The Missing

The Missing refers to a group of people who follow a specific pattern; as children they are sick on a near constant basis with one thing or another to the point the parents or other caregivers almost always think they won't make it. Eventually, usually around the ages of 8 or 9, they grow out of it and seem healthy until they vanish as teenagers.

No one knows where they go or what happens to them, one day everyone wakes up and they're just gone. No amount of investigation yields any results, and they are never found.

Some recognize the signs and try to take measures to protect the kids but it never works. Underground, locked in sealed rooms, protected by guards or animals - no matter what, the kids eventually vanish.

It's a mystery that still plagues so many, especially because it seems entirely random. The kids range across all spectrums of biological gender, race, and location and the only thing that ties them together is being sick when young and being teenagers when they vanish. Some have unfortunately taken to letting their children pass if they start exhibiting constant sickness, thinking that death is a better fate than whatever awaits them if they're taken.