Stuff That I Heard Around Town Is:
That your entire family disappeared one night. You woke up next to where your little sister fell asleep, only she wasn’t there when you woke up, and neither were your parents. Gone. You checked all the rooms upstairs and then downstairs. Alone. Now you know what Kevin felt like. They left the dishes drying in the rack. Leftovers were sitting in plastic containers in the refrigerator. The coffee pot was cold and empty. You went down into the basement and found them. They were playing poker, all of them. No, they weren’t. Your sister was mentally retarded and would try to eat anything you’d put in her hands.
You know, now a lot of people think you did it. Maybe not intentionally. Maybe in your sleep. It happens. But they couldn’t find traces of anyone else in the house. I know they told you that already even before they really knew, they told you that in the room. But you never knew what happened. You just wish you had gotten home an hour earlier and walked upstairs to your sister’s room and lay down beside her. Maybe if there was one more person there, things would be different. Maybe they wouldn’t have come. Maybe they would have taken you with them. The thieves, the UFO’s. The who-ever.