5) The disappearance of Artemis Kaliaski and Dante Smith

Artemis' dad, David, begins an investigation into his missing child.

5) The disappearance of Artemis Kaliaski and Dante Smith

“What do you mean they’re gone?” he yells, “They were both in a coma up until last week! And you’re saying Artemis and Dante, just woke up from a coma. And walked out? I put them in here for you to look after them, not let them walk out from right under your noses.” He jabs a finger into the doctors’ chest.
“Please Sir, how far could they have gotten?”
“I don’t know, you tell me, you’re the doctor.”
“Not far, the nurses tell me she had nothing on her feet and no proper clothes”
“Nothing on their feet? Dante had a bag full of clothes.” David yells.
“I �" I �" I don’t know.”
“Where are these nurses, I want a word.”
“Anything detective.”

David collapses in despair at the incompetence of medical staff at keeping two teenagers safe. Now, because of someone else’s mistake, his child, his only child, is missing. A petite man, built like a professional rugby play, waddles in.
“Hi. John said you wanted to talk to me.”
“Are you one of the nurses who saw Artemis and Dante the day they disappeared?” David says putting on calm façade.
“Yes.” The nurse says nervously.
“Ok, have a seat, you’re not in any trouble, I hope.” He clicks his neck, “Now �"“
“Jackson sir.”
“Now Jackson, did Artemis and Dante have anyone with them?”
“No sir. They were by themselves.”
“Drop the sir. At what time did you see them?”
“Three pm, I had just started my rounds.” A brief pause, “I had just check their rooms, everything was as it should’ve been.”
“Did anything seem at all out of place?”
“No.”
“Take me to their room.” David commands

“And you are sure they didn’t have any help?” David asks his voice full of confusion. He stares at the “You’re telling me two teens snuck past your security?” An exasperated sigh escapes David.

He enters the room. He runs his hand across the wall to his right, following the decaying wallpaper. He does a quick double take, “Has this rot always been here?” He asks the nurse. The nurse observes the line of rot trailing from the room and out into the corridor, and from there along the corridor, down the stairs, and from there presumably out into the world.
“No…” Jackson replies. David looks at the empty bed, remembering the day he saw his child lay here, unmoving, unthinking, and dead to the world. He remembers the days and the nights he spent sat at their side, waiting for them to wake up. Wishing for them to wake up. The first night here, he turned to God, he prayed to Heaven for his child to wake again, so he could hear their laugh, see their smile, even if it were for a day. For a night. An evening. He just wanted to hear their voice once more.
“Please God, I’ll do anything.” He prayed this message every night; willing anyone to answer, an angel, a demon, God, The Devil himself. Anyone. No one did reply. He spent weeks crying and crying. He paid for everything to make sure his child was comfortable. He paid for every experimental treatment. He did everything he could. But they wouldn’t wake. Soon he gave up hope, he kept them alive though, didn’t want to lose the last part of his family. But even the kind man loses patience. He left one night, just as the sun was peeking its head over the horizon. By the time, the sunlight slithered through the blinds; he was gone. He never came back, he couldn’t face it. Couldn’t stomach it. He made sure everything was paid for, made sure everything was good. He made himself a promise; he would catch whoever had planted that bomb.

David inspects the room. There’s a hole in the fabric of the bed, burned right through. Burnt into the floor are a pair of footprints, barely distinguishable from the dark floor, but none the less, they’re there. He takes a sample of the footprints, of the bed, of the rot on the wall, placing them in separate plastic bags.

Before David leaves, he hands Jackson something.

David isn’t sure where Artemis could’ve gone. They have nowhere to go, no one to go see. Nothing.