What's the Opposite of a Fairy Tale? | ONC 2024

10. Lost

I climbed out of the tree, landing in the still-wet grass.

I made my way back to that white building with the interesting architecture, taking it all in. There were three marble steps leading up to a kind of platform that surrounded it, and the roof was held up by a series of columns running around the perimeter. Complete with its red-brick façade and double doors at both the front and back, it had always reminded me of a sort of colonial-style building— something between a government office and a schoolhouse.

The thought struck me vaguely as odd. I'd always thought that? Since when? When was the first time I'd actually set eyes on the place? I felt like it had been months ago, but the memory itself was sort of hazy. I decided not to worry about that and to focus on what I did know— that I was somehow on the right track.

I hadn't been back here in a few days, but I vaguely remembered being drawn to the place before. And as I continued to stare up at it, the name Ekster kept running through my mind over and over, the connection between this building and that name only getting stronger. Was the name of the building Ekster? I didn't think so. Maybe it was the name of someone inside.

I found a tree not too far from the entrance and climbed up onto one of the branches. Then, I started watching the humans as they came and went. I was looking for any familiar face. If Ekster was someone I knew, then surely I'd recognize them.

I watched as humans passed back and forth beneath my tree. There was the guy who almost always brought a hamburger out to the quad and never threw his trash away. Then there was the girl who gave me part of her sandwich whenever I saw her. I saw the group of students who always brought the most delicious-smelling food but packed up everything before they left, and the ones who seemed to live on nothing but pizza and beer.

But none of them looked like an Ekster.

Maybe I was wrong; maybe I didn't really know what this human looked like after all. Still, I kept watching the crowed, until I heard the bell tower in the center of campus chime. It was officially lunchtime. That meant, I was officially late to the quad. But for once, food wasn't the most important thing on my mind. Besides, the rain seemed to have started up again just slightly, and I wasn't in the mood to go traipsing through the wet grass only to find the quad empty.

I kept my eyes trained on the doors, and finally I was rewarded. Rushing up the steps towards the building was a gangly man with a long dark coat and matching hat. He had horn-rimmed glasses and sharp features.

Ekster.

I was right; I did know him after all. I climbed down the tree, ready to follow him into that building. As I approached, I saw a girl with long, dark hair standing next to one of the pillars. She was taping a paper up, just underneath the ones with the picture of that boy on them. The new papers looked surprisingly similar— same font, same layout. The word Lost! was written in bold across the top, followed by a picture and then identifying details underneath. The only difference I could see was that these new ones had two side-by-side sketches of a cat on them instead of a photograph of a boy.

I watched her for a few minutes wondering what the papers were all about. The left sketch had a picture of the cat facing to the side. The other was of it head-on. The cat itself was done in what looked like a light grey, with swirling black stripes. The face was somewhat round, and there were three distinct black lines that stretched from just over the eyes and swept back between the ears. It had deep blue eyes and looked surprisingly young. There was something very familiar about it, but I was almost positive I hadn't seen it around here.

The girl smoothed the paper down, taped the bottom corners to the pillar, and moved on to the pillar on the other side of the door. I stared at the poster, transfixed. Suddenly, going after Ekster didn't seem quite so important. Besides, I already knew he was in this building; I could come get him later.

So, this girl had lost her cat. I tried not to be jealous that someone was actually looking for this one. I wished I had someone looking for me. Still, I wasn't selfish— I'd keep an eye out for this little guy, and if I saw him, I'd bring him to one of these signs. Surely, one of the humans would recognize it, and then they could deal with it.

Satisfied with my new plan to take care of that wayward feline, I turned back to the building and my original purpose for being here. I knew there was only one way I was ever going to figure this out; I was going to have to go inside. I stepped cautiously up to the column, curving around until I could see the door. I was trying to time it so that I could run across the marble walkway and through the door as soon as it was opened. Once inside, I would probably have to make a run for it. Hopefully, I'd have the element of surprise on my side. If they didn't expect me to go tearing through the halls, they might be too slow to catch me. Besides, after playing so much tag with the janitor, I'd gotten pretty good at escaping. Unless there was a small group of them that were just dead-set on capturing me, I was pretty sure I'd be fine.

I decided it'd be better to go in with a group of students than to wait for someone to come out. I had no way of knowing when anybody would be coming out, and at least I could time my entrance with someone on this side of the door. I'd have to watch out for those huge feet of theirs, but I was sure I could do it.

Finally, I saw a lone student slowing down, hand reaching for the door. I crouched down, muscles tense. I ready to make the dash in behind her, when I heard someone gasp off to my right.

I shouldn't have paid any attention. I should have just continued on with my plan, ignoring whoever it was. But they sounded closer than I'd expected. My first thought was that someone had spotted me and knew what I was up to. I stayed crouched down, ready to leap either through that door or back down the path and up into that tree. Then, I turned my head.

That dark-haired girl was only a few feet away. And she was staring straight at me. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was hanging open. She was grabbing her stack of papers to her chest like they were some kind of shield. Or maybe they were a kind of support. I caught myself staring at her just as intently, all thoughts of the door vanishing from my mind.

I'd seen her before; I was almost positive.

"...Evan?" she asked slowly, looking right at me.