Void

by D Haltinner

  “You want to know what happened to Mr. Rankin, and you also want to know what the tunnel is for.”

  It was Darren’s turn to say nothing.

  Lasser folded his fingers in front of himself. “I have one piece of advice for you Mr. Ansari.”

  “Yes?”

  “Forget it.”

  “Forget what?”

  “All of it. Forget the tunnel and forget about Mr. Rankin.”

  “But-”

  “I’m trying to help you out here,” Lasser said. He took his glasses off and set them aside. “I know you don’t understand that, and you never will, but follow my advice. Forget it all.”

  Darren sat speechless in front of Lasser, not sure what to even think. It was clear that this man was not going to answer his questions, and in fact, he seemed adamant about Darren giving up on trying to find anything out. He knew who Darren was, and why he was here, so he must know what the tunnel was and what happened to Troy, but he sure wasn’t going to tell Darren.

  Darren stood up, unsure of what else to do, and turned toward the closed door.

  “No one will know you were here,” Lasser said. “And I suggest you also keep it that way.”

  Without turning around, Darren said: “Thank you” and pulled the door open, stepping outside into the hall, and closing it behind him. Another student walked by him, looking down at a piece of paper in his hands, too preoccupied to see the expression on Darren’s face.

  That wasn’t what he was expecting. Not at all.

  How could he forget about it all now? If anything, the professor only enhanced Darren’s curiosity. He mixed a sense of fear into Darren’s wonderment, creating a brew that was almost irresistible. And that left Darren with two lingering questions. What the hell was going on, and where did he go from here?

  Lasser didn’t think Darren should tell anyone about coming here, but Jack already knew that Darren intended to. Jack’s going to wonder what happened with his talk with the professor and Darren wasn’t good enough at lying to convince Jack that he never made it to the professor’s office. And even if Darren could convince Jack of that, Jack would still expect that Darren would just go tomorrow.

  He had to tell Jack. But Jack better be able to keep his mouth shut like Darren hoped he could. It was more important now than ever.

  Darren followed behind the other student, and made his way back outside, heading back toward his dorm.

  He intended to find out what was going on, and no professor was going to stop him.

  Chapter 13

  Darren sat at the computer in his room, eyes darting back and forth between the screen and his alarm clock. He didn’t want to lose track of time, and he didn’t want to miss a click of his mouse. He had an hour until he had to be at the library to meet Audrey, and he didn’t want to risk getting distracted, so he had no choice but to play bouncy ball with his eyes.

  On his computer, Darren had spent the last three hours sprawling across the internet for any old news stories or articles that had anything to do with the unusual occurrences at the University of Wisconsin in Redfern, but his luck was lacking. The New York Times had a blurb on an article about a group of students who had disappeared sixty-seven years earlier, but unfortunately they didn't carry articles online from the nineteen forties. Microfiche was going to be Darren’s only option, so he jotted down the date of the article-November 12, 1944-in the cover of his school supplied day planner and put it back into his backpack. If he had any time after his meeting with Audrey, he’d look it up before leaving.

  There were no other mentions of real news occurring at Redfern except a dorm fire ten years earlier, and that left Darren with few options. Nothing on the internet spoke about the construction of the library-and really, he thought, why would they?-or anything besides the academic virtues of the place, so Darren’s next search topic was Troy Rankin.

  But there were hundreds of Troy Rankins listed in the online phone directories alone, so how was Darren supposed to know which one the right one was? If Darren knew where Troy was from, or maybe even his parent’s name, it would be easier to pick out the correct one, but Darren knew nothing about the guy beyond his name.

  The phone rang.

  Darren’s eyes darted in a triangle from the monitor to the clock-fifty-four minutes and counting-to the phone beside him. Only two people have ever called for him in his room before-his mom, and Rachel. He’d have no problem talking to his mom right now, but Rachel’s was the last voice her wanted to hear tonight. It was possible that it was someone calling for Jack, but since the possibility that it was Rachel existed, he couldn’t risk answering it.

  What if it was Audrey calling about tonight though? What if she was calling to reschedule their meeting?

  What if it was a more personal call?

  Darren’s hand floated to the receiver at the last thought, but he didn’t pick it up. The chance was still strong that it was Rachel calling, and he couldn't risk it. Even if it was Audrey calling, he couldn’t take this risk.

  The phone stopped ringing. Darren let his hand fall to his side, and then lifted it above his head in a slow stretch.

  Don’t have to worry about that anymore.

  Darren turned his attention back to the computer screen and began to search for Troy Rankin in the student directory. He thought he remembered seeing a car pool sign up list for students traveling home on weekends and holidays, and if he gets lucky, Troy’s name might be among them listing his home town.

  A message popped up on the bottom of Darren’s screen, stating that he had a new email and then it faded away a moment later. Darren brought up his inbox, and it was no surprise to see that it was from Rachel.

  Darren didn’t open it. There was no point. The subject said enough: We need to talk.

  Darren highlighted the email and hit the delete key, watching the email blink out of existence. He’d get to her in his own time, right now he was busy.

  Darren went back to the car pool list, and after a quick search, came up with Troy’s name. It was luck, plain and simple, but nonetheless, there it was.

  Troy Rankin was from Manitowoc Wisconsin, and from the looks of the list, he might have been the only one. Either that, or other people wanting to car pool saw his name and decided it wasn’t worth that kind of trouble.

  Darren went back to the phone directory he still had open and narrowed his search to just the Rankins within Manitowoc. It came back with one listing. George and Linda Rankin. The phone number as well as address was listed. Darren hoped they were Troy’s parents.

  Darren opened his desk drawer and dug through a mix of pens, pencils, batteries, and receipts from the campus bookstore before stumbling on one of the phone cards his mother gave him. She bought them for him to call home to her and dad, but she’d never know if he used a few minutes to call someone else.

  Darren picked up the phone and dialed the eight-hundred number given on the back of the card. He gave the card number when he was prompted, it told him he had 300minutes left, and then dialed the number listed on the website. After a robotic “thank you,” the phone began to ring in his ear, and he waited for an answer.

  Three rings later, a female voice answered. “Hello?” Darren assumed it was Troy’s mother, Linda.

  “Hi,” Darren said. “I was calling for Troy, is he there?”

  “Troy? He’s off at college, won’t be back until thanksgiving week.”

  His own mother didn’t know he had been kicked out? Even if they hauled him off to jail, she should have been told about that.

  “I thought they sent him home yesterday?” Darren asked.

  “Home? What are you talking about?”

  Darren supposed there was no harm in telling her that much. She had a right to know. “They packed him up and sent him home, isn’t he there?”

  “Mister, I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said. But her voice carried a hint of worry nonetheless, “Who are you?”

  Darren almost said his own
name, but then changed his mind. “Neal. Neal Chambers, I was a friend of Troy’s until he disappeared.”

  “What do you mean disappeared? Is this some kind of joke?”

  “This isn’t a joke ma’am, I’m just trying to find out what happened to him.”

  “Okay, okay,” Linda said, her voice changing pitch as if she was shaking her head into the phone. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

  “Troy didn’t come back to his room two nights ago, and then yesterday, the school packed up all of his stuff,” Daren said. “The rumor going around said that he got in trouble and that he was being expelled. I was just calling to see if it was all true, or if he was going to be back.”

  “I haven’t heard from Troy since last weekend.” Her voice was growing more tense, and her words were coming faster-almost to the point of being slurred together. “He got kicked out of school and he hasn't come home or even called?

  “That’s what it’s starting to sound like.”

  “Well, I need to find out what’s going on, thanks for letting me know.”

  “If it’s not too much troub-”

  The phone disconnected. Darren lowered it back to the cradle, not sure what to think about the conversation.

  Where was Troy if he wasn’t back at home, and why didn’t his own mother know anything about it? If anyone would know where Troy was, it would have been the guy’s own mother.

  Darren jotted the phone number and address down on the back of the phone card and tucked it into his backpack. He was going to call again to see if Linda found anything out, and he didn’t want to lose the information. If anyone could figure out what happened with Troy, it was going to be his own mother,

  Darren glanced at the clock-still had forty minutes-and went back to his computer. He didn't know what else to search for to further his quest, so after only ten minutes of stumbling across the web, he turned off his computer and found his jacket.

  He’d be better off spending the next half hour searching for the New York Times article that he had found the short blurb on. He already had the date, so it should be a quick deal to locate the newspaper article. He’d be done just in time for his meeting with Audrey.

  Speaking of Audrey, Darren went to his shower bag, found his deodorant, and gave his armpits a fresh coat. He knew that he’d be sweating bullets as he anticipated her arrival, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

  He threw on his jacket, hefted his backpack onto his shoulders, made sure his wallet was still in his pocket, and left the room. He trotted down to the first floor past a few other students moving between floors. A couple of girls in skimpy pajamas made Darren take a second look.

  And the odd thing was that had he seen the two girls yesterday, he would have felt bad for staring at the large amount of cleavage on display because he already had a girlfriend that should be the only female on his mind. But today, Rachel was the last thing on his mind.

  Perhaps, today was the start of a new Darren. A Darren freed from the chains of Rachel.

  But who’s kidding. He couldn't break up with Rachel. He was too close to her to let a fight get in the way. But he still had a point to make, and he wasn't going to be the one to give in and apologize. It was her drinking that was the problem, and in no way could that be construed as his fault.

  Now, if he could only get Audrey off his mind, it would be so much easier. It was just that there was so much about Audrey that made Darren wish she was his girlfriend instead. He was starting to get to know her after lunch together, and he was liking what he found. Liking it a lot.

  But he’s been with Rachel for three years, and he couldn’t let a girl he just met get in the way. Audrey was only a test of his faithfulness and dedication, but boy, was she a temptation.

  Darren hit the ground floor and pushed his way outside. He headed for the library, and all it held.

  Chapter 14

  Darren fed the strip of microfiche into the reader attached to the computer, and waited while it loaded images of the papers. The school keeps most of the newspaper articles on the computer itself, but they didn’t go back quite sixty-seven years. For articles that old, he had to dig through a chest of dust and mouse feces until he happened to stumble upon the right date.

  The computer spit the microfiche back out and Darren dropped it back into its case before sorting through the images for the correct page. Finding what you were looking for was no quicker than the old fashioned way, but once Darren found the article, he could print it off and keep a copy without having to write it down word for word himself.

  Darren found the right image and sent it to the printer while he put the microfiche back into the chest. He grabbed the printout-still warm from the printer-and carried it back to the main study area where he was going to meet Audrey when she arrived. He tossed the backpack on top of the table, pulled out a chair, and was already reading before his ass hit the seat.

  Six College Students Vanish Without a Trace

  A small community was hit hard by the news of six students attending the University of Wisconsin in Redfern, disappearing without a single hint of what happened to them. A representative for the Redfern Police Department said that the six students-Lisa Tanbeau, Thomas Clark, Sarah Schaeffer, Mary O’Shey, Donald Spencer, and Brent Maloney-never returned to their dorm rooms on the night of November twelfth, but each of them was seen throughout the day at various classes. It is not known if they were together at some point before they vanished, but the six of them had all known each other, and were reported to have been friends.

  Acquaintances of the six had no knowledge of their whereabouts after classes had ended that day, however, at least three of them were spotted on the north side of the newly constructed Jefferson Arts Center, just prior to sundown. What they were doing remains a mystery.

  Roommates and friends of the six reported no unusual behavior from any of the six before that evening, nor did any of their professors. Their grades were stable, their behaviors normal, family lives stable. None of the six gave any sign that they intended to leave the campus or do anything that could have been dangerous. They simply acted normal.

  Police as of yet have no clues as to what happened to the six. None had purchased transportation out of the area, nor had any of their parents seen or heard from the students. They seem to have no intention of traveling anywhere, by any means.

  While police have no theories as to where the six are or what happened to them, there are a number of possibilities floating across the small campus. Some that the police intend to pursue, some rather imaginative.

  One young woman talked to believes that the six students were into drugs and group sex and intended on having the ‘party of the decade’ that night. Another student thought they intended on heading to the new cinema built downtown that evening. Another student informed the newspaper that they had found a secret hybrid research lab on campus and the professors who ran the lab intended to ‘eliminate them.’

  While some of the other theories heard may have been more down to earth, rather than farfetched, the police intended on pursuing any plausible leads they found. Families are already going public in an attempt to find anyone with knowledge of the six’s whereabouts, but as of yet, no sightings have occurred.

  Police urge anyone with information to contact their nearest station, or send a telegram to the Redfern PD.

  Darren read the article a second time and then set it down in front of himself. It was an interesting read, but it didn’t help him much. Six people disappeared sixty-seven years ago, and one disappears now. That was the only relation between the two incidents.

  It wasn’t enough.

  Darren sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was hoping to have found something more substantial, but then again, this was sixty-seven years ago. Why would he think that anything that happened that long ago would be related to what happened less than forty eight hours ago? It was a waste of time, and he should have realized that before even bothering with it.
/>   Besides, the kids were probably hopped up on whatever drugs they did then and screwing each other like light bulbs in a week long high while everyone looked for them. He could probably check the papers from the days after that one and find a small snippet saying they were fine-buzzed out of their minds, but fine.

  “Starting without me?”

  Darren spun his body around to see Audrey behind him, sliding a thin black jacket off her bare shoulders. Underneath she wore a conservative tank top, but Darren still caught himself staring at the swell of her breasts.

  “No,” Darren said, moving his eyes back to her face, “Just an old article I found.”

  Audrey tossed her jacket over the back of a chair, pulled it out, and swung her hips into the seat, sliding it closer to Darren. “Anything good?”

  “Just about a few students who went missing back in the forties.”

  Audrey reached over his arm and slid the article in front of herself. “How’d you ever find this?

  “Just stumbled on it.”

  Audrey’s eyes danced around the page, her long eyelashes twitching ever so slightly as she moved down the page. “Stumbled on it?”

  “Ran into a synopsis online when I was searching for something else,” he said. “Just decided to find the article while I waited to meet with you.”

  Audrey continued reading and then slid the article back in front of Darren when she finished it. “Interesting one.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you find out what happened to them?”

  “The missing students? No, I didn’t look any further.”

  “Got me kind of curious.”

  “We can go look if you want.”

  Audrey smiled and patted the back of Darren’s hand, sending a strong tingling up his arm. “We got more important research to do.”

  Darren looked down at his hand after Audrey removed hers from the top of it. It felt cold, as if he had just removed a warm glove while outside, “Good old Paul Revere.”