#elza walker

Elza’s Diner was the heart of all restaurants in that small, mid-western town. It was one of the two places that stayed open past 8pm (the other being one of few gas stations they had), and it was a hot spot for families, the elderly and teens (as well as young adults) with way too much time on their hands.

Young adults like you and your friends Leon, Claire, Chris and Jill.

Going to Elza’s started off as finding a place to eat after school, rather than just your house. Your parents didn’t mind your friends coming over to eat, but sometimes, you need a change of scenery. And somewhere to talk about things you couldn’t really tell your parents, like the man-eating monster in the woods last weekend… Or the missing person’s case of Chris’ old friend Albert that the five of you still had yet to solve… stuff like that.

Just like any other day, you’d find yourselves there again.

“The usual?” the older brunette prompts.

“That’d be great, Elza. Thank you,” you reply, heading over to the booth in the back that practically belonged to your friend group.

The five of you take your usual seats: you and Leon next to each other, and Chris, Claire and Jill on the opposite side. Jill takes a notebook and pen out of a small bag, and places the notebook on the table. “I’ve gotten most of everything written down, but I may’ve missed something,” she notes, flipping through the pages.

“And this was Rebecca’s friend?” Claire asks, just to make sure.

“Yeah, she says she hasn’t seen Billy in a while and doesn’t know where he ran off to,” Chris answers, looking at the photos they had accumulated throughout the investigation.

Too many people had gone missing recently. Mostly around Raccoon City, but in surrounding areas, too; including your quaint little town. Admittedly, it was like one of those documentaries where one of the interviewees says, “things like that don’t happen around here.” And truthfully, they didn’t. Not until now.

“Albert, Billy and at least nine others throughout the span of two weeks — whoever’s abducting them, they’re desperate,” Leon noted aloud, taking notes.

You looked between all of the evidence your friends had gathered, taking notes of your own. It wasn’t long before Elza had brought your orders: burger and fries with a vanilla shake for Chris, a sandwich with chips and a Dr. Pepper for Jill, burger and fries with a strawberry shake for Claire (just like her brother), a breakfast platter with coffee (if you can call it that after all the creamer) for Leon and of course, all of your favorites for you.

As you ate your meals, you cross-referenced evidence and did what you could to try to figure out who or took these innocent people, and why?

“It goes from one person to three two days later, to two a week after, to four the next day and back to one just yesterday. It’s sporadic,” says Jill, talking with her hands. Chris chimes in, “It’s panic. Or boredom.”

The red-head isn’t sure if she should really ask, but she decides to anyway. “Boredom?”

“Sometimes, when the culprit is tired of their current victim, they’ll find a way to get rid of them and pick another. Whoever did it could be bored of whoever they abducted,” you answered before sipping your drink and looking out the window. Something moves in the distance; you’re not sure what it is, but it doesn’t look right.

“That’s disgusting,” she replies, mindlessly toying with the straw in her smoothie.

“It’s true,” Jill states rather bluntly, shrugging it off. She could probably be a cop one day, in your opinion.

Chris checks the time on his watch, and you know what that means. “It’s getting late. Claire and I have to get back home. Sorry, guys,” the brunet says as he awkwardly shimmies his way out of the booth with Claire in tow.

Jill talked about a test she had to study for and left shortly after, leaving only you and Leon at the table — drinks going lukewarm and crumbs of food going cold.

He doesn’t say anything. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he had no idea what he’d say in the first place. You two were definitely close, but there was something off about tonight in particular. Maybe it was the doubt sewn in everyone’s minds earlier, a strong contrast to the usual hope and determination they consistently emitted. Maybe it was the way three out of five of you left, one after the other. Maybe it was the cold coffee that was ready to mess up your stomachs like Taco Bell before an important job interview.

Or maybe it was the fact that you had liked him since elementary school and never knew what to do with those feelings other than persistently suppress them, because what else would you do with them?

“A lot of these cases surround Arklay,” the blond says practically out of nowhere, noting disappearance locations in red ink. “There’s been weird spottings around there, too. It’s causing a lot of chatter among locals.”

You cross-reference the map and his notes with your own writings. “Arklay’s mostly mountains and forests with no civilization in sight, so who would’ve taken them?”

He shrugs softly, fidgeting with the pen in his hand. “Not sure. But it also could’ve been a what… kinda like that thing in the woods.”

“…You guys didn’t believe me, though.”

“I certainly did. They just— they worry about you.”

“Why would they be worried?”

He thinks before he speaks, trying to figure out how to word everything correctly. “Probably because they know your sister went missing and it’s driving you insane and making you overwork yourself so you can figure things out on your own when we’re here to help you.”

A pause. “Touche.”

He chuckles softly and then checks his watch. “You wanna head out?”

You flip through everything you’ve got so far, feeling as if you’ve hit a dead end. There’s hardly ever anything new, and it’s pretty disappointing. You figure nothing else will pop up tonight, if at all. It’s hard to have the strength to keep on looking, but you want to find your sister and your friends.

“Yeah, I should probably get back home.” You move out of the booth and gather your things while Leon gets out, shoving his stuff into his backpack. You clean up the table to the best of your ability, and hear Elza’s shoes click-clacking in your direction.

“I’ll handle the rest, sugars. Y’all oughta go home — it’s getting late,” the older lady says, taking the leftover dishes from the table and heading back towards the kitchen.

“Thank you, Elza!” you both exclaim in unison as you leave the diner.

The two of you head out to his spotless dark green Jeep, ready to wrap up a long day. The blond puts both of your bags in the back and hops in the driver’s seat, buckling up and driving off towards your house. It’s quiet for a bit, with only rock music softly filling the air. Eventually, you break the silence.

“Do you think we’ll find them?” A little more pessimistic than you were going for but it happens.

“…I have hope that we will,” he responds, noticeably trying to lift up your spirits. “But I also think it’s important to remember that we’re not seasoned detectives. Finding our friends without help from authorities and low to no history with this sort of thing is no easy task, but I believe we can do it.”

You nod along, although still not fully believing him. But you’ll pretend that you do for now. “What happens after that?”

“Well, I should be finished with the academy by then so I’ll be an officer, you’ll continue pursuing your own dreams and then we’ll—”

You jump awake, shaken like you had a terrifying nightmare. The blond in his police uniform looks at you with concern, and carefully moves closer.

“Woah. You okay?”

You take a look at your surroundings, trying to jog your memory and get it together. “Y-Yeah. What were you saying?”

“I said we gotta go, there’s new info on our missing cases. Have you been sleeping enough?” Leon questions, looking between you and your paperwork.

You know you haven’t. You’d like to lie, but you and your group always told each other that friends don’t lie. “No, but it’s fine. Let’s go, I’ll grab coffee on the way out.”

Maybe you’d find your missing sister after all.