Hollow World by Nick Pobursky Read Free Book Online Page A

his entire family.
    Frantically, Charlie spun around to search the other cars, irrationally hoping that this was all just some horrible joke and his girls would be sitting a few cars away smiling and giggling at him. He even went so far as to stand up, just to make sure they weren’t ducking down anywhere. His family had simply ceased to exist. It was impossible. It was unthinkable. And it was happening. One minute the loves of his life were sitting in front of him, the next they were gone.
    And in their place sat a manila envelope.
    Noticing the parcel, Charlie lunged forward and snapped it up, quickly pulling out his phone to use the glow of the screen to illuminate the front of the small envelope. There was something printed across the front in dark black lettering. He shook his head and frantically tried to wipe away the pooling tears, some pattering onto the envelope. When he finally regained his eyesight, he read two simple words:
    Open Me.
    Carefully opening the envelope, he removed the small piece of paper from inside and read it several times. The letter read:
     
    Detective Walker. When your journey on the PeopleMover is complete, you will calmly stand, exit the ride and dispose of this envelope, its contents and your cellular phone, using the trash receptacle near bottom of the moving walkway. Next, you will make your way to the Carousel of Progress and, once inside, you will seat yourself in the back row. You will notice a division between the two seats in the center of the row. It is in the left of these two seats that you will sit. During the show, you will be provided further instructions. Failure to comply with these instructions will result in the grotesque disfigurement of one or more of your beautiful angels.
     
    The terrible letter was unsigned. The plainness of the entire package rendered Charlie’s detection skills useless, since the Spartan offering was so barebones that there was nothing which could be used to identify its author. Though not enough to act on, from this purposeful display of neatness and carefulness, Charlie was able to deduce that his adversary was extremely careful. This unknown enemy knew he was dealing with a top-notch detective, so Charlie was certain that all the angles had been covered. Approaching the end of the ride, Charlie knew he had no choice but to comply in the hope that he may be able to offer this person whatever they wanted in exchange for his family.
    Charlie did as he was instructed and disposed of the items after exiting the ride. He knew better than to alert a Cast Member or—worse—a security officer. Charlie’s hostage negotiation training had made it abundantly clear that, until the situation could be fully defined, anything but absolute compliance with the captor’s wishes would lead to casualties. He knew better than to rebel and it was clear that his adversary had known this as well since there was no specific instruction to not involve outside sources.
    Charlie now had a clearer picture of the entity with which he had become entangled. This person was careful, and also observant. He made dangerous assumptions on Charlie’s behalf, which only told Charlie that this person knew him extremely well. He was unconvinced that it was a person that he had known personally, but it was certainly someone who had observed and studied him for some time. This wasn’t the average street criminal with whom he had dealt, so Charlie chose to err on the side of caution and play the game exactly as it was presented to him.
    In his professional cases, Charlie had never taken risks that would have endangered the lives of anyone but himself. This creed held especially strong in this case—when his family’s lives were those in danger. That being said, an unfamiliar rage began to boil beneath the detective’s exterior surface of stoic calm. While on his way to the Carousel of Progress, he imagined in the things he would do to this monster if given the chance. The thoughts