The Star in the Darkness

Chapter 3

Athazagoraphobia - fear of being forgotten, ignored, replaced or abandoned.

Alice jumped off the final step of the bus, hair whipping her cheeks as the wind tore back her headband. After she had rushed away from James back to class, it had rained solidly for the next three hours, soaking the ground. As she breathed in, a strong smell of petrichor, the smell of dust after rain, filled her nose.

She stepped away and the vehicle pulled of, driving straight through a puddle left by the extreme weather that day. The water was kicked up by the tyres of the bus and splashed straight onto Alice's dress, who leapt back in disgust. She glanced down at her ruined dress.

"Fantastic"

Her sarcasm lost to the wind, she rolled her eyes and turned towards her house, scrambling up the garden path to get away from the gusts. She reached out a pale hand and pushed down on the door handle.

It was locked.

She frowned, trying again, hoping that it was just the mechanism playing up. Her frozen fingers slipped off the wet handle and she hissed in pain, holding her bruised palm. She reached in her bag and got out her keys, and fumbled for the right one. Her hand now trembling, she pushed the key and twisted to the right, shoving down hard on the door handle.

Alice stepped inside. The air was still, as if undisturbed for the past six hours she had been away from home. She dumped her bag and slipped off her shoes, venturing in to the dark space.

"Mum?"

Her voice rang out clearly, suddenly seeming an unwelcome disruption to the silence. No one answered. She returned to the hall way after seeing the living room empty and climbed the stairs.

"Mum?!"

Nothing. Alice froze, suddenly not wanting to go any further. The house was beginning to creep her out. She returned back down the stairs and went in to the kitchen, flicking on the lights. The darker room illuminated, and Alice began to search for any indication of where her mother was. The last time her mum hadn't been home was because of extra hours at work, yet there was always a note. However, the counter top was bare. The young girl frowned and delved into her jacket pocket, gripping her phone. She quickly turned it on.

She scrolled down through her recent messages to her mum, they seemed to be the only thing cluttering her phone, as the others from her old friends had started to stop and start irregularly. What help they were. There was nothing from her mother, not even a blank message that would show an attempt to contact her. She checked her phone through, it seemed she was receiving messages. She tapped reply and typed out a quick message.

Where are you?

She hit send. All she could do was wait. She had no idea where her mother was, she had no idea who to contact, she never felt so....

Alone.

Alice took a sharp intake of breath. This was not the time for her darkness to return. She closed her eyes tightly and exhaled slowly, willing the voice not to return. Once again, except for her measured breathing, there was silence in the house. She stared at her phone. It was getting dark outside, the clouds eclipsing the sun at a fast pace as the afternoon drew to a swift close. Alice's stomach fluttered worriedly. What if her mum was missing? The thought was random, but hit her hard, stomach clenching sickeningly.

Abandoned.

Alice blinked out of her daze and tapped her phone again, the screen almost blinding in the dim room. She quickly went to contacts, and pressed down hard on 'Mum'. With shaking hands, she pressed the cold surface to her ear.