I Imagined

Chapter 6

~~~~~~The bell rang for the third period of the day and Amara walked with Tristian to his next class, as her's was lunch.

"I'll facetime you later, check in." The two stood in front of the classroom door, Tristian grabbing both of Amara's hands and enclosing them in his own. Amara sighed a large sigh, Tristian being able to feel it against his own skin. Tristian slowly let go of Amara's hands letting them drop to her sides, he gave her a quick smile and then walked through the doorway. Amara watched his back until he disappeared behind a wall which was her que to head to the lunchroom. Walking through the doors of the lunchroom the bell rang. Payton waving Amara over to their table frantically. Amara rolled her eyes at the sight, almost wanting to laugh.

"Did you get my text or are you just ignoring me again?" Payton said loudly.

"I saw it." Amara said weary. "What's up?" She asked, sliding her backpack off her shoulders and sliding it onto the ground so she could sit down.

"I got a news alert about a group of kids who have been reported missing. Five kids went out into those haunted woods and none of them have been seen since Saturday night." Payton was ranting to Amara about this story. When she stopped talking Amara raised her eyes and curved her lips slightly.

"Wow, you've done your research."

"Amara this is serious, five people are missing and you were just in those woods yesterday, what if something were to happen to you?"

"People would look for me I hope." Amara joked.

"I wouldn't, I'll never go in those woods, even for you." Payton said, her voice becoming dark. "You don't know what's out there.

"How did you find out about this story again?" Evelyn finally piped in.

"Stories here and there, school assignment too." Payton had started to eat a bag of grapes at this point, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Amara breathed a laugh, trying to understand what Payton was explaining to her.

Amara had straightened her posture and stared directly forward at the air, starting to imagine things in her mind.

"Amara?" The faint voice she had heard from before was back. While staring forward she swore that someone was standing in her view, someone who looked exactly like Claire.

"Amara?" The voice said again, louder with panic. Amara shook her gaze away and turned towards Evelyn. "Are you alright?" Amara looked back to the spot she was intent on, but the person she had seen before was gone, and only the air remained.

"Yeah," she started but stuttered. "Yeah, yeah I think I just need to eat something." Amara got up and left the table before Evelyn had a chance to respond. Amara had walked into the lunchline and grabbed a tray, placing a chicken sandwich, a cup of grapes, and a pudding on it.

"You don't usually eat lunch do you?" Amara turned to see her classmate Lahey standing beside her in the line.

"No." Amara answered, almost sad. "But I'm stressed."

"I see." He responded. "How was your weekend?" He asked, grabbing a milk from the cooler.

"Good, spent some time with my family, you?"

"Video games, hot cheetos, and twelve hours of sleep total." Amara raised her eyebrows at Lahey's response.

"Right," She said. "I'll-um, I'll see you later." She said, ending the conversation and walking back to her table. The second she sat back down the chicken sandwich was already entering her mouth, barely enough room to breath.

"Amara," Evelyn started again. "I'm starting to get worried about you." Amara shook her head as she ate. "Is your mom going to get mad at you for eating lunch?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Maybe." Amara said through bites. "But I'm not in the mood." The table remained quiet as Amara ate her lunch. Evelyn and Payton watching Amara.

Behind Amara, Delylah came walking into the cafeteria, both Payton and Evelyn looking up for a split second before looking back at Amara. Delylah didn't say anything, just took her spot at their table and continued to look at her phone, smiling at the screen. 

"Do you know that one of the five kids that went missing was from our school?" Delylah asked randomly, the smile no longer on her face. "Derek Chell, he was a senior." The girls nodded and Amara was the only one who spoke.

"I spoke to him before, last year we had a class together."

"Him from our school, two from Millings, and two from Washington." The girls just sat and listened as Delylah read from a news article posted only an hour ago. "I say we go check it out." Amara and Payton both choked on the food in their mouths.

"Delylah-" Evelyn started, but Payton cut her off.

"You're insane. I'm not going anywhere near those woods, especially if five people went missing inside."

"Six." Amara added in.

"What?" The three of them said at the same time, turning to look in Amara's direction.

"They're not the only people who've gone missing before." The girls continued to stare at Amara, waiting for her to continue. "Claire?" She asked. They all exchanged glances, confused at Amara's confession. "Claire Amore, she went missing last year in those woods."

"Amara, we don't know who you're talking about." Evelyn finally spoke. She shrugged her shoulders at Delylah across the table.

"Are you sure you're alright? You've been acting strange." She shook her head and dropped the rest of her food onto her tray, getting up to throw it away.

"Amara wait!" Payton yelled to her. Amara didn't turn around, just threw away her trash and headed out of the cafeteria into the hallway. Thankfully for Amara the bell had rung, ending the first lunch shift and she headed to her next class: painting. Walking into the room she went right to her seat and pulled out her phone. She opened Google and typed in "Claire Amore." As she hit enter and the results started popping up, none of them related to the Claire she knew. She scrolled through pages and pages, and tried to search different topics, "Claire high school girl," "Claire Peterson High School", "Senior Claire Amore," but nothing ever came up, and it was all starting to seem as though the girl that Amara used to know, never existed at all. Amara had finally put her phone down on the desk, making a clunking noise as it fell.

"Amara, maybe want to get to work?" Her teacher Ms. Blaze said, passing behind her.

"Yeah, sorry." Amara got up and grabbed her dried painting from the rack, sliding it onto her desk. After grabbing her paints and brushes she stared at the painting, deciding what to do next. But as she stared, she started to realize that the painting she was in the works of, didn't seem like an imaginary scene in her head anymore, it looked like an exact replica of the haunted woods Evelyn talked about.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" Amara asked suddenly. She watched her teacher nod at her and Amara bolted out of the room, heading straight for the bathroom, taking the first stall in line and emptying her stomach into the toilet bowl below. After two large heaves she sat back, leaning back to lock the door, as she didn't when she first entered. She let one arm hold the toilet seat and the other drape in her lap. Five or so minutes seemed to pass and Amara thought she was safe. She flushed the toilet and exited the still to wash her hands, splashing small drops of water on her face and wiping her mouth with a paper towel. She stared herself down in the mirror, questioning all that had happened today. She re-entered the classroom and took her seat again.

"Take the pass next time Amara." Her teacher said.

"Sorry." Amara slid her painting aside on the desk and laid her head on the desk, knowing that she wouldn't be able to work on it today.