Clouds of Violet

Chapter Thirteen

Sunday, September 14th, 10:00

We've all been calling Alora for the past ten minutes.

As soon as we saw the news, we all rushed to call Alora. There are plenty of kids whose name begins with A at our school, but Alora's the only one we care about right now.

Or the only one I care about.

"Goddamn it, Alora," Ezra mumbles.

"She said she was almost here," I say. "She...when we were on call. She said she was coming." My voice cracks and I swallow the lump that's forming in my throat.

"Come on, don't cry," Aaron says. "I don't wanna see your ugly cry face."

"I...I just don't want to lose anyone else." I glare at him as he lazily holds his phone in his hand. Life feels like a hot air balloon that's going down so achingly slowly and we're all just sitting in the basket because there's nothing we can do to stop it. I rest my head on Zara's shoulder, closing my eyes as all our phones ring.

"Mine's gone to voicemail," Ezra says.

"Mine too," Aaron says.

Next Max's goes to voicemail, then mine. We all wait, watching Zara's phone as intently as possible. It rings and rings and nobody picks up.

And it goes straight to voicemail.

"Fuck," I mumble.

"Should we call her mom?" Max suggests. "Ask if she's sick or something."

"That's actually not a terrible idea," Zara says. "I can find her home number in the student directory." She opens up the student directory and scrolls to the very bottom where Alora is. I dial her home number and someone picks up on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Van Dien!" I exclaim. "It's me! Hi, it's me, Skylar."

"Hello, Sky, how are you?" she asks.

"Great," I say. "Listen, I know this is a little sudden and rude, I guess, but do you know where Alora is?"

"She's with you guys," Mrs. Van Dien says. I feel my heart sink to the bottom of my chest. Panic flurries in my stomach as I look over at the others, who all look horrified.

I close my eyes and hold the bridge of my nose in my index finger and thumb. Sweat beads start forming at the back of my neck and my heart starts racing at a hundred miles an hour. Not Alora, anyone but Alora. She's the most innocent person I've ever met. She may be annoying and in serious need of humbling, but she can't die. I can't imagine a dead Alora.

Oh my God.

A half-eaten Alora.

That's horrifying.

"Skylar? Are you still there?"

"Yes, yes, I'm still here," I say.

"Is Alora not with you?"

"Mrs. Van Dien..."

"Skylar, what's going on?"

"I...Mrs. Van Dien, Alora isn't with us," I say. "And she's not answering our calls."

***

By noon, word of Alora's disappearance had spread through the town.

Mrs. Van Dien reported it to the police, and Aaron and Ezra put it on the grade group chat in case somebody found her. They plan on doing a town search on Tuesday, meaning that school will be cancelled for any students wanting to search for her.

Our group is obviously going to join, and I'm guessing half the school probably will too. I mean, Alora's loved by everyone for being the friendly and sweet person she is. Who wouldn't help look for her?

We go our separate ways after that, Aaron and Ezra said that they were probably going to hang out on their own and Max said he had to be home soon. Zara and I decide to grab lunch. We go to the mall and sit at a Mcdonald's.

"Are you seriously having just fries?" I say.

"Yes, it's called devouring everything I see," she smiles. "Or being healthy, I guess."

"You're at a Mcdonald's," I say. "The healthiest thing you can get from here is directions to literally any other restaurant."

"When did you become so sassy?" Zara says, biting into her fries.

"I dunno, two days ago?" I shrug.

She grins, before dipping a fry into ketchup and eating it whole.

"I don't know how you can eat that stuff," I say. "Ketchup is disgusting."

"I can eat a lot of things," she says. "My stomach's a lot stronger than you think."

"Sure it is," I say. I bite into my burger, lettuce and tomatoes falling out into my plate as I wipe mayonnaise off my chin.

"You eat like a pig," Zara says.

"I'm not the one trying to elegantly eat French fries," I say. We laugh and she sighs as she looks down at her plate of fries.

"Can you believe that Alora could be gone?" she says. "It's so fucked up. I hate this. I hate this investigation, I hate whoever's doing this and I hate that Camila girl for coming here and causing all this. I just want things to go back to the way they were. Don't you?"

"I've been wishing that this past week," I say. "It's gone by so begrudgingly slowly. It feels like it's been ages since we found Camila dead, not just a few days."

"I know right," Zara says. "And all of this message-writing in blood. It's...it's just not it."

"I don't know why they can't just write them in Sharpie."

"Skylar, what?" She breaks out into a fit of laughter. "Sharpie?"

"What? It's better than blood," I say. "Besides, where can you get this much blood?"

"A person?"

I roll my eyes at her. We finish lunch and part ways eventually. I ride my bike back home. The air is warm and the sun's rays make my face feel tingly. I love these little moments where I can take my mind off of everything that's happening. Maybe it's the sense of freedom that I never really knew till now or the random rush of happiness that overcomes me. Happiness used to feel like the sun on your skin, the wind in your hair, and the smile on your face.

But now?

Happiness is freedom.