Free The Vanishings by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins Page A

situation he was to ask himself, “What Would Jesus Do?”
    An empty drinking glass lay on the bed in a drying circle of water. Dad liked a glass of ice water in bed almost every night. Vicki forced herself to squeeze between the foot of the bed and the wall and moved to her dad’s side of the bed. She pulled the covers back to reveal his T-shirt and boxers, the only things he ever wore to bed.
    Where were her mom and dad? Where could they be? What had happened to everyone? What would she do? Had Jeanni discovered them missing? And if she had, why hadn’t she awakened Vicki? Oh, no! she thought. Not Jeanni too!
    Vicki scrambled over her parents’ bed and headed down the hall to her and Jeanni’s room. A sob rose in her throat, and she felt dizzy. She whipped the covers off Jeanni’s bed and saw Jeanni’s goofy little kangaroo pajamas.
    What was she going to do? Where could she go? She had been so awful to her parents, and now they were gone. Vanished. Would they be back? Why them and not me?
    And suddenly it hit her. Was it possible? Could it be? Had they been right? Had she been as stubborn and stupid as a person could be? Had she seen the dramatic changes in their lives and still not believed any of theGod stuff? Had they gone to heaven and left her behind?
    Vicki moved to the phone and speed dialed her brother in Michigan. “I’m sorry,” she heard, “all circuits are busy now. Please try your call again later.”
    Vicki pulled up a chair and hit the redial button a hundred times in a row, crying but trying to keep from becoming hysterical. How close had she come to being burned up in a fire just like the one that had cost her neighbors their trailers? The TV showed picture after picture of huge chain-reaction car crashes, plane crashes, ships running aground. There were reports of suicides, including the only soccer player who had been left on that field in Indonesia. Others had been killed in accidents caused by drivers disappearing.
    Finally, Vicki’s call got through. She nearly lost control when her brother’s phone rang four times and the answering machine picked up. She waited through the message and then pleaded with him, in tears, to answer. “Eddie, are you there? It’s Vicki! Please pick up if you’re there! Please be there! Eddie, please!”
    Someone came on the line. “Vicki?”
    â€œEddie?!”
    â€œNo, this is Bub.” Vicki knew the name but had never met Eddie’s roommate.
    â€œIs Eddie there?”
    â€œUh, no. No, he’s not.”
    â€œHave you seen what’s going on, Bub?”
    â€œWho hasn’t, kid?”
    â€œThen you know what I want to know.”
    â€œAre you sure, Vicki? I could just as easily tell you I have no idea where he is, just that he’s not here.”
    Vicki sobbed. “But that isn’t true, is it? You found his clothes or something, didn’t you? He disappeared along with all those other people, didn’t he?”
    â€œYou’d better let me talk to your mom or dad.”
    â€œBub! They’re not here! They’re gone, right out of their clothes. My little sister too! Now tell me about Eddie!”
    â€œOK, listen, honey, I didn’t see this myself, all right? This is all secondhand, but Eddie was working second shift last night, three in the afternoon to eleven. I was off and we were going to meet at an all-night diner at midnight. I waited for him for about twenty minutes, and I never knew him to be late for a meal. I called the plant, and they said he had left there at about eleven-thirty.”
    â€œWait,” Vicki said, “what time is it there now?”
    â€œWe’re on Eastern Time, sweetie. An hour ahead of you.”
    â€œOh. And please quit calling me little girl names. I’m fourteen!”
    â€œSorry, Vicki. The picture Eddie showed me must have been when you were little.”
    â€œHe showed you a picture of