Chapter 3 THREE

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Water droplets fell from the leaking roof. A man dressed in black with a long scar on his left cheek. If you looked closely, you could see the stitch marks on his face.

He was absolutely disgusting with brown teeth and peeled nails. His right arm rested on the patched sofa while his right leg was crossed on his left. He picked his teeth with a toothpick and spat out pieces of meat.

The room was dark but the moon shone through the crooked window and right on his face.

Him. It was him.

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I scanned the classroom and placed my eyes on him, Zack Manches, the boy who disappeared. We were really close in middle school, went to classes together, ate lunch today and then one day, he just vanished. Stopped coming to school, stopped texting me and stopped calling me.

And there he was, on the far end of the classroom, sitting on the last row chewing gum. He had brown hair, it looked a bit overgrown though with the perfect set of blue eyes.

I had a crush on him once, but those feelings were dead...

Like my parents.

Dark humor. Terrible joke.

A part of me died that night, that was for sure. All I wanted right now was to...

You have a test in front of you, Ay. Focus. I said to myself.

The more I thought about the past, the angrier I got. I answered the test questions to the best of my abilities and handed over my script.

I noticed Zack's script on top of the others. He answered only one question.

Who does that?? Does he want to fail?

Well, that's not my problem. I left the class and went to the cafeteria to meet up with Kylie. I know school lunches are always bad, but they were serving tacos today.

Taco Tuesday

And I love tacos, my favourite snack, alongside chocolate.

The cafeteria was full, it was hard to reach our usual spot. I pushed through students, some had on perfume while the others reeked of sweat and dirty armpits. I almost tripped but alas, I got there and to my surprise, Kylie wasn't there.

I scanned the room, it was hard to look around because of the number of students in the cafeteria. Then I spotted her, at the far end of the cafeteria, near the trash bins. She was standing with someone, Zack.

What? What was she doing with Zack?

I made my way over there only for me to see her, T-shirt stained with ketchup and a kitchen tray splattered on the ground.

"Kylie" I called out to her "What happened here?"

"This boy bumped into me and refuses to apologize." She replied angrily.

I turned my gaze to Zack. Our eyes met, he seemed somewhat surprised to see me. His blue eyes softened as he stared at me, suddenly, he looked back at Kylie and his eyes darkened, filled with anger and hatred.

Like chill bro. You were the one who bumped into her.

Aggressively, he walked up to me and whispered in my ear,

"If I were you, I wouldn't trust her."

"What are you talking about? She's my best friend." I said back to him in confusion.

"That's what you think."

"Ayla, let's go. I'll buy us lunch." Kylie finally spoke up.

As we were about leaving, Zack held Kylie's arm roughly and dug his nails into her flesh.

"Ouch, what is your problem?" She cried out.

"Zack, stop it. Why are you hurting her?" I yelled at him, I thought this was gonna be our reunion but I was so wrong.

I hit his back repeatedly to make him let her go but that didn't do much damage.

"You monster. Let her go."

That seemed effective, he immediately let go of her. Kylie ran to my side, then I brought out my right hand as if shielding her from him.

He looked at me, then at my arm and back at me. He let out a sigh.

"You'll know soon enough." He said and walked away with one hand in his jacket pocket and the other hand in his hair.

I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding and turned to hug my best friend. I didn't know what I'd have done if he lunged at us.

Well, people really do change over the years.

"I've lost my appetite." I said to Kylie as I let her go.

"Me too. And the lunch break is over." She replied.

As if to prove her point, the huge alarm in the cafeteria sounded, signaling that the lunch break was over.

With that, we headed back to our separate classes for our remaining lectures.

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Kylie and I walked up through my frontyard garden, it was decorated with flowers and a lawn. The butterflies and bees perched on the roses in the garden. The lawn was bright green and the wind blew here and there.

The roses had a sweet smell and the bees buzzed softly around us. I loved the garden, it calmed me down at times and made me feel at peace.

As I walked up the steps, I saw the front door ajar. We never leave the front door open, ever. My heart skipped a beat. I looked back at Kylie, she felt the same way, uneasy.

I approached the door slowly with Kylie close behind me. I pushed open the door, it led to our living room. I looked around to see if anything was out of place. Everything was fine, the living room was clear.

Then, I moved to the kitchen, nothing was out of place. My morning dishes were still in the sink, the tiny potted plants on the window panel were in place with a gentle breeze blowing in from the kitchen window.

"There's nothing wrong." Kylie said to me

"I guess, everything's in place." I stated

"Yeah, let's go upstairs."

We were about heading for the staircase when I noticed it. I looked at the table in the living room and there was something off about it. A paper was at the centre of the table.

I walked down to the living room and picked up the paper, it was aged and brown. The surface of the paper was rough with the edges slightly frayed and curling inward.

The paper smelled faintly of dust and ink, evoking the scent of forgotten libraries and whispered secrets. I stared down at it, there was a letter, written in cursive.

My heart raced. I looked back at Kylie and nodded. We both sat down on the couch and read the contents of the letter.