[ TT ] [ IP ] The Lost Children

Two weeks ago, Kansas was swallowed by a fissure in the Earth. There were no nationwide earthquakes. No warnings at all, overnight it seemed to vanish. The United States woke up the next day to find a gaping, smoky pit where the state used to be. Spotlights could n't seem to pierce the smog for more than a few feet. Drones were sent down to determine the pits depth, only to malfunction while navigating. Manned expeditions were dismantled after a crew of seven went down and never came back. The weeks passed while three million people stayed missing. Finally, there was a sound from the pit and two obelisks rose into the sky with a cloud of black smoke. Before anyone could question their purpose, children climbed from the pit. It was a miracle! Their parents had found a way to get their kids to the surface! As children of varying sizes stood and wobbled on unsteady legs the nation rejoiced. Rescue workers rushed forward to care for these kids, so saturated by the pits grime that all we could see were their eyes and tattered clothing. When the first cries of alarm reached our ears we thought the children must be in bad shape. Then we noticed the number of rescue workers among the children seemed to be decreasing before our eyes. The kids reached out as if they were lost and whether it was instinct or compulsion we reached to comfort them. One by one, every touch left behind a pile of clothes and nothing else. While the lost children approached we stood motionless. Some frozen in shock while others waited for their brains to make sense of what they were seeing. One hour later and ground zero was lost. As helicopters broadcast the scene, the nation looked on in horror as hordes of small black shapes continued to crawl from the pits and spread. Their arms already open in invitation.
