The Flip Side

Missing

     The next morning, the house is still silent. We each make our own "breakfast", which is a cup of coffee for Jay and a toasted bagel for myself. I bring the bagel back to my room and sit down on the edge of my bed, beginning to munch on it. It's a bit dry, but I don't mind it.
     I look up. Jay is pacing the hallway with his mug in both hands. His hands are shaking, and he nearly spills the mug at one point. His sparks arc from his finger to the spoon in his coffee a few times as he's drinking it.
     Cass is still in her room, I assume she's getting dressed. I glance at the clock. There's about seven minutes until I have to leave. I finish my bagel and walk to my closet. I flip through my abundance of shirts and eventually grab a plain grey long sleeve shirt. I set it down on the bed, and walk to my dresser. I grab a pair of sweatpants and my beanie and lay them on the bed next to the shirt.
     I begin changing into the clothes and pull the beanie over my head. I check the clock again. Two minutes. I grab my backpack and walk out to the living room and slip my shoes on. Jay walks out in a t-shirt and jeans, with his backpack slung over one shoulder.
Cass comes out moments later with the keys. "You two behave. Let's just try to have a normal day today." She says. I nod. As if. I'll be lucky to have a normal hour today. She hand the keys to Jay. He looks up at her. She nods. He nods back. We walk to the car.
The trip to school is quiet as expected, with the silence only broken by Jay checking to see if anything good is on the radio. I open up my phone and go to the messages. No new messages. I go to my conversation with No Name and type a "hey". He replies almost instantly. "You ok?" I reply "me? Yes. Family? Not so much". He sends a little sad face and says "hope nothing bad happens today". I close my phone.
We pull into the school parking lot, and Jay parks towards the front. I go to open the door, but it's locked.
"Hey, I'm sorry for freaking out last night. Just try to keep it cool today, alright?" I nod, gesturing to the door handle. "Oh, right." He unlocks it and we both get out, walking to the school.
In first period, which is social studies, it seems awfully quiet. I guess word got out about our visit to the principal. Of course being a rumor it's gonna be something ridiculous like "bro she totally toasted Mr. Waters when she was in there" or something like that. For all I know half the school could think I murdered him.
     The social studies teacher, Mr. Johnson, turns on the projector, which displays his computer screen. He has a video open titled "Missing". He full-screens it and clicks the play button.
     The video starts out by displaying our school logo, with our school anthem playing in the background. It then cuts to Mr. Waters sitting at his desk. This can't be good. He never addresses the whole school and he hates cameras.
     "Students, I regret to inform you that a number of students at our school have recently been reported missing. If you know any of these students and know that perhaps they are simply skipping class, please inform me or some form of authority in the building. Thank you for your time, please return to your normal activities." Mr. Johnson turns off the projector and begins writing on the board, something about Roman culture.

     After class, I grab my stuff and begin walking to gym. On the way, I notice that a lot of people are crowding around posters in the hallway.
     I look around and see exactly what poster they're crowding. There's numerous sheets of paper hung around the hallways, each displaying a student with the word "MISSING" handwritten above.
     One poster in particular stands out to me, which is posted on the doors on the entrance to the gym. The picture looks vaguely familiar. I look below the picture and I nearly drop my books.
     "Have you seen this student? Full name: Stella Wilson / Nickname: 'Star'"
     I know for a fact she isn't skipping. She actually seems to enjoy school more than anybody else. Does this have anything to do with that Crawler thing? Would I be one of the kids on this poster if No Name hadn't saved me?
     The questions are beginning to overwhelm me. I rush into the girl's restroom nearby and throw up in the first stall. What is it with me losing my stomach every time I get nervous? Is it because I'm learning to control my ability?
     Someone knocks on the stall door. "You ok?" It's Angela. I nod, but realize she can't see me.
     "Y-yeah, just felt a little sick to my stomach." I flush the toilet and open the stall door. Angie's wearing her hair up for a change, which looks weird with how short her hair is.
     "Ok, if you say so. You might wanna fix all this though." She gestures to my hair. I can only imagine. I walk to the mirror. No reflection. Great. I turn back to Angela.
     "This sounds stupid, but do you mind helping me?" She looks at me funny for a second and then shrugs, reaching up to begin fixing it. Either she's pulling it way too hard or there were a crap ton of knots. I honestly could see either option being true.
     "There. Good as new." She stands back, admiring her work. I start to walk out. "Oh, wait!" I turn around. She grabs a paper towel and wipes under my lip. She immediately crumples the paper and tosses it towards the trash, missing by a foot. She shrugs and runs out.
     I walk over and pick up the paper towel, unfolding it. Whatever she wiped off is solid black and slimy. It almost looks like... no.
     I smear my finger through it, and try to ignite my flame on that finger. It doesn't even flicker. The slimy crap that the Crawler was covered in. How was it still on me? I crumple up the paper towel, wipe the goop off on my pants, and stuff the paper towel in my pocket. I have chemistry third period. The teacher is pretty laid-back. I'll just tell him I need to test a sample for a project.
     I walk out of the bathroom, and into the gym. "Ah, Miss Stewart. You finally decided to join us. I believe you're forgetting something." The gym teacher's voice booms across the room. I look down. Duh. I'm not dressed. I turn around, and start walking towards the locker room. A few kids snicker behind me.
     In the locker room, there's a pile of the missing fliers. I flip through them, seeing if I recognize any others. I grab Star's poster, slipping it in my backpack. I get to the bottom of the stack and begin walking away, but something catches my eye. The last poster doesn't have a picture. I pull it out and read the text.
     "Have you seen this student? Full name: N/A Nickname:...."
"No Name"