The wind roared off of the rocky, beat down roads. The neighborhood was voiceless. The trees whistled. Omar sat quietly listening to music, doing some late algebra homework. His room was spaced from the rest of the family. He looked out at the ravine that faced the back of the house. He was spaced out for a while until his mother broke the silence. She screeched from the top of her lungs. It echoed across the house. Omar sprinted downstairs to see his mother on the floor weeping for help.
“M-mom! Wha-wha-what happened! Where’s Sylvie!”Omar broke out.
“Call the police!” Omar’s mom yelled.
It was 1 year after Omar’s sister had disappeared. The town searched day and night to find Sylvie, but never found her. There was no evidence or suspects either. The town had given up, and so had Omar.
Omar rode his aged bike down the road, across the bridge and out of the woods to get to Mallory’s house. He made a sharp turn into her rough driveway. The wheel exploded from the friction. He tumbled off the bike onto the sharp rocks that laid on the road. Mallory bursted out laughing as she walked outside to meet him.
“You good bud?” Mallory spoke.
“I’m fine, just a few scrapes.” Omar told Mallory.
She picked up Omar’s bike and laid it against her garage. Omar got up, brushing the excess rocks and sand from his knees. He caught up to Mallory. They went up to Mallory’s treehouse. It was raggedy and old but it held memories.
“Gosh, it’s been ages since i’ve been here.” Omar said, climbing the rusted ladder.
“I know, it’s been all summer.” Mallory said as she gave him his walkie-talkie.
“You're actually kidding right? We're still doing this?”
“Oh thats right...ever since you joined the baseball team, you're too cool to do anything.” Mallory stated, rolling her eyes.
They heard creaking up the ladder. The treehouse shook with every step taken. A brunette boy popped into the treehouse. He had aged overalls with a red baseball cap on. He had dirty converses and was covered in freckles.
“Omar! I haven’t seen you in forever bud.” Darrell shouted.
Darrell ran up to Omar and squeezed him until he could barely breathe.
“It’s nice to see you to buddy!” Omar said, gasping for air.
Mallory and Darrell were fraternal twins that grew close to each other when their mother went missing.
“Anyways...Omar I have to catch you up on some things I’ve found.” Mallory said, changing the subject.
“When I was selling papers, I saw that there was a boy that went missing last night.”
“J-just like my sis did?” Omar stuttered.
The room went quiet. Darrell and Mallory were speechless. Claudia broke the silence, and the door.
“Howdy!” Claudia shouted.
Claudia was a tall blonde. Her hair reached her knees, and her voice went on for miles.
“Its great your back Claud” Mallory said passing Claudia a walkie-talkie.
Later that night they all snuck out to the crime scene of the boy missing. The kids walked through the forest. The trees were so tall, that you couldn’t see the top of them. It was pitch black. They flashed their flashlights around, but didn’t find anything.
“Guys, it’s really late, shouldn’t we go back now.” Claudia whispered.
“Shh-” Darrell whispered. “I heard something.”
“L-let’s walk back, my ma is going to be upset at me.” Omar said shaking.
“Oh, quit being wimpy and help us look.” Mallory shouted.
Claudia screamed from the top of her lungs. Everyone shined their flashlights to where she was, but she wasn’t there anymore.
“Claudia!” Mallory screamed.
“G-guys i’m over here.”
The sprinted to the voice, but it wasn’t her. It was the boy. His young body aged and rotted in the soil. Insects swarmed his peaceful body.
“Call the police...Now!” Omar shouted.
When the police came, they went home. Claudia is still missing. They climbed to the treehouse and passed out. Omar woke up first gripping the blanket to wake up his conscious self. He opened his eyes and saw the sun peak through the wood in the treehouse.  He sat up and started back to his house.
He dragged his bike along the path, leaving black tire marks on the road. He heard a staticy voice on this walkie-talkie. He picked it up in confusion.
“Hello? I repeat, Hello? Over.” Omar shouted.
“Darrell isn’t here, I repeat Darrell isn’t here...Over!” It sounded like Mallory, but it was hard to tell. Omar’s heart sank into his stomach. He sprinted back, leaving his bike in the middle of the road.
“W-wha-what do you mean? Over!” Omar said panting.
When Omar got to Mallory’s house, he saw her sobbing. With her walkie-talkie.
“I repeat he’s g-gone-” She said realizing the word gone.
Omar looked at her sobbing. He had never seen her cry before.
“H-he’s gone...l-lik-like Sylvie go-one?”
“Yes yes gone.” Mallory said.
Omar ran to the treehouse in shock. He took out a roll of paper and crayons and started drawing. Mallory gazed while wiping the tears from her face.
“This is a map of the forest where Claud went missing.”
The police swarmed the house and everything near it. They had no evidence of him leaving, or and suspects that could've taken Darrell.
A few weeks had past after Darrell’s disappearance. Omar and Mallory tried for days to figure out where everybody was going.
“Remember that hole that appeared out of nowhere that night?” Omar said, sketching a map.
“Ya, that was weird. You think that had anything to do with it?” Mallory questioned.
“I do.”
They rode their bikes to the forest. Omar pulled out the roll of paper where he had drawn the map to the forest. They ran to the area driven. They heard a loud screech echo across the sky. The ground started to shake. The leaves off the ground whirled around the sky. A hole from the ground opened. The wind swept them from the ground. Omar and Mallory sprinted away from the forest. They ran back to the treehouse and drew the hole on the map.
“We need to go back Omar!”
“N-no we can’t disappear like Darrell and Claudia. A-and, my lil sis.”
“We can fight this before it takes anyone else.”
“You can go, I’m staying.” Mallory stated.
“I can’t leave you here, alone.” Mallory said.
They hole had finished opening. The ground stopped shaking to leave the forest to silence.
“Come help us!” echoed voices down the hole
“Omar, save me, Omar.” another voice spoke
Mallory stepped closer to the hole. She threw a rock into the hole. It went through the hole, but they never heard a sound.
“It's not real, Mallory it’s not real.” Omar told Mallory.
The wind became heavy. Omar and Mallory slipped and fell. They fell for what felt like forever, but was only a few seconds. They landed in a swamp of water. The hole was dark and everything was covered in a sticky substance. It looked like a dim earth. The wind was strong. Omar saw the hole back to earth. He tried to latch onto the trees, but they were too slippery. Mallory grabbed and pulled everything to get out. They started up the hole. She saw the world right in front of her. She looked back behind her and saw Omar tracking her. She reached her hand out for Omar. Omar grabbed her hand and pulled. Mallory had reached the ground of earth. The hole was closing up.
"Hurry up Omar." Mallory screamed as she weeped for dear life.
Mallory looked back at Omar, but he wasn’t there. Mallory screeched for help.
"Omar...Omar! Where are you."
She grabbed the earth and gave one last pull. The wind and leaves were whirling around her. Mallory could barely see anything.
"Omar.O-Omar." Mallory cried.
The hole had almost closed up. Her hand slipped and she fell. The hole had closed up.