(Dylan's POV)
~
Two Years Later...
I walk through the halls just to see another old poster. The poster has the girl's face with information on it. The girl, Violet went missing two years ago. The last time I saw her was a few years back near the forest. I continue to walk down the hall until I reach my locker. I start to turn my combination, but I am then interrupted by Evan.
"Hey Dylan, what's up?"
"I have one more class until lunch," I reply while starting to do my combination once again.
"Have you noticed these posters a lot recently?" he asks me and leans against the other lockers.
"Yeah, it's been going through my mind a bit,"
My locker pops open and I exchange my books. I notice a small symbol carved into the side. A Nirvana symbol. That's weird. I then close my locker and turn back to Evan.
He stares at me.
"What?" I ask.
"Nothing, you've just been acting a little weird lately," Evan said, turning to walk away. I come with him.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Well," Evan said looking at another poster. "You've just seemed....uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable? How?"
"I don't know, man,"
The bell rings, and Evan quickens in pace to his next class. I roll my eyes and walk into a classroom. I sit in the back of the classroom. The other kids in the class chatter amongst themselves. Mr. Blake walks into the room.
"Hello, class," He says and sits down at his desk. "Today, is..." He looks at the calendar. "A very special students birthday,"
The class murmurs at his words.
"I don't know if you know-" Mr. Blake stopped to correct himself. "Or knew this girl, but today we celebrate her birthday, Violet Duff."
"Hey, you know that girl?" A boy next to me asks. I have no idea what or who they're talking about, but it's getting strange.
"For those who don't know, Violet went missing two years ago." Mr. Blake says with a bit of despair. The boy next to me, Jake, is still looking at me.
"What?" I ask turning back to him.
"You just seem off today," he says avoiding my eye contact.
"Eve-" I say then getting interrupted..
"Anything you have to share with us Dylan?" Mr.Blake says in front of the whole class while making eye contact with me.
"No," I said,
Mr. Blake continued. "No one knows where she went, but last time anyone saw her, she was on the Burdary Trail. I won't get into any more details, and I'm sorry for friends and family,"
I heard people start to whisper.
"She would be graduating this year,"
"I wonder where she went?"
What happened to her?"
I start to get annoyed as everyone talked about it, and I didn't even know her.
Except that I tried smiling at her on the trail, to which she didn't return.
I clench my fists and look at the desk.
"Okay, class. Let's get onto the next lesson," Mr. Blake stood up and started walking around the class. "Our lesson in literature today, is about Hamlet."
That did it. Why was I supposed to listen to some story about a tragedy?
Mr. Blake continued about the lesson, and since I had nothing better to do, I listened. The Ghost tells him that Hamlet's uncle murders him, so he meets a group of actors to recreate it blah, blah, blah...
I groan as he asks questions to some students about the story by William Shakespeare, and try to fall asleep. The bell ends up ringing, soon enough, and we all head out to lunch. I go to my locker, and open it, once again seeing that Nirvana sign, and shuddering, then going to the cafeteria. I sit down at a table with my friends sitting there as well.
"Hey, Dylan."
I open up my lunch bag and pull out a sandwich, applesauce, some cookies, and some pretzels. I take a bite of my sandwich as Evan starts talking.
"Have you guys ever heard of Violet Duff?"
"No, not until today," Says Jake.
"Is it me or are the posters kind of creepy?" Evan says with a mouth full of chips.
"Is it me or is everyone acting weird?" Jake says while elbowing me to bring emphasis on who it is. Me.
"Yeah," Evan says. "What's going on with you dude?"
"Nothing," I say and then take another bite of my sandwich. They all look at me and laugh.
"It's like you're in space," Jake says while peeling his orange.
"No, I'm not," I say defending myself. Why are they on my case?
"Whatever man," Evan says. He grins and rolls his eyes. I finish off my lunch with my applesauce. Right after I throw my garbage away the bell rings. We all go off into the hallway like cattle in a herd. I grab my books from my locker. God, that symbol is just so strange. It's like it is staring into my soul with those exed out eyes. I shrug it off and continue to my last three classes.
When the final bell rings, I gather all my things into my backpack. I leave the school doors and the fresh summer air hits me. I exhale, and try to shake off what happened today. I stop by the bench to drop my backpack off. I then, go off to take a walk. I go onto the trail, where I last saw that Violet girl, and look around. The trail goes into a fork, and splits. It looks like there's a third one, but it's mostly just dying leaves that looked like someone ran into years ago.
I stop as Violet crosses my mind.
I decide to take that trail, and see where it comes to.
As I walk, I look at the trees. Up ahead I see a tree, with a carving into it. I walk further, and see it's the same symbol as in my locker.
"What the hell?" I whisper to myself. I look down the trail, and hear the familiar water rushing. I walk further, and stop at the clearing. I look to the side of the river, and see a strange object at the bank. I carefully crawl down the side of the hill, and go down onto the grass.
It's a backpack.
Wait, two actually.
I pick one up, and open it. Remains of books and school supplies lay inside. There's a wallet too.
I pick it up, and having it partially crumble in my hands. There's a laminated ID inside. I pick that up, and look at it.
No, It can't be it. Is this some type of prank? I look to check the name once more. Violet Duff. I look around to see if anybody is watching. I put the ID away and then put the wallet back. Once no one is around, I take the two backpacks and swing them around my back. I feel the cold from the ground in my skin. I shiver, then continue back on the trail to see if anything else is around. Nothing else is in sight or noticeable. I go back to the bench to grab my own bag. I walk at an unspeakably fast pace.
As I am on my way home, I have a returning thought. Is she still alive? Is she in hiding? Does she have yet to come back to those backpacks? They seemed untouched for the longest time. My mind is racing. My thoughts are going a thousand miles per hour, crashing into each other, and then finding new routes. I try to calm down but now I am anxious to find out if this is really her stuff.
A/N
Hope you liked it!
Let me know what you think in the comments!
-Emily
