At 1 o'clock, the bell for break time rang and children at the kindergarten went swarming outside in ground. Oriel stayed in the classroom all alone. She was tired of smiling all day and talking incessantly with the children. Her cheeks ached and deep sighs were frequent from her mouth.
'What is it that she wants me to do?' she thought about Ursula's condition.
She bit her lower lip in panic and just then, her poised phone rang up in her bag. She reached for it and checked the screen: there was a call from an unknown number. She was quick to answer it and said her first word, "Hello!"
For next few seconds, no one spoke from the other end. "Hello, who is this?"
"It's me! owner of the dress you ruined. I thought that you would have guessed that it was me by just listening to my breathing, but you didn't. Looks like you don't find my silence as intimidating as others do."
Oriel's fingers gathered into a fist listening to her bluffs. She controlled her tone from going irritable and maintained her calm while she talked. "I believe that you have called me regarding the matter with the debt that I have to pay."
"Oh! yeah, of course. Looks like you are busy. No problem, even I am running late on my schedule," said Ursula. "So get outside of the school premises right now. There is someone waiting for you in the street in front of the school."
Oriel's eyebrows contracted in confusion, "What do you mean? I never told you where I worked."
Sound of Ursula's laughing came from the other side, "Do you really think that I need you tell me everything for me to know?" her tone grew more confident. She clicked her tongue in pity, "grow up darling."
Oriel had somehow held on to her calm and tried to reason with her. "Does anybody else know about it?" she asked.
"Baby, weren't you busy just now. How about we stop playing quiz and get done with it. You must want it to end quickly, right?"
"Okay, let's just get it over with."
She hung up the call and headed outside to the street as she was told to. As she came in the narrow lane beside the school's entrance, she saw a car parked right in front of an electric pole. It was a black SUV and its number had a VIP combination, VN-6767. She marched toward the car, tried to look through the windshield; it showed a bearded man at the steering wheel, staring at her strangely. She was certain that she had to talk to him.
She came ahead and placed a knock on the window. The driver lowered the glass and showed his face. On just one exchange of looks with him, currant of fright ran through her body. Not only was his beard scary but his big light-grey eyes made hard for her to hide her intimidation. He turned to pick something from the backseat and abruptly hurled a box at her. She was alarmed, fearing that it could be bomb, her hands caught the thing with a strong grip and she took a close look.
"Here you go," he said, disgustingly chewing a gum with opened mouth.
Oriel didn't know what were the contents of the box which was wrapped in brown paper. She brought it close to her ear and shook it to hear the noise inside. "What is this?" she asked the man.
"You don't need to know that. All you gotta do is to pass it to the one who comes to get it from you," informed that man.
"Who?" inquired Oriel. "And why do I have to do this?"
The man raised the windows again, ignoring her question. "My work's done."
She constantly tried to shake the parcel to know what was inside. But it didn't make any sound. "Excuse me." She tried to stop the driver, who was now starting the car to leave. "Please tell me, who will come to get it?" she asked. But her voice went unheard by him, and the car left sprinting before her.
The dust particles on the street raised in the air as it went past her. "What the hell is inside this stupid box?"
She stood there swinging in a dilemma that was whether to open the box first or pass it as it was. She sorted to check the contents of the box first. She carefully pulled the tape off, in a way that she could easily stick it back. Two flaps of the box appeared and she flipped them to look inside. The box was empty, it had nothing but air filling it.
Seeing that the box was empty, a breath of relieve passed her body. She was glad to find nothing inside it. But then the question troubled her, "Why did he give me this when it does not even have anything inside it.
The bell for the end of the recess was heard. She came inside the school, casually carrying the mysterious parcel in her hands. While passing through the playground, watching the adorably children playing on different slides and rides, swinging on the sky touching swing and playing house in the sandbox, she smiled at their innocence and good vibes.
"Come on, guys. It's time to go back to the classroom." She called to them.
Then suddenly, she felt a hand patting on her shoulder from behind. "Excuse me!"
Oriel responded to her with a turn and saw the face of a fellow teacher grinning before her. "Mrs. Montella. How are you?" she barely knew the name of the teacher. She was a middle-aged lady, working as a substitute teacher in the sunflower kindergarten.
"Oriel, my friend. I need to ask for a favor darling."
Oriel replied, "I will be glad to help if I'm able to. So, what can I help you with?"
Mrs. Montella had her hands concealed as if she was holding something behind. She abruptly brought them out and stretched a paper bag that she held inside her hands to her. "Here, I need you to keep this with you for a few hours. I will come back and get this from you before the last bell."
The lady had an inexplicable tension of her face. Her hands were trembling and her eyes wavered away from Oriel's."
"No problem!" Oriel replied, "I will take care of it. You can leave it with me without worrying."
Mrs. Montella grinned awkwardly at her response. "Thank you so much dear. I can't tell you how generous you are to do this."
Oriel found the conduct of the lady to be strange but she didn't pay much attention and shook it off her shoulders. "You're so funny, Mrs. Montella."
The lady's weird actions didn't end then, she started walking away but continued looking backwards at the bag. "Mrs. Montella! look ahead while you walk, you will hurt yourself," Oriel told her.
Her foot stumbled upon a pebble and she lost her balance to almost trip on ground but holding on to a tree, she braced herself. "I told you to look ahead."
Oriel came inside the office with a strange feeling her mouth. The paper bag and an empty parcel in her hand were the cause of her panic. "The day can't be more weird after this."
The playtime passed and children swarmed inside the classrooms again. Colorful boxes of crayons were taken out and were rubbed against the white paper to leave imperfect but beautiful art pieces behind. They ruined their clean uniforms with paints but their joyful expressions were a delight to Oriel's eyes.
"Now, you should bring your drawings for me to see and I will give the star stamp to best."
She sat on a desk in the middle of the classroom and all the kids surrounded her with their drawings in hands. But then suddenly, men in casual clothes and I.D cards hanging around their necks barged inside the classroom. Their intimidating entry left the children in fright.
"Excuse me! who are you all?" Oriel inquired.
One of them came ahead and identified himself as an officer, "This is Clause from the narcotics control department. We have received information that you have connections with a drug dealing gang."
Teachers from the other classes and the principal of the school also came after hearing the commotion. "What's going on here? Miss Oriel, is what the officer just said true?" demanded the principal with a raised tone.
"No, sir." She came through the group of children who surrounded her, approaching the officer for a clarification. "This is utter nonsense."