The girl with the blue umbrella||✔

Five

I allowed my hair to get swept away by the wind. I couldn't stay inside my house for too long. The confinement of the walls were suffocating.

The atmosphere was chilly, the area was as quiet as a graveyard and the moon shone so eerily, it sent chills down my spine. My thoughts were all over the place all the time. I couldn't even do things correctly at my job tonight. Thank goodness that the next day was Saturday. I only had to work at a cafe for two hours every Saturday so I had the rest of the day free.

My head stayed in the cloud for the rest of the evening. I couldn't stop thinking of the awful things that had been done to Layla. Who knows if they didn't do something else to her that made her missing? Or even worse, kidnapped her? I was sure that I was overthinking things so I willed myself to go to sleep.

On that Saturday, after my shift at work, I decided to take a walk around, to clear my head. I walked around my neighborhood and then saw the oak tree from afar. I decided to go to the oak tree to see if I'll find anything that had to do with Layla.
I searched around the tree countless time but I couldn't find anything. Mainly because I didn't even know what I was searching for. I sat under the tree, placed my elbows on my knees and wrapped my hands around my neck while my head hung low.

Where are you Layla Cunningham?

It was baffling, how I felt about solving the mysteries surrounding Layla but I barely knew her. I was most certain that she didn't know me either. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the piece of paper that I wrote on earlier. It had Layla's address on it. I had been contemplating on going over to her house. I weighed out the pros and cons of going over to her house but I decided that I would damn the consequences and go either way.

While I was in the process of summoning the courage to go to her house, something carved into the tree caught my eye.
L.C was here
It was very common to see stuff like these carved into trees and all of that but that didn't catch my attention. It was what was written under it that drew my attention.
L.C is gone

I didn't understand what it meant at that moment. It was the same handwriting that both sentences had. The first part looked like it had been written a long time ago, but the second one looked like it was carved into the tree recently. I pushed the thought aside and made my way to Layla's house.

I didn't expect anything about Layla's house but I was left dumbfounded by the size of her house. She was loaded. Her security let me in and I made my way into her house.

I was let in by Layla's mom. The resemblance between Layla and her mom was so striking, it made my heart thump. Her eyes looked tired and were searching for something. Just like Layla's.

"Who might you be?" She asked me, while handing me a glass of water.

"I'm Martin Lancaster. I am an... acquaintance of your daughter."

"An acquaintance?"

"Yes."

She eyed me and sighed. "Layla doesn't have any friends or acquaintances. Do you think I would not have known if she had friends? Do you think I didn't know about the bruises she came home with every day? Did you just come here to mock me?"

"No! It is not like that at all." I explained how I was never able to talk to her and when I finally gathered the courage to, she disappeared. I also explained how I just found out that she was bullied and my misconception of the students of Northvane high.

The sturdy gaze she has on my earlier began to soften slowly. "So why are you here?" She asked.

"I don't actually know. I really just want to know how you are coping with her disappearance."

She sighed and rubbed her head. "You see Layla has always had it difficult you know? Living with her type of disability in this era isn't easy. My baby is really strong." Tears began to flow down her eyes. "She's really really strong. So I don't know what would have made her go missing. She's my only child, the apple of my eye and it hurts my so much when I see that other people hurt my child. She tried really hard to make people understand her, she tried so hard to be normal but nothing ever worked. All her efforts were futile yet she still tried to see the good in people. I knew I should have pulled her out of that school. I just knew it. But she refused to leave and all I wanted was for her to be happy." I watched as Mrs. Cunningham sobbed and wiped her tears. I kept on watching but could say anything.

What was there to say? Any word I said right now could be used against me and I might make her situation worse. I had better kept my mouth shut.

"Why are you so interested in her?"

"There was something about her that drew me towards her. I don't know what." I never looked at her face, afraid that I would see that of Layla's.

I heard footsteps walk away and that was when I finally looked up. I assumed she decided to stop talking to me so I got ready to leave before I heard footsteps again.

Mrs Cunningham appeared before me. She stretched her hand out to me and told me to take what she held from her hand. It was a notebook of some kind. She informed me that Layla often wrote in that book and that I should read it when I get the time.

I felt uncomfortable invading people's privacy but I thanked her for the book and headed home. I could not open the book for I was afraid of its contents and what it may hold. When I finally opened the book, tears began to flow down my face. I didn't care if crying was not manly or not but screw that.
She wrote a poem. A very sad one, and seeing the page in the book, I could see dried tear stains. She cried while writing this.

I'm down on my knees
Watching myself bleed
All I ever wanted was to be like you
But all I am is just a fool

I could smile all the time to appear strong
Yet how can't you see that something's wrong
I could wear the nicest clothes and jewelry
But it doesn't change the fact that I can't speak

Let it ring
Let it ring

The voice of my heart and soul
The voice of my pains and sorrows
The voice of me dreams and hopes

Let it ring!

Did it get to you?
Is it reaching you?
Can you hear my voice?
Did my voice reach you?

No. Of course not.

More tears rolled down as I struggled to wipe them all. This was heart breaking to see but I wanted to see more. This was the closest I have ever been to Layla and I wanted to know more.

I opened a random page that made my eyes go wide.

Today it was raining really hard. The same thing as that happens happened again but they won't very soon. I was standing under the same oak tree when I saw him.
Martin Lancaster.

He looked at me and walked away. I felt really sad after he did that. It also made me remember when we were in middle school. It was raining on that day too. I had no umbrella at all and Martin was standing right there with a big blue umbrella. He came over to share it with me and I instantly felt warm. I wanted to thank him but I couldn't so I only smiled at him and he gave me a big goofy smile in return. I wish he could have stayed with me but he got a phone call that made him lose that smile. He left me with the umbrella and ran away. I didn't see him after that until freshman year. But I kept the umbrella and used it everyday ever since. And today when I saw him, I was elated to see him. I was about gesture a hi but he just blushed then walked away. It was refreshing actually, it made me smile. I have not done that in a while.

I closed the book and leaned back on my chair. She knew me. All these time I thought she never knew I even existed, she knew me. The girl with the blue umbrella, Layla Cunningham, knew me.

•••••••
Eid Mubarak ✨

I wrote the poem myself and I'm trash at poems so...
Thoughts?

Ayeesha🐬