The Vanish

"Oh, you've already had a child in mind here?"

"Yes, I knew the child who was sent here yesterday. Which is why I am here today to get him out. His mother was a horrible person and is facing criminal charges for her mistreatment of the child."

"Oh, I am sorry to hear that. Well I know the child, Codaka you said? Yes he is in good hands and I should know exactly where the room he would likely be in when sleeping. We register where children choose to sleep during there time here."

Zikah guides Ariel to the children sleeping area upstairs and goes up the stairs. After a few flight of stairs she pulls up a notebook on the side of the wall and looks at the names of children on the floor level and what room Codaka is sleeping in.

She looks and it is Level 5, room 3. She places it back on the wall and waves Ariel to follow her. Ariel walks right behind her guide and they arrive within a few seconds to the room Coda would be sleeping in. Ariel starts feeling anxious. Wondering how Codaka will feel seeing her.

"Wait give me a moment to compose myself" Ariel says halting the woman who was about to open the door.

"Well, Codaka might not be in the room. Might be in the play area instead." Zikah says

"Well, I am just worried how he will feel about seeing me again. Since I had to let him give him custody to someone else not even a day after his mother had been taken from him for legal reasons."

"Understandable. Would feel awkward. Especially since things like this at an early age can cause emotion or mental issues that range from trust issues, abandonment, or even PTSD for them. Which is why the National Child Care Association is very picky about these things. Well, actually CPS is the one who is more picky since a childs well being is important to them as well as safety." Zikah says

Ariel takes a moment to ready herself and calm her nerves for a few more seconds, and then nods her head ready for Zikah to open the door.

She opens the door and calls out Codaka's name if he is sleeping.

"Codaka? Someone is here for you." Zikah announces

As she looks around she doesn't see anyone in the room and waves Ariel in. Ariel looks around and doesn't see Codaka anywhere or coming out. Hopefully he is just sleeping.

Zikah walks out suggestion she will be back for a moment leaving Ariel in the bedroom. Ariel looks around the room and notices some beds might be unoccupied as some are neatly set, and some are messy and look like someone just threw them off themselves.

As she walks around she notices a window with a chair right under it and doesn't pay any mind for a moment. She hears thunder crash outside the window and decides to close it herself.

*Click*

The window is shut and locked and she moves the chair away from the window and then notices a a Winkle piece of paper right under where the chair was before she moved it. She leans forward and picks it up and then flips it and gets a flush of emotion in her body from examining the paper. It is the photo of herself, Codaka, Arla, and Alissa from the amusement park a few days ago.

*Sigh* I hope Codaka didn't purposefully leave this behind. Ariel takes the photo and places it in her purse and looks out the window for a few seconds.

*Creak*

Ariel looks back at the door and see Zikah has another notebook in her hand and walks down the isle of the beds and then turns to her left to a bed. She then looks at the number on the bed and checks her notebook again and nods her head.

"This is the bed Codaka was sleeping in last night. So he was sleeping here. Since it doesn't seem to be well set up."

"Well, I also found a photo of him and me over here in the corner. Wrinkly like it has endured some damage.

"Ah may I see it?"

"Uhm, yes. But I plan to give it back to Codaka when I see him." Ariel says while handing it over

Zikah takes the photo and recognizes the image of the child. Then gives it back after 5 seconds, and then makes a comment about the photo.

"You all look very happy. Especially since the child is...How should I put this...Out of place in away."

"What do you mean by "out of place?" Ariel asks

"Well, you don't often see a single caiman child in a photo that appears happy in it with elves being the majority of those in the image." she says

"I, see...." Ariel takes the photo and looks at it more. Codaka looks so much happier then what she had seen when near his own mother.

"Well, since Codaka is not in his room nor the play area, I will go to the council room and get on the intercoms and call Codaka to the room. Please, follow me."

Ariel follows her out of the kids room and turns the light off behind her, then proceeds to follow Zikah back downstairs to the counselors room. She walks over to the worker at a desk who is reading something and speaks something difficult to hear and gives him the papers she was holding.

He nods his head and turns his chair 90 degrees and presses his finger on a red button and talks into the intercom.

"Codaka Longhorn, please come to the counselors office. I repeat, please come to the counselor's office. If you need help finding it, ask a worker nearby and they will guide you here. Thank you" he says taking his hand off the button and turns back to us.

"He should find his way to the office soon"

"Thank you sir" Ariel says bowing

*10 minutes later*

Ariel has been sitting and tapping on her purse on her lap waiting impatiently and nervously about how this will go and then turns to the 2 employees and gets up.

"Is something wrong?" Ariel asks

"Codaka does appear to be taking his time. We will wait another few more minutes and if he is not here by then I will ask for a search with his description." Zikah says

*6 minutes later*

"Alright, since Codaka has not arrived nor has any other workers came here with him we will have to do a thorough search." Zikah announces

Zikah waves Ariel over to her and walks out of the room with her following in pursuit.

"Is everything alright?" Ariel asks noticing Zikah is walking at a faster pace

"Maybe, maybe not. Codaka is a near child that has been placed in the orphanage and it is not uncommon for children to attempt to leave or flee the orphanage when being placed in one for the first time. Can be a running habit sometimes for some kids. So we are currently treated this as if a child is missing."

Ariel thinks for a moment and gets worried. Did Codaka flee the orphanage? Is he that emotionally distraught that he chose to flee the facility? Oh god I hope he didn't.

*6 minutes later*

Zikah opens the door which says "security" and walks over to a Rodin blonde haired male sitting slouched in his chair looking at the screens of the security cameras.

"Jacobs, we need you to look at all footage to see if there is a child that fits this description" she says handing him Codaka's papers.

He takes them and reads them in about 10 seconds and pops his knuckles and begins going through footage reversing them to see where he could've been all day.

As the footage reverses Ariel's eyes dot all over the place unsure as to how the security guard is able to keep track of the screens that are moving in reverse at a rapid pace. After about 3 minutes of reversing in who knows how much speed he turns around and shrugs.

"There is no kid that fits that description." he says still slouched in his chair.

"Th-that doesn't make sense." Zikah says rubbing her chin

"W-wait, Codaka isn't anywhere in the footage?"

"Nope, zilch, nada, gone, none existent" the Rodin man says casually.

"T-then! Then what now?" Ariel ask aggressively, "If Codaka is missing then a child is missing!"

"We understand that, which is why I am here to make this lazy bum do his job." Zikah says sternly eyeing the Rodin man.

"Yeah yeah I get it I will call it in with local law enforcement in the area to search and examine the footage more." he says

Ariel thinks for a moment. She assumes Codaka had arrived to the orphanage without issue otherwise the news would've shown a kid being missing. They get there strange kick out of big problems or issues.

"Wait, you said yourself that there is not a single sign of Codaka in any of the footage today right?" Ariel asks

"Yep, I am very good with my eyes. Which is why I am here. Keeping an eye on children so they don't do something they shouldn't"

"So what about yesterday? If the footage shows he arrived here then we know he actually came here."

"I suppose that wouldn't be an issue to go back on yesterday's footage." he says turning around and going through old footage from yesterday which is saved on a local drive.

As he begins the footage during the beginning of the day yesterday he starts speeding it up and stops it. Seeing a woman with red hair whom Ariel recognizes as Dr. Hersha. And a small ebony and tints of red figure with her. No doubt that is Codaka with her.

He switches camera's showing Codaka with Hersha inside the front office and then for the next few seconds speeds up the footage and changes camera's following where Codaka is walking for the rest of the day until, he enter the kids bedroom in Level 5, room 3.

He continues the footage and speeds it and he doesn't leave the room. There appears to be no camera's in the bedrooms. Maybe it is a privacy thing. Then a horde of children move in the various bedrooms and still Codaka doesn't leave. After a few more seconds of sped up footage it freezes and that is when recording stops at 12 am.

The guard leans back and shrugs, "He never left the bedrooms after entering it."

"That doesn't make sense when we went there he wasn't there. If he entered the rooms, and never left then he should've been there. What the hell?" Zikah says scratching her head in concern and confusion.

"Well, I will call this in and send the description of the kid to the proper authorities to keep a look out for him. Seeing this might now be a missing child case or a kidnapping. But I didn't see any footage showing that someone had unauthorized entering of the fascility"

Ariel starts feeling stressed out and leans backwards a bit but keeps her self standing up. She pulls out the photo of Codaka and begins to nearly cry right then and there and hold her mouth nearly sobbing.

But then stops for a moment noticing the situation. Codaka entered the bedrooms, but never cam out that room. There is only one entrence, but there is not one exit. She walks over to the guard passing by Zikah who is thinking.

"You show me the footage from yesterday outside the building that is adjacent to Level 5, room 3. Now."

He looks at her with surprise of her stern and stoic aggression towards him and glances at Zikah for what he should do. Zikah shurgs her shoulders but gestures him to do what she says.

He turns and goes to the camera's that is on the side fo the building she speaks of and speeds the video up and does it for a few seconds and then stops it for a moment and reverses it slowly.

"Hold up, what is that?" he says elaning in at the screen

He sees a small figure but it blends in the darkness and he can't make out the shape well. Looks liek a goblin to him. It is in the shadows. Ariel gets agitaded and moves the guard out of the way by sliding him away since hsi chair has wheel and eyes the figure herself tapping on the same button he was using to move the time by small amounts of time.

*Tap tap tap tap tap*

She continues to stare at the screen and then begins making out the shape a bit more in the light and then begins to see it. A small ebony figure that is hard to see, but she can make out feather like features above the head and redness on them as well. Then begins to make out a shape of the face being that of a animal a bit. That is him. Codaka in outside the building at night.