A week had passed since the whole incident. Ayla didn't go back to school to heal from her injuries. Her dad probably didn't notice or if he did choose to ignore it, which made things easier for her. During this time, Alex couldn't seem to stop calling her while Kyle, the person she wanted, didn't call her at all, probably feeling too guilty. She needed the time to think about things, about Alex.
They were rushing so fast and she has known him for like three weeks yet he's already acting like they are dating disturbingly and calling every freaking two seconds. Most girls will think it's cute but she just thought he was jobless. She also rested a lot her arm and leg were doing fine, got back to her old passion
poetry.
"Maybe this is not so bad after all" she whispered to herself as she got down from the bus. Today was her first time back from school. She wanted to stay more but she had already lagged and wasted too much time plus that scholarship wasn't going to maintain itself.
She was prepared as usual for the stares, the harsh comments, maybe some punching. She stared down eyes focusing on the white lines in the road but daring to look up until
"Honk Honk, hey watch where you're going, stupid girl. If you're trying to get killed find someone else" A man yelled through his car window, probably a staff. Ayla looked up ready to apologize but when she did, she was a look of fear in his eyes. He apologized quickly and drove off. Fast.
At school there were more stares but she didn't think twice about it, probably her limping or what happened at school the last time. More importantly, she was looking for how to dodge Cathy and one of her lackies. She crept to the bathroom and locked herself in until the first period before slowly making her way towards class. She went and sat in her usual middle seat in class but as soon as she sat down everyone close to her stood up at the same time and changed seats. Confused, she stood up again and sat with everyone but they just did the same thing. She checked her body if she smelled, checked her shoe for poop or anything else but she was a neat freak these things were hardly possible. Frustrated she could only sit back, she didn't want to interrupt the lesson or cause a disturbance.
Someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned as she tapped her own subconsciously.
"Hea" this strawberry blond girl said, extending her hand a little too excitedly.
Ayla just smiled back politely and continued facing her work.
She tapped Ayla again
"What?" Ayla asked, getting annoyed.
"I'm Cassy" smiling brightly.
"Okay" she shrugged and plugged her earphones in and hoped she would go away.
She tapped again.
Ayla was using all the strength she could muster to control her emotions. She turned with an obvious fake smile.
"You need to say yours back, your name. I told you mine, tell me yours.
"Ayla and could you please leave me alone, I'm kinda busy RN"
"Do you want to know why they are looking at you like that?
"Dont care, and you're disturbing me" Ayla shrugged her off
"Wait, " curiosity killing her
"Fine, we'll talk" the girl smiled practically bubbling with excitement, Cassy started spilling all the gossip.
"So Matthew and Linda were caught making out in the teachers room. Matthew obviously got away with it, but Linda stupid scholarship student, was expelled and it ended up in her permanent record. Mrs Linsley will soon be miss Linsley and oo the juiciest part, Cathy hasn't been in school for a week after what happened between you two." The last part was very weird and uncomfortable for Ayla, Cassy felt it too and shut her mouth up.
"Cathy, what happened?"
"After Kyle dragged her out in front of the whole school, nobody has seen her since, it's like she just vanished. She hasn't posted in ticktock or insta for a while and that's basically social suicide like can you imagine going a whole week with insta" she made a dramatic dying scene.
"Horrible, simply atrocious" she clapped sarcastically "Now if you excuse me, I am busy" she turned serious quickly.
"Wait "Cassy using her hand to block Ayla book and her from what she was doing "You don't understand the gravity of the situation , her parents have even been here for over a week begging Kyle searching for her even the principal and the board but nothing"
"I still don't get why this concerns me, they could be living their best life, I don't know running away or something,weren't they dating"
"It concerns you because wherever she is or what's happening, it's because of you. Kyle's freaking mad and I don't think he'll take her to some island or castle after what she did"
"Okay, I think Cassy right.? Yes Cassy listen clear cause I'm only gonna say this once. I don't give a damn about her, she could be sinking in the Pacific and I won't even bait her with an eyelid so please take your concerns elsewhere okay,we don't want someone else to be missing."
"Come on, you're not serious" Cassy said sure Ayla was just bluffing. She was one of the nicest people in the school and has won most nicest person two years in a row. She was the kind of person to apologize to you for stepping on her and picking up any litter she sees on the ground, playing with dogs on the streets and helping old people cross the road. Fed up with the conversation, Ayla stood up and left the class as Cassy was talking. But she was right about one thing, she was worried. Cassy might be evil and all but she was still a human being and her former friend. She decided to ask Kyle about it when she saw him next, hopefully something good will come out of it.
She went to the library to read and catch up on everything that she had missed out on.
"Literature, physics, maths oh I could I forget biology" she said as she was picking up books to read.
"Sorry" she said as she bumped into someone, the person didn't turn and just kept walking off. She shrugged and continued what she was doing.
"Ok, you have five books to finish before noon" motivating herself. She sat down and buried herself into a world of books.
"What's this, I definitely did not put this here" A thick long book was scattered across the table. She hadn't noticed it before, she was too engaged in what she was doing. She took a good look at the book, it was a really heavy book with a long cover which meant she definitely didn't take it. It was really old looking and dusty. She was about to put it back when something caught her eye.
A sentence in Dutch
De geschiedenis van de vergetenen
The history of the forgotten
"That extra AP class in languages later paid off" She opened the book and her face instantly fell. There were up to about 100 languages, each page different from the last. Different and totally forgotten languages each written so well as if they held a secret message, a meaning. She tried her best to understand flipping through each page like her life depended on it, she knew just a few filled with already known knowledge but the other ones were obviously coded for some reason. She was about giving up, maybe going to Mr Rune, her history professor when my hands turned the pages as if acting on their own and stopped on a particular page. She didn't have time to think of what just happened before her eyes landed on the most beautiful necklace I had ever seen.
It's a delicate, handcrafted piece featuring a stunning 18k silver chain adorned with intricate filigree patterns. Layers of intricate designs each layer had a tiny diamond inside .The centerpiece is a gorgeous, cushion-cut emerald, surrounded by a halo of sparkling diamonds that seem to dance in the light.
By the corner, the writing was very faint and covered in dust. She blew the dust off and squinted her eyes
Koningin Seraphina
1508-1524
The necklace felt somewhat familiar she reached for her phone to take a picture of it and ask goggle or chatgpt later when a hand grabbed her all of a sudden,
She turned her back to face the person and....
Froze.