# Disappeared: Chapters 4, 5



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

CHAPTER 4

It was now January, the bleakest point of the year. But I was in high spirits, because I was expecting any day for Victor to propose to me. He made his love for me so obvious that I was surprised he didn't say it yet. However, Nikolai was despairing. Elena refused to accept any invitations now, but would still let him talk to her. One day, Nikolai fled to me from some scene he had.
"I don't know what to do, Anna! She's gone mad!" he exclaimed.
"What's happened?"
"She started talking about Sergei like he was still alive today, always using present tense. I told her that he was dead, and suddenly she flipped. She started screaming, "I don't care I don't care I don't care!!" and she tried to run away, but I caught her. She wept bitterly, and then for the first time, I admitted I loved her. She gasped, and cried, "I don't have a choice anymore!" but I held on to her tight, and promised her with all my heart that I would love her as much as Sergei. Then she hit me in the face and ran off, faster than I could keep up. It made me so angry! But I still love her, and this hurts me all the more! How can I get her to love me??"
I told Nikolai about my log of evidence where I would keep note of her behavior. However, I didn't reveal to him that I was keeping track of what he did too, after his own suspicious behavior.

It was February, and I started making plans to get into Elena's apartment at night, and find out what was going on. She once let me visit during the day, but she turned me out very early. I remembered her keeping Sergei's furniture and piano in the room, turned away from the front door, but replacing the curtains, bed and such. So one freezing night at one o'clock, while she would be asleep, I hoped to break into her room.
I came there, slipping silently through the stair-well, and came to her front door with a lock pick. To my surprise, I heard her playing the piano! One o'clock in the morning? Perhaps that's why she was so tired looking. She was doing some of her latest assignments, and I listened happily. I felt relieved to finally solve the problem.
However, after half a minute, I felt a presence. Someone was looking through the door scope at me, but I couldn't see them. Yet I remembered that Elena had to have been turned away from the door to play the piano, and she was still playing. How could she be looking at me and play at the same time?
After a minute, she suddenly stopped playing without finishing the piece. I bent down to listen through the door.
"What?" I heard her whisper. There was a pause.
"Oh dear! I--" she suddenly cut off what she was saying to herself, or so I thought. I heard her footsteps as she escaped to another room, probably her bedroom, and close that door.
But the presence came back. Perhaps she really came back to the door to look out? I got scared, because if she recognized me, I knew our friendship would be over. I huddled below the door out of the door scope's view. I sat there silently for a minute. But the feeling of a presence didn't go away.
"Perhaps this is all my imagination," I thought. "I'll just sneak away down the hall now." So I got up.
A sudden fear seized me, and a chill ran down my spine. I looked at the hole in the door, I knew something was there, someone. I back away, and nearly tripped on myself, but I was so paralyzed with fear, I didn't care. I ran out of there down the stair-well, rather loudly.
Someone was definitely in that room. I headed home walking in the light of the moonlight, contemplating what I just felt. When I was a certain distance away, the thought came to me that perhaps I could see the top floor now, and maybe catch Elena at the window. I turned around suddenly hoping to surprise her at the window. I noticed all the lights were out on her level, so I frowned. However, a silhouette was not what I needed to see. There was a figure in the corner window looking at me, but rather than dark with light behind it, it was pale white in the black background. I nearly screamed, but I caught myself. I blinked and looked again, but it was gone. I ran home. I couldn't believe what I saw.

CHAPTER 5

It was now 2 o'clock in the morning, but I was no longer tired. I was completely terrified. I wrote down my notes with a shaky hand. I read through everything I had wrote down in the last year, and analyzed what it all meant. These were some of the notes I read were as follows:

Elena:

- physically ill: pale, thin
-mentally: disturbed, living in past, erratic behavior, not even trying to improve depression
-isolation, and love of the nights
-fear or love of Nikolai? I don't know

Nikolai:

-loves Elena before Sergei and her were engaged
-anger at her not changing
-claiming not to be jealous, but acts so nonetheless
-causes: possible jealousy? possible murder of Sergei to marry Elena?

Causes for Sergei's death:
-murder
-suicide

Causes for Elena's behavior:

-

I had yet to fill something in for causes. What I had just seen flashed through my mind, and filled me with new terror. This is what I wrote:

Someone is living with Elena. It can only mean that Sergei is alive. Why he has gone into hiding is unknown. But he is alive.

The next day, I showed my notes to Victor.
"I need your help. I need to solve what has happened to Sergei. I need to know!"
"Alright, alright! but are you so sure about your ideas? You think Sergei was murdered, but now you think he's alive?"
"Yes, I know, it's all foggy. But it all means something. Think about it: she is always in her house at night. Always. The only reason she could be there is to protect Sergei."
"Are you sure?"
"...No."
"And didn't you visit her apartment in the summer? Were there any signs that anyone lived there?"
"No..."
"Well, maybe this person is someone new."
"Oh. Right, hadn't thought of that."
"Also... you should be careful about making any accusations on murder. You need to be absolutely certain. You really think Nikolai would kill him?"
"I don't know."
This gave me lots of worries about whether I solved anything in the first place. Perhaps I brought up more questions than before.
However, we arranged to go back at night, and figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, time eluded us, since we were so busy with school at this time of year, that I didn't want to miss sleeping at night. Also, I was too afraid to visit her house during the day while she was away, because it would be more likely that she could catch me.

It came to March. Where we live, it hardly warms up, but we were all happy that spring was soon to be here. But it was also the one year anniversary of Sergei's disappearance. Elena by this point had lost almost all contact with reality. She played her piano pieces perfectly, but she was in a completely different world while doing it. Her favorite thing to do before she would begin a piece was to brush her hands on the keys, and pretend to do almost the whole thing without ever playing a note, and then she'd begin. What she meant by this, no one could guess, and if anyone asked her, she wouldn't answer anyway, she was so absent-minded.
However, she did approach me one day with a purpose to have a real conversation.
"Anna, I must say this to you: you have been my closest friend."
"Yes, I hope so."
"No really, I want to tell you how much I've appreciated your kindness and friendship for many years."
"...And?"
"...and, that is all. Thank you. I wish you the best with Victor."
"Thank you."
She parted then, and went home. I wrote this down too. She seemed to be in her right mind, but I got a hunch that she was saying something very important to me. Something she may never say again.

I asked Nikolai if he would like to join us in our plan to spy on Elena, and he agreed.
"Look, if this is going to help her get her reason back, I'll do anything." he said.
"We sure hope so too. You may be able to put sense in her better than anyone else. We have to do this soon, I think she was trying to tell me something the other day."
"And what was that?"
"That she may be disappearing too."
Victor and Nikolai had nothing to comment on that, but they knew what I meant.

Then, Elena did the strangest thing yet: she secretly bought a wedding dress. I spied on her as she did it too, and I watched her bring it home. It completely blew my mind! I immediately ran to Nikolai and Victor that day, and told them what she did.
"Then it's gonna happen. She's lost her mind. She's gonna commit suicide! This is terrible!" Nikolai was more disturbed than all of us.
"Worse than that, I think she's going to do it tonight!" I said.
"Then we must confront her!" said Victor. "Who knows what will happen if we do nothing!"
All three of us were very worried, and I was not the least. This had gone too far. I wish I spoke to her more before, and now I regret saying nothing to her. But how could she have said she appreciated me, and yet would throw her life away in remorse? Wouldn't she know that that is the most selfish act to do?

When the sun set, we headed for her apartment...


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I have some major typos here, I'll fix them...


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