"Lyndon..." Jolene finally uttered after her realization. She did not waste any time and ran to go after him. The marketplace was crowded and the man walked away minutes ago, in spite of it, she does not lose hope. Clenching her jaw, Jolene swiftly scanned the marketplace, trying to be keen and quick as much as she can. She spotted the shirt the man was wearing from afar and ran after it.
"Wait!" she shouts, but the man did not stop. She hurriedly ran until she can finally reach his shoulders, "Wait" she said once again while gasping for her breath, the man turns around and looks at her.
"What is it?"
"Erm..." Jolene was out of words, "I'm sorry, I thought you're the guy I was looking for." she apologized, for she went after the wrong person.
She walked away in disappointment, she is not sure about anything but there is a huge hunch in her gut, she felt connected to that person. Unfortunately, she didn't have the chance to talk to him. Jolene decided to just go on with her groceries in the marketplace, in every place she walks to, she continues on looking and wishing that she may see him. However, she wasn't very lucky.
She went home absent-minded, she dropped the things she bought at their table, headed straight to her room, and sat on her study table. At this point, she cannot do anything about not seeing the man again, making her very disappointed.
"Come on Jolene, what if it's not Lyndon? What if his eyes did not really turn silver? What if it was really just a coincidence?" she argued to herself.
She groaned, "But what if it's him?!" she messed up her hair in frustration.
She decided to open her notes, to distract herself from her own thoughts, and to just study. But the happenings at the marketplace kept on playing back in her mind. Also, the time when Lyndon let go of her hand as a child played back as well.
She slammed her pen down to the table and laid down on the bed. That's when she heard Granny knock on her door. "Can I come in Jolene?" Jolene sat down, "Of course Granny..." she said and Granny opened her door and sat with her. "Now, I noticed you have something in your mind ever since you returned from that marketplace, what seemed to be bothering you?" Jolene gulped, ...am I that obvious?
However, she did not see any reason to hide it from her granny. "Granny, I think I saw someone... from my past." she looked at her to see her reaction, Granny kept in silence and let her continue talking, she sighed, "I know we talked about it, that the past does not matter anymore, but now, it feels like there will be something missing in me if I do not try to connect to my past again."
"Do you have any plan to do that?"
Jolene fell in silence before she shook her head, "Nope... I don't even know what I am thinking at this point." she nervously laughed as she lightly slapped her forehead.
Granny lovingly smiled as she leans Jolene's head to her shoulders, "Your journey is your choice Jolene, you can pursue whatever your heart tells you to, or what will make you complete. Just remember, in case things go wrong, I will just always be here and there's nothing wrong with failing and wanting to go back here, okay?"
Jolene smiled, "Thanks Granny." she tearfully uttered as she buries her face into the woman's shoulders.
--
"Jolene, do you want to come with us to the nearby store? We still have a few minutes before class." A group of her girl classmates came to invite her. She shyly smiled and shook her head. The girls were a bit down, but indifferent to her response, as she was always asked to be accompanied but she wanted to be just by herself.
When the girls have fully disappeared due to distance, she walked along the corridors towards the library. She greeted the librarian with a nod as it nods back at her. She has been very familiar with the librarian because this is where she spends most of her time. She explored the vast shelves lined up in the center of the library. Jolene let her hands slide to each book on one of the shelves as she reads the book titles. She went to the poetry section this time. Her hand stopped at one certain book, a thin book of poetry about the mystery of life that she read over a month ago. She pulled it out and sat on the floor to read it. It was one of her favorites.
"Ironically, people aspire to be extraordinary,
And yet resent embracing their uniqueness.
The reality, we never wanted to be special,
We just wanted the traits of those who seem to matter."
Jolene paused at this page. It was her favorite among the rest of what's written in that book. She wants to feel the belonging, but here she is, avoiding people around her. She thinks that maybe it is because people around her will not understand what she is capable of. She has something special, a kind of trait she will always have, but she can barely control it right now.
She misses the times when she has Lyndon and all her other playmates back in the orphanage.
She was six years old back then, but it was clear to her that some of them have a unique ability, at least, before every kid started to get missing one by one. The last few kids she can remember seeing before she ran away there were the four other kids that were with her when they were forced to eat poison. She suspects that that is how the other kids started to be gone. Now, she does not have any news about the other kids who escaped too.
"Jolene! Here you are."
She almost jumped when she heard someone call her. She struck her gaze at the end of the bookshelf and saw their student president, who is also a common acquaintance to her in the library, is holding a small box. She stood up to walk near him. "What is it?" she softly asked. "Someone left this in front of your homeroom this morning, then since it was early, we just put it in the faculty for a while, we figured that it's a package for you since you're the only Jolene in your class, and probably even in this school," he explained as he gives the box to Jolene. She held it, it was light. She looked around the box and saw no information as to where it came from, there was only a written note "for Jolene" on it and nothing else.
"Do you know where it came from?" she asked their president.
It scratched his temple and replied, "No, no one saw who placed it there and there's no note to where it came from."
Jolene stared at the box in her hand suspiciously.
"It's pretty shady, right? I should have this returned--"
"No it's okay, I'll take it. Thank you for bringing this to me." she sweetly smiled.
As Jolene was left alone, she returned to her corner where she was sitting down a while ago. She opened it and it revealed a small folded piece of paper, underneath it is an antique-looking locket, its pendant is as big as a wristwatch. She opened a locket and it lit up and saw a dot of blinking red light that was moving around and a steady green light. Confused, she turned up to the piece of paper and opened it; "This will lead you to find your past, and to your future purpose. Find me."
The note did not give much of an answer. She looked at it thoroughly and figured that it seemed to be something like a tracker. She is still not sure, therefore, she stood up, returned the book she was holding, and slowly walked around the library.
Her eyes widened when she saw the steady green light blink and also move around like the red light. This confirmed her suspicions. She examined the locket and it seems to her that she must get to the red light.
But what is the red light? And why is it moving? Is the red light.... the person who sent this? The red light does not seem to be too far from her. It's very close.
Almost as if... ...it's also in the school.
The bell rang and it was time to go back to their classes, she closed the locket, and went to classes. However, as soon as their classes for that day ended, she walked away from most people and reopened her locket. The red light was blinking, and soon after, it got steady. Now is her chance to finally get to it. She followed the tracker and it somehow led her to the back of the school.
The school was almost empty at this time, she walked towards the vegetable garden, which is at the back of their school. She carefully wandered around, hoping to see someone.
Until she finally does.
But it was not what she expects.
She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw a male student, sleeping on a bench at the end of the garden. Its uniform was unbuttoned and his head resting at both his arms. Jolene slowly walked towards him. She checked her tracker and it seemed that the red light and the green light met. She looked around but there was no one else in the area. "How could he be the one who sent this? He doesn't look too far from my age... could it be the bench? No! It was moving earlier..." she whispered to herself.
But her voice was loud enough for the man to wake up. Jolene gasped and took one step back when the man sat down and stretched. It was almost sundown and the rays of sun hit the man's face. Jolene's eyes widened once more. "H-hey! I know you! You're the guy I saw at the marketplace!" she exclaimed.
"The marketplace? What are you talking about? What are you doing here?" the guy confusedly asked while rubbing his eyes.
"I can't be mistaken! It was you!" she pauses to think and puzzle the pieces of clues, "The note says that this necklace will lead me to my past... so that means you must be connected to my past... you must be Lyndon!"
The man looked at her in shocked eyes, "How did you know about..."
"So it was you? I'm Jolene! We were friends in the orphanage."
His mouth fell open as he stood up, he walked towards her, "You're the Jolene... from the orphanage?"
Jolene nodded her head and smiled.
Whereas the guy did the opposite, he picked up his backpack and walked away, "No you got the wrong guy, I'm not Lyndon."
"What the..." Jolene followed him in frustration, "How can you be not him? I knew you recognized me." he walked faster but Jolene was able to catch up, "I saw you ruin that store in the marketplace."
He paused to look at her, "I did not do that."
"Yes you did, I saw your eyes glimmer in silver. You're like me, admit it," she said in such determination.
He looked away and clenched his jaw before looking back at her, "What do you want from me?"
Jolene showed the locket to him, "I got this today, it says that this will lead me to my past, and it will also show us something, about our purpose, don't you ever wonder why we have this kind of ability? I want to know more about myself, my past." she paused for a little before she continued, "I also want my old friend back." she told him.
The guy didn't know what to do or say after hearing those, Jolene continued talking, "Since it seemed that you're not the one who sent this, I wonder why it lead me to you."
"I... also got one of that this morning," he admitted, as he pulls out a locket from his backpack. He opened it and saw red and green blinking lights. But unlike Jolene's, the lights on his locket were way too far from each other.
"It's a tracker" Jolene explained as she looks into it again, "But I don't think it was meant to track me."
"I didn't get any note or instruction about this, so I just kept it in my bag until now."
"Then, maybe I was the only one who had been told about the clues... and your tracker will lead elsewhere, maybe to another one like... us." she looked at him after the realization. "We need to follow your tracker."
"What? How can you trust this thing?"
"I just have this hunch, that it might lead us to something we were supposed to be."
He scratched his head, "I don't know about that..."
"It's either you will come with me, or you will give me the tracker and I will go by myself."
"Jolene, we have to think this through! Be rational, we are just teenagers."
Jolene paused and looked down, "You're right. We should just take one step at a time." she decided, "So tell me the truth, you're Lyndon, right?"
He was not able to look away from her gaze, finally, he gave up, "Y-you're right." he said in a low voice, "But I go with Kiel now."
Jolene can't help the tears rushing down to her face because of happiness, she jumped at him for a hug, "You finally came back for me!"