The Left Behind

2. family

DAKOTA

April 27, 2018

It's Friday afternoon. A bell that signifies that 6th period is over is gonna ring any minute now. Going back to school after spending spring break sleeping in and not worrying about homework was rough. Really rough. My schedule didn't give me a chance to rest as I'm sure it was the same for everyone else. Monday through Friday, I had dance practice for one hour at school, 8 hours of school following, and after my classes I had debate team for an hour. The reason why I have to take 6 classes even though I'm a senior is so that I don't have to take them in university and pay tuition when I can just get it over with in high school. After school, I had one hour of debate team and then I officially get off of campus.

To my dismay, I don't go straight home. I head for Roy's Gym which isn't just any ordinary gym. They have mixed martial arts where they can teach you whatever you are interested in as well as how to properly use your body in any situation. The instructors there can also just help you regularly train, gain muscle, lose weight, etc.

My father raised Dalton and I to always try to be prepared for any situation that may come our way. 5 years ago, one of the top gated communities in our town had a huge robbery issue. At that time, my father was home from overseas and staying for the year. Since he would leave eventually to go back to the military and serve, he was extremely strict on how all three of us -my mother, Dalton, and I - would need to take self defense classes. I remember all of us didn't want to but he was so worried, we feared he would be distracted while serving. So, we agreed. He taught us while he was here but right before leaving, he referred us to his acquaintances: Roy Yamamoto, Mason Ruiz, and Devon Friedman. They were all fitness instructors that taught mixed martial arts on the side. I ended up learning from Roy because I found out his daughter is on my debate team, Kayla Yamamoto. He gave me a discount. My brother went to Mason and my mother briefly learned from Devon. After a few months, my mother stopped going because she got a promotion at work and didn't have energy after work to go. Due to his studies and extracurriculars, Dalton only goes to Mason once a week.

To my surprise, after starting to train with Roy, I found myself enjoying it and relieving stress. I now go to Roy's Gym 5 days a week. In the past 4 years, I've been working hard to grow in Kung Fu, Karate, Aikido, and my favorite, Kendo. Kendo is a Japanese martial arts style that is focused on sword fighting. For about 90% of the time that I've been learning Kendo, I've been using a Bokken which is basically a wooden sword. A few times, Roy has let me try real swords like Katanas, Kodachis, Uchigatanas, and Ninjatōs. He insists I won't need to practice with real swords, which I get.

I walked inside the building and see 5 other people there. Roy was talking to one of the employees there, Wren I think. On the left side of the large space, a couple was learning kick boxing from another instructor working for Roy, James. Roy was a middle aged man with black hair and black eyes. Despite his age, his body was extremely fit and youthful. As I walked towards Roy with my gym bag, he glances away from his conversation, spots me and frowns, attempting to hide his amusement.

"Dakota?" he says with his lips pressed in a line.

"Yes?" I ask, completely oblivious as to why he is acting like this. Usually, as soon as he'd see me, he would ask how school was and tell me to go change into my training clothes.

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" I reply while turning my head to the left to wave hi to James.

After seeing that I'm not picking up what he's inferring, Roy seems concerned. "It's Friday afternoon. Where else would I be?" I say. It was my turn to be confused and concerned.

"Dakota, what's the date today?"

"It's April 27th...?" I says slowly. Roy lets out an exasperated sigh. "Don't tell me that you forgot your own birthday?" I stood still in surprise before I let out a laugh and a grin. "That's what you're worried about? I'm aware it's my birthday," I say nonchalantly. "I'm more surprised that you know it's my birthday," I exclaim with a grin on my face. "Why are you here, training on your birthday, which is also a Friday?" Roy says confused.

I readjust the bag strap and make my way for the locker room but I turn around before disappearing around the corner. "Why wouldn't I be doing what I love on my birthday?" I smirk and then disappear.

5:30 PM

After a tough hour and a half of training, I grabbed my things from the locker room. After saying good bye to Roy, I started walking home. Today was Dalton and I's 18th birthday. I didn't feel any different. In fact, I felt a little childish. All day, I was thinking about it being another year with my dad overseas. I missed my father immensely and knowing that he wouldn't be here to spend our birthday together, I was feeling a tad down. The last time my father had been here for my birthday was 5 years ago. He came home a few times within those 5 years but he saved his 'leaves' for the holidays, not my birthday. I wasn't upset at anyone about it. I understood and I knew it was important. I just wanted to see my mother full of energy once again. These days, she seems older and lonelier.

It was now 6:00 PM. It had taken 30 minutes on foot from the gym to my house. I was coated with sweat from sparring and was desperately in need of a shower. I got my house keys out and unlocked the door. Dalton was on the couch, reading a book. He was the type of person who could spend all day in one spot if he had a good book. As I walked in and shut the door, he looked up from his book. "Hey," he nods. "Hey," I nod back. I head for the kitchen and open the fridge, scanning what's inside. Deciding on a cold bottle of barley tea, I grab it and shut the fridge. "Happy birthday," I say right after taking a sip. "Happy birthday," he simply replies, while shutting his book. We just stared at each other and a few seconds of silence went by before we both started clutching our stomaches, laughing. Dalton and I were extremely close, as most twins are. We spend the first 13 years of our lives, attached at the hip. Once we entered junior high, there were so many clubs and electives to choose from. While we were close, we both had different interests. I wouldn't see him for most of the school day. That was until the middle of 7th grade. There was a school wide athletic event/competition that would fund raise for better food in the cafeteria. Dalton and I both ended up getting getting picked as representatives from each of our homerooms. The three other representatives from the other homerooms of our grades were, you guessed it, Jade, Kingsley, and Harper. From there, we became a close knit group.

Wiping some tears from his eyes, he says, "Ahh, that never gets old." "So, when did you get home? Where's mom?" I ask, while walking into the living room. "I got home at 4:00pm, right after Key Club. (a student-led organization whose goal is to encourage leadership through serving others.) Mom is gonna be home in an hour and I think Harper, Jade, and King are coming by in half an hour." "Cool. I'm just gonna go take a shower," I say after turning on the living room lights, the sun already almost gone. The moment the words finish leaving my mouth, I already know what he's gonna say. "Good. You definitely need it," he says while pinching his nose. The couch pillow already speeding towards his face. He removes the pillow before sticking out his tongue. Was he really the student council president?

I finally made it to my bedroom and practically ran into the shower. The hot water released the tension in my muscles from pushing myself in training and dance. Once I was done, I put on a black, ribbed tank top and some comfy, dark grey sweats.

I came down the stairs to see Kingsley sprawled on one of the couches, with his hands behind his head. He was talking to Jade who was on her phone, picking the music to play on the wireless sound system we had. Dalton was talking to Harper who was in the kitchen, most likely looking for food.

"Hey guys. When'd you get here?" I said entering the living room. "Just 10 minutes ago," Kingsley replied with a small smile. "What'd ya guys wanna do tonight?" Harper calls from the kitchen. "We could watch a movie? Or we could play a board game?" Dalton suggests as he walks in. He was always the first to suggest anything. "We could..." Harper says, thinking about if it would be fun enough. "My brother just got a bunch more controllers for his Nintendo Switch, so we could play Mario Party. Even your mom could play," Kingsley says while pulling out the console. "Hm, not a bad idea," I say while picking up my barley tea that I had left on the coffee table earlier. "Yeah sounds fun!" Harper says with a huge grin. "Yeah, I'm down," Dalton agrees. "I suppose we could do that," Jade finally says. "Alright, looks like that's settled. But before we do anything, we need to eat. I'm so hungry that you could even call me Harper," I say while falling onto the couch next to Jade. Everyone laughs except Harper. "Ha ha. That's cute, but my hunger is not a joke," Harper huffs, pretending to be upset by crossing his arms. Jade pats his back as we all get up to go to the Kitchen. We are all still laughing when we hear the front door unlock. My mom walks in with bags of various take out. Dalton and I rush over to help her with her things. "Mom, what's all this?" I ask, shocked seeing so many bags. "Well, it's my favorite children's birthday today so I stopped by some of your favorite places," she says, obviously excited to see our reactions. "Mom, your only children," Dalton says while shaking his head, smiling, and carrying the heavier bags. The three of us make our way to the kitchen. "Hi Mrs. Han," Kingsley and Harper say in unison to my mom. "Mrs. Han," Jade says warmly, with a smile. "Oh good! I'm glad your here. I got a lot of food so eat as much as you want!" my mom exclaims, clearly happy about her decision to buy more food than the three of us would've been able to eat.

As we are unboxing the food and putting them on platters, I hear my phone ring. "I'll be right back," I say quickly before going back to the living room coffee table. I pick up the phone. "Hello?" "Dakota!" I hear someone exclaim cheerfully. A huge grin plastered on my face, I answer, "Bean!" Bean was the nickname I gave to our 6 year old cousin, Ben, who lived too far for us to visit often. Ben and our other cousin Jude, who was 12, lived in Seattle with their parents. We lived in Atlanta, Georgia. "What phone are you using Bean? I don't have this number saved." "Oh! Mom and dad got Jude a phone and he's letting me use it!" he says excitedly. "How are you doin' Bean?" I ask warmly. Goodness, he was the most adorable human being ever and the last time I was able to see him was a year and 5 months ago, at Christmas. Dalton, my mother, and I flew out to Seattle to celebrate the holidays and see their new house they moved into. "I'm good! Oh! Dakota, Dakota! I painted my room green after you left! I wish you could see it, it looks like the jungle!" he says out of breath. I could tell he's jumping up and down. I chuckle and say, "You could ask Jude to help you take a video of your room and send it through text. I'll be able to see your room then." I hear someone in the background say, "Ben, didn't you have something to tell Dakota?" It was Jude. Jude was definitely a cute human as well. He cares so much for his little brother even though I'm sure he's making so many new friends after his first year of middle school. "Oh! Right! Dakota! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" He exclaims happily. Oh god, my heart. "Aw, thanks so much Bean!" I say, my grin growing impossibly wider. I hear him giggling. "Here Bean, lemme give the call over to Dalton," I say as I see Dalton poke his head into the living room. "Okay!" he says, still giggling. That little boy will be the death of me. I hand the phone to Dalton and walk back into the kitchen.

I am overjoyed to see different foods all scattered over the counter. All of the foods Dalton and I love. In large serving plates, I see pesto pasta, spicy tuna rolls, salmon sushi, Japanese curry, Korean Kimchi Fried Rice, and sesame dressing salad. "Oh lord. I. Am. So. Ready." I say as I grab a plate on the table. Everyone grabs a plate and we go around, scooping food onto our dishes. We sit down in the dining room that's located right by the kitchen and a few minutes later, Dalton comes in the room with a smile on his face. Whether the smile was from seeing all of our favorite foods or from Bean, I will never know. We all enjoy our dinner for the next hour, talking about everything. After dinner, Jade and I do the dishes while everyone else clears the table. Once the kitchen and dining room were spotless, we all pile into the living room. My mom got up for a phone call so we quickly played one game of Mario party in the mean time. Once she got back, we decided on playing Monopoly. It was definitely a risky move. One game of Monopoly could easily last anywhere from 2.5 hours to 6 hours. After starting the game at 8:30 PM, we finished after 4 hours, at 12:30 AM. Dalton won, of course. The outcome was expected but that only motivated all of us more.

12:35 AM

*Yawn* "Alright, I'm gonna head home. I'm so tired," Harper says while stretching. "Yeah, me too. I honestly don't know how I lasted through this 4 hour game. I had major food coma after dinner," Kingsley says after coming back from the bathroom. Kingsley and Harper head for the shoe rack in the closet by the front door. I noticed Jade was silent. Jade was normally a reserved person and after hanging out with the rest of us regularly in the 7th grade, she became a little more talkative. She was still the quieter one out of us all. Even without words, I could sometimes understand what she was feeling. "Jade, wanna sleep over?" I say knowingly. Jade looks at me, a hint of relief in her eyes. "Okay." Jade was an only child and her parents were still so in love, that every weekend, they would go away on a short trip. Jade was left alone in her big house. Dalton and I had each other as well as my mother. Kingsley had an older brother and loving parents. Harper had an older sister that lived in New York but his parents were all over him. I knew that she had a dark, empty, big house waiting for her. I give her a reassuring smile and we turn to say bye to Kingsley and Harper. "Later!" They wave.

We shut the door and walk back into the living room. "I'm gonna go to sleep now. Get some rest, you three," my mom says as she walks up the stairs.

"I'm out as well. I'll see you guys tomorrow," Dalton smiles before he yawns. He walks up the stairs, stretching. I turn to Jade. "I don't know about you, but I'm not that tired," I say with a smirk. "Same," she says, returning the smirk. We both go up to my room and shut the door. I give Jade a pair of soft pajamas and we both do our skincare routines, finishing with a mud mask. After rinsing our masks, I dim the lights and we get cozy. We stayed like that, spilling tea, listening to music, and discussing our futures. It was around 3:00 AM when I think I turned off the lights and we laid on my queen sized bed. It was quiet. We weren't talking but I knew she was still awake. "Dak." "Hmm," I replied. There was a minute of silence before she says, "I'm probably gay." I could tell it was hard for her to say it out loud by the tremor in her voice at the end. "Yeah, I know." She turns to me on her side while I stay on my back. "You knew? How? When?" she says, shocked. I smiled, "I knew since the the 7th grade. I'm your best friend and I've spent almost everyday with you since then. Plus, you weren't exactly subtle." She didn't say anything, still shocked. I then turned to her. "You're gay. That's fine. Nothing will change. I'm happy for you." I see the faint outline of her wiping her tears. I chuckle and put my hand on her arm reassuringly. Minutes passed and we were both about to fall asleep when I heard the neighbors baby crying. I sighed and got up to close the window. I hopped back in bed and fell back into darkness.

4:02 AM

I wake up to my phone.

*PING* *PING* *PING* *PING* *PING*

As I blindly reach for my phone on the night stand, I hear Jade waking up. We both check our texts:

~

Harper: is it just me or is every baby in our neighborhood on their periods tonight?

Harper: my room has more window than wall and i'm dying

...

Kingsley: no i hear it too

Kingsley: maybe it's a full moon and they're howling at the moon

Dalton: my windows are closed so i'm good

Dalton: i'm going back to sleep

Dakota: jade and i heard a baby crying around 3 but we closed the window so we're good too

Jade: was this really something to wake us all for?

Harper: wait

Harper: you guys, this is creepy

Harper: i kid you not, it's getting louder

Kingsley: s**t it really sounds like the whole neighborhood ughh

Jade: asdfghjkl;' stop texting

Dakota: i love you guys but pls shut up

Dakota: i'm sure it's nothing

Dakota: wear headphones n go back to sleep

...

With that, Jade and I put our phones down and fell back asleep. The pings had finally stopped.

*33 minutes later*

4:35 AM

*PING* *PING* *PING*

I groaned as I picked up my phone, sitting up from bed.

~

Kingsley: u guys

Kingsley: get up

Harper: meet us at our spot

...

Dakota: why tf would we do that

Dakota: it's 4:35 in the morning

Kingsley: it's important!!

Harper: you'll see when you get here just come pls

...

Dalton: this better be good otherwise

Dakota: you're both dead

I turned to Jade and saw that she was still asleep. I guess she turned her phone off. I sighed and gently shook Jade. "Jade. Jade, wake up." I hear her groan and attempt to shake off my hand. "Jade, come on. The others said it's important." She opens her eyes and slowly sits up. After she glances to the window to confirm it is still dark out, she says, "I'm gonna murder them."

I get up and she reluctantly follows. I quickly go into my closet and grab two big, soft hoodies and throw one to her to wear outside. We pull them on and head out into the hallway. We run into Dalton, also wearing a hoodie. As we make eye contact, we all sigh in unison. One by one, we go downstairs quietly, trying not to wake my mom. We slip on our shoes by the front door and we all step outside, closing the door quietly behind us.

As our senses are waking up, we hear the sounds of babies and kids crying. It was coming from everywhere. None of the lights in our neighborhood were on but it was extremely noisy. Bewildered, we continued to our usual spot which was Dalton and I's driveway. We see Kingsley and Harper next to each other, tapping their feet. "Took you long enough. Do you guys see what we're saying?" Harper whisper-yells. "Yeah, what the hell. Why is it so loud?" I say, cringing from all the crying and screaming. "A better question is, why are they all crying at the same time?" Dalton says, eyes wide. "It's been going on for over one hour!" Kingsley says frantically. "Ugh, children," Jade says with distaste. "No. If anything is concerning, it's the parents. Why aren't the parents soothing them? There's no way they can't hear any of this," Dalton says, confused. We thought for a moment, not saying a word. "Something doesn't feel right. I don't know what it is but I have the chills," Harper says while wrapping his arms around himself. We all ended up looking at Dalton. He was the smartest and most logical person we knew. Once he saw us looking to him for direction, he sighed. "Alright. If I'm being completely honest. I find it extremely strange and impossible that we're the only ones up from the noise. More people should have been awake with their lights on, if it has actually been going on for over an hour. For now, I think we should wake our parents and see if they can get into contact with some of the neighbors through their cell. After we wake our parents and bring them outside, meet back here."

We all nodded and hurried off into each of our houses. Jade followed Dalton and I because she and I knew her parents were away. We entered our home and Jade plopped down on the couch and nodded for us to go. Dalton and I turned and headed upstairs, to our mother's room. We entered her room and I went up to her, about to shake her awake. No matter how much I felt around, I didn't feel her in her bed. "Dalton, turn on the lights." He turned them on and we saw an empty bed. "I think she's in the bathroom," I say and I head towards the master bath. The lights weren't on so I turned them on to make sure and to my dismay, it was empty. Once I saw this, there was an weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Where was she? "Dalton, she's not here. Check her closet." He checks and comes back, eyes wide. "She's not there." I immediately went to her bed and felt the area on her side. It wasn't warm at all. She had not been in bed for a while. "Mom~!" I yell. It was quiet. I look to her nightstand and I see her phone. She must be in the house somewhere. She never goes out without it. All of a sudden, it feels cold. It was April and I was feeling the chills. "Ok, check your room and the office. I'll check mine and the guest room," Dalton says as he leaves the room and turns on the upstairs hallway lights. I run into my room and search the bathroom and closet. Nothing. My heart was now beating faster and faster. I ran to the office and checked. There was no one. I met Dalton in the hallway and he had the same look that I imagined my face having. We both left the lights on and ran downstairs. "What? What's going on?" Jade asks, concerned after seeing the looks on our faces and hearing us run around upstairs. "She's... She's not here!" I say. I feel like my heart is about to burst. Dalton, Jade, and I start our search of the first floor. There wasn't too many places on the first floor where you could be but not seen. We checked the kitchen, dining room, laundry room, guest bathroom, living room, shoe closet, and the garage. She wasn't anywhere. Her car was still there though. We all met back in the living room, panting. "Where could she be Dalton? She has no where to go, especially at this time!" I say, out of breath. I wasn't sure if I was out of breath from the running or the stress. "Ok. Ok. She's obviously not in the house. Maybe she heard the crying and went outside on her own. Let's go check with the others," Dalton reassures us. He tried to sound confident but the wavering in his voice and his breathlessness showed he was not sure of anything. We all ran back outside and went back to our spot. All of the lights in our house were now on. We could see Harper's House 4 houses down from us on the other side. The lights were all on. I guess he woke his parents. We could see Kingsley's house right across from ours, the lights all on as well. Their parents would know what to do. They were friends with our parents since childhood. We could trust them. Everything will be fine. I tried reassuring myself. Jade, Dalton, and I wait in silence for Kingsley and Harper. I checked my phone and it was now 4:58 AM. "What's taking them so long?" Jade says impatiently. As if on cue, we see Kingsley and Harper both running towards us from their houses. They reached us out of breath, frantic looks on their faces. "Well, where's your parents?" Dalton asks, concerned. They both look at each other and then back to us. "We can't find them," they say in unison. "What?!" It was our turn to talk in unison."Yeah, I searched my entire house and no one was home," Kingsley said, wide eyed and voice shaking. "Same with me. My parents weren't there. They never go anywhere without telling me. Where could they be?" Harper says, his voice drowned with worry. I look at Dalton in horror. "We couldn't find our mom either," Dalton tells them. "We need to call the police," Harper says but Dalton cut in. "We can't. Not yet. This could all be some big misunderstanding. You guys, we need to start checking on the neighbors. Something is going on and I need to speak to someone. Anyone." We all nodded in agreement but anyone could see that we were all worried sick, our expressions were urgent. "Alright, Jade and Kingsley. Start going to the neighbors you've talked to before. Harper and Dakota, you guys too. I'm gonna check the houses surrounding our house. Meet back here when you're done and start a group call if anything comes up," Dalton commands. We all had no idea what was going on and we were all extremely anxious but Dalton's direction gave us something to do. We all nodded and went off in our pairs.

+

KINGSLEY

Jade and I made our way across the street to one of my close neighbors, Phillip and his girlfriend, Jesse. They didn't have any family but they happily lived together. I ding donged the door. There was no answer and no sound of any movement. I got impatient and pounded on the door. "Phillip~! Jesse~!" I yelled as I kept pounding on the door. I looked at Jade. "Follow me!" I jumped their gate and unlocked it from the inside. We both snuck into the backyard and went to the patio door. I pulled and it was unlocked. Jade stared at me like she couldn't believe what I was doing. I pulled the door wide open and searched the house, calling Phillip. We split up and searched the entire house. No one was home. This was getting stranger and stranger. Jade and I both ran outside, back across the street to our other neighbor, Cory Martin and his wife Briana Martin. They had a 6 year old son named Alan. We did the same thing, we pounded on their doors. There was no reply for a long time until we heard noise coming from inside. "Hello? Please open the door! It's urgent!" Kingsley called. "Kingsley?" we heard someone call from inside. It must be Alan. "Alan, open up! It's Kingsley. Something urgent happened and I need to check if you're okay." There was a 10 second pause before we heard the locks of the front door come undone.

The door opened and we saw a tired Alan, rubbing his eyes from sleep. "Alan! We need to talk to your parents. Where are they?" I said urgently. Alan stopped rubbing his eyes and looked confused. "They're sleeping. I'll go get them..." he said as he left the door open and walked off. A few minutes later, we heard footsteps. We looked to see a crying Alan coming towards us. "What's wrong? Where are your parents?" Jade said, softly but with concerned laced in her voice. "They're not there! I couldn't find them anywhere!" Alan cried. "Alan, do you mind if we come in?" He nodded, still bawling his eyes out. He must be so scared. Hell, we all are. I picked him up in my arms and we entered the home. Room by room, Jade and I looked and we couldn't find Cory or Briana anywhere. Cory and Briana were good parents. They wouldn't leave their 6 year old child here alone. "Alan, why don't you stay with us till we find your parents?" Jade said while rubbing his back. I felt him nod and we continued onto our other neighbors, the Radfords. They were a senior couple that lived with their teenage grandson, Evan Radford. We talked to them a few times but they mostly kept to themselves. Once we got to the front door, we skipped the bell and knocked loudly. "Mr. and Mrs. Radford! Please open up! We have an emergency!" I yelled as Jade used her hands to cover Alan's ears from my loud voice. There was no answer. I pounded the door again yelling, "It's urgent! Please open up!" A few minutes passed when we saw a light in the house turn on from the window by the door. We heard the door unlock, a sleepy and heavily irritated Evan, poking his head out. I didn't know his exact age, but he looked to be around 13-14. "Could you keep it down?! Why are you here?" He said angrily. "Evan, are you grandparents here? We need to talk to them. It's an emergency," Jade said to him. After looking the three of us over, he sighed and left the door open a crack. I could hear him go upstairs. We waited for around 30 seconds when Evan opened the door. His eyes were wide. "They're not here. I couldn't find them. Do you know where they could be?" He said while looking at us desperately. Jade and I looked at each other and then back to him. "Evan, come with us for a second. Something is going on and I think it would be better if you're with us." I said while turning from him and leaving the porch. After a few seconds, I could hear him and Jade following. We continued walking until we reached our spot, on Dalton and Dakota's driveway. No one was there but we just stood there, waiting. I wonder what the others found.

In our group, Harper is the curious one. He would always be the one to ask the questions. Jade is pretty impatient and lazy, but she listens and supports us when it's serious. Dalton is the brains of our group. He was always level headed and very logical. When we are in need for direction, Dalton would always lead the way. I'm sure Dalton has some logical answer for this whole situation. Dakota is intelligent as well but she's the peacekeeper in our group. She usually never chooses sides and helps keep us all together. In the past, she helped us all through our slumps. Lastly, me. I was never one to get scared. I mostly just went with the flow and did my best in every situation. The situation at present was nothing I've ever gone through before. That's why I have this awful feeling reverberating all throughout my body. Something was going on and for the first time in my life, I felt scared.