colours of viridian | BOOK ONE | J a d e d ✔️

D i s a p p e a r i n g

S o n g : F o o t s t e p s ( G o H i g h e r ) - P o p E v i l

C h a p t e r XXVI
V i r i d i a n

I found Stephanie passed out on a pool chair. Someone had placed a full cup of beer on her stomach over her hands. The cup just bobbed up and down, somehow balancing on her hands until I put it to the side.

"Stephanie," I shook her shoulder firmly.

Her eyes blinked open as she moaned in pain. Obviously she wasn't the one who cleaned the room. But she still had information I needed.

"Where does Kenna live?" I impatiently asked.

Mirella was able to freeze Kenna's body in time, but the spell would quickly dissipate the longer Kenna was...dead. Something about the soul moving on. Once that happened, there was only so much time left. Mirella gave it less than 12 hours.

She narrowed her eyes in confusion, "Who?"

I groaned annoyedly, "Brown hair, hazel eyes, about yay big." I sarcastically brought my hand down close to the floor when her face stayed clueless. "Your roommate? Where does she live when not at university?" I hated talking to drunk humans. They acted like such insolent children.

Her eyes widened, "Oh! You must have me confused with someone else -I don't have a roommate! I've been roommate free since I started university last year." She smiled politely as if she weren't just spewing bullshit. "Sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

She couldn't have been that drunk...could she? To forget a major part of her life like that? It didn't sit right.

"You don't know a Makenna Braylon?" My voice was dangerously low as my blood turned cold in my chest before it ran the frigidness throughout the rest of my body.

"Is she new? I thought you were our only new student. Trust me, I'd know it if a Makenna Braylon lived in the town," she laughed lightly as I felt the need to be sick, "We never get new people and we know absolutely everyone. This Makenna girl is either super new or you've been mistaken. There is a Braylon family, but no Makenna." She sat up, stretching herself more awake.

It was like she was compelled. What was happening?

"Thanks," I mumbled, my mind in a twist as I tried to piece the puzzle together.

Walking absentmindedly back towards the gate, I spotted a familiar girl with light purple hair --Malory, I think. Kenna talked about her. She'd probably know where her house was.

"Hey," I stood in front of the girl as she released a breath of white smoke.

She nodded her greeting, holding out the pipe to me.

"Do you know where Kenna Braylon lives?" I waved it off as she took another puff.

"There are no Kennas in this town. The Braylon's, however, live beside me on White Oak Road. House number 6." She easily said, once again blowing out the cloud of strong smoke above her head.

Her too? Who was this Vampire? Was it a vampire? I couldn't sense any compulsion. It was like their memories were wiped completely clean. Usually with compulsion there were déjà vu feelings that made humans think twice before answering -it normally wasn't visible to the human eye, but it was to Vampires. But Stephanie and Malory didn't even flinch.

My frown deepened as I walked away, my hand running through my hair and tugging at my roots. Nothing was adding up.

She was just...disappearing.

†⚜†

I knew it was late. Too late. Or maybe too early. Either way I needed to know. My hand turned the door nob on the grey two story house with a white picket fence. I could still smell Kenna's lingering scent and it made me ache more than I thought it would.

Quietly and unnoticeably, I walked through the house; following the scent where it lingered the most strongest. It had to have been her room. Whatever was causing Kenna to disappear, surely her parents and family would remember her...right?

I couldn't imagine anyone forgetting her. She deserved so much better than that.

I flinched as the door at the end of the hallway opened. It was her room. It had to have been. The walls were a light yellowy-green I could imagine her loving -it reminded me of the forest, and she loved the forest. There were bookshelves along the wall, the same colour as the trees; a dark grainy wood. The blinds even had a leafy vine pattern on it. It had to have been her room!

But it was just storage. The bookshelves were filled with old paper, covered in files, and littered with unopened boxes. Old furniture furnished the room like it had always been there. Besides the colours, her entire presence was gone. I backed out of the room, my eyes landing on the photos on the wall. No Kenna. In any of them. But I could feel her there in each one as if she were a ghost haunting the photographs.

It was like she never even existed.

It didn't matter how tightly I held onto her, she was still slipping through my grip and I felt hopeless to stop it.

†⚜†

Ou. What's happening? Poor Viri <\3