A greater part of my last week was spent between reading Ibtisam Azem’s The Book of Disappearance and sifting through the various news articles on the UK riots. Unsurprisingly, I was hesitant to step out in the midst of the madness and chose to step into Azem’s powerful novel of an Israel where all Palestinians just disappear one day. It then occurred to me, what if just like the Palestinians, the immigrants just disappeared from the face of the country…

Edward woke up with a jolting scream from his mum’s room. After a few minutes of getting his bearings right, he rushed to her room.

“Edward, of dear Lord, Edward I can’t move.” Jenna continued screaming.

“What is it mum? Is it the back?”

Jenna had been on the bed after a freak accident fourteen months ago. She was walking on the sidewalk while returning from her grocery run at the nearby Aldi when she was struck by a drunk driver.

“No, it’s my leg. I can’t bear it, Edward do something.” Jenna continued screaming.

Clueless and panicking, Edward remembered what Zuri had told him a few weeks ago. In case of sudden spasms, which will return increasingly during recovery, get her an ice pack for relief and pop her one of the Naproxen in her medicine box.

Edward rushed and brought her the ice pack from the freezer before handing her one of the tablets just like Zuri had instructed.

Jenna calmed down slightly when the ice pack seeped through her pyjamas and numbed her muscles. She was tired and drained after the morning’s ordeal.

Edward looked at his mum, sighed and proceeded to the toilet to freshen up. It struck him that he should ring Zuri first and call her in earlier that morning.

Soon after Jenna’s accident, the doctors had recommended for a full time carer for Jenna’s condition. Edward, who worked in a publishing house as an Assistant Editor barely had time to go on a date. He knew that he had no choice but to hire a carer. That is when Zuri entered their life.

Daughter of second generation Kenyan immigrants, Zuri was born in Merseyside. A dutiful and smiling daughter, Zuri loved taking care of people and enjoyed her job as a carer in spite of the constant challenges.

It was a connection on the first meeting. Jenna adored Zuri as much as Zuri took care of Jenna. Meanwhile, Edward was relieved that he could focus on his work with an occasional check-in with his mum.

“Edward, can you ask Zuri to come in a little early today?” Jenna called Edward from her room.

“I have been trying to reach her for 20 minutes now but she is not answering.” Edward said while ringing Zuri again.

This was very unusual. Zuri usually answered Edward’s call in two rings.

“It’s fine. It’s almost 8 o clock now. She’ll be here by 8:30 anyways.” Edward said from Jenna’s doorway and went to his room to get ready for the day.

Edward was constantly looking at the clock now. It was 8:50 and he had to leave. He was already late and knew that Michael, his editor, won’t be happy with a late start. They had an important meeting later that day.

“Try calling her again.” Jenna asked Edward.

“I have already called her 20 times and she hasn’t answered me once. She is not responding to my messages too.” Edward was now getting impatient. He knew he couldn’t leave Jenna alone that morning, especially after that morning’s spasm episode.

Edward called in his work at 10:30 and requested an urgent day off. He dreaded the repercussions that he’d have to bear the next day.

Jenna was getting impatient now. She needed Zuri. Even though Edward had fed her Weetabix with milk, Jenna knew that Edward won’t be able to give her her daily soup and wash her.

Edward angrily called carers agency line at 11:15 after not hearing back from Zuri. The line was busy.

“This day can’t get any worse.” Edward groaned.

After 40 minutes of trying to get through, Edward’s call was answered by an incoherent woman at the other end.

“Our carer Zuri has not come in today. What is this behaviour? If Zuri..”

Before Edward could finish his angry rant, he was cut short by the woman at the other end.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused but almost all of our carers haven’t reported in today. We are getting calls from everyone. We apologise for this but we are helpless and we will inform you as soon as we know something.”

“What do you mean that carers haven’t reported in today?” Edward was answered with an abrupt end to the call.

“Edward see what our WhatsApp Carers group is saying.” Jenna said softly.

“Mum please I don’t have time for your WhatsApp nonsense right now.”

“Nobody’s carer has turn up today.”

“What?” He snatched her phone and started scrolling down the chat.

All messages said the same thing. The carers had gone. No one was answering their calls. The people with no kids had to call in the police and the hospital for urgent support.

“Where have all of them vanished?” Edward mumbled.

Lily knew it was a takeout morning after her long night shift. She knew it wouldn’t be the healthiest meal, something she likes to preach to her colleagues at work but was too exhausted to think about the proteins and calories intake. Some patients had been particularly difficult during that shift.

She had also missed her colleague Savi. Savi hadn’t turned up for her night shift. Lily assumed that Savi had called in sick because she was not feeling well the night before.

Lily dropped Savi a ‘miss you feel better x’ text between her shift.

Still hasn’t seen the message, Lily thought to herself after checking her messages.

Lily began scrolling through her Deliveroo favourites as she approached her modest one bedroom flat on the corner of the street. She liked Newcastle, especially the stunning sunrises that she got the witness.

While unlocking her door, Lily ordered hummus and vegetables from her favourite local Turkish cafe. She kept her phone on the counter while she unpacked her bag.

“I should shower before the food is here.” She said to herself.

Lily checked her phone to see the estimated time of delivery and saw that her order hadn’t been accepted.

“Hmm, that’s weird.” She knew that the cafe opened at 7 AM and was usually up and running by then.

She waited another few minutes and kept checking the screen.

“I’ll just have a croissant today.” Lily sighed.

She ordered a croissant and a sandwich for later and smiled when the order got accepted immediately.

She saw the estimated time that said 8:35 and went to take a shower.

“There is still 20 minutes.”

Lily came out of the shower and looked at her screen. It was 8:40 and the app said that it was still trying to find a rider.

Lily dressed for bed and went to make coffee for herself.

Lily got irritated by the time it was 8:55 and the app still flashed ‘trying to find a rider’.

She thought she’d rather have the old bread with jam at home because she was too sleepy now and there was no sign of the order.

‘Unable to cancel order as order is in kitchen’

“Urgh, I hate it.” Lily was getting angry now, “I need my food.”

“Savi hasn’t even seen my message.” Everything was making Lily angry that morning.

Lily had little patience now. It was 9:30. It had been an hour since she ordered a croissant and the app still flashed, ‘trying to find a rider’.

After having dealt with the patients on a night shift, Lily had no energy to call Customer Service. However her order delay meant she would get barely any sleep during the day.

Lily tried reaching the Customer Service but the waiting time was too long. She turned on the TV to distract herself while still looking at the screen that flashed ‘trying to find a rider’.

It took Lily a few minutes of cognisance to read what flashed on BBC.

CHAOS AS THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE VANISH

WORKERS VANISH IN THIN AIR

“What happened?” Sophia asked.

“I don’t know it’s all crazy here. It took me ages to get in the office first because the system wasn’t working and there is no one here. I just see a handful of people here.” Jack said.

Jack’s office was usually bustling and there was barely any space to get his breakfast from Google’s famous breakfast spread.

“I am just headed for breakfast. Let’s see.. WTF.” Jack exclaimed.

“You ok?” Sophia stopped in her tracks. She was headed to get some stuff for the kids from the local M&S.

“There is no food today. It’s basically empty.”

“Were you not notified?”

“No, there wasn’t any.. Hi man what’s happening here?” Jack asked a colleague he spotted.

“Don’t know. I am trying to reach out to the manager here, but I can’t.” he answered.

“I’ll speak to you later Soph.” Jack cut the call.

Sophia sighed and headed for M&S. It was not long before she saw a large crowd in front of the store. She thought there must have been an incident.

“What’s happening here?” Sophia asked an old lady with a grocery trolley trying to get in.

“They are not opening the doors. It was supposed to be open three hours ago but there is no sign of anyone here. Even the lights are off.” the lady answered.

Sophia noticed that it was indeed dark inside. She spotted someone moving inside and knocked on the glass door. The person inside clearly saw Sophia but didn’t move.

The agitation outside M&S was growing louder and larger. Meanwhile Sophia got a message from Jack that read ’80% of the people here are absent. More than half of the engineers and workers. It’s MAYHEM’.

The knocks and angry mobilisation of the people outside forced the man from within the store to come out and talk. The people started asking him angry questions.

The man tried to calm them. Sophia supported the worker and asked everyone to let the worker talk.

“I am sorry, I understand that you are angry and impatient but we can’t open the store until we have the minimum number of workers in the store. There is no one else inside but me and another worker. None of the other reporters have reported in today. My other colleague is trying to reach head office but they are saying it’s happening everywhere.”

“What do you mean everywhere?” Sophia asked him.

“We have been told that a lot of the workers didn’t report in today in all our countrywide stores. The head office is still trying to figure out if this is a mass strike or something else.”

The worker apologised before rushing in and locking the door again.

The angry crowd started dispersing after realising that there was no point of standing and screaming in front of closed doors.

‘You won’t believe but many M&S workers didn’t turn up today too. What a coincidence.’ Sophia messaged back to Jack.

“I’ll just get the basics from our corner shop.” Sophia said out loud and headed towards the direction of her home.

The walk home was very weird. She could sense chaos amid the empty streets. The streets were usually busy at this peak hour.

Sophia was rather surprised when she saw the corner shop closed. It was shuttered and there was no sign anywhere of anyone.

Jack rang her at the same time.

“Soph you won’t believe, it’s crazy here. They’ve called a worldwide meeting for the people reporting in today. All work is stalled.”

“Jack, do you remember if Abdul ever closed his shop?” She interrupted her husband. “He opens it even during Christmas.”

“Abdul? No. I met him just yesterday when I popped in to buy some toilet rolls.”

“Jack, something’s not right. It seems like people are disappearing into thin air.”

“Yea, it feels like they are just gone.”