3:55pm, oh my goodness. One more minute and I might run out of here screaming. It hasn't even been my first day working in this darn place and I was already losing my mind.„Miss, when will my mom pick me up?" She sighed, trying to keep her temper, while fighting the seducing fantasy of glueing the girls mouth shut with duct tape. „Sweetie, like I told you five minutes ago for the third time: She will pick you up at 4pm." 

My name is Alisha and I am 25. It is my first work day in the daycare, well technically I am not really working here. My probation officer organized this internship, claiming a social work would be perfect for me. My duties are mainly supervising the children during their afternoon activities and cleaning, while not even daring to cross the speed limit; anything that might be a violation of my parole.

                                                                                          ~~~

Alisha was the valedictorian; until she wasn't. Alisha was the pride of her parents; until she wasn't. Alisha was a good girl; until she wasn't. A black hole used to be a star too.Every single day it shined brighter and brighter until it finally collapsed. It weren't the long nights spent away from home, the wrong friends, the alcohol. Putting salt in a poisoned tea doesn't make it much worse than it already is. „Don't you want to make us proud?" „Don't you dare putting shame over our family" „Do you want to end up as a failure like your brother?" On the outside she was a rising star, living a fairytale as the perfect, smart and beautiful daughter of one of the wealthiest families in town. But the sparkling surface of the ice is thin, and once it breaks, revealing the deep, gloomy waters lurking beneath it, there is no way back.

What follows is almost a decade of rebellion, being in and out of prisons and running away from herself. Until now at least. It was hard but she finally learned how to value herself and got her life together. And yet, an elementary school teacher might not be the best career option for her. 

                                                                                          ~~~

The annoyingly loud tone of the school bell penetrates my ears , announcing the clock hit 4 o'clock. Looks like I can finally escape this nightmare. Well, for the most part at least. I am not sure if the helicopter parents might be even worse than their children. I watched as the school yard quickly emptied until even the last children were picked up, almost hysterical about their parent's  delay. „So, how was your first day newbie?" Yeah right, as if this day couldn't have been any worse. „Decent" I responded to that janitor, who has been watching me the whole day in a macabre way I don't appreciate. He looked like a teenager, dressed in black pants and some rock band T- Shirt with two crooked incisors.

Well, definitely not like the type who'd work in a daycare; even though I am pretty sure he just applied here to scare the kids with his nonsense scary stories. He gave me on last grin which was a bit too wide before this creep continued mopping the light yellow linoleum floors. „That was good work today, you really seemed to harmonize with the children." I turned on my heels to face the English teacher with lips so red, like she painted them with bright red crayons and a smile that looked like it was plastered to her face. She seemed nice enough though, even when I am not certain she is genuine. „Thank you Mrs. Garcia, it was a pleasu-"

„Uhm excuse me, have you seen my daughter?"

4:15pm that's odd, normally every child would have been picked up by that time already.

„I have been looking everywhere, but I just can't seem to find her. She is in the third grade with a light blue I shirt. I apologize for the bother but could you help me?" „Sorry Sir,I am not the one in charge here." If I have to deal with some kid hiding in here too now, I might as well quit on the spot. The man seems to be quite average looking. The kind of person you'd forget right after seeing. He is probably at the end of his fifties and dressed in a business suit. Under his eyes are dark circles and his skin has a greyish complexion which makes him look like he hasn't slept in weeks. He musters me for a second before taking out his phone and opening the photo application. „This is her." he says, holding a picture of a cute, laughing, strawberry blonde girl holding an orange cat in her arms.

„Aaron, what a delight to see you! How can we help?"Behind me was Mrs. Garcia again but this time her smile did not reach her eyes."Oh Mrs Garcia, I am sure you can clarify this misunderstanding. I came here to pick up my daughter but she is nowhere to be found." „Yes, of course. Your wife, Mrs. Brown, picked her up already. She must have forgotten to tell you." as she said this, her mouth stretched to an even wider smile which looked almost manic now. The man, apparently Aaron, thanked her and disappeared soon after. And yet something was bothering me. „What a cute girl huh? I haven't even noticed her. Are you sure she was here today?" I asked in the most polite tone, trying to hide that I was absolutely certain I've never seen this girl before. Surely, it's not that uncommon but still odd in a small school like this. What I definitely didn't expect is how Mrs. Garcia froze in place. Moreover, it seemed like the strings which held her smile before were suddenly cut.

„You must have missed her then" a slight, but noticeable irritation in her voice, „It was a lot for the first day don't you think, Alisha? You are free to go now." Well, something is definitely off about all this. I ended up saying my goodbyes and started heading down the long, dimly lit hallway as someone approached me. „Don't worry, he comes here everyday." I wasn't surprised to see the janitor, after almost giving me a heart attack.

„Sorry?" „The man. Adam, Aaron or whatever his name is. I see him everyday, looking for his daughter." I try to hide the spiteful smile creaking up my lips. Such a nutcase. „Oh, I totally understand, a man picking up his daughter from elementary school is a serious cause for concern. Get some sleep Mr.Detective." I said, now unable to hide a sarcastic comment.

He just makes a grimace before continuing with a condescending tone: „The strangeness of this whole situation really hasn't occurred to you huh? Mrs. Garcia tells him this lie every single day. Maybe you should read this." This is when the janitor starts digging a ragged, old looking newspaper from the pockets of his black coat and almost slamming it into my hand before heading of the opposite direction with a slight humming.

Geez, that kid is really living for the drama. Well, my curiosity was undeniably awoken so after making sure he was out of sight, I took a look at the newspaper, hoping to find anything that explains all this madness.

Turns out I didn't even have to search.