Chapter 1

HARRIET

The past couple of days have been rainy and gloomy. Luckily today, it was shining and the birds are whistling as the wind blows. The children are playing and giggling happily, soaked in their sweats yet that didn't bother any of them. The green grasses are now dry to lie on and to stare at the blue sky with big fluffy clouds hanging around.

I was staring through the window in my office. The bell rang and the children stopped playing and rushed through their classrooms. I stood up and drank coffee from my mug that I got from a wedding that I attended last week and I organized my things before going to my next class.

I walked into the hallway, which was eerily quiet. For how the main character walks alone and only their footsteps and breathing, echo through the space. Not a single kid can be seen. And no sound is produced in any classrooms that I pass by.

I enter my class, Dahlia. I let out a big sigh as I prepared myself to enter the room. Pushing the door, I saw my students, properly sitting, both hands on the table and their breathing is uncontrollable. "Good morning Mrs. Dahlia," the students said in unison.

I greeted "Good morning," and arranged the folders and sheets of paper on the oak desk. Slowly, I walked to the blackboard, grabbed my marker, and wrote multiplication problems that the students will solve.

"Does anyone here want to answer their problems?" I asked and several students raised their hands. I smiled. They formed a line and they answered the problems one by one. There was one problem unsolved though. "May I call Catina to solve this?"

Students looked around at their classmates, mumbles started to thunder. "Is she absent? That would be odd," I checked the seats one by one and the left corner on the back is empty.

"Open your math textbooks on page 104 and answer the activities. I will be back, I have something to attend to," I said as I left the room.

I walked to my office, opened my drawer, grabbed a piece of paper which is the list of my student's parents and their contact numbers, and dragged my finger across the list of names pop.

I searched for the name "Fothergill" but there is none. I double-checked but I saw nothing. I checked again very slowly and carefully but I had no hope of finding it. The only thing I saw is Catina's name with a question mark which was supposed to be her parent's number.

I returned to my class and asked my students who have last seen Catina. A student claimed that he was with her but she got mad at him for not kissing him back and stormed off. Another student claimed that she was just absent because she was sick.

I questioned what the students are telling me internally. Catina never gets sick, she's very healthy. Catina would never kiss a boy especially because she's a bit of a tomboy. Catina would never miss class, I don't why I think that but I just know.

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The whole day I wondered where she might go or what did she do to miss the entire day of class. Sitting at a bus stop, eating a bologna sandwich, staring at a puddle of water that the rain caused, I saw myself. Feeling sad, desolate, confused. A gray car dashed by then I saw Catina. It was Catina's reflection.

I stood up in surprise. The two other people waiting stared at me, concerned. "Sorry," I whispered. I sat right down.

I grabbed my phone located at the left side of my trench coat and grabbed my phone. I opened it and messaged my fellow teachers. Questioning how much did they know about the girl? Where do they live? Are her parents alive?

Their response gave me less hope. It goes something like "I don't know much,". It feels like they haven't even met the girl. Those teachers were all Catina's teachers goddammit!

It made me mad, so I continued to munch on my bologna sandwich. I stared at it, not knowing why, but I suddenly felt lazy to finish it. So I threw it in a trash can beside me. As I threw the sandwich, I saw a ripped sign. The top half was missing but the other half reads as some random numbers, probably a cell number and the name "Fothergill,".

The trash seemed very dirty, with brown juices smelling like puke where the flies gather. I didn't want to grab it but I grabbed it anyway. I kept it in my shoulder bag.

The bus arrived, people on the bus were small. They seemed to be bored, staring at the glass pane. I seemed like the only one there who has something to worry about. I sat, near the door and also watched the rain pour.

It reminded me of Catina. Oh, how that girl loves the rain. We dashed through the streets, glancing at the post lights it's like time slowed down. I saw a little girl in a dress dancing in the rain. Her silhouette is very identical to the Catina I know

"Stop!", the bus stooped and I got out fast. The bus drove off and I walked to where I saw the little girl. It turns out, I was daydreaming.

No one was there. I stood there drenched in the rain, still thinking if I'm going insane.