The Ash Tree

Who are you?

Meanwhile, Alya was not at school, or at home, or pretty much anywhere you would think she was. Everything had started normally enough. She had gotten ready for school and had walked halfway there. However, when she got to the small alleyway, there was a group of teenage boys there. "Yo, who's this lil chick over here?" one of them said.

"Nah, she be looking hella fine in that crusty uniform." another one commented. Alya shuddered. She was definitely not interested in thses boys and was about to just walk past them when she suddenly got pushed back. "Eh, you're not going anywhere, lil girl. We ain't finished with you yet."

"Yeah, we be getting paid to do this, so ya better come quietly."

Alya stared at them. She would have talked back to them, but she had no idea what they were capable of. Suddenly, she felt a hard blow to the face. It looked like she wasn't be able to worm her way out if this one. Still, if she was going down, there was going to be a struggle. Alya reached into her pockets and pulled out a pair of her home keys. She was ready to fight.

They found for several minutes, but Alya's keys were no match for a group of teenagers. Soon, she was laying almost unconscious on the ground, and as she slipped away, she heard one of them say: "Don't take it personal, kiddo. Business is business after all." Darkness.

***

Meanwhile, Jess and May were in a bit of a panic. By now, most of the school had heard about the fight, and they heard countless Year 7s recount it to their friends who were listening eagerly. Of course, they thought they knew exactly what had happened. Tanisha was almost certainly the one who had caused this strange disappearance.

"Maybe we should tell the teacher" May suggested as they were pondering how to get Alya back.

"No way that's ever going to happen" Jess responded. "Tanisha will probably kill us if she finds out, and she definitely will."

"Good point. Well, maybe we should like, I don't know, ask Alicia about it."

"Urgh, I guess. I'll definitely take talking to her over Alya going missing."

So, they went to the field to find Alicia, hoping that she would know at least something about this.

"Well... I don't really know. She might be sick, after all. It's only been one day." Alicia said after they came up to her and asked about Alya.

"Good point." Jess responded. "We should start worrying about this tomorrow or something.

So they did. Jess and May went about their normal lives while also checking their phones every couple of seconds to check if Alya had texted them. She hadn't. They thought that she was too suck to move and grab her phone.