The Heritage of Sephtis: The Returning

22: Patterns and Pins

Two hours passed quicker than both Jack and Finn would have liked, but all the same it passed and Jack was escorted back to his room. Jack didn’t know how much time had followed, but eventually Jaden appeared in the doorway with another tray of food. He, not wanting the reminder, immediately turned towards the door once he had set down the food. Jack quickly sat up in his bed and called out to Jaden.

    “Why are you still here? I thought they were letting you go?” Somehow he actually sounded concerned, which made the guilt all the more intense for Jaden.

    “I-” Jaden sighed. “I’m still stuck in the system until Ali lets me go.” Then he hurried out of the door and closed it behind him before he could be questioned further.

The new day brought further developments in the case. Finn had finished sorting and reading the files, and had felt confident in the pattern he was seeing, all before going to bed the night before. Now that he was awake, he was able to continue following that lead. Finn sat up, stretched, confident in his ability to solve this quickly and get out, and strolled to the door. He promptly knocked, and cleared his throat.

“I would like a map of the world!” Finn yelled through the door.

“No.”

“And how do you think Ali will feel about this?” Finn clicked his tongue disappointedly, “I need it for-”

“Why would a map of the world help you do whatever stupid task you’ve been given?”

“Why would it help me escape?” Finn snorted.

“Fine. I’ll get his approval, don’t get your hopes up.”

“Good! Get me different colored push-pins too!” Finn yelled as a final command, before waltzing to the table and grabbing a pile.

Within half an hour the door creaked open and a world map as well as a box of thumbtacks was launched at Finn. Finn smirked at the guard through the door, knowing he had won the argument.

“You know once you solve this you’re going to be executed, right?” The muscle scoffed.

“One thing at a time, Borris, one thing at a time.”

“That’s not my name.”

“That’s definitely your name.” Finn unrolled the map and looked at it. The muscle glared at him.

“If I could just-” the man reached out his hands and strangled the air.

“Please do close the door, it’s a bit drafty.” Finn replied not glancing at him as he walked towards the wall and began pinning the map. “I’ll probably need more pins!” FInn yelled through the door, as he opened the first file and pushed a blue tack into the map. It would be a long day.

Finally. Every file had been added to the map. Most of the files were case files from modern times, only dating back to the early 50s. Of course there were some stories and allegedly true statements from much earlier. There were even some cases from the 1800s, but for the most part they were modern, so pinpointing a location for disappearance was relatively easy. And now that it was on the map, the pattern was just as clear as he’d thought. There was a large clump of disappearances in both Western to North Western Europe and Asia, though those pins did tend to favor Eastern Asia. Still, much of these areas were red, which Finn had labelled as before the 20th century. But there was an interesting development in New England: a large chunk of blue pins, which of course indicated everything that wasn’t red. And the trail seemed to be stretching further and further south down the east coast. He had even researched legends, instances, conspiracies, anything that might be of similar magnitude to the cases provided. All of them once again landed in the same areas, which he had marked with black pins, but nothing was found in the Americas, until recently. Within the turn of the century even. It seemed the best place to find a portal would be right here right now, as it seemed the most recent activity had been-no wait. What was he thinking? This search was messing with him, making him think about other worlds, was he losing it? Was he actually cracking? Jaden set the food down with a clank behind him. Finn looked at him briefly, and then remembered why the food was there.

“You have to eat it to see Jack-”

“Yes, yes, I remember.” Finn complained, waving him away. “Let me eat in peace.” Jaden stood briefly, wanting to just say something, not that he liked Finn just...he turned and left the room.

When Jack entered Finn’s room, Finn was standing on the table staring at the map. Jack stared for a second in confusion before speaking.

“Finn? What are-”

“Yes hello Jack. Tell me what do you see?”

“You standing on a desk?” Finn turned and looked down in disappointment at Jack. “And a map?”

“Come on! Think! I know you have a brain in there somewhere.”

“Well, it’s a map of the world covered in pins. I’m guessing those are the locations of the different disappearances? They seem to be clustered in certain places. What does this have to do with finding it though?” Jack scrunched his eyebrows. Finn leaped off the table towards the map.

“Everything! Look,” Finn gestured at the map, “can’t you see it?”

“Are you ok?” Finn sighed and shook his head. “What’re the colors for?”

“Finally, a smart question! They’re based on time frame. Red is prior to 20th century, blue is after, black is every lore, every story, anything similar I could find that didn’t have a specific date attached to it.”

“So almost all the cases in America were recent. It looks like our best chance to get in would be here along the east coast.”

“Seriously? You’re buying into this other world thing?” Finn snorted. Jack ignored him, and continued.

“Depending on how recent those cases were, we may be able to easily track down the portal with more detailed reports. Look for correlations between stories, locations, people even.” Finn looked at Jack a little shocked. But proud. He’d raised a smart detective in just a few days.

“Well then, detective, let’s get to it. Back to the files!” Finn grabbed a pile, split it, and handed one half over to Jack.

As they sifted through each file, talking quietly back and forth over the details, they began noticing that those who had ‘returned’ had done so with no recollection of ever leaving. And - what a strange detail - Jack had noticed that all his cases remembered playing a video game, not liking it, and returning it. At some point, either before or after returning it, someone saw them and freaked out because they were missing. Jack showed his file to Finn and pointed to the word game. Finn glanced up and nodded.

“Yes, I’ve noticed that too...I wonder…” Finn jumped up and ran to the computer.

“Time! Come on!” The guard burst in and grabbed Jack. Finn waved a brief salute to Jack as he left, before turning on the computer. He had to find the game.

He searched everything he could think of bank statements, game stores, each of the missing people’s names, even those who were still missing. He found what he suspected. Those he could find information on, had all made purchases of the same game. Local game stores, online sales, some even posed the question of theft. But strangely, when he looked up the name of the game, he couldn’t find any information on it, as if it didn’t exist. He groaned. Either there was some mass hysteria, something of a folie à deux, or there was another world that these people were disappearing to. He turned off the computer and sat back. It had to be a folie à deux, right? Caused by something in the game? He sighed, getting up, and sat on his bed. It didn’t make sense, but neither did the other option.

Jack down on his bed, think back over the last week or so. He laughed. It wasn’t even a week. He had nearly died, more than once. He had been betrayed by the person he felt closest to, and the person who he had had the hardest time relating with had taken him in and was keeping him alive. And this had all started with him running away, but he ended up getting kidnapped. And to top it all off, he was closer than he had ever been. What sort of strange twist would present itself next? He smiled. Nothing was going as planned, just as it should.

Jaden walked in with Jack’s supper, and set it down. Then he turned to leave, but Jack stopped him, and sat up.

“You know I’ve forgiven you right?”