Arc 0: Prelude 16 - Lost

miss /mɪs/

feel regret or sadness at no longer being able to enjoy the presence of.

“Turn to page 394!” Mr. Anderson demanded as the class went silent.

He was quite the strict teacher. There was a certain cold gaze to his eyes that petrified anyone it met. He was the complete opposite of Mrs. Grace who was known around school for her resilience — an excuse students use for them to go about their gossip in class uninterrupted. Unfortunately for this class, however, all they had was the pessimistic Mr. Anderson for the two years they shared together.

「Dull…」

Nothing but the wind and the chirps of the morning birds outside respired into the lifeless room packed with students.

Yet another mundane day in school.

“...!”

The drowsy girl, Lauren, widened her eyes as she raised her head off the desk. It wasn’t from the fact that she almost dozed off during Mr. Anderson’s class or the fact that she was particularly afraid of him.

「So… dull…」

Everyone knew her for excellence and outstanding performance, both in class and outside, so for her to lose that ever-burning passion, for even a second, was absurd.

Lauren Cherith was perfect, the perfect honor student — no one less.

「I have to be…」

“Miss Cherith!” The voice of Mr. Anderson echoed in her ears.

“Huh?!” Her eyes turned their attention to him.

“Meet me at the faculty office once you’re done with your classes for the day.”

Before she had realized it, the students were getting off their desks and heading to the door. Even Mr. Anderson was collecting his notes from off his own desk and placed them into his suitcase.

“Wha…”

Just now they were starting class and yet now… now, the class was over?

「When did it…?」

It felt like a whole hour of Lauren’s life had gone by in, quite literally, a second. A portion that she could not get back. She wondered if she really dozed off and missed the whole class just like that.

“Miss Cherith?” Mr. Anderson, with usual loud and direct voice, called out to her once again, “Am I clear?”

“Oh yes, of course, I’ll be right away, sir.”

「Focus…」

△▼△▼△▼△▼△

“Is something wrong, Lauren?”

“Huh?!” Lauren’s eyes flashed.

「What was I…?」

She found herself facing her friend, Chloe, who was eying her a disturbing look. They were both sitting together in the school’s cafeteria, once again.

Another day; another moment.

To her, it felt like she had instantly jumped from one scene to another. She couldn’t make sense of how she was losing track of her time, and yet, she still remembered what happened to her in those missing portions, like a clip rushing into her mind all of a sudden.

“You seem a little lost lately.” Chloe snickered.

“Oh…,” her face went downward.

「Lost…」

Just the other day she was getting an earful from Mr. Anderson, who was worried about her declining grades in his class (even if he did not particularly show it on his stern-looking face). He, too, mentioned how she seemed lost whenever she attended his class. She was always his best student, not to mention the best in school, so to see her descend like this did not bring a smile to his face. He acknowledged her effort in winning the competition and even wondered if her writing was hindering her academic progress. He warned her not to stray too from her path, especially when following her passion.

It was understandable for someone like her to be hit with a slump, he would say. But this felt like something on a whole other level.

Lately, she felt… lost, complete, and utterly lost. It felt as if she was watching a film reel of her life unfold before her while she sifted through whatever grabbed her attention. One moment she was with her teacher, and in another, she was with Chloe on a whole different day.

Everything felt disconnected.

「Is it because of him?」

“You okay?” Chloe asked.

「No… can’t be. It’s fine.」

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” She brushed off her thoughts and smiled.

Back to reality.

“Now, forget about me, what are you doing?”

It wasn’t strange for Chloe to be seen reading a book here. But to someone like Lauren, who knew her in more ways than one, this was odd. She was the type of person who’d prefer to read somewhere quiet and alone.

“Oh, this?” Chloe turned back to the book’s cover, “This is just something that girl gave to me.”

“That girl?!” Lauren eyed her with estranged looks.

“What? The errand girl or whatever from the other day,” she chuckled, “We actually hit it off pretty well after you left.”

“Really now?” She wasn’t convinced, “After…?”

“Okay, I get it, maybe I got off with the wrong foot with her… but she’s actually a pretty nice girl.”

“You?! With her?! Since when?”

“It was only for the few minutes we spent in the cafeteria,” she sighed, “You just want to rag on me this time?”

“Maybe…”

“Anyway,” she rolled her eyes, “This book’s actually enjoyable. And take a look at this.”

Chloe flipped through the pages till the middle of the book. On that page was a thin piece of paper with a few words written on it.

“This is…?” Lauren failed to see the point.

“It’s a poem,” she placed her finger on the paper, “It looks like she forgot her poem here.”

“Huh?!” She narrowed her eyes, “How do you know it’s hers?”

“Well, one, it is her book. Second, the poem’s amateur work at best — it is pretty cute though.”

Lauren glanced at the poem.

A faint sky of blistering nature.

A perilous island of blightful danger.

A lighthouse stood calmly over the cliff.

Watch the sea, it was all that was required.

Watch the mermaids, it was all that it desired.

In Her Dream; This Dream; a most delightful thought.

In His Dream; This Dream; a chase for what he once sought.

「Wow, these words…」

They weren’t the best out there, not by a long shot. But somehow, this poem felt soothing, its words and meanings were entrancing to the mind. It was as if it spoke to her directly as if it was trying to calm her mind without much effort.

As it happened, she was content with it. With the way her mind and thoughts were lately, this was much needed to ease her.

Beyond this nexus:

Do fabled heroes ever rest and sleep?

Or is all they ever do; fight and weep?

Did you, who still seeks perfection, ever take that leap?

Or did you_______________

「Huh?!」

For a moment, it felt like the words had completely disappeared. It looked as if the ink had drowned into the paper, never to resurface again. Yet the words were still there, naturally, like everything should be.

Lauren blinked to make sure she was wide awake.

“To think little errand girl is trying to be a poet.” Chloe drifted off to her wishful daydream.

Lauren looked back at the poem. Reading it again and again, she felt nothing, nothing like that feeling she first got upon reading it again.

「Wha…」

“I-In any case, we shouldn’t be reading this,” she snarled as she put back the paper and closed the book.

“A little too late for that. She might as well catch us red-handed now!” She loudly exclaimed.

“K-Keep it down…”

Luckily, the crowd was loud enough to cover up for it. There were a few students here and there having their lunch and keeping to themselves. However, it seemed the student council and the moral discipline committee were scouring the place, removing the decorations that were hung around the school just recently.

“Seems like Halloween did not sit well with the committee,” Chloe commented as she threw the last piece of her sandwich in her mouth, “It was pretty fun while it lasted though.”

After a whole month dedicated to preparing for this ghostly event, the school decided to bring it to an abrupt end. It was as if that small period was a dream to them. And now, they had awoken from it and reverted back to the norm.

“Can’t always expect things to change on a dime, I guess,” Chloe chuckled.

“Right…”

「Change…」

△▼△▼△▼△▼△

Lauren opened her eyes.

It was the dawn of the morning, the light of the bright sun shimmer down on the room through the open windows. Once again, the birds were having their usual morning choir as they do, even when near her house. They sang so elegantly in unison; it was almost unbelievable this was the chirruping of mere birds.

Yet she felt monotony, instead of liveliness, seep into her ears.

When was it that she stopped seeing the color in pieces? She wondered.

As per her routine for the past few weeks, she reached for her phone beside the pillows. It had almost run out of battery that day prior due to her constant bickering with her text messages, but luckily, there was still a glimmer of life within it at the moment.

Even when her eyes were still half-open, she opened up her phone. Clinging onto a faint touch of hope, she went through her list of the latest calls.

Lauren didn’t tell anyone… but she still hasn’t forgotten about him.

「No calls…」

There were no new calls overnight, which greatly disappointed her — and that did not account for the other fifty-eight failed calls she had spent almost all night trying to reach through.

Almost three weeks since his disappearance and there was still nothing from the boy who went by Zachary Ashworth, he simply vanished as if he never existed. People still remembered who he was but no one cared enough to ask about his whereabouts but Lauren — even Chloe would make sarcastic remarks about how ridiculous she was looking for him.

When she was asked about the reason behind the sudden failure in her academic performance, she simply made them think it was the success of her competition getting to her head. She never told them that she was searching for the missing boy for hours on end after school. Only Chloe knew of her search, and even then, it wasn’t to the extent it was really in.

But still…

She never found a glimmer of hope during her search. Not one clue and not one hint. A new fear had rooted itself in her mind that Zachary would only be remembered in a lucid memory while the earth erased every sign he had ever existed.

It was no longer a matter of concern to a missing friend. Lauren needed to find Zachary.

She tapped on his contact once again for a call.

【...】

【......】

【..........】

Nothing.

「Where are you?」

Lauren dropped the phone on her chest and let out a deep sigh.

Another morning, another day with nothing.

「I don’t wanna go to school…」

△▼△▼△▼△▼△

“Hey, where have you been?” Chloe asked.

“What?” Lauren was puzzled.

Once again, the cafeteria.

Once again, she was talking with her friend in the same place.

Once again, the same scene.

“You skipped school yesterday,” Chloe sighed, “Something’s up? A fever? You’ve never missed school before.”

“Just didn’t feel like it…,” she quietly said.

“Ooookay?” She raised an eyebrow.

Such an excuse was uncharacteristic of Lauren, and Chloe knew that very well.

“Is something wrong? Are your parents back?”

Due to a bit of tension in the family, Lauren’s parents decided to take a vacation elsewhere but she held her education above all else, and so she was left to fend for herself since the school year started.

“No…” Lauren said nonchalantly.

“... Is it Z—” Chloe tried to get her to say something.

“I’m gonna go home…”

“Wait what?”

Without further interruptions, Lauren stood up and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving the school that day.