| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| candance |
Posted - 06/05/2006 : 13:45:10
it was just a momentary blink, less than half a second, and then it was over. Michelle was working when it happened; she saw her machine skip a beat, saw the lights dim, and just as quickly, she saw everything come right back to life. and within five minutes, she'd forgotten all about it.
no one else had really even paid attention. Grocer's Express was a very busy store, and on a Friday night like this, there wasn't much time to daydream. and what made it worse was that they were short handed.
besides Michelle, there were only two cashiers on duty; Tonya, the middle-age workhorse, and Haleigh, the young woman who had just started. Sharin, the supervisor, came onto the floor to help them catch up. she sighed to herself while keeping a smile on her face. the girls were all working so hard, and she didn't even know if she could give them any breaks. she walked up to Michelle's lane and started bagging, overviewing the long lines of customers. then she glanced over to lane number 2, and she halted.
the light was on, the conveyor belt was running, the debit machine was awake...but no one was working there. Sharin searched her fuzzy mind, trying to figure out why.
"Who is supposed to be on number two?," she demanded.
Michelle glanced behind her and frowned. "That's Haleigh's lane," she answered. "She was just there a minute ago."
Sharin grew visibly upset. couldn't that girl see how busy they were? she searched her memory again, making sure she hadn't given Haleigh permission to go somewhere, and when she was sure she hadn't, she acted.
she got on the loudspeaker and sharply said, "Haleigh to your station please!"
a minute passed with no response. the long lines persisted, and the other two workers quietly kept on, making no remark about Haleigh. five minutes passed. Sharin was getting madder.
one of the bag boys, a nice guy named Jeffrey, was working close to Sharin. even though he was needed to help, Haleigh was needed more, so Sharin sent him to the back.
"check the break room, the bathrooms, wherever," she said. "just find her and tell her to get up here."
another five minutes, and Jeffrey came back empty-handed. "she's not in the building anymore," he explained. "she must have left."
"That's okay then," Sharin said quickly. "We'll just have a little talk when she comes back."
Sharin climbed the dark stairs into the security office. it had been two days since Haleigh had left the store, and she hadn't come back. they couldn't get ahold of her; even her emergency contact was a dead end. so the girl decided to quit, big deal? that happened all the time.
she stepped into the office, where it was always dark to make it easier to watch the screens. in the middle was a desk, where the motherboard sat, and two chairs. as Sharin approached the desk, she wasn't surprised to see Derek there.
Derek was the loss prevention officer for Sharin's district. they had spent time together before, catching shoplifters and watching crooked bookkeepers.
"So," she began, "you think Haleigh stole something?"
Derek leaned back from the screen he was watching, and slowly rubbed his eyes. "I was told she left the store in myserious circumstances. They called me down to double-check, see which door she left from."
"So you found it in the tapes?"
Derek faltered. "Well..." he said, "I think I found the time that she left, but I don't know how."
Sharin laughed. "What do you mean."
Derek hit a few buttons on the computer and motioned for Sharin to scoot closer. The screen lit up, and there was Haleigh, standing at her register.
Sharin watched for a moment as nothing happened. "Why are you showing me this part?," she piped up.
Derek paused the tape for a moment and looked at Sharin. Then he got up, locked the office door, and returned in a hurry. Sharin was now completely confused.
"I'm about to show you the weirdest thing you ever saw," Derek said. His voice was hushed, almost at a whisper.
Sharin felt a chill go through her. "Is this a joke?," she asked, but despite herself, her voice was a whisper too. "You're kinda scaring me now."
"Do you remember," Derek began, "the night Haleigh left, do remember the power blinking off?"
Sharin thought back to that night. Was there a power surge? She couldn't remember. She shook her head no, hoping Derek would get to the point soon.
Derek hit the play button, and the motion resumed.
"Now watch close, " Derek whispered. "The power surge is coming."
Sharin, skeptical of where this was going, leaned in to watch. Haleigh was standing there alone, playing with her hair. Then there was a momentary blink, where the video skipped, and then Haleigh was gone.
Sharin blinked her eyes. The time and date on the screen were still there; the skip had lasted less than a second.
"So she walked away..." Sharin said.
Derek ruffled through a pile of CD's on the desk. "I watched surveillance from all the doors in the store," he said, "even the recieving door. There's no record of her walking out at all."
"So what are you getting at?"
Derek bit his lip and paused before speaking. "Well," he started, "I know this is crazy, but it looks to me like she just disappeared into thin air."
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