The Town at the Edge of the World - Part 2

It was cold.

“What?” Kieran thought.

That didn’t make sense. A second ago it was hot enough for the road to melt your shoes, but now a chill breeze passed over him.

The moment of darkness had passed quickly - barely seconds long - but it had been enough to be disconcerting.

Kieran looked about himself. Before him stood the playground he had been running to, and behind him both the archway entrance to the park and the kinder carpark he had run through. To his left was a small drain that ran through the park, and a bridge to the other half of it. To his right, a small public toilet for parkgoers or drivers passing through. Beyond the playground he could make out the road and the bus stop made of an old concrete water tank.

The sky, which had been clear and blue a moment ago, was now hazed with grey cloud that blocked out the sun. The still summer air of a heatwave had been replaced by the gusty breeze of a late autumn afternoon.

Like before, there was not a soul to be seen, except now he couldn't even see Nate anywhere.

“Nate?” He called out.

The sound died uncomfortably quickly, as though the call had been snuffed out by the breeze.

~~~~~

“Where'd you go?” Nate asked, looking around for Kieran.

One second, his friend had been right behind him, then he had heard a strange thrum, like the vibration of a mobile phone, and he looked back to find nothing at all.

He began searching around, calling out periodically. After covering the entire park, he did a lap of the oval, checking the changing rooms too. When he got back around to the park he wasn't sure where else to look.

“Kieran!?” He called, more worry in his voice now, “If this is a game you have to come out now! I'm gonna go to your place to see if you're there and tell your mum if you're not!”

With no response, Nate trotted off back towards Kieran's house, hoping Mrs. Young wouldn't be mad at him for not coming to tell her sooner.

~~~~~

Kieran had wandered the park for a while, hesitant to go much farther until he worked out what was going on. After not finding Nate anywhere, he ventured out to the road. Not a single car had passed by since he arrived. Strange.

He started heading towards home, and noticed even the servo was silent; not a soul around.

“I'm sure Mum knows what's going on,” he thought to himself as he went.

At the back of his mind, however, Kieran couldn't help wondering if his mum would even be there when he got home.

Something else was off too - like his surroundings didn't look quite right - but he couldn't put a finger on exactly what was wrong.

Graham watched the boy from a nearby window, dark with the grime of disuse.

“Strange,” he pondered, “this one shouldn't be here.”