Reflections: Disappearance of the High Priestess

September 14th, 2020, Monday

Time to go back to school. Unfortunately felt like a short weekend. I still feel sore after yesterday's events. It was a slog to get out of bed, especially after thinking about how much of a bust yesterday was. I looked into the bathroom mirror and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. The idea that Anna and I might have to wait until next Sunday to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Hayes to collect more information seemed insufferable to me.

I got dressed and started heading to school. It was a gloomy day. The sky was overcast with a thick layer of clouds. Despite the grim look in the sky, the weather was quite pleasant, very comfortable for Fall. I made it to school to see Anna leaning against the brick wall of the school. As she saw me come closer, she got off the wall and met my approach.

"Ready for week three?" Anna says, stretching out her arms.

"Yeah, about as ready as I can be after yesterday," I try to mimic her stretch, but the soreness prevents me from getting my arms anywhere past my shoulders.

"Well, I guess it's technically week four, but I would hardly consider our first two days to be a true week," Anna paused to consider. "Not to mention that you missed one of those days too! You weren't here for orientation."

"Yeah, I was still moving at the time. I was pretty bummed about moving here," I lazily say as I look at some of the students going inside the school.

"Well, have I managed to change your mind about this town yet?" Anna started heading to the door as well.

"I guess, maybe a little. There are some cool parts of this town, but I wouldn't call the events of the last two weeks to be described as pleasant, you know?" I try to keep up with Anna, but I don't think I could keep up with a snail right now.

"Well, I would like to say that the recent events are not an accurate representation of our humble midwestern lifestyle," Anna said with a sarcastic, saccharine tone.

"Well, that's good to know. Maybe I'll enjoy living here once all this blows over," I say as we enter the junior homeroom.

"Yeah, then maybe we can uh-" Anna is cut off by Beth, who rushes right into our conversation.

"Hey, guys!" Beth came to interrupt us.

At first, I thought she might have been wearing the same clothes as last week, but there were alterations. She wore what looked like a bomber jacket, but bright yellow with little pink triangle stickers over the arms and back. She had light blue bell-bottom jeans with white short-platform shoes. Her heart-shaped glasses were now replaced with glasses with large diamond-shaped lenses, large enough, the diamond's points stretched from her cheeks to her forehead. The lenses were bright, translucent pink. Her whole style looked like if you asked someone born in the last 20 years what they thought someone in the seventies dressed like.

"Are both of you ready for another fantastic Monday?!" Beth cheered on.

"I guess so?" I tell her as I put my stuff down at my desk and sit down.

"Yep, I'm ready for Monday," Anna replied dryly.

There was an awkward silence between us for a while, or at least it was uncomfortable for Anna and me. Beth just looked overjoyed to exist as she stood there with her big grin looking off into space.

"Oh, hey, Ryan!" Another male voice emerges from the crowd to join us.

It was from Oliver. He came into class and joined the small group that was forming around the bench. I noticed he had a small bruise on his forehead, where he probably ran into the tree. His hair was tied up in a bun, and I just now noticed he has a small soul patch just below his lower lip. He looked more mature than the other students around him, which seemed to be a stark contrast to his genuine demeanor.