It Comes in Darkness

Liv Larsen had felt guilty for feeling so tired. But after 6 months, she accepted Ryan was lost to her and would probably never come home. Sleep was something she started to embrace more often, and it didn't make her feel any better that she was blowing their savings on skipping work to waste away in bed. When the moment came that she knew Ryan wasn't coming back, it was the moment she didn't bother to care about anything else. Some days she would find herself eating nothing and lying in bed, hardly moving, losing herself in some dark place she kept finding it increasingly difficult to get out of.

Right now she didn't even know what time it was. The light through the curtains suggested evening since rays shone through with the dusky orange hue of sunset instead of the vivid citrus yellow of sunrise. But she didn't know. Maybe tonight she would go to that Chinese place down the road. She was always nervous when she went out that people might tell her they were sorry for her, and that Ryan would be found and everything would be okay. Her emotions and patience were worn thin from it. Luckily, people stopped doing that about 2 months ago.

When she woke up, it was dark and she was almost cursing herself for sleeping because now it might be too late to pick something up that she didn't have to work for. Rumbling in her stomach was the only thing pulling her from the bed, and she shuffled slowly and mindlessly through dirty clothes strewn across the bedroom floor. A few quick sniffs were the only factors in determining what items she picked up and put on. Leg half way through a pair of jeans, a knock at the door made her heart shoot through her chest.

A baseball bat rest behind the bedroom door, and she felt for it, her hand running quietly along the wall until she felt the wood shaft. Picking it up she inched quietly out of the room and towards the door, having no idea who would have shown up at this hour. The living room she came into was foreign now, a land she didn't recognize and it was covered in enough dust that she could see it even in the dark. A pair of Ryan's shoes were kicked off by the coffee table, a hateful reminder he was gone. She hated when he left his shoes there but after he disappeared she couldn't bring herself to move them. It seemed petty and stupid now, to worry about where he put his shoes. If he ever came home, she would promise he could put his shoes wherever he wanted.

The banging at the door brought Liv back to why she came out here. It was a strong, confident knock that reverberated through the wood of the door and its frame, and as she inched towards the door it made her more uncomfortable. Rising on her tip toes, she peeked through the peep hole. In the dark and in the fishbowl lens of the glass, she could barely make out that it was Ryan's brother Casey. He still liked to check in. She sighed and unlocked the deadbolt and pulled the door back.

"You scared the shit out of me." She muttered quietly out of the door.

Casey looked at her and had to take a minute. Her skin was turning pale, and an unnatural shade of gray. The skin under her eyes seemed bruised and her body was becoming more slender. He sighed and held up the bag of takeout.

"Sorry. Figured I could bring you something to eat."

Liv eyed him, and then the food. For a brief moment she considered turning him away, but the promise of not having to go out for food was worth it. When her eyes met his, she was appreciative that he came at all. Pulling back the door she held it open to allow him in.

They sat in silence at the dining room table, Casey dodging Ryan's shoes along that way and which he noticed had remained in the same place for the last 6 months. Handing the bag of food to her, he debated whether or not to have the talk with her that she desperately needed. He knew she shouldn't be here wallowing in her own misery but he had never seen something like this and he assumed he couldn't know how she was feeling. But soon, he resolved, tht he would talk to her about it.

The food smelled so good, Liv vaguely noticed what it even was. There was rice involved, but the only reason she knew that was because of the texture.

She stopped eating and seemed to sit in silence with a dejected look on her face.

"Casey, really....I don't know how to thank you for checking on me."

Knowing where it was headed he shook his head.

"Don't worry about that. You just eat before your food gets cold, okay? It's...it's gonna be alright." He really had nothing else to offer her and he really didn't know if it would be alright, but he wanted it to be and so that's how he treated it.

Every bite soon felt forced and heavy, hard to swallow. She no longer wanted to eat, but she was aware Casey knew she needed to eat and she didn't want the painful conversation of him trying to force it on her. Putting her fork down into the styrofoam box, she set it on the table and to the side.

"I just don't know why...why you keep coming." She croaked.

Casey looked similar enough to Ryan to know they were siblings, but different enough you might not notice it if they had not been next to each other. Ryan had brown hair and large green eyes, and Casey was blonde and had smaller blue eyes with a look that could be closest described to apprehensive. He was 10 years older and even though Ryan was taller than usual, Casey was taller still. Casey in general, was just bigger. They had the same smile though which sometimes had Liv seeing Casey's face morph into Ryan's. Sometimes she forgot what Ryan had really looked like and found herself picturing him more often in her memories as Casey.

He looked at her quickly but his expression never changed. His eyes lowered, and lingered on the roundness of her stomach peeking through the shadows of her shirt. "Yes you do." His voice said quietly. A moment was spent watching her before his expression turned sad. "When was the last time you washed your clothes, or took a shower? When was the last time you ate, or even went to work?"

Heat filled her cheeks as the shame sank in. She knew he was right, but she felt so sad, so lonely, and so empty without Ryan that if not for the pregnancy she figured she would have committed suicide. This was not something she planned to explain to him tonight.

"You're right. You're right...I just...I-I...," She whispered into her lap, tears suddenly budding at the rim of her eyes. "I just don't know what to do without him."

Casey's large hand felt warm and comforting as it stroked her arm.

"I know. I know. And since the news stories...I just didn't know how you were holding up." His words were soft and gentle, although he talked in a low soft voice already. "If they were bringing up any unwanted pain."

"News stories?" She asked, brushing stray tears from her hot cheeks. "What news stories?" A genuine curiosity coursed through her. The television had stayed off these last months and she had next to no idea what was going on with the world outside of her house.

His brows furrowed together as Casey considered not telling her at all. But he figured if he didn't tell her, and even if he made something up, he wouldn't have much time before she found out the truth. He sighed wearily.

"They say there's been more disappearances like his. They don't know who it is. They think it might be a hacker or something because there's no camera footage anywhere...but they don't know and they don't know where to start looking."

Liv perked up with his words. "Here?"

An almost indecipherable expression spread across his face as he thought about it and how he should describe it. "Town to town, a few different people disappear, then the next town gets the same thing." It really seemed to disturb him, for whatever reason, to recall this. His face was contorted with a strange expression as it seemed he suddenly came to a realization. "Whoever it is they're moving... in a straight line...across entire states...away from here."