In the second month, a yellow tent appears outside the ER, billowing in and out like a breath. A man steps forward and is swallowed up. People wait their turn silently, cradling their phones like newborns. NOT AN ENTRANCE, two ER doors blare. A third’s blank. I walk toward it.

Laurie Doyle is the author of World Gone Missing, a book bestselling author Edan Lepucki praised as “a gorgeous debut.” Winner of the Alligator Juniper National Fiction Award and a Pushcart Prize nomination, Laurie’s work has appeared in McSweeny’s, Alta Journal, The Rumpus, Under the Sun, Dogwood Journal, The Los Angeles Review, and many other publications. Laurie teaches writing at The Writers Grotto in San Francisco and UC Berkeley.