Old thought made new

I wrote this back in February 2003 and had forgotten about it. I came across it today and was surprised by how much I liked it.

When Kelly Wilson went missing, a cloud settled over the town. People moved from their homes to work in their cars and didn’t walk the streets or sidewalks. They kept their eyes on their grocery carts and telephones went unused. A ringing phone became a terrible intrusion into the stillness of a home. The invitations of grassy green parks went unanswered; eddies in the river ran unbroken by children riding inner tubes. Every day was Sunday.

Photocopied sheets with various pictures of Kelly appeared like mold on telephone poles and on downtown walls. They took the place of real people in those places.

The town had at once been silenced by her disappearance and populated exclusively by her visage.