Caphelia's Project

14

SOPHIE 

The last bell of the week is ringing in my head and I am looking forward to the weekend. Today after school, Hannah, Thomas and I planned to get some ice cream. I join them in the hallway and we head for the exit.

"So how are my girls?"

Thomas says positioning himself between us and resting his arms on our shoulders as we walk.

"Fine... if it weren't for the existence of math. I got a horrible grade on my last test. I deserve ice cream!"

Hannah replies, going from angry to sad to bursting with joy in a matter of seconds.

"Your sense of meritocracy is spot on."

Says Thomas as we all laugh.

"I'm all right but I'm so tired, I've been sleeping so badly these days and for that I deserve ice cream."

I reply following the same pattern as Hannah and she proudly says:

"That's why we are best friends."

"How come you can't sleep?"

Thomas asks worriedly and the guilt of not telling them what is going on comes over me.

"I honestly don't know..."

I lie and cut it short by asking which ice cream shop we will go to, since there are three downtown.

We opt for the one closest to the school, and when we arrive we take a seat at a table near the storefront. We order ice cream and start talking about the game Thomas played yesterday. He is telling us about a fight that happened between one of their teammates and a rival when the waitress brings us our order.

Suddenly everyone in the shop quiets down and then turns to a screen hanging just above the counter where, until a few seconds ago, the diner's menu was projected.

On the small television appears a reporter with a microphone in her hand standing in a place I cannot quite pinpoint. Behind her, a brook, trees and plants portray an area that appears rural. It is only when I read the overlay that I understand that she is right here in Mondriwood. It is a newsflash.

"The body of Sara Jones, the 52-year-old woman who went missing last Tuesday, was found lifeless on the banks of the stream that runs through the eastern part of the town of Mondriwood. Her husband had reported her missing the same evening when he returned from work and did not find her there. The woman, according to testimony given by her husband and son, was supposed to go to an out-of-town clinic that afternoon to inquire about a new treatment for liver cancer, with which she had been struggling for two years. Investigators are working to understand the dynamics of the event but from initial reports, it would appear to be a suicide, but only the autopsy will be able to confirm this."

We are petrified until Hannah speaks.

"Nothing ever happens here and the first thing that does is a tragedy..."

The journalist is not finished though.

"At this very moment the authorities have informed us of the disappearance of 17-year-old Jack Malcom, who disappeared from his home yesterday morning" A photograph of the boy appears on the screen. "If you spot him, please call the authorities immediately, thank you."

So ends the report, and as if nothing had happened, all sorts of ice creams and sweets reappear on the screen.

"What's going on?" I ask rhetorically to my two friends who look as shocked as I am.