close in, Wylie had to see how the rest of the group was feeling, not just about arranging Oscar’s disappearance, but going to the falls in general. “But don’t you think it is a little weird? People have disappeared with no signs of foul play. No extra foot tracks, no mess, nothing out of the ordinary, except for people vanishing . . . into thin air.” Logan looked bug-eyed at Wylie, trying to gauge if he was ruining their plan, before slowly saying, “Surely, if there was a danger to the public, the area would be closed off. These are just rumors. None of us heard anything official or found anything online about this, right?” The group nodded and Mazey replied, “Logan’s right. Those are just rumors, and I don’t believe in fairy tales.” The group continued to talk about how strange the story was, but ultimately moved on to other things. Before heading to bed for the night, the group finalized their plans for reaching Wujal Wujal Falls the following day. Wylie had trouble sleeping that night. He couldn’t stop thinking about the disappearances and wondered why the others weren’t more concerned. Surely, like Logan said, if there was an actual concern, the campgrounds in the area would be closed? Amid birds chirping, some crunching of feet in the distance, and a gaggle of giggling children, everyone woke early the next morning. They started a fire and made coffee and breakfast. They talked about where they could possibly go next and their favorite movies. Wylie mentioned he had recently seen “Us” by Jordan Peele. Logan and Mazey immediately gave him a hard time about getting scared the night before. “This is all in your head. You’re just freaked out because of ‘Us,’” said Mazey. “This makes more sense. I don’t know why we believed you. I hadn’t heard anything about this before you mentioned it,” said Logan, putting on a show to go with their plan regarding Oscar, who watched this all skeptically, clearly also
After about 15 minutes, the group realized Oscar hadn’t returned. The others grew uneasy, and finally Logan voiced their primary concern. “If Oscar disappears without us orchestrating it, how will we get our money?” a little anxious. “Whatever, lets clean up, put out our fire, and head out for the hike,” Wylie retorted, annoyed with his friends’ teasing. It was a beautiful day. Sunny, but cool, and not a cloud in the sky. “I think I see an opening a little bit ahead of us!” exclaimed Oscar after a few hours of hiking. They rushed forward. They had all worked up a sweat and were excited to get to the falls. “FINALLY!” exclaimed Wylie, brushing past Oscar as he scampered up the trail toward the “Wujal Wujal Falls” sign in the distance. As they rushed forward, Oscar veered off and called that he was heading to the bathroom and would meet them at the water afterward. After about 15 minutes, the group re-
alized Oscar hadn’t returned. The others grew uneasy, and finally Logan voiced their primary concern. “If Oscar disappears without us orchestrating it, how will we get our money?” After a brief debate about what to do they decided to all go up the way Oscar had gone and look for him. There was no sign of Oscar. Calls for him went unanswered. Then Mazey shouted, “Guys! Over here! Oscar’s hat!” pointing to the ground outside the bathroom door. The group gathered around, as their concern suddenly grew beyond just their disappearing lottery ticket. They openly wondered what to do and what had become of Oscar. Slowly Logan opened the bathroom door . . . and they all disappeared.
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THE DOCKET
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