One day, fourteen employees of InfoTek Ltd. vanished from the face of the Earth.
It was easy to ignore at first, as employees drove into the parking lot, poured themselves coffee, sat at their cubicles. A slow morning, it was easy enough to imagine that they overslept, called out sick, or any other explanation. But as the hours went on, people began checking calendars and finding no vacation or sick time allotted. Managers were asking where someone was during standup. And as daily conversation carried on, people became increasingly aware that this wasn't just one or two unusual absences. A lot of people were unaccounted for.
The first day ended with everyone feeling that a storm was looming, but maybe if they didn't acknowledge it, it would pass. But day two rolled around, and still, the fourteen were nowhere to be seen. Emails were sent, unknowingly destined to lay stagnant in an inbox for the rest of time. The office called the number of everyone absent, only to be met with dialtones, and the occasional worried friend or family, just as confused as they were.
Rumors started to circulate, as they do. A surprise round of layoffs? No, they'd just had one of those only 2 weeks ago. And even upper management seemed in a panic, caught off guard, despite their best efforts to hide it. Some sort of strike? Well, wouldn't be very effective if no one knew what they were striking over. And that didn't explain the very real concern in the voices of the relatives they spoke to. Maybe they were kidnapped by aliens. That one at least got an awkward laugh around the lunch table.
Day three started with a brief window where people thought - maybe, maybe everything will go back to normal now. But like the past two days, the missing employees were nowhere to be found. Everyone was gathered for an impromptu all-hands meeting, where the CEO of the company addressed the situation. An investigation had been filed, and the authorities were looking into the matter. Anyone with any info was encouraged to speak up. HR was there if anyone needed to talk. They would push some deadlines back to account for the sudden drop in headcount.
No one commented on how empty the room felt.
The earlier layoffs had already set some teams back on their deadlines, and this was doing nothing to help. HR ramped up hiring efforts, but around the same time, the news began picking up on the incident. There were a few news vans, a few interviews. Articles were shared around on the company communication channels discussing the incident, though none of them shed much light. New openings were filled slowly - unsurprisingly, having your company tied to an event like this made some people wary.
But, a week or two after, openings were being filled. This raised the issue of offices and cubicles. Until now, most of the spaces left by colleagues had been left untouched. Photos, desk toys, computer equipment, all left exactly as it was the last day their owner had worked there. Someone continued to water the plants. But as time went on, people began to arrive in the morning only to see vacant cubicles where their colleagues once sat. Maybe they'd catch the tail end of an HR person boxing up personal items. No one was particularly happy about it, but then, what else were they supposed to do? They couldn't just leave it there forever.
Even with the new hires, progress slowed to a crawl. Essential information had to be relearned, as the disappearances had caused their own personal burning of the Library of Alexandria. One of the smaller teams was just gone completely, and had to be built back up from scratch. New contacts were set up for clients, some of whom had taken their business elsewhere upon hearing the news.
And this was to say nothing of morale. The office looked the same as ever, sure, save for a sudden increase in floor space. But a fog hung over the workplace. No one would mention it, and if you did, you'd get a funny sort of look from others. But it was there.
A few weeks after, everyone got a modest bonus. There was suddenly extra salary to go around, and hopes that a little extra might do something for everyone's mood. One employee had resigned just a few days before, spooked by the whole situation, and they couldn't afford to lose any more than they already had.
The fog lingered. But the desire - the need - for normalcy slowly pushed it from the workplace. They had deadlines to meet, projects to finish, clients to call. The world stopped for no one, the CEO had remarked in another recent all-hands meeting.
A few months after, the authorities had no leads. Aside from all working at InfoTek Ltd, there was no apparent connection between the disappearances. There were rumblings of a lawsuit against the company, but it never seemed to materialize. The families of the missing had no idea where they'd gone, and no amount of searching unearthed any trace of them. There were a few missing posters put up around town, and a small service at the local church.
The company had some time to celebrate, at least - people had pulled through, and some sleepless nights had pushed them to the finish line for their quarterly goals, despite the setbacks. None of the old cubicles or offices remained at this point, reclaimed by new hires who were learning the ropes of InfoTek Ltd. A few of them had mentioned the disappearances at first - who could blame them - but it'd faded as a conversation topic. They knew they didn't know anything, and lingering on it left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
Before long, a year had passed. The case had gone cold. The fog remained, but it had thinned to where you could mostly ignore it. Things weren't quite the same - everyone still felt the pressure of catching up. But it was clear they were catching up. Before long, everyone reasoned things would more or less be back to normal.
Outside the office, down a few streets and over a hill, a memorial had been set up by a local park. Photos, flowers, a handful of the personal items the company had shipped back to their owners families. Papers - some missing person flyers, some personal dedications, affixed like roses blooming from a bush. In the middle of it all, a sign with the fourteen names, and the simple message, "We miss you."
InfoTek Ltd. continued to operate, and the next year company stock went up 5 points.