Jack felt happier than ever. He had finished his paper: 50 pages on a scientific theory he had been studying. Jack opened the door of his car and sat down to finish his latte. It was freezing so he turned up the heat. Jack was a junior in college. It was the end of his Christmas break and his paper was done. Jack still had five more days to relax. He closed his eyes as a train went by. He glanced out the window. A girl with a backpack on her back walked up the steps to the coffee shop. What was a fourteen year-old girl doing at a coffee shop at 12:00 pm? He excused the thought and checked his phone.
Jack finished his latte. He got out of his car and quickly approached a trash can, hasty to get back into his warm car. He looked up. A woman was sprinting down the street parallel to where he was standing. She looked crazy like her life depended on getting away from some unknown thing. He decided to get back into his car. Right as he turned to leave, the woman disappeared. He stopped, frozen. What had he just seen? She was gone. Jack stared at the street for a minute more. She could not have just disappeared, that was impossible. He was tired. Jack slowly made his way back his truck.

She was born with it. She was not excepted and no one believed her. She shouldn’t have told anyone. She didn’t deserve to be called crazy then but now she was. Janet had a power that no one else had: she could disappear whenever and wherever she wanted. Janet received her gift at age 16. Her parents didn’t believe her so she told her brother. Her brother didn’t believe her so she told her friends. Her friends said she was crazy. Soon she didn’t have any friends.
She ran away. She didn’t talk to anyone but herself for years. Janet had lived a solitary life but that was not her fault, it was someone elses and she wanted her revenge.
Janet was running away. For the 14th time, she would get away with crime. She turned left and started running. She had killed another person. Janet would disappear at the end of this street. She would end up in her home: a shack she had built out of trash and scrap metal. Janet knew she was crazy but there was no going back. The only other place Janet could go was jail. She ran faster, with a wild look in her eyes. Janet was almost home. She saw a man with a drink in his hand watching her. She thought he would never believe what he saw, no one did. She should have been more careful. Two people saw her and two people believed what they saw.

Emma knew who the woman was. Emma was the only one who knew that she was here or had been a minute ago. Emma had to find her. She could tell the police but what fun would that be? Emma jammed her textbooks into her backpack and threw away her drink. She opened the door and sprinted down the steps. Emma noticed a guy standing in the parking lot he was staring at the road. Then she realized he must have seen it too.
“Hey, she said. Did you see that?”
“That woman? He replied. You saw it too? So it was real!”
“Of course it was, said Emma. You know who that was right? The crazy woman who killed six people and robbed banks?”
“You think that was her? The man said. How would you know kid?”
“She looked crazy and exactly like the news described.” Emma said.
“What is your name?” Asked the man.
“I’m Emma who are you?”
“My names Jack, he said. Good to meet you”
“So what are we going to do about this? Emma asked.
“She is gone what can we do?” he replied.
“Look for her!”
“If she can disappear anytime how will we catch her. Shes not human! Just turn her into the police!”
“The police will never believe us! We are the only ones who can do anything, said Emma. Now can we please go somewhere warmer I’m freezing.”
“Okay come inside my car, we can decide what to do.”

Jack was starting to get annoyed. This girl, Emma, had convinced him to help her track down a criminal that had superpowers. She also didn’t seem to be tired after being up until 1:00. He was. Jack knew that he should be excited like she was. He was finally given an opportunity to fight for justice. But this was impossible and Jack was not motivated.
After endless minutes of brainstorming, Emma came up with an idea. She wanted to find the criminal when she was sleeping. Maybe they could knock her out so she would not be able to escape. The question was what they would do after that. It sounded stupid at first but really there was nothing else they could do.
They got out of Jacks car. The first place to investigate was the spot where she had disappeared. They looked around for about ten minutes.
“Look, I see something,” said Emma. She ran over to the sidewalk and picked something up.
“What is it?” Asked Jack. She ran to him and held up a small piece of paper. It was a receipt. Jack read it. It showed that someone had bought some bread, water, and ten apples.
“How do we know it was hers”? Asked Emma.
“Whoever bought this food, bought it with cash. It says here,” said Jack. He pointed to the receipt. Suddenly Emma’s eyes got very wide.
“It would be stupid to have any identity when you are a criminal like this. That’s why she only took cash from banks and thats why she buys her groceries with cash too.”
“So it was her!” Exclaimed Jack. Jack read the slip of paper.
“It has the address here. Lets look there maybe the store is still open.”
They got in the car and drove away.

When Janet arrived at her home, the stray dog was waiting for her. She had come across the dog about a month ago when she hitch-hiked here. It had seemed lonely just like her so they had started to live together. Janet had an excess of money so the dog always had a full belly.
She sat down on an old crate and fed the dog some bread and an apple. Somewhere in the back of Janet’s mind she knew what she did was wrong. The stray dog loved her and he reminded her that she didn’t have to hate everyone she saw. Surely there was someone that would have loved her when she was little. Someone would have believed her.
Janet finished eating and decided to go to bed. The police would know what she had done soon but they would never find her. Much to Janet’s disadvantage, the stray dog wandered away into the distance. It would come back in the morning but for now she would have no warning of intruders.

It was so exciting! Emma was going to solve a crime and save lives. She had never felt better in her whole life. Emma told Jack a bit about herself as they drove across the town. She found out that he was studying science in college and wanted to become a chemical technician. Emma liked Jack although she could tell that he thought she was annoying. She did not really care though. They made a good team.
As soon as they arrived at the Food Lion, Emma got out of the car and approached the building. They were open! She called out to Jack and he parked the car. They walked inside and looked around. Almost no one was there. A tired looking cashier asked if they needed any help.
“Yes please, said Emma. Which one of you is Sammy?” She asked, looking off of the receipt.
“That’s me, said a girl in the corner. What can I help you with?”
“I was wondering if you remembered who bought these things? Could you explain what they looked like? Jack was looking at the ceiling and tapping his foot.
“Yes, actually. It was a woman with red hair. She was about 6 feet tall.” Jack suddenly spoke up.
“Excuse me, do you have a record of the security camera footage from outside?” He said.
“I’m afraid we can’t show that to you,” said Sammy.
“Please ma’am, we are trying to figure something out. This is very important, “Jack pleaded.
“Okay, very quickly then.” She led them to the back of the store and up some steps. She picked up a walkie talkie and asked for a man to come up and show them. The she left. Shortly after, a man in a blue uniform came upstairs. He introduced himself and reluctantly showed them the video footage from that day. Emma watched as people walked in and out of the store. Jack looked at the receipt and told him to stop. They had a whole view of the parking lot. Then, she walked into the frame. The criminal was wearing the same clothes as she did that night. She was approaching out of the woods on one side. The criminal bought her apples and bread. She walked across the parking lot and back where she came from.
“Thank you very much, said Jack. That was all we needed.” The security man looked at them with confusion.

Jack and Emma were bushwhacking through the woods. The criminal had left a path through the weeds for them. They continued on until they reached a clearing.
“Okay, I will go in,” said Jack. Emma looked upset but she knew two people would make more noise than one. Jack approached the small house. It was barely big enough for one person. He spotted his weapon, a pot was hanging on a hook near a messy firepit. The criminal was sound asleep. Jack had to do it quick. He was only going to knock her unconscious. It was for the greater good. He looked back, Emma was biting her tongue. He lifted the pot over her head and brought his arms down. There was a quiet thump. He lifted the pot away. She was lying there, but was she unconscious? It would have to do. They carried the criminal back towards the parking lot. Jack ran to get the car and they put her down in the backseat.
The next stop was the police station. Jack’s idea of the security cameras had given them another idea. If the police didn’t believe them, they could just look at the traffic surveillance camera footage. Jack was excited to go home and sleep. He sped up and in no time they reached the station.
Just as they had planned the police were interested but did not believe them.
“Officer, we did not expect you to believe us but just for good measure will you check the traffic security cameras?” Jack asked. The officer went into a room and came back twenty minutes later.
“You are right son. Thank both of you so much we have been trying to solve this case for the past month.”
“You are very welcome we just ask one thing of you: please do not put our names in the news., “Jack said.
“Of course not. Do you mind if we say that the police finally found her? We also won’t mention her special ability.
“That would be great. Thank you,” said Jack. They left the police station. It was time to go home.

The next morning Emma woke up and smiled. She would never forget her experience. Emma made her way downstairs. She glanced at her father’s newspaper. They had made the front page. 