LOST GIRL

Chapter 5

Breaking News: New information in the case of missing 16 year old Zalia Mills.

    The police released the contents of the letter to every news outlet in the metroplex. My phone kept buzzing with emails from different reporters asking for an interview. It seemed like we were pushed back 3 years with all of the attention that they were giving our family again.

    Shortly after seeing it all over the news, I went into my favorite coffee shop before class and I felt every eye look at me while whispering to the person next to them. I felt like I was reliving 3 years ago. All of the attention was back on my family. I could feel the anxiety rising inside of me, so instead of waiting for my order to be completed, I let the barista know that she could just give it to the next person and I darted for the door.

    Having attention on me as an adult was much different than it was when I was a child. I had my parents there to protect me, but now I had to fend for myself. I put on the hood from my hoodie, pulled the strings and tied it into a knot. I tried to do something to make me seem invisible to the outside world and to whoever it was that sent the letter to my home.

    I made it to class and thought I was out of the clear for the onlookers but I was instantly surrounded by my curious classmates. They all wanted to know about my sister, about how I was so called famous, about the letter I received, the basic same old bullshit that I had been asked 3 years ago. But, there was one of my classmates, I think her name was Angela, she pushed her way into the crowd and grabbed my hand and yelled at them for being inconsiderate. She took me out of the class and into the vacant class across the hall and locked the door.

"Are you okay," she asked, locking the door behind us.

"Yes I'm fine, thanks for that."

"It's no problem. People can be really weird when you're going through things publicly. Trust me, I know," she said.

"You've been through this before?"

"Something similar. Nothing this extreme though."

"Do you have any advice," I asked, feeling intrigued that someone else had felt what I did.

"Curse them out and be aggressive. They'll never leave you alone unless you push back and show them that you're not the one to mess with."

"Thanks. I think I'm good to go back to class now," I said, walking towards the door.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I can't hide in here forever," I said, shrugging.

    We both walked back over to our classroom. They had settled down, finally and the professor was getting started on the lesson. All eyes were on me again and it made the professor stop her lesson and ask if I wanted to leave for the day. Of course I said yes. I didn't want to be a distraction for the class. Angela slid me a piece of notebook paper with her number on it and said to text her and she will send me the notes for the day. I never really talked to her before this day but I could tell she was a genuine person. I told her thank you and I left.

    I walked through the door of my apartment and shouted, "HONEY I'M HOME." Even though my life was in shambles, I still had enough strength to crack a joke. Brian came running into the living room giving me one of his big hugs and a forehead kiss.

"What are you doing home so early," he asked, massaging my shoulders.

"The class couldn't seem to take their eyes off of me. I mean I guess I'm just too darn gorgeous," I said, laughing.

"It was bad huh?"

"HORRIBLE. I may need to miss a few classes until everything settles down again."

"Well I don't mind the company," he said, kissing my forehead again.

    Brian honestly was my peace. After a long week of horror, he stayed by my side and made sure that I was doing fine. Without him and Mila, I don't know how I would be handling the current events surrounding Zalia's disappearance.