A Letter from the Editor – We Have to Solve This Ourselves

Happy Monday Bayside.  The Sun is here to report something very strange happening in the city.  This is an incredibly informal report, but Bayside residents, its our duty to keep you informed.  It’s been some time since we last saw each other.  The Bayside Sun has taken a hit but we’ve decided to rebuild.  Well, what’s left of us anyway.

Wednesday May 27th, Daria Myran, Bayside City Sun reporter received a tip through our tip line while she was on her way home from work.  We, at the Bayside Sun, are committed to keeping the line open 24/7, meaning we rotate night duty, calls routing to our mobiles.  Whatever the tip was, it rattled Daria.  Daria, the ex war reporter.  She sent an email to the rest of The Sun staff, asking us for an emergency appointment back at the office so she could give us the details of the mystery tip.

The time was 8:45 pm when I arrived at the office.  I was the first one there and figured none of us were going to get any sleep so coffee would definitely be required.  I was in the break room putting on a brew when I could hear Thomas make his way in.

“Back here,” I called out to him.

“Should’ve known the day I take off early something would happen in our lovely quiet little town,” he said sarcastically before making his way over to the refrigerator.  He started rummaging through whatever was in there, trying to decide who’s meal he was going to steal.

This wasn’t like Daria.  Tom and I sat waiting for the others.  We were surprised it was taking them so long.  Daria hadn’t gotten home yet and Jared only lived about ten minutes away.  Both closer than my apartment at the end of Little Toyko.

“There is something I wanted to get your opinion on though,” Thomas said as he pulled his laptop out of his disgusting yellow backpack.  We don’t make all that much in advertising but surely Thomas could afford a new backpack.  But that’s beside the point.  He turned his screen to me.  I couldn’t make anything out.  It was a bunch of meteorology mumble jumble.

“What am I even looking at here?”

“Look,” he says pointing to something on the screen.  “These wind patterns make no sense.  And,” he says toggling the page to another, “according to this, Bayside is about to be hit with,” he paused for a minute, looking at the screen.  He was trying to make this make sense or find his error.  “A serious cold wave.” He had his energy back, “In a couple of weeks, we’re going to see temperatures in,” he paused again, this time his eyes on me.

“Calm down, Tommy,” I said before getting up to grab the coffee pot and pouring him another, “its not like Bayside has the ability to freeze so what ever it is -”

“That’s the thing, Nira, we’re gonna hit the teens.”

My immediate reaction was laughter.  The one thing about Bayside, things are always bright and sunny in Bayside.  He was worrying about nothing.  He tried to make me understand but he had to have things wrong.  It just didn’t make sense for us to see weather like that.  He persisted, showing me the exact dates and temperatures we were expected to hit.  I hoped the coffee would help him sort his thoughts out.

The others arrived but we were still waiting on Daria.  After an hour, we tried her phone.  We thought maybe she had to run home and freshen up before coming in.  But, we didn’t get any response.  It went straight to voicemail.  We all managed to make it over to our desks, getting a jump on the next day’s work.  We figured she may have had to follow up on the tip and we just wanted to give her a bit more time.  Then the power went out.

I hadn’t experienced a black out like that before.  I don’t know if any of you Bayside residents caught it but we all went over to the window and there wasn’t a single light on anywhere in the city. I could barely tell I was looking out the window.  We were just surrounded by blackness.  The moon must’ve been hiding behind a thick cloud because we couldn’t even see a glimmer of its illumination.

But that wasn’t it.  And I’m sorry dutiful residents, but I don’t remember the exact time.  We had to be nearing midnight but I heard thumps behind me.  In that moment, I had no idea what I was hearing but I tried to make it back to my desk when I tripped over Thomas or maybe Jared.  It could’ve been Mercedes.  I started calling out to them and by the time I got to my feet, I’d tripped over another one of them.  Still no idea who it was.

And then that was it.  I opened my eyes, the lights were back on.  I had to push myself up off the floor.  I could see Jared doing the same but everyone else was gone.  And not only were they gone but every single thing in the office was gone.

We looked around in silence, neither of us could figure out the words to say.  Everything was gone.  All of our computers, our files, our desks… the refrigerator.  We wanted our phones to call the others but they were gone too so we irrationally called out for the others.

But this is what’s really strange Bayside.  When I made my way to the door, it was still locked.  It was still locked from the inside, chain and all.  Whenever we plan to have a light night at the office, we chain the doors.  Riddle us paranoid.  When Jared noticed, he rushed to the back to see if that door was locked the same way.  It was.

These weeks have been long and confusing.  I never heard from Daria or the rest of my team.  Jared resigned.  The police are a dead end.  I have no idea if this has anything to do with the rest of the disappearances in Bayside.  But this is not the time to abandon The Sun.  I implore you.  I can’t solve this mystery on my own.

And according to Thomas, that cold front he was mentioning, will be here sooner than any of us will be prepared for.

Please contact us if you have any information related to the disappearance of:

• Vince Montier
• Lucia Adams
• Thomas Goodman – Bayside Sun Meteorologist
• Daria Myran – Bayside Sun Reporter
• Mercedes Smith – Bayside Sun Columnist
• Shawn Black – Bayside Sun Reporter
• Jessica Gaines – Bayside Sun Reporter

Weather Report

Sunday – Sunny, high of 84

Monday – Sunny, high of 32

Tuesday – Cloudy, high of 24

Wednesday – Cloudy, high of 19

Thursday – Cloudy, high of 16

Friday… that’s all I got from Thomas.

Keep warm and safe, Bayside.