About people who disappear.
That makes you wonder...
What were they doing.
Before they vanished?
I mean, in a lot of crime shows both true and fictionalized.
A person is there.
They have a conversation.
And then later.... they're gone.
Only to possibly be found dead later on. If they're found at all.
What happened.
Between that last conversation.
And being found?
What was the person's mindset, their plans, their ideas?
Its an odd thought to be thinking about I suppose.
But I had that today.
As earlier, I was in my room, waking up from a nap.
And my roomies told me through my door that they were going out and would be back later in the evening.
Leaving me alone in the apartment.
What if I wasn't there when they got back?
What would have happened?
All they would have known is that I was in my room when I left.
I didn't tell them my plans.
Nobody knew what I was up to.
How would have people retraced my steps?
Figured out where I'd gone?
It was on my mind, as I headed out into the snowy darkness a little earlier today.
I suppose the day just had a creepy feel to it. Me going out by myself, into the darkness.
I had five things on my list when I left the apartment earlier today.
And out of those five things.
Only Facebook knew one thing. That I had realized that I've been sick because I haven't had any McDonald's French fries recently. (as my roomie and I end up getting them like twice a week, but she's been gone on vacation. Soo....I haven't gone to get fries recently.)
So the first place they would go check.
Is to see if I actually ended up at a McDonalds.
There are many in the area.
So it would be a matter of narrowing down which ones would be closest to me.
Knowing that I was sick.
I'd probably go to the closest one.
Which is really like half a mile away.
They would check the time stamp at the store.
Possibly check it with my facebook status.
And realize...
It was like an hour and a half difference.
If I posted the status and headed right out to McDonalds...what was I doing in the hour and a half in the meantime?
A glance around the apartment would give them a clue.
There's a nail in the kitchen.
That would have nothing hanging on it.
Because it usually holds the mail key.
If the mail key wasn't there.
Then I must have gone to check the mail.
Whether I went to it before I left for McDonalds or after I came back from McDonalds...
Would be more difficult.
If my car wasn't in the parking lot...(which if I didn't return, it wouldn't be.)
Then I must have gone to check the mail first.
Of course, it would confuse them because there would still be mail in the mailbox. Because I have mail in there for people who don't live in my apt anymore. So I just leave it there.
But if they checked my phone records they would know that my roomie on Vacation had asked me if she'd gotten any mail.
And a bit after I posted my facebook status.
I sent her a text that said "Nope. :("
So they know I posted the facebook status. Checked the mail, and then left for McDonalds.
But checking the mail doesn't take an hour and a half.
The car is still gone.
Where would I have gone in the meantime?
A glance at my credit card records would show the next answer.
Walmart.
I went grocery shopping.
So I posted on Facebook, checked the mail and then headed to the nearby Market Walmart.
-Keeping in mind that I'm sick, I would stick with the smaller closer one, rather than driving further away to the larger one -which would have had a McDonald's in it for me to grab fries as I was shopping.
So if I was trying to make the trip easier on me, I would have driven to that one.
But like I said, I had five things in mind when I left the apartment.
And now you know three of them. Check the mail, grab groceries, and get McDonalds.
Why Groceries?
Well. A look in the garbage can would show you empty boxes. Empty boxes of my work snack food that I take to work everyday. I'd run out and I needed more.
A glance in the bathroom would show an empty Nyquil bottle.
I've been sick, empty bottle. I went to get more of that as well.
Who knows if anyone at the Grocery store would know me, see if I was acting weird at all...
Well one of the workers would. Not that I was acting weird,
But because I went through the self check out.
And apparently you can't buy Nyquil from the self checkout without approval from a 'cashier'
So I had a brief conversation with the lady, about that little quirk of the stores.
And then left.
But in the time stamp on the Walmart receipt... and the Time Stamp in McDonalds....
I still had like 15 minutes of empty space.
Where would I got in that time?
Considering the time, traffic wasn't heavy. The lights weren't long. It wouldn't take me that long.
But the credit cards show that I didn't buy anything else....
Yet...At McDonalds I paid with Cash.
Soo...maybe I went elsewhere and paid with Cash there as well?
Yep. I did.
Because I'm trying to not get my bank account below a certain number. So I resorted to cash for three of my five errands.
Asking the roomies may result in an answer...may.
In that I'd been sick.
Had I been doing anything because I was sick?
And they might mention that I grabbed Zupas yesterday.
And I'd grabbed it multiple times this week.
So, knowing I was sick, maybe I'd gone to grab more.
Which is correct.
A glance at texts to my mom would show that I also mentioned yesterday that I would grab Jamba Juice as well for the Vitamin D.
Glancing at my credit card records would show that yesterday I did go to Zupas and Jamba Juice
If they were really into it, they would check further back.
And see that when I get sick, I usually go to Zupas multiple days in a row, occasionally accompanied by Jamba Juice as well.
They could also get an idea of when I disappeared, by again checking my cell phone records. As I ended up texting my Mom and my roommate throughout my errand run. So they would know about the time I disappeared because I would stop responding to the texts.
And if...just if. (which is true.) I didn't want to back track.
They could figure out possible routes I took. Which stores I went to in each order.
Especially considering they knew the beginning point -Walmart and the ending point. McDonalds.
So I would go from the mail box, to Walmart to Zupas, to Jamba Juice, to McDonalds and then come back to my Apartment, putting me in one big circle with hardly any back tracking.
Of course....
If they found my car, they would be able to know that information anyways.
Depending on the state it was found in, I would have groceries, soup, jamba juice and McDonalds in my car.
If they found my coat they would find cash, and two receipts for Walmart and McDonalds in the pockets.
I mean, if I made it back to the apartment...then one of my friends would have seen me arrive back, and take my groceries into my apartment, because she happened to be visiting her sister when I drove up.
But.
Since I made it back to the apartment safely.
None of it really matters in the end.
Still.
It was a thought. Bugging me as I went about today.
If I disappeared....
How well would people be able to retrace my steps?
Would they ever be accurately able to trace my journey?
lol.
That's a writer's mind for you I suppose.
Figuring out potential scenarios and how they would all go down.
Why it happened to be on my mind today I have no idea....
I'm just grateful that I did all my errands today safely in the dark stormy weather. :)
Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
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