It’s rare I can pinpoint exactly how a story was born, but with “Where You’re Supposed to Be,” I know the exact inspiration, even though I’m not entirely sure of the why of it.
My wife and I were driving home one night when we spotted a Silver Alert displayed on an overhead highway sign, indicating someone elderly had gone missing. I’d been seeing such alerts for years, but that particular instance, and I’ve no idea why, I began to wonder how many different alerts existed in addition to Silver and Amber — the latter meant to have us keep watch for a missing child. I pulled out my phone and began an online search while my wife drove.
It turned out there are Blue Alerts (to help with the capture of criminals who’ve killed or wounded law enforcement officers), Camo alerts (missing current or former members of the armed forces struggling with mental illness), Endangered Missing Persons alerts (for those with intellectual disabilities), and many others. My mind wandered, and I started to think … could I write a story which somehow contained every alert?
Well, I didn’t do that. What I did do was write a story set in the time before such alerts which merged a missing child with a missing old person, their connection occurring due to fantasy elements. “Where You’re Supposed to Be” was published December 2022 in the charity anthology Abandoned: An Anthology of Vacant Spaces.
All because of a late night drive home.