Abandonment

An overarching theme in this story about those left behind in the wake of a Rapture-like event is not surprisingly one of abandonment. Kevin Garvey is the Mayor of Mapleton, a small town in middle-America. The town was devastated when on October 14th three years before people disappeared. The missing ones didn’t run away from home and weren’t kidnapped; they disappeared into some unknown state. They evaporated, were zapped, were physically gone.

Some thought the Rapture had taken the people. Others who didn’t believe in the apocalypse had other theories or just had no clue. In spite of the cause of these disappearances, those left behind, the Leftovers, felt profoundly abandoned by their loved ones. The Sudden Departure caused anger, hurt and the rage of abandonment but without any clear way to channel their anger or identify the responsible culprit. Should they blame...