Has anyone seen Michael W. Jenner nosleep

"Has Anyone seen Michael W. Jenner?"

Everyone had seen the posters. It was seemingly overnight that the little off white sheets of paper came up all over campus. The lampposts and bulletin boards which one shouted to the sidewalks with disparate messages of concerts, bands and student elections now cried out in one single unified voice.

"Has anyone seen Michael W. Jenner."

Long, bold, heavy text formed the title across an unpatterned vanilla sheet of paper. A small photo of a young man, no older than twenty; clean shaven, with curly blonde hair, was centered beneath.

"19 years old, 5'11'', 160lbs, Last seen leaving class on Monday the 20th of August." No one discussed it, no one really knew what to say. It was a big school and I didn't even know someone who knew someone who knew Michael. We all figured there were people who weren't us figuring it out.

As the weeks went on the posters stayed up and some were joined by new ones explaining more details about the disappearance. Police cars started parking on campus more often, and the posters got louder and louder in our minds, filling up every available post and board.

"303-211-4623"

Everyone had seen the posters, but no one had seen Michael.

Everyone but me.

I work at a sandwich shop about a block from campus in an area that a lot of people like to frequent between classes, situated right where the campus becomes the commercial district, becomes the residential district, and becomes the greek district. It was the day of his supposed disappearance and i remember seeing someone who looked uncannily similar to him come into the shop. This of course was before the posters so i really can't tell if it was actually him, or my memories over exaggerating some past memories in light of current events. Either way I never told the police because it disagreed with what later news said was the 'established timeline.'

Whoever it was, perhaps him, perhaps someone else, he seemed on edge. When he came in the store it was late and the store was empty, I thought I locked the door but I must have missed it because he came in and walked up to the line like he wanted to order a sandwich. I made my over to him after putting down my rag and apologized that we were closed. He jumped when I started talking and seemed, surprised. He quickly apologized and asked if he could just buy a drink and leave. I told him no but he strongly insisted and I caved. He took a small drink, and payed with a ten, insisting I keep the change. I did seeing as though I had already closed the registers and I saw him out the door and locked it behind him. He seemed just like the pictures in memory, average build, curly blonde hair, and a nose that sat just a little high on his face but not obtrusively so. I really debated calling the number for a few days but when the timetable came out on one of the newer posters it said that at that time, 10:15, the ip of his phone was active on the campus library router's wifi. That is nearly half a mile away. I figured it was all just coincidence but two nights ago something convinced me otherwise. I was closing up the sandwich shop, around 10:35 at night, and leaving out the back door to get to my car which was parked in the alley. I closed and locked the door, went down the small set of stairs, and went over to my little Honda which sat quietly next to the black brick wall.

Pinned underneath the right wiper blade was a poster,

"Has anyone seen Michael W. Jenner?" 19 years old, 5'11'', 160lbs, Last seen leaving class on Monday the 20th of August. 303-211-4623"

I picked it up and turned it over in my hand before folding it up and putting it in my pocket. I had seen it so many times I knew what it said before my eyes read it. I looked up, unlocked my car, and thats when I saw him. Standing there, at the end of the alley under a the dead streetlamp was the kid from the sandwich shop, the kid from the poster. He stood there motionless, silent, staring at me, his face was hard to see but it was uncomfortably expressionless. It was a feeling of disbelief for a moment, I could see his shape on the street across, and I could feel the weight of the paper in my left hand. My mind tried forming thoughts but it couldn't, and a second later he was gone, disappeared behind a car that passed on the street between us. I ran down the alley to try to find him but there was nothing there, just trees and flickering streetlamps covered in more posters

Has Anyone seen Michael W Jenner?

Has anyone seen Michael W Jenner?

I got in my car and drove home quickly. As I drove I felt like I could see him just behind every shadow and dark underpass. That was him right? it had to be.

When I got home I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed the police non- emergency number which my roommate had pinned to the refrigerator.

"Hello?"

"Hello, yes this is City of Burdeer Police Department, how can I help you."

"I think I have information on the missing person. Michael Jenner, right?"

"What missing person?"

"The posters? they all say someone is missing, that Michael kid, I think I saw him."

"Ah yes, the posters. Bardeer Police department did not put those up and currently we have no open missing persons cases under the name Michael Jenner. We have been trying to get them removed but they are replaced just about as quickly as we pull them down."

"What? do you know why they are up."

"Well it is the police's opinion that most likely some private entity is putting them up, possibly parents who want to find a kid that went Awol without getting the police involved."

I talked for a few more moments before hanging up and collapsing onto the couch. My feet were usually sore after work and nothing felt better than the old worn down red couch we had in the front room. It was quiet tonight, my roommates were gone home and at a camping trip, so I had the small quiet house to myself for the night. I went to put my phone in my pocket but a piece of paper blocked it, the poster. I pulled it out gently and opened it up to examine it in a new light, it was too dark to make out clearly in the alley but I didn't need much light to know what was on it. The message of a concerned parent. I figured I should do my duty and let them know what I knew, perhaps they could start mending whatever happened to their family. I dialed the number at the bottom of the poster and listened to it ring, twice, and then the voice of an older man cracked through the speaker

"Hello?"

"Yes, hello? I'm calling about Michael Jenner. I think I saw him tonight outside my work."

"Where is that?" The voice asked back, oddly emotionless.

"Just off campus in the hill area."

"Do you have an address for it?"

I have found I need my work address fairly often so to circumvent my terrible memory I keep it in my wallet where I wrote it down on a business card

"Yeah, give me just one second," I said grabbing my wallet out of my back pocket.

The other side was silent, no talking, no excited breathing. The more I thought about it the stranger it seemed. "Has anyone seen Michael Jenner," they didn't even say they were looking for him, just, have you seen him, a picture, and a phone number. No description of who he is, or what he likes to do, his friends, just a name, a picture, and a number. Hardly the description a desperate parent would give, and hardly the voice of a distraught father in search of his son, it was all just so, sterile.

"987 Grant st. Burdeer"

click

He hung up just like that, no name, no follow up questions, nothing. I stood there stunned with my phone to my ear and my wallet in hand still open with the business card out. I didn't know what to say to any of this. I slowly tucked the business card back into my wallet and noticed one more thing. The ten dollar bill he had given me was still tucked in my wallet, the corner just peeking out over the edge. I pulled it out and immediately felt my blood run cold.

Across the front of the ten dollar bill scribbled, hard blue pen

do not call the number, do not give an address, do not answer the door.

The doorbell rang and my wallet fell out of my hand and on top another poster lying on the floor

HAVE YOU SEEN MICHAEL W. JENNER?

Submitted April 25, 2015 at 12:27PM by toss957 http://ift.tt/1OnjMkH nosleep