"Good morning! I hope you're feeling good now?" Mark said, staring down at Thrain as he watched him sat next to him.
He looked at Mark as if he were some sort of seer. Mark understood the look shown on his face, "Well, you told me before you left for home yesterday".
Finally, Thrain let out a sigh of relief as he adjusted well on his seat, bringing out a book, "Man! have you done Mr. Thomas' assignment?" he asked mark immediately he remembered.
"Yeah" he said, staring down at him.
"Please, let me have it".
Mark let out a sigh, opened up the zip to his bag, bringing out his assignment note, immediately Thrain took a glimpse of the notebook, he dragged it from him.
"Come to think of it, you left school very early yesterday, and you're yet to do your assignment? This is the first year, and you are already slacking off".
Thrain continued to dub down the assignment without giving a damn about what Mark had just said.
"You aren't answering my questions, man!".
"Okay, okay, the thing was… I don't know, but yesterday in class I wasn't merely distracted…"
"But you got the answer right," Mark said. Thrain stopped writing and stared at him.
"My bad! Continue".
It felt like I was being stalked or watched, either of the two, only for me to stare at the window… [he stopped writing and looked at Mark] A figure with a glowing red eyes was who I saw.
Mark gazed at him emptily, "You made it up, right?… because it just doesn't sound real".
"Fuck! I know you won't believe… What does sounds real to you?" he said, almost raising his voice.
"Okay, I'm listening" he stared blankly as he listened earnestly.
At night yesterday, I saw another figure, he had the same red eyes. No! It was a silver and gray, red eyes.
"What! I hope you're being honest here?" he asked as what Thrain said had finally caught his attention.
"Yeah, what's the problem?" he asked.
Mark brought out an old, ancient journal. He began to flip through its pages consistently. The journal had all sort of strange hand – drawn diagrams.
Thrain continued with his writing as he thought Mark didn't want to take him serious, finally he was done with the assignment, he looked at Mark only to see him dripping with sweat.
"But it's winter man" Thrain chuckled.
Mark slowly shifted his gaze down to Thrain and muttered a few words.
"You've been marked".
"Marked?… For what? By whom? And why?" he asked questions, barely understanding what Mark had said.
Good morning to you my fresh students, I trust your night was good since mine was the best… "First thing first, your assignments" he chuckled.
The students, including Mark and Thrain all began to pass their assignment books to the front table.
"Good! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. . . 57, 58!, okay, now it remains two more assignment notebooks, if those two don't submit, I'll succumb them for detention, and it'll be for a whole day".
"Mr. Thomas, Ethan, and Fiona seem to be missing in class today" a student said.
Mark stood up a bit, staring towards their sit to confirm if they really weren't in class, They really skipped class. He knew something would go wrong, that was the reason he declined their invitation yesterday.
He was not sure but still, who goes to picnic in the woods, at night to be more precise.
"Any reason why they aren't in school today?" Mr. Thomas asked, looking around the class.
"No, Mr. Thomas, they said nothing about it to any of us, I guess" another answered.
"Okay, they have friends in this class, right?".
"Yeah, Mark and Thrain" the student replied, pointing his fingers at them both.
"You guys should check on them and give reports tomorrow, am I clearly understood?".
"Yes, Mr. Thomas," they replied, looking blank.
"You seem to know where they went… right?" thrain asked with an interrogative look showing all over his face.
Mark ignored him and kept his eyes fixated on the board. He doesn't like it… being questioned, especially when he knows about it.
The class came to an end pretty quick. Mr. Thomas left the classroom after giving them the assignment, after giving out the assignment, all he did was chuckle. He does it on purpose.
Mark clenched his feet and grit his teeth. He stood up, placing his bag on his back while signaling for Thrain to stand up.
"Are we going that early?" Thrain who was exhausted throughout the class rumbled.
"Yes, I have to get to studying since I'm yet to know a lot," he replied.
"Huh! That doesn't sound like study to me… it's those mystical stuff again, right? You are yet to tell me what it means to be marked".
Mark gazed at Thrain for minutes before adjusting his glasses, "Later!" he muttered, leaving him standing. Thrain followed closely behind.
"Argh! This freak attitude of his, stylish snub, had resurfaced again".
Finally, they both got to Ethan's house. The house was out of question for what Thrain had expected, it was a bungalow with old structural design. The thing was, it was totally isolated. The house erected alone.
Thrain dusted his legs on a foot mat he found closest to the door and began to knock. He knocked for minutes without getting any response, he called out for Ethan's but still only a resounding echo returned to him.
"Please, lift your foot off the mat" mark requested, leaving thrain wondering what he planned to do with a foot mat.
Mark bent, lifted the foot mat and took the key placed underneath it.
"What! I've been shouting for minutes, and you stood there, knowing where the key was?" Thrain said kindly, loosing his cool.
"Sorry, I just changed y approach, and it was obvious he wasn't home" he said.
"I know, just want to confirm," Thrain said, rubbing his nose.
"But it took you so long?".
"No problem" he said, barging in, "Wow" Thrian stood there amazed, "The inside looks entirely different from the outside and by the way, how do you know where he puts his key?".
"I've been here a few times" he replied.
Thrain began to reflexively look around, he couldn't even find a picture of Ethan or his family.
"He lives alone" he said as he could read through Thrain.
"Oh. No wonder it's so clean in here".
"Thrain let's get going".
"Why? We are yet to check around some more".
Presented the condition of the house, it's obvious he didn't sleep home last night.
"Huh. And how did you come about that?" Thrain asked.
"The table… it's dusty, Ethan had always been the clean type" he replied, using his eyeball to scan around.
Thrain was left mesmerized, he was wondering how fast mark had quickly observed his surroundings.
"So, where do we go next… Fiona's house?".
"No.".
"Then where?".
"To the woods".
…
Mrs. Anderson walked into the police station, her heart heavy with worry and fear. She had never been here before, but she knew that this was where she needed to go to report her missing daughter, Fiona.
The receptionist looked up as she approached the desk, and Mrs. Anderson hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Excuse me, I need to report a missing person. My daughter".
The receptionist nodded sympathetically and motioned for her to take a seat while she called for an officer.
Mrs. Anderson sat down, her hands shaking as she tried to keep it together. She couldn't imagine what could have happened to her daughter, who had always been so careful and responsible. It didn't make sense.
After what felt like hours, a tall, muscular man in uniform appeared and introduced himself as officer Johnson. Mrs. Anderson explained the situation to him, tears streaming down her face as she spoke.
"She left home last night, assuring me she'll be home today after class," Mrs. Anderson said, her voice barely above a whisper now. " She's never gone back on her words before. I've tried calling her cell phone, but it keeps going straight to voice mail. I even visited her school, they claimed not to have seen her around the school premises".
Officer Johnson listened carefully, jotting down notes as she went along. "Do you have any idea where she might have gone?" he asked.
Mrs. Anderson shook her head, feeling hopeless. "No, I don't. She's never given me any reason to worry before. I don't know what to do".
"We'll do everything we can to find her," officer Johnson said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Can you give me a recent photo of her, and any other information that might be helpful? We would as well need something that has a scent of her".
Mrs. Anderson nodded, grateful for the officer's kindness. She checked out her phone and pulled up a recent picture of Fiona, and dug her hand into her bag, bringing out a handkerchief which Fiona had used of recent.
She handed it over to him with shaky hands. Mrs. Anderson answered his question to the best of her abilities, desperate for anything that might help her find her daughter.
"Mrs. Anderson, investigation on your missing daughter would commence immediately, and I assure you, we'll find her, so I would like you to go home and let your thinking be positive… I'll take my leave now" he said as he stood up from his seat, smiling at Mrs. Anderson as he walked away.
Mrs. Anderson felt relieved and assured that everything would be okay.