“Damn it,” he said, not surprised. Someone might have called the police. He had a bad feeling they were about to be famous all over again. He went into the office and dialed Matt from the landline. To his relief, the techie picked up.
“Hey, it’s Eric. I’m stuck inside at work because the alarm is on and I don’t know the code.”
“Just let yourself out anyway. Who cares if it goes off?”
Eric laughed. “Good point, but there is a problem. A couple. I don’t have my regular clothes, or my wallet, and that stuff. And my car is gone.”
“Yeah, so is mine. Is that why you’re calling from another phone? I almost didn’t pick up but figured it was you or Ryan.”
“Yeah. My parents likely have it all. Listen, I forgot I was wearing karate stuff, which is what I’m in now. If I set off that alarm, and I’m walking the streets in this because I don’t have a car, I’m going to draw attention.”
“Yeah, you’d get picked up for sure, though I’m not sure how quickly they’d know a guy in a karate outfit is the one who set the alarm off there.”
“Me either.” But an alarm at a karate place going off and a guy walking around in a karate outfit would be too much coincidence for the police to not quickly put it together, then confirm it, all after arresting him. Technically, he had done nothing wrong, but that wouldn’t stop the arrest or cause problems he wanted to avoid. It seemed obvious that his disappearance was known, so he might not get out of custody easily if apprehended. He felt like he didn’t have time for that anyway.
“Why don’t I come get you?” Matt asked.
“Still risky. I was just going to spend the next few hours here and try to sneak out in the morning or something. Hopefully, the owner won’t notice. You could pick me up then, assuming you find your car.” Eric sighed. This was getting irritating.
“Yeah. What time does the place open? I’ll try to be there with clothes.”
“Good idea. I need shoes, maybe sandals as they’ll fit better since they aren’t mine. Anyway, I think my boss gets in by 6:30.”
“Then I’ll be there by 6. It’ll give me time to go by my house for some stuff.”
“Okay. Listen, try Anna next. I will call Ryan. It’s important none of you try to call my cell. If it’s at my parent’s house, they might see you calling and if everyone knows we all disappeared, they’ll know you guys are back, and me.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Just don’t do it. I have to call Ryan before he calls my phone. Bye.”
He wasted no time, dialing Ryan and having it go to voicemail, where he left a long message and a number to call back on until 6:30, anyway. Then he settled in. He wanted to hide their arrival as long as possible and control the narrative of when they returned. They had to lie, of course, but they had to know what people were thinking in order to do that well, so keeping quiet about their return was a good idea for now. He settled in for a few hours, being refreshed as usual by the spell and not needing sleep. He suspected a long day awaited him.
Matt wished there was no flash of light when he returned to Earth. It was especially troubling at night, not only for attracting attention, but momentarily blinding him. Despite his impaired night vision, he quickly glanced around and didn’t see anyone near him as he stood on a sidewalk. He wasted no time dawdling and began walking away just in case he’d been seen, pulling the hood of his hoodie over his head, though doing this at night might have made him look suspicious. He sighed and pulled it down. The roads had been empty, but the first car headlights appeared up the street as he took his bearings.
He was still outside the office building where he worked, as expected. The longer they could keep people from realizing they always returned to where they’d been, the better. He wasn’t sure what would happen then but imagined being tasered by police or something. That would be an entirely different blinding light and hardly a warm welcome after having saved another planet, kingdom, or whatever. He laughed.
But the sound died in his chest as he rounded the corner of his employer’s building to see his car was gone. Then his phone rang from an unfamiliar number, but he assumed it had to be one of his friends at this hour. He found Eric on the other end and had their talk while walking away from the building to create more distance. He would need an Uber, and after he hung up, devised a plan, his ride appearing minutes later. Before entering the car, he put the hood up again and tried to disguise his voice a little, while keeping his face averted. Then he just put his head down and pretended to be tired.
“What brings you out so late?” the twenty-something Indian driver asked.
Matt drew a blank and then said, “Fight with the girlfriend. She threw me out.”
“Oh! That’s terrible! The woman is always right. That’s all I know about dating. It’s so hard.”
“Tell me about it.” Matt recognized a talkative guy and hid behind someone else’s wall of words, but within minutes, talk turned to his own disappearance days earlier because he’d just been picked up near there.
“Yeah,” the driver said, “now the police
