falling out of reality. He says that something should happen, also mentions past non-existent events. Should you work with him?”
“How about you?”
“I have… That young girl. She woke up.
“Oh. Of course. I’ll deal with the new one.”
“Thank you, Jonathan.” Neil patted him on the shoulder and continued on his way.
Each case was special…
***
Patient Colin LeCompt was in a spacious ward sitting in a wide armchair. The feeling of comfort and safety was important for everyone, who was here before. It was safer than home, safer than its wall - many of them were sure of it.
“Mr. LeCompt?” Jonathan entered. “I’m Dr. Jonathan Fallon, your new best friend.” He sat down opposite him. “So… Tell me about yourself?”
“Is it important? Who am I, what am I… Is that important?”
“Well. Tell me what’s important?”
“These people, Doc… Soon they will be gone. Soon just disappear to nowhere. Do you understand? To nowhere.”
“Who are these people?”
“Random people… They do not even know each other. They will be in the subway train, in other public transport or in the store, it does not matter. They do not have in common.”
“And why would this happen?”
Colin looked through the curtains that closed the window. “They… They do not know. No one knows.”
“How do you think how and why this will happen?”
“It will be an ordinary day… Or morning, evening or night. They will think about their own, about what awaits them. And then they just…” Colin looked at Jonathan. “… going nowhere.”
“It’s “nowhere”. What is there?”
Colin looked closer. “Do you want to know, Doc? Do you really want to know this?”
“Yes, I want to.”
“There… There’s a long way to go in the unreal world.”
“Hmm…” Jonathan made some notes. “Have you ever been there?”
“I have not… I have not. I hope that I will not.”
Jonathan looked at his interlocutor with study, he believed in what he was talking about and his words were not a lie. He saw it that way. And that was his only truth.
***
Jonathan returned to his office after another few minutes of conversation with Colin. He opened the folder with his file and started a new entry, “Sociopathy, ochlophobia, paranoid psychosis - all this fills his mind. He talks about the disappearance of people as emancipation - he is going to shield himself from them, isolate himself from all whom he sees in public places. Being with them at a distance, he wants to think that they all disappeared… to nowhere - he does not want to know where they are not to see them again. Here, he can open himself to people. They always need time.” He closed the folder and leaned back.
A knock at the door.
“Come in.” Jonathan got up.
Door opened.
Daniel Fallon, Jonathan’s eleven-year-old son came in, holding his school backpack behind his back. “Hi, Dad.”
“Hey. How are you?”
“Good. Mom called.”
“Oh…” Jonathan went to his son. “What she said?”
“She is coming in a couple of weeks.”
“Excellent. She already said that for almost two months.”
“I know. I miss her, too.”
“I see.”
“By the way, I just met Neil. He said that you have a new ward, who is he?”
“Colin LeCompt, he has a mental disorder. Like almost everyone here.”
“Did he say something about the mass disappearance of people?”
“I understand… How much did Neil tell you?”
“Yes, the information about the patients is confidential, I know. But I do not disclose medical secrets.”
Jonathan glanced at Colin’s file. “I would say that in part he is completely stable. He does not have any vivid delusions or hallucinations, although he believes in what he said.”
“And part of it is true - he was talking about a mass disappearance in Manchester. It really happened.”
“Yes, he could find out from the news release.”
“Impossible - he came to you this morning. It happened a few hours later.”
“Wait…” Jonathan walked over to Daniel. “Manchester? Yes, he talked about it.”
“The disappearance of the tourist bus.”
“With thirty passengers.”
“Do you think this is a coincidence?”
Jonathan pondered. “Who will disappear next?”
***
After 7pm, Jonathan returned to his house in the suburbs. Making coffee with melted decaffeinated milk, he entered the living room. Shannon Fallon, his wife and Daniel’s mother was a model on the high podiums of the popular brands in the US and Europe. Her endless shows, photo sessions took away all the time that she promised to give to her family. Jonathan turned on the television and took the folder with Colin’s file, he sat opposite. Evening news showed, “Three hours ago in Bellefontaine, Ohio, twenty-seven more people from the amusement park disappeared. Recall that the first such disappearance occurred…” Jonathan lowered the sound and opened the folder with Colin’s file. “His words about the mass disappearance of people - a Ferris w
heel, an amusement park… He knew everything in advance, but how? He knew it for sure or it was just… No, it could not be a coincidence, not this time. He could have been involved in this. You have to make him say more…” Jonathan drank his coffee. “We need to change everything…”
***
In the morning, Jonathan entered the door of his clinic again and greeted his passing colleagues, he ascended to his floor. Something seemed to him different, but everything was as usual… He tried to convince himself of this, but he understood - they are different…
Colin’s ward, number twenty-seven. Using the electronic key, Jonathan opened its door and came in.
Colin was sitting in front of his window in his chair; he heard the footsteps behind him and turned around. “Greetings, Doc.”
“Colin…” Jonathan sat down opposite him in an empty chair. “How do you feel?”
Colin turned to him. “What should I feel?”
“Answer your question.”
“I feel the powerlessness. Powerlessness from the fact that I could not help somebody, but I must feel indifference, perhaps pity because I’m not crazy like you, my friends and neighbors think of me.”
“Do not… I do not think you are crazy at all.”
“Then why am I here?”
“It’s just an observation.”
“No… You just need my help. The one who made me come here thought that fencing me would mean an end. Oh, they were so wrong…”
“You talked about disappearances.”
“Yes.”
“How do you know all this?”
“They will disappear again. We will disappear.”
“Colin?”
“We will disappear. You know that this will happen.”
“Who are we talking about?”
“You know who I’m talking about. You know that you cannot prevent or stop it, you… But you can handle it. You can.”
***
For several hours Jonathan worked in his office, writing his observations and new findings. He tried to understand even the hidden problems of his patients; it helped him to supplement their psychological description of their condition that also helped his patients cope with what had destroyed them. His calling phone brought him out of his thoughts. He picked up the phone. “Yes?”
“Mr. Fallon?” A man’s voice said from the tube. “This is Sean Barrett, your son’s teacher.”
“I remember you. What’s matter, Mr. Barrett?”
“I’m afraid I have bad news - Daniel disappeared.”
***
Jonathan immediately went to Colin’s room, but when he came in, he found out that it was empty… Colin disappeared.
He went out into the corridor again and collided with Neil.
Neil stopped him. “Jonathan, what is it?”
“Where is he?”
“Who?” Neil looked into the empty room. “Your new ward… He escaped?”
“He disappeared. They both disappeared.”
***
Arriving at Daniel’s school, Jonathan walked through its corridor to Mr. Barrett’s class. He saw him standing at a table reading something. Jonathan knocked and went into the open door.
Barrett looked at him. “Oh, Mr. Fallon. You are here.”
“What happened?”
“Sorry, I thought you were in police with the other parents.”
“How many of them were there?”
“There were twenty-three of them.”
“Mass disappearance.”
“Yes… I heard about such cases in the news. But it’s so pointless… Sorry, Mister… Dr. Fallon, I could not somehow prevent it.”
“Nobody could. This is not your fault.”
“We watched the recording from the cameras - they were in the gym and they did not leave it. You know, it’s hard to imagine what you are feeling right now.”
“Have you contacted the FBI?”
“FBI?”
“Yes, because if it’s a kidnapping, Federal agents work on such cases.”
“Nobody talked about that.”
“Thank you, Mr. Barrett.” Jonathan left the classroom and walking along the empty corridor again, he dialed the phone number. “My name is Jonathan Fallon. I want to declare a mass disappearance. I had a witness.”
***
Devon Warren, a Federal agent with a pretty impressive biography - stopping terrorism, hired killings, preventing military action against the US. For some time he decided to slow down and preferred quieter matters, but the FBI never had peace - there was always a chance to pull the trigger of your arrow.
Devon arrived at Jonathan’s office, catching him for viewing family photos in his album. Jonathan went up to him.
Devon showed his FBI badge. “Agent Devon Warren.”
“Dr. Jonathan Fallon.”
They shook hands.
Jonathan said, “Do you have something?”
“Let’s start with you, Dr. Fallon. In a telephone conversation, you mentioned your patient to Colin LeCompt, who talked about mass extinctions before it happened, he knew everything in advance, he knew perfectly well what would happen. So how did he explain this?”
“He did not give a concrete explanation, Agent Warren.”
“And he also disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“From an enclosed room?”
“Our guards looked through the records from the cameras - he did not leave the building. He is not inside the building.”
“So he found a way to escape.”
“And the other disappeared people?”
“We need more information to continue the investigation.”
“Listen, Agent Warren… Perhaps I’m not strong at such matters, but it’s about my child and the other children who disappeared with him. I want to create a single chain of events, and then we will see where this leads to us.”
“But we do not have any calls, Dr. Fallon, except your patient. Obviously, he was not delusional, he might be an accomplice.”
“Do you think he is connected with it?”
“I think so. My work, Jonathan, sometimes forces me to conduct investigations in a non-standard way. Just like some accomplices or witnesses are unconventionally talking about what they know. Colin LeCompt is not a superman, Mr. Fallon. How do you evaluate his words?”
“He definitely believes in what he says, his facial expressions and the general condition of his body talk about it, but he sees it in another form. He said that people will disappear to nowhere and this means anywhere that he, by all accounts, is afraid.”
Devon watched his interlocutor. “You know, Doc, for a father, whose son disappeared you are too calm.”
“I’m a psychologist, Agent Warren. Panic and anger rarely lead to a positive end. People should act in a state of pure reason, not be obsessed with their emotions.”
“Fine. I need Colin LeCompt contacts, also a record of his words. Is it possible?”
“Sure.”
“I will work on this. Later, I will inform you what will be known.”
A few minutes later, Agent Warren left the cynic, taking away the necessary material. At that time, Jonathan continued to work on Colin’s case, referring to every word of it, somewhere there must be a clue… Maybe there is something in his apartment. Having written down his address, Jonathan left his office while somebody watched him…
***
Arriving at the multi-story home where Colin’s apartment was, Jonathan climbed to his floor. Apartment number 305… Its door was ajar; Jonathan slowly opened it and trying not to make noise, he entered. He saw a young guy, who was scanning Colin’s stuff in his closets. Seeing Jonathan, he slightly shuddered and stepped back.
Jonathan said, “Keep calm.”
“Who are you? Are you from the police?”
“No, I’m not. Introduce yourself?”
“My name is Renan Stewart. Look, I do not want any trouble.”
“You’re a thief?”
�
��What? No! Of course not.”
“Tell me?”
“I heard about this guy, who lives here. I heard about his so-called predictions about future mass disappearances, but I wanted to know more and came here. The door was opened and… Please do not call the cops. I did not steal anything and did not intend to.”
“Take it easy, Renan. My name is Jonathan Fallon, I’m Colin’s psychologist. What were you looking for here?”
“Something that will help me. I was a writer for the magazine, but it went bankrupt. The term of my work visa has expired and I need something sensational to find a new employer.”
“And you’re collecting stuff… That’s it.”
“I’m like in the battlefield, Dr. Fallon. But I think you understand me.”
“I see. I will remain silent… If you help me.”
“Of course.” Renan went up to him. “Anything you want.”
“These mass disappearances… My son disappeared in one of them.”
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
“That’s not necessary. But I’m going to look for him by myself, the FBI is also working on it, but .. sometimes the way out of the law is the most correct.”
“I would like to avoid overstepping the barrier of law. But I have several connections, they will help remove this barrier.”
***
Bar Lucky Hunter was in a dusty area of the city where there were no rules - people from different parts of the criminal world came here to improve their activities. Assassins, criminal organizations, spies… Such people have always been regular customers of this institution, which belonged to Lucas Cohen, after his imprisonment he retained many connections.
Jonathan and Renan entered the bar that was in the style of the Wild West, during the day it was usually empty, they saw only one guest who worked for his laptop. Lucas stood at the counter reading the new issue of the newspaper.
“Lucas, it’s good to see you.” Renan went up to him. He and Jonathan sat opposite the owner of the bar, who began pouring whiskey into transparent glasses.
Renan said, “What is new here?”
Lucas pushed them their drinks. “It depends on what you are interested in.” He looked at Jonathan. “I do not know who you are, Mister, but you are certainly not our blood.”
Jonathan said, “You’re right. I am Doctor.”
Lost In Nowhere Page 1