*****
The sound of the bell pulled me from my thoughts. I let out a sigh of relief. Monday morning is finally over and I couldn't help but smile. I picked up my rucksack from the floor and turned to face the empty desk next to me. My smile disappeared. Ella never turned up to school today, and nor did Kara. Both of them just seemed to have vanished off the face of the Earth. I've had no phone calls, no text messages, no Facebook messages and there's lots of other ways that they can contact me. Something about today didn't feel right, and that wasn't the fact that it was a Monday morning, but it was the fact I hadn't seen or heard from my friends in 24 hours. They're probably fine, but they've never been so ill that they can't be on their phones. If it were one of them, that would be weird, but two. That's just worrying. Why am I worrying so much? Things are always fine, aren't they? Well not in my life it's not. There's always something going on. Maddie, stop it! You're worrying yourself over nothing. Don't think of it. Just focus on something else, something that doesn't make you want to scream. I saw the mousy, blonde head of Ebony Stewards walking out the classroom door. She lives near me, I'll walk with her. I hope she can take my mind off things. I mean, she is the classes chatter box for Christ sake. I left the classroom with speed to catch up with Ebony.
"Ebony" I shouted down the corridor, "Ebony wait."
I finally court up with her.
"Hey." I said, slightly out of breath.
"Hey" She chuckled, "Sorry I couldn't stop closer. I had a swarm off teenagers, threatening to trample me, if I didn't move."
I laughed. "Can I walk home with you?"
"Yeah sure. Are Ella and Kara not in either?" She replied.
"Yeah , both of them are ill, I think." The last part of the sentence came out as more of a question.
"Huh," She said while nodding her head, "Sarah's not in either. She didn't contact me, but we don't usually message each other, so it's probably just some sort of bug going round."
"I don't think it is though. Me, Ella and Kara are always communicating in one form or another. It makes no sense."
I processed the new information as my panic levels began to rise once again. Thinking of the worst, I turned my head slowly, to face Ebony.
"Do you think something has happened to them."
She stared at me for a bit, as if she thought I was joking around. I wouldn't joke about something like this. Not if it involves my friends. Is this even a thing. I looked at the ground for some sort of answer. I'm probably over-exaggerating. Well there's nothing wrong with that, except that some people may think I'm starting to lose my mind.
I look back up at ebony, who still hadn't answered my questions. But when I looked at her, I didn't know what to think. Her eyes were cold and her face was emotionless. Her sweet, chocolate, brown eyes felt like ice and the freckles placed upon her pale skin didn't have that innocence that they once had. In fact, everything that was once sweet and innocent about her vanished.
While giving me that cold look, she look me up and down as if I was some sort of lower life form.
"No."
No. No was all she said. No reason and no concern that her friend might need her. What the hell just happened?
Another dramatic emotional change and she's back to the old Ebony Stewards. "Have you heard that Natalie and Alex are going out?"
*****
From then on, she just went on about the latest gossip, but I wasn't really listening as my mind was on another things. I tried to concentrate on what she was saying but my mind kept drifting to Ella, Kara and now Sarah. This can't be a bug. I hope that it's a bug, but for some reason I know it's not. I wouldn't feel this way if it was because I would've got a message. I know. I pretended to listen to whatever she was saying as we were walking back to our houses. I really hope their okay.
YOU ARE READING
I Will Find You - On hold, sorry
AcciónDon't panic. Everything will be okay. Just calm down, everything will be okay. Will it? Maddie, you're in slavery, nothing will EVER be okay again. Your alone, separated from your family. Nothing. I repeat, nothing, will be okay again! Stop thinking...