The Case of the Missing Top Stories

This story is purely fictional. Any resemblance to real-life events is strictly coincidental. Maybe.

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All was turmoil at the Vocal Headquarters. It seemed another Top Story had come missing overnight, and no one knew what had become of it. They had searched every room to no avail. The writer was panicking, and the staff was beside themselves with confusion. This missing story was the third Top Story this month to disappear.

Finally, Gina suggested to the others that they call in Mother Combs since Mother had recently had some successes with a couple of mysteries. Justin and Chris agreed, and they called Mother Combs hastily. The Vocal staff, the author, and the other writers all waited with impatience for Mother Combs to show up. They needed to know what was happening to the stories that were coming up missing. They needed to see where the stories were going and who was taking them.

Finally, Mother Combs arrived and immediately started questioning everyone, for she knew how dire these circumstances were. In this case, it would not be long for a panic to set in if a culprit was not found soon. A panic among writers is an ugly sight to behold, too.

So, Mother listened to their fears that their stories would be next. Some even complained about a mysterious writer who went by many aliases but always wrote the same thing every time. They called him Aeye. No one had ever seen Aeye, so no one knew what he looked like. But they all agreed that whenever Aeye was near, weird things were bound to happen. Even the Vocal staff claimed that this strange Aeye had struck at headquarters and was wrecking all sorts of havoc on the office, sometimes bringing it down entirely offline for hours while the team chased down the issues Aeye caused.

After Mother Combs questioned each one in turn, and some she asked again, she searched the headquarters to see if she could find any clues as to the whereabouts of the missing Top Story. She looked in each room of the office building; then, she got permission to check the databases to see what clues she could find there. She dug deep; she dug low.

Mother Combs began pacing; this was to be her most challenging case so far. She was just starting to worry that there may be no answer to this case, just a glitch in an outdated computer system. When suddenly, the answer came to her.

“When the first Top Story disappeared, it was the last one selected for the day. During the night, it faded away, and the next morning, a new Top Story was displayed that no staff member can remember selecting.

“The same is what happened with the second and third ones.

“No one has found evidence of where the missing stories have gone. They are not in the drafts section of anyone’s account. They are not in the dead-story graveyard of Vocal.

“Aeye is very active on the days the missing stories are selected as Top Story and not active on the other days.

“As stated, no one quite knows what Aeye looks like since he goes by so many different names and wears so many disguises.”

Mother Combs paced some more, gathering her thoughts together. Finally, she came to a standstill. Turned and walked towards the writer, Kabtoc Beta, stopped and said. “Aeye has found a way to absorb your Top Stories, turning them into his own. Soon, Aeye will be powerful enough to absorb your challenge entries, if we do not stop this now.”

Everyone started mumbling. Kabtoc stood quietly by.

Mother Combs continued, “We must unmask this Aeye, if we are to stop him.” So saying, she reached forward, grabbed Kabtoc by his hair, and yanked, pulling a mask off of a surprised man who immediately got up and ran off before anyone could catch him.

“There goes your Aeye, ladies and gentlemen. The thief of your Top Stories.”