Slip : Part 1 : The Disappearance

A police car was parked in front of an old ten-story office building, around forty years old, located in a noisy area of Bangkok. A police officer was questioning people entering and leaving the building. Beside him stood a middle-aged woman, her face contorted as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

Belle and Sunny happened to be walking through the front door of that very building.
In fact, the incident had already been the talk of the office for about three days.

“This is a big deal. They still haven’t found her. I feel so bad for that poor woman,” Belle said.
“I don’t think it’s possible,” Sunny whispered, glancing toward the police and the small crowd before leaning closer to Belle. “An entire building with people coming in and out all the time — how could someone just vanish out of nowhere?”
“Exactly. And the weirdest part is, her bag and all her things are still here,” Belle said, echoing the same speculation everyone else in the building had been making.
“Hmm… maybe she just got sick of work and suddenly ran off,” Sunny replied — though it sounded more like she was describing her own feelings than the missing woman’s.

The two watched the commotion for a while before heading inside, getting ready for the afternoon shift.

Sunny was planning a weekend trip with her boyfriend and had already taken an extra week off, so she needed to finish all her pending tasks before leaving. Her mind, however, was completely focused on the upcoming vacation. She wasn’t particularly concerned about the mysterious disappearance in the office — or even her own work, for that matter.

“I just wanna get away somewhere far, clear my head. I’m so done with work! Look at all these documents! And why the hell do I have to keep checking all these numbers?” Sunny grumbled, pushing her chair back before plopping down with a thud and staring at the piles of paperwork in utter boredom.

Belle, on the other hand, wasn’t bored with work at all. Quite the opposite — she was completely absorbed in the mystery of the missing woman. She skimmed through her own paperwork quickly and then went off to gossip with coworkers from other departments.

Meanwhile, Sunny kept half-working, half-scrolling through her phone, browsing seaside destinations for her Saturday trip.

About two hours later, Belle came half-walking, half-running to Sunny’s desk.

“Sunny! That missing person — I went to ask around on her floor. It’s super weird. Do you know what’s strange about it?” Belle said, eyes gleaming with excitement.
“No idea… hey, Belle, do you know if this discount works on hotels I already booked?” Sunny replied absentmindedly, completely derailing the conversation.
“What? No, discounts only work when you book! Once you’ve paid, that’s it! Anyway, listen to me!” Belle grabbed Sunny’s shoulder and gave her a small shake as Sunny kept her eyes glued to her phone.

“The missing woman’s name is Pu. She worked on the sixth floor. She vanished in broad daylight. She was making herself a hot coffee, spilled it on her shirt, so she said she’d go to the restroom on the fifth floor — and she never came back. Isn’t that creepy?”

Belle’s voice was full of excitement. Sunny raised her eyebrows, thinking for a moment before answering.

“Maybe she went home to change? Could’ve had an accident on the way.”
“Are you crazy? Just because she spilled coffee on herself? Who goes home over something like that? The weird thing is — the security camera by the stairs shows her walking down, but never shows her walking out. You get that? There’s footage of her going down, but no footage of her leaving the stairwell. Weird, right?”

Belle’s tone was urgent, and this time it managed to spark a flicker of interest in Sunny. So Belle continued.

“It’s gotten so weird that everyone on that floor’s talking about it. And apparently, one of the senior staff who’s been here forever said something similar happened about sixteen years ago!”
“Sixteen years ago? Wow. That senior’s basically a fossil! How’s she still alive?” Sunny joked, laughing.
“No, seriously — someone disappeared without a trace. Just gone. The last place they were seen was this very office.”
“And how do they know that?” Sunny asked.
“Because it happened during a New Year’s Eve countdown party. Everyone was drinking, celebrating here in the office. After the party ended, everyone went home — except him. He was never seen again. And everyone at the party swore they never saw him leave the building.”

“So basically, he could’ve disappeared anywhere. Maybe he got drunk and fell into a river or something. Doesn’t sound like this case at all. You and that fossil coworker of yours — total overthinkers,” Sunny said, still scrolling through discount codes for hotels and restaurants.

“No, look! The senior showed me this photo from that New Year’s party. Here!” Belle handed Sunny her phone. It was an old photo of an office New Year celebration.
“That’s him.” Belle pointed at a young, sharp-looking man wearing a party hat, clinking glasses with his coworkers.

Sunny nodded absentmindedly, pretending to care, but in her mind she thought, “Oh God… Belle’s totally obsessed.”

“Alright, enough. I’m getting back to work. I can’t wait to go home and start packing for the beach. Ho-ho-ho!” Sunny said, turning to her keyboard, tapping away impatiently, counting the minutes until 4:00 p.m.

— To be continued... —

Slip #1,  Slip #2 , Slip #3,  Slip #4,  Slip #5,  Slip #6,  Slip #7, Slip #8,  Slip #9,  Slip #10