Nothing is Forever

Chapter 17 - Four Months Later - Never Forgotten - Alissa Lauren Kiang:

I look in the bathroom mirror, and for a split second, my sclera turns black. I blink and now it's gone. I splash myself in the face with water to clear my head and go back to my room, trying to shake off the feeling of fear that was rising in my chest. I sit down at my desk and pull out the homework they had given us for the first day. I pull out a sheet of lined paper and my pencil from my backpack that was overflowing with school supplies and other odds and ends.

"Liss!" Sylvia -my roommate- calls me, as she walks past my room, tapping on my open door. "Time for dinner!"

"Coming!" I say, not looking up from the piece of paper in front of me. "Five minutes!"

"I swear, you need to chill with your homework, it's the first day, stop tryharding so much," she reminds me of Loana as she laughs and she walks away to get Lilian and Sabrina for dinner. I move to get up from my desk, pushing my homework to the side, and smile to myself, but a sharp pain shoots through me.

Why are you so like Loana? I think to myself. A tear runs down my face and falls onto the paper with a plip! as it hits the blank white sheet, it leaves a dark stain in the center, weakening the paper, just like it had weakened me, leaving me changed. But had it been for the better or worse? It had been months, but every time I remembered the four of them, it still brought tears to my eyes. Memories truly are stronger than anything.

I get a call on my phone and I wipe my tears away. I look at the caller I.D. and see that it's the police department

"Yes?" I answer, confused at why they are calling me.

"We have something we think you need to know." It's Hal on the other end, and he doesn't sound very happy, in fact, he sounds somewhat nervous, maybe even scared.

"What? What happened?" My voice rises as fear starts to build up.

"The bodies of your friends, they're gone." The shock paralyzes me. Could they be alive?

"Could they be alive?" I ask, my voice sounding hopeful.

"Now we don't know if that's true, but it's a possibility. Things like this have happened. But please don't get your hopes up. I'd hate for this to just be a hoax. It would be like going through their deaths all over again. I've got to go, but I'll keep you posted." He hangs up the phone, and I sit back down, confused. When I sit down, my left sleeve pulls up and you can see the scars that crisscross on my wrists, that I had put there when it had been too much when I had wanted to end it when I wanted to stop. But now, I had something that I didn't have before. I had someone to talk to: my therapist, he was the one person I could go to, who would really listen to me, who wouldn't look at me and cringe away. Unable to look at me without remembering Loana, or Victor, or Davis, or Alexandra. To everyone else, I am always going to be 'that girl' but he doesn't judge, he just listens. I lean against the chair, sighing.

But now, they may be alive. No matter how hard I try, I can't help but think that this is a sign. There's a chance that my friends are okay. And whatever slim chance that may be, I'm holding onto it.

Unthinkingly, I grab a pencil sitting forlornly on the desk, and for a second, my hand hovers over the paper, unsure. But something in my mind tells me to just write. I put the pencil to paper and let the words flow. "This book is the tale of a mystery that was never solved, a mystery that to this day stumps even the world's greatest minds. A mystery, known as Other Side."