My dearest Ester,

If you're reading this letter it's because your father and I have disappeared. I have known that this time has been coming for a very long time. I always prayed that when it did we would disappear together. But sometimes, we don't always get what we prayed for.

You were always a smart and capable little girl. We never did really worry about you and who you would become as an adult. I'm sorry that we couldn't do more for you my sweet girl. Remember, your past holds hints to your future but it does not determine who you become.

Love,

Mom and Dad

"What?" I whispered. What on earth does that mean? How is that supposed to help me find them? How is that supposed to help me with my siblings? My past holds hints to my future but doesn't determine who I become?

My nostrils begin to flare and I begin holding tightly to the paper. I flip the paper over and over to see if there is anything else written on it. I couldn't believe that that's all my mother wrote.

How dare she? How dare she leave me this cryptic note with no other explanation!

Hot tears begin rolling down my face as I crumple up the letter and shove it back into my pocket. I splash my face with some cold water and I look at myself in the mirror again.

I'm hunched over and read in the face. My knuckles are turning white from gripping the sink. My nostrils are flared and a deep frown reflects back at me.

I hear a soft knock come from the other side of the door. I try to quickly compose myself before opening the door to my brother. He has tears streaming down his face and a sorrowful expression.

I grab him and I give him a tight hug. He begins to cry into my shoulder. In the twenty-one years of his life I have only held him while he cried three times. The first time was when he was five and busted his head riding his scooter in the house. The second time was when he was 19 and his girlfriend of five years dumped him suddenly.

The third time was today, and I held him tightly and quietly. His sobs shook me to the core but I didn't let go until he pulled away. When he finally did, he mumbled, "thank you for being there when I need you the most."

I gave him a half-smile and said, "any time bro."

He turned around and walked to the kitchen. I followed behind him but stopped to check in on Eloise.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked her.

She shuffled a bit to try and sit up straighter, "honestly, I've been better but I can't lie I miss mom and dad already."

"I know mama. Things are going to get better. It may not seem like it now but things will get easier and they'll get better." I gave her a faint smile trying hard not to show her the uncertainty that I actually felt.

She nodded and gave me a smile back. Her eyes began to well and her lips started to quiver. I walked around the sofa to give her a hug. She held onto me tightly as she said, "p-please don't d-disappear t-too. I wouldn't be a-able to ha-ndle it if you disappeared."

I gave her a squeeze as I kissed the top of her head, "I promise I won't disappear, Eloise. I'll always be here for you no matter what happens. Plus, mom and dad aren't truly gone." I lean back a bit to look at her and I point to her heart. "Mom and dad are in here, for all of us. There are pieces of them inside of us, so they're not truly gone."

At that moment Elaine walked into the living, sat down next to me and placed her head on my shoulder. I placed my hand on her hand that was on her leg and gave it a squeeze.

"Mom and dad are still with us. Their bodies may not be on earth right now and I hope that they're in heaven right now, looking after us. But we have pieces of them inside of us. I'm sure they wouldn't want us sitting here crying over spilt milk." I give both of my sisters a squeeze before standing up and continuing, "so let's go eat and after that everyone will shower and go to sleep. We can even have a sleepover here in the living room."

I go into the kitchen and fix myself and Eloise a plate of spaghetti. I walk back into the living room and hand Eloise her plate and I sit on the sofa in front of the tv and I start eating. Ethan and Elaine come into the living room with their plates and plop on the sofa.

We eat in silence, each of us deep into our thoughts about what's going to happen in the next few hours and days. Wondering what life is going to be like now without our parents. What is our new normal going to look like it?

Ethan grabs all of our plates when we finish eating, "I'm going to go shower real quick. I'm going to leave the door slightly open in case you guys need me." I say as I get up and start walking towards my room to get my clothes.

When I enter my room, I close the door behind me and lock it. I check that there is no light coming inside of my room from the outside and I check to make sure that nothing has been disturbed or added while I was gone.

Once I'm satisfied with my room check, one by one I lift up one corner of my bed and the other to put socks on the legs go my bed. I move my bed enough to get to the floorboard that holds my religious paraphernalia.

I kneel down to open the floorboard I remember the other things that I used to hide in this floorboard, notes from friends and crushes, bad grades on tests or homework assignments, letters from the school about my talkative nature and about my siblings' misbehavior. Never in a million years did I think that I'd be hiding my religious texts, my notebooks filled with notes of those texts, other notebooks of the revelations I received while reading and the notebooks of my dreams and their interpretations of it.

I get out the box that's holding all of this contraband and I open it. I sit down criss-crossed as I look through my books and pieces of paper where I wrote down different prophecies that I received throughout the years. I found the prophecy that led me to find Matthias.

I had been praying that year before I met Mathias to find the person that I'm going to get married to and be with forever. I prayed that this person would be similar to me in likes and dislikes but cool tempered, to even out my hot-temper, and that he would love me no matter what; just like in the sacred texts.

The man I have chosen for you will show up late to class and he will sit next to you. You'll briefly interact before the teacher walks into the room and the teacher will make a joke. You'll laugh and when you do you'll turn to that man and you'll know.

I didn't know which class it would be in that this would happen, but I'm glad that it happened when it did because Mathias had helped me through so much these past five years.

As I was balancing all of the books, the sacred texts fell from my hands and opened. When I looked over I noticed that one of the subheadings was called trials and temptations. Feeling as though my God was answering my why is this happening I grab the book and begin to read.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance... Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord promised to those who love him.*

As I read those lines I knew what was happening was a trial, not just for myself or for my family, but for the whole world. As I sat there thinking about the trial and about the events that occurred, I felt familiarity in it. I've seen or read about this before.

Where did I see this before? Was it in a movie? No, not a movie. A book maybe?

I look to my bookshelves remembering what each novel was about, couldn't be any on the shelf. I look back at the texts that I held in my hands and I turn to the last book in the sacred texts.