The Elevator Game

Episode 1

I sat down on the bench with a thud. I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my hoodie as I waited for my school bus to arrive. Delicate raindrops fell down and splattered the bus stop shelter above my head. 

I gave a sigh as I watched the raindrops fall in front of me. It was another rainy day, making it the fifth day in a row. I preferred sunny weather over rainy, muggy weather, but it seemed that the weather was also affected with the recent events happening in our town.

The bus came to a halt in front of me. The doors opened as I stood up, the sound of people talking escaping the bus. 

I stood up, and walked slowly into the bus, the raindrops hitting the tip of my nose, the only thing uncovered from my hoodie.

I walked up the steps, greeting the bus driver. 

"Morning Katie." 

I took off my hoodie. "Morning."

I stood in front of the isle, trying to find an empty seat, but every seat looked occupied. I sighed, knowing that I would have to share a seat with someone. 

The doors flushed closed as the bus began to move. I walked down the isle, scanning each seat to find someone nice to sit with. 

"Katie!"

My head jolted up as I saw a hand waving in the air. I recognized that voice.

I walked down the isle towards the last row of seats on the bus. 

"Hey Katie!" 

I looked over the last two seats on the bus. Julian, Sabrina (we call her Bri), and Cole were sitting there. 

"I never knew you guys take the bus?" I raised in eyebrow.

"Well, after what has been happening lately, we thought it would be better for us to take the bus with you to school." Bri patted the empty space next to her. I sat down, placing my backpack on the floor. 

"So, did you finish your homework Kat?" I turned around in my seat, looking at Julian who had a smirk plastered on his face.

"No Julian, I didn't." I sighed, my eyes beginning to droop. I rubbed my eyes. The lack of sleep was starting to catch up to me.

"You know, Kat," Cole began, "the police are handling this, you should just leave it to them."

"He's right, your grades have been dropping, you haven't been sleeping, you look terrible," Bri added, "you should just, leave it to them."

"I know, but, something doesn't feel right," I said, "I need to know what it is, my inner intuition is telling me otherwise than a possible abduction."

Everyone looked at each other. Cole gave a sigh. "We know, she is our friend, we want to help and find out where she is, but we can't do anything right now." 

I groaned, my hands flying to my face. I slid my hands slowly down my face. "It's been five days, and no one found a clue yet!" It had been five days since our friend Abigail Chung went missing without a trace. The day before, our entire friend group was in my bedroom playing Nintendo Switch. 

"We can't do anything right now Kat." A smile suddenly appeared on Julian's face. "But you know what you can do now? Your homework!" 

Julian wacked out his homework. He stuffed it in my face. "I finished it, you can copy my answers."

"Thanks Julian." I took the piece of paper from his hands and turned forward in my seat, unzipping my backpack. I took out my folder and opened it up, the unwritten, fresh homework paper staring at me. 

"I saved you yet again from Ms. Carol's lecture on how this generation is going to screw up this country since children can't grasp the concept of due dates." Julian chuckled. 

"You better hurry, we are almost at school." Cole said. 

I began to scribble down the answers as fast as I could, not caring about how legible it is. I flipped through the pages. 

"We are almost pulling up into the bus loop." Bri sang. 

"Stop pressuring me!" I whined, earning a laugh from Julian. 

The bus began to slow down. My head jolted up, the school building right in front of us. 

I looked down at my piece of paper and began to write even faster. 

"I need my paper back Kat." Julian tapped my shoulder. 

I scribbled down the answer to the last question. 

"Done!" I gave a sigh of relief. I held the piece of paper up in the air. I turned around and handed Julian his homework back. "Thank you so much." 

"You were so close to being doomed. One more missing assignment and Ms. Carol would have given you detention." Julian said. 

The bus came to a stop, and everyone started standing up. I put my homework back into my folder, placing it in my backpack. I zipped it up and stood up, slinging it over my shoulder. "Well, I won't be getting detention today guys." 

"I wished you did." Cole said. 

I turned around and pushed him, causing him to fall onto his seat again. "It was a joke!"

Bri chuckled beside me, while Julian started at Cole. "Come on, the bus is nearly empty." Bri motioned us out of our seat.

We walked to the front of the bus, thanking the driver on our way out. The rain finally stopped, but the clouds didn't go away. The sun was blocked, making the weather rather gloomy. 

We walked through a passageway beside the school building, leading us to the courtyard.

"It's so quiet" Bri mentioned. "Everyone must be inside."

After a brief walk, we made it to the courtyard. Bri was right, the courtyard was deserted. The only people present were Giselle and Kenji. 

"Yo Gigi and Ken!" Cole hollered. Immediately, Gigi and Kenji turned around, a smile plastering their faces a moment later. 

"Hey!" Gigi waved. "We just finished putting up the flyers around campus."

In the tree behind her, there was a flyer stamped onto the tree. In big, red, bold letters stated "MISSING PERSON, HAVE YOU SEEN HER?" Right underneath were two pictures of Abigail, and a brief description of her physical appearance and when and where she was last seen.

We made it towards Gigi and Kenji.

"Mr. Lee helped us place some of the flyers." Kenji said. He held up a flyer in his hands. "He seems really determined in finding Abigail," Mr. Lee is an old friend of Abigail's family, specifically her dad. He has been on the search for her ever since she went missing. "Good to know that we aren't the only ones searching."

I nodded solemnly. "Yes, good to know."

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(Author's note)

Welcome to another story! Sorry for the short chapter, I get impatient >_<