disappeared

YOUNG WOMAN: Time is altered, the years to came are alteredYou know where you will find meI, fear, I, deathI, the memory beyond reachI, the recollection of the tenderness of your handsI, the sadness of our broken lifeI will defeat "it's not my concern" with my anguish

You grieve at first. And then slowly, with the yawning of the years, the disappeared gets scraped from your memory, the way your flesh can be peeled from your limbs. It's very harsh and extremely painful. But it gets done, square inch-by-square inch. Until, the skin that is your memory gets completely scarred and numbed. You live. The disappeared is detached from the dermis of remembering. And that is what is known as moving on.

What__ up, Sam?___hat birthday?_ he panted.__hat?___hat birthday, Anna?__t took a while for her to absorb his fear. It took a while for the reason for his fear to dawn on her.__ifteen,_ Anna said in a whisper.__hat__ the matter?_ Emma asked, sensing her twin__ mood. __t doesn__ mean anything.___t doesn__,_ Anna whispered.__ou__e probably right,_ Sam said.__h, my God,_ Anna said. __re we going to disappear?___hen were you born?_ Sam asked. __hat time of day?__he twins exchanged scared looks. __e don__ know.___ou know what, no one has blinked out since that first day, so it__ probably___mma disappeared.Anna screamed.The other older kids took notice, the littles, too.__h, my God!_ Anna cried. __mma. Emma. Oh, God!__he grabbed Sam__ hands and he held her tight.The prees, some of them, caught the fear. Mother Mary came over. __hat__ going on? You__e scaring the kids. Where__ Emma?__nna just kept saying, __h, my God,_ and calling her sister__ name.__here__ Emma?_ Mary demanded again. __hat__ going on?__am didn__ want to explain. Anna was hurting him with the pressure of her fingers digging into the backs of his hands. Anna__ eyes were huge, staring holes in him.__ow far apart were you born?_ Sam asked.Anna just stared in blank horror.Sam lowered his voice to an urgent whisper. __ow far apart were you born, Anna?___ix minutes,_ she whispered.__old my hands, Sam,_ she said.__on__ let me go, Sam,_ she said.__ won__, Anna, I won__ let you go,_ Sam said.__hat__ going to happen, Sam?___ don__ know, Anna.___ill we go to where our mom and dad are?___ don__ know, Anna."__m I going to die?___o, Anna. You__e not going to die.___on__ let go of me, Sam.__ary was there now, a baby on her hip. John was there. The prees, some of them, watched with serious, worried looks on their faces.__ don__ want to die,_ Anna repeated. ___I don__ know what it__ like.___t__ okay, Anna.__nna smiled. __hat was a nice date. When we went out.___t was.__or a split second it was like Anna blurred. Too fast to be real. She blurred, and Sam could almost swear that she had smiled at him.And his fingers squeezed on nothing.For a terribly long time no one moved or said anything.The littles didn__ cry out. The older kids just stared.Sam__ fingertips still remembered the feel of Anna__ hands. He stared at the place where her face had been. He could still see her pleading eyes.Unable to stop himself, he reached a hand into the space she had occupied. Reaching for a face that was no longer there.Someone sobbed.Someone cried out, other voices then, the prees started crying.Sam felt sick. When his teacher had disappeared he hadn__ been expecting it. This time he had seen it coming, like a monster in a slow-motion nightmare. This time he had seen it coming, like standing rooted on the railroad tracks, unable to jump aside.

Anna and Emma just poofed.___hat?___ was standing there. I was watching them. I was holding Anna__ hand when it happened.__strid rose and without really thinking about it wrapped her arms around Sam like she did when she was trying to comfort Little Pete.But unlike Little Pete, Sam responded to her touch by awkwardly hugging her back. For a moment his face was in her hair and she heard his ragged breathing close to her ear. And it seemed like they might do it again, the kissing thing, but then, both at once, they pushed away.__he was scared,_ Sam said. __nna, I mean. She saw Emma disappear. They were born just six minutes apart. So, first Emma. Then Anna, waiting for it. Knowing it was coming.