Salutations!

It has been a year since I started this story. As a celebration, I decided to rewrite this chapter, to show my improvement, and also because I'm not happy with it currently.
The original is underneath the new one.

Enjoy!

What We've Left Behind
Chapter 1 Rewrite

It was if their entire lives had been rewritten in a single night.
After all, before, everything was certain, or at least some things were taken for granted. They were all to live long and happy lives, staying as friends the whole time - always there to support one another. But, now every assumption had been thrown out the window.
Because, now, Arthur was gone.

It wasn't an expected sort of leaving, a sad recognition of him being gone from their life for whatever reason. It didn't even feel real, feel possible. It was as sudden as lightning, because he had just disappeared, and within the house there had been signs of a struggle. Which meant, the most possible event... Was that for some unknown, obscure, terrible reason, Arthur Kirkland had been kidnapped.

Despite the evidence pointing towards it, it just didn't make sense. Who would want to take him, of all people? He was only 15 years old, and had no reason for hatred or anger against him. It was absurd to think someone had put in the effort to find a night when he would be alone, break into his house, fight and incapacitate him, and then sneak him away into the dark. There were unpleasant possibilities, that were difficult to consider, and even more difficult to think about.

Now there was someone missing among them. An empty space, where a person should be. 11 people downgraded to 10, a friend group losing a member completely unintentionally. Of course, it would be terrible to think they were the only ones affected.
Arthur's family. His mother, and three siblings. They seemed to break, because now they had an empty bedroom, and history felt like repeating itself, because of the death of the father, so long ago.

But, despite all this terrible anguish, there was still hope left. He was only missing, not dead. The police could find him, and bring him back. Then everything would be forgotten and everyone would be happy and Arthur could become and author just like he had always wanted.
Yet, the hope began to fade, as it always did.

Days and weeks felt like too much, but then they turned into months, and everything was sent spiraling down the drain. Then, a year had passed, a whole year since someone special had been taken from them.
There wasn't much of it left.
Somehow, he became a terrible tragedy of the past. A figment, a dream, that the realisation of could never be achieved because it had been so damn long. Never again would they see his annoyed grimace, or his relief as he finally had time to relax, or that ever-fleeting smile that meant so much, too much,
Maybe that image was one of the only things left, in the end.

The years went by, and he was legally declared dead. There was no funeral held, no excess of tears shed. Arthur had been gone for so long now that mourning him as if he had just died was impossible. Losing someone to uncertainty was probably the one of the most painful forms of grieving, because it stuck to you, and it never went away because that closure couldn't be received and there was still a tiny bit left.
A tiny bit of hope, lingering. And, perhaps that was what hurt most of all.

Salutations~!

((Warning: this author's note is very long and rambling. Skip to the underlined line for the start of the important info))

I'M SORRY!
I know, I know. I have two ongoing stories (actually three but one is on hiatus). I shouldn't be writing another. But... I just had to write this. I really did. So, yeah.

This idea was spawned from the dark recesses of my mind when I binge-watched 'Boku dake ga Inai Machi'. You know, the anime/manga that I spent ten minutes searching for on this website before realizing it was called the English name 'ERASED', instead. Argh, I'm disappointed. I mean, the SnK category is called the Japanese name, and so are many others, but this is the exception? Besides, I prefer the Japanese, 'cause it's a cool name. 'The Town Where Only I Am Missing' sounds much better than 'ERASED'.

Sorry. I'm annoyed. By the way, if you haven't watched it, you totally should. I know it's the only anime anyone is talking about at the moment, but for really good reason! The characters are well-written, the plot is extremely original, and the antagonist is one you can loathe with all your being.

Oops. A lot of words not even relating to this fanfiction. People who are new and are unaware of my rambling tendencies must be freaked out by now. PLEASE STAY!

Quick, before I make most of the author's note random ramblings, info about this fanfiction:

-As usual, no uploading schedule. It might be updated pretty inconsistently, since I have 2 other ongoing stories.
-I have the chapters planned out, and there will be 21. This number might change if I feel it needs more or less.
-Each chapter will be about 2,000 words long.
-Past tense, third person.
-As an Australian, some words will be spelt differently than in America. Oh, look, I just gave you 'spelt' as an example.
-No pairings!

((348 word author's note? I think that's a personal record...))

Hope you enjoy~!

Chapter 1

Their friend was gone.

More specifically, Arthur was. But... How?
Arthur had always been so sensible. Arthur had always been so smart. Arthur had always been so organized and prepared. So how had he disappeared from their lives without a single word?

The police said there had been signs of a struggle in the house. But Arthur used to do self-defense classes, back when he was all edgy and even more annoying then usual. ...How had he lost? How had Arthur lost? Why was he gone? Why, why, why, was Arthur gone?

This had echoed through all their heads recently. When they had first found out. During the questioning. During the investigation. During everything. It was all a bad dream. While Arthur had been a pretty irritable guy, it wasn't enough for someone to abduct him. To break into his house. To fight him. To knock him out and tie him up and put him in a car boot and take him to whoever-knows-where. At first, it hadn't been so bad. The police were the police, after all! They would investigate the crime scene, and track down the kidnapper, and put him in jail. Arthur would return, and nothing would change.

But that wasn't what had happened.

Days had passed. Then weeks. Then months. Now, it had been a year. An entire year had passed since Arthur had left. Had been kidnapped, abducted, stolen from them in a single night. Now, hopes had faded, and the group realized properly for the very first time.

Their friend was gone.
And he wasn't coming back.

They had all reacted differently. Some of them sobbed. Some wept. Some just said nothing and cried privately. But Alfred, who had arguably had been the closest, didn't even cry. He just broke down inside, and hid it from everyone else. He didn't smile for a fortnight. Other people close to Arthur also reacted differently. His 3 brothers, who had seemed to hate him, all seemed to break. Alistair, who was the oldest, seemed to be the most hurt, which was odd, since everyone knew about how much they had seemed to loathe each other. His mother remembered the death of her husband, and sobbed alone.

Even though Arthur, legally, would be alive for years to come, everyone thought him dead.
Maybe their loss of faith was cruel, or just sensible.
They would never fully heal. It would always be a permanent scar on their souls.

Arthur had disappeared when he was just 15. 15! Such a life ahead, gone. Arthur had wanted to be an author. He wanted to craft stories with his mind, and bring joy to thousands. He had been inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle, claiming that he was destined to be a great author sharing the same first name as a legend. He would stay up until 12, on the computer. Writing while others would be playing games, or partying, or socializing. His friends had wanted him to get out more, but he had firmly stayed in front of the computer.

He had been abducted when he was home alone. His mother and brothers had gone out to see a play, but Arthur wanted to write. So he had written. And was stolen. And was never coming back.

Sometimes, hope would kindle in them. Sometimes, they thought that maybe he could still come back. But, the hope was gone quickly.

Their friend was gone.
And still no return.

Well, don't we already know how much fun this angst trip is going to be?

Sorry it's so short. It's the first chapter, after all. Kind of a prologue.

Hope you enjoyed!