‘Go back to our parents?! What was he saying?!”

What parents was he talking about?

We don’t have parents!

“You have to, Care. It’s the only way. You have no other choice.”

Oh, yeah, I do. And I choose to never go back to the family who kicked us out anyway.

“Care, you have to understand. This is really, really serious. Dad could protect you, you just have to go to him. Please.” His voice still resounded from the laptop, like he was having a conversation with me. Like he seldom knew I would refuse.

“I know what you’re thinking.” He said, already confirming my thoughts. “That dad’s never going to let you after everything that happened. But Care, you’re in grave danger. So are you, Chenille! You just have to leave and everything will be fine!”

“Grave danger? W-what does he mean?” Toffy asked.

“I-I dunno.” I shook my head severely, in disbelief. What is all this? Is he trying to play a joke? Is this another one of his? But he sounded dead serious, maybe it’s—

“Care, are you listening to me? You have to do this. I could tell you everything. I really want to. But I can’t, they promised they wouldn’t spare you if I did.”

They… who?

“Who is he talking about?” It was my turn to ask a question, but Toffy simply shook her head.

“Care, Chenille. You’ve got to do this. Or else—” Then there was an abrupt silence on the other end.

“What happened?” I mumbled. I came to and checked the laptop screen; the recording had ended.

I sat back down in my seat and ran my hands through my hair, dishevelling it, obviously hella confused.

Meanwhile, Toffy just sat there where she was staring into space.

“But why after almost a year…?” she started.

“He told me to play this before he went on that trip. He said if something was to happen to him. I-if he never came back…”

“But you told him not to go, didn’t you?”

“Of course, I did. He sounded so scared! Like something horrible was going to happen to him!” I looked down. “But it didn’t work.”

And then, something even worse had to happen.

I kil—

“No, Carrie. It wasn’t your fault. I’m not trying to say that. No.” Toffy muttered after observing my current expression. She was the only one who knew what truly happened, even in its most gruesome detail.

“But it was. How can you not think so?”

“I don’t.”

Toffy came to me from her seat and wrapped her arms around me in a warm hug. “Don’t worry. Everything will be okay. Maybe this is just a simple misunderstanding.”

I snorted, things never went well when it came to me.

“It was just an accident. It happens sometimes. You just have to be lucky enough to be able to avoid them.”

“Does that mean I’m not lucky?” I mumbled in between the hug.

“I’m not saying it that way. It’s just that… not everyone is always lucky, you know?”

“But there are some people who are fully lucky.”

“Doesn’t really clear out my point though.”

“Why can’t I be one of them then? Does the universe hate me so much?”

“No, in fact. I think there’s a lot the future wants to offer you. You’re still young. You just have to wait and endure through it. There’s always light at the end of the tunnel. That’s what Corey used to say.”

“Yeah, I don’t understand what’s so great about that. Light isn’t always good. It can blind you, burn you—”

“Only if you take the wrong path. It actually depends fully on what kind of tunnel you take. If it’s a train hollow, you have to have a perfect sense of timing so you won’t let a random problem come rushing towards you on your path and throw you off.”

“Doesn’t that mean I’ll have to run then? If I’m late?” And she literally just said I had to wait and endure!

“Well, that’s—”

“I think we’re done here.” I remarked as I quickly stood up from the chair I was sitting on, checking the laptop for any other surprise recordings and switching it off when I didn’t find anything else, lingering a little bit as I scrolled the countless word files littering the screen. Too many of them incomplete.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Toffy asked abruptly.

“Tell you what?” I knew what she was talking about, but I wasn’t in the mood to show that. I loaded my laptop into my bag and slung the bag over my shoulder as I waited for her response.

“About the recording?”

I sighed. “I didn’t take it seriously, that’s why.”

“But why now, then?”

“Because, well… I just wanted to use the laptop. So, the idea just came out of nowhere. Since I’m here, I might as well show it to you.”

“I thought Mr. Park doesn’t allow it.”

“I’m not gonna use it at home.” I chuckled nervously, trying to find an excuse. I didn’t want her figure out what I was planning and then end up ruining it. “I’ll use it at the bus home.”

“Did Mrs. Greenwood give you that much work? It’s Friday today and you have a literal weekend ahead of you.”

“So…?”

“She wouldn’t do that, I know. Was it Ms. Levi again?”

Speaking of Ms. Levi. “Have you actually contacted her?” I asked, it seemed that Levi might have tried calling her.

“No.” she said firmly, holding her head high. “I decided not to bother her for a while.”

“Something happened between you two?” Was that why Ms. Levi and Toffy hadn’t looked like they were in good terms a few weeks ago.

“Just… a practical issue.”

“Oh. Okay.” I wouldn’t bother anyway, that was their problem to deal with. “So, I’ll be taking my leave, then.” I started for the path towards the front door.

“Wait.” Toffy called. “I said I was going to give you something.” She walked away from the room passed the opened wall and hurried back with something in her hands.

“Here’s a little token.” She had a small framed picture placed in her palms.

I stared at the picture in shock.

“It’s the photo we took at that square.”

“Really? The three of us?”

“Remember our trip?”

I nodded, a swarm of memories swirling in my mind.

It was the first time me, Corey and Toffy had gone on a trip together. It wasn’t too long ago so I could’ve remembered. But I was so wrapped up in everything that was going on that I had stored all the greatest of the times and memories I had made, especially when it had to do with him.

That was expected. My last memory with him didn’t go well to begin with.

“Carrie?”

I flashed out of my thoughts only to find Toffy in front of me giving me an expectant look as she held out her hand with the framed picture.

“Take it.” She offered as she held it out even further.

I reached out and grabbed it out of her hands, feeling the hard properties of the frame scrape my fingers.

There I was in the middle of the photo, standing ever so happily between two genuinely smiling faces. One had his hand fixed on the other’s shoulder, his bright blue eyes emanating how elated he felt in the moment while his light tan hair defined him even more as much as his other natural features. The other was beaming so wide that she almost looked like she had just been giggling at a presumably hilarious joke.

The picture was being taken at the fore of a huge, beautiful fountain in the middle of a square. They had made sure no random people were to photobomb them, so they went to the special square from their hotel at the nearest end of the evening. The sun was just about to set as the cameraman that they specially hired to capture this special moment also caught the glorious mass of the sun as it faded the last of its light for the day.

They looked so happy in the picture. As if they were completely different people. But if they had known that one of these smiling trio was to disappear forever, one ruined in the depths of misery for the rest of life and the other painted with the tints of black and white, they would have smiled even brighter that day, to cherish the last moments they had with each other.  

I held back a sob. Why am I being so emotional today?

The real question was why I was being reminded of the past when I was supposed to forget about it and move on? To apparently be happy for the rest of my life? Rid of all the horrible memories that still haunted me every single night? It wasn’t going to be possible at this rate.

I snorted. “We look great.” That was what I was only able to say.

“We certainly did, we even had to wear special attire for the occasion.”

“You’re right about that. You guys had to leave me out, dealing with your stuff and all. You didn’t have to make a big deal out of a proposal.”

I quickly realized what I just said and looked up from gazing at the photo, Toffy noticed and just beamed a smile as genuinely as she could, though the sadness still showed its reek in her eyes.

“I’m really sorry, I—”

“It’s okay. I know, we were too wrapped up in everything that we almost forgot you were there, but hey, at least we went sight-seeing together.”

“Yeah, it was one of the best days of my life.” I said as I ran my thumb over the photo, still amazed by how great a job the cameraman did in capturing our beautiful smiles and how I didn’t get to see this until now.

“I know what you’re wondering…” Toffy started as if she had just read my mind. Probably from the expression I was making. “Why now, right? Well… I had to get it framed. I know that’s not a reasonable excuse because they don’t take that long but… Just like you, since you’re finally here I felt like I had to give it to you. Bringing it to work was the last thing I would have done, and obviously never will, but here it is. Take it as my gift for you, dear.”

“A birthday present?”

“No, not really. But I’ll get you a better one, when it comes. Count on it?”

I nodded. But I couldn’t decide whether whatever she was going to give me could top this beautifully portrayed picture. Besides, my birthday wasn’t coming until a few months later.

“Oh, before I forget, here are some treats for your way back home.” She fetched a small bag and hand it over to me, not leaving me the choice to accept it or not as she firmly stuffed them into my bag. The portrait that she gave me followed it too.

“Don’t forget to eat well, okay?”

I smiled and nodded.

“That’s a good girl. Now, what time is it? how are you going back?”

I checked my watch, it read ‘7:01’, quickly switching to ‘7:02’ as I looked down from it.

“I guess I could wait for another bus to arrive?”

“But there are no bus stops around here. And the bus that you came with was the last one to pass this place.”

“I could catch a cab?” I suggested.

“Hm. I’m not sure if you’ll find any of them at this hour.”

“It’s just the start of night now. I’m sure I can find one.”

That didn’t prove to be as simple as I made it sound like.

We were now outside, staring at the road as we waited for any sign of a vehicle running up, there were still no vehicles in sight.

It was dark. Instead of the sun, the moon replaced its place high up in the sky as it glowed, but it wasn’t enough to light up our surroundings. The clouds didn’t help either by blocking the moonlight, it made it look like there was a full moon behind them somewhere and the clouds would only dissipate once they found an eligible candidate for a werewolf.

I shivered, half the reason being that it was extremely cold. I hadn’t brought my jacket to school today, I didn’t know I was going to have a surprise trip. I tried to hold my shaking so Toffy wouldn’t notice, else she’d go on about how I shouldn’t have just decided to come without being prepared.

But she did so anyway without needing a prompt to.

After a long moment of hearing her verb about precaution and other contingency stuff, I spotted the small glow from the front lights of a bus, a bus. It was hurtling so fast that I wondered if it was actually not going to halt.

“There!” I shouted. Toffy immediately jerked her head at the direction I was pointing.

“Hey!” We both yelled in unison to the top of our lungs.

Luckily, the bus was barely past us when the driver kicked the brakes and drove the bus into a halt.

“What’d you two want?” He shouted from inside the vehicle in irritation. I just need to board your bus, dear driver. “I’m off work!”

“Then why did you stop?” Toffy asked him, the roar of the engine barely letting her soft voice be audible.

“I hear two maniacs shouting in the peace of night and not stop?”

That wasn’t a good point.  

“Well, if someone needs a really long ride back home, would you take her?”

“No.” The driver responded firmly. The doors of the bus beginning to slide back close.

“Wait!” Toffy called and at the last moment before the doors fully shut, he heard her.

“What!” He yelled.

“What if we pay you an extra fee?”

The driver seemed to be considering, “Who am I taking?”

“This girl over here.” Toffy pointed at me.

The driver scanned me from head to toe. “You expect me to take just one little girl on a ride? Don’t you have your own vehicle for that?”

“No, sir. My car hasn’t got enough gas to go there. It would take longer for me refuel though. The nearest gas station is miles away from here.”

“And you call it near? Fine. Where to?”

“Brooklyn Valley.”

“Sure. Hope on.”                                                                                                                             

I immediately did just that, Toffy pulling me in a brief embrace before smiling whilst waving at me when I got into the bus.

But just as the doors closed shut and the vehicle reversed around the road heading for its new destination was when I realized.

How was I supposed to pay the fee? Especially one that had been multiplied?

“Don’t worry, kiddo. I won’t call you out on your lie.” The man interrupted the growing silence as he gripped on to the stirring wheel.

My eyes bulged out wide in stun. “What?” I enquired softly, I found myself a place at the very fore of the bus’s seats, he could fairly be able to hear me.

“If you live with your aunt, kid, why you leave?”

Oh.

No.

But how? How did he know? He clearly didn’t look like the one who drove the bus to drop me there in the first place. So how was he to know about that?

“Oh, um. I’m going for a holiday at the valley!” I felt like I had to add to the pile.

“So, you’re saying that you’re having a holiday? Last time I checked holidays aren’t until summer.”

I tensed. What? What was his business?

“Are you implying that I’m a liar?”

“No, kid. I just don’t think that lady back there is your aunt.”

“Um, how are you supposed to know that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I have my ways.”

What was he talking about? How did it become his business?

Suddenly, I began to shiver. Even though the bus was moving, there was a noticeable wave of cold whooshing at me.

The world around me spun, my head started to throb profusely out of nowhere.

I was clutching at my head when a sweet scent slithered into my nostrils, my nose itching as my eyelids struggled to carry an invisible weight.

Feeling the heaviness overwhelm me, I reached out my hands to wrap around the metal rod beside me, slowly losing my balance.

A jolt echoed out through the depths of my heart, not being able to stand the pain after it had spread to my whole body.

I slumped down over my seat rather abrasively, my eyes rolling into my head against my will as my consciousness drifted away into oblivion.