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THEY CAN'T BE MISSING

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A curtain of darkness has fallen over the whole town as the night grew deeper but Darcy's mother never came home.

With each moment passing, the wall of Darcy's patience thinned. She paced around the house, called her mother multiple times but she didn't had the courtesy to pick up.

And that didn't help to calm her erratic heart and the scenarios that has gone wrong in her head at this time of night.

Sweat formed on her skin even in this cold february as she dialed Selene's number and hesitantly put the phone on speaker.

—

Water drops were falling on the floor from Selene's damp hair. A warm shower after a long eventful day was what she exactly needed.

Selene sat on the edge of the bed, brushing her hair with a dry towel as her bed started vibrating, followed by the ringtone of her phone. She grabbed her ringing phone and answered the incoming call.

"Hello?"

"Selene?"

"Yes, Darcy. What's up?"

"Bro, my mum just ran off."

"What?"

"I don't know why. She asked me to help her cut the vegetables. When her hand accidentally brushed with mine, she jerked away like she was electrocuted. I, I tried asking what was wrong but she just grabbed her phone and went out."

"Darcy, you have to calm down. Maybe she'll come back by the morning. Don't worry."

"Why won't I? When the last thing I heard from her mouth was your uncle's name? Is he home?"

"Uncle silas? I didn't see him after coming home. Maybe he is in his room. Lemme check." Selene went out of her room as she climbed down, heading towards her uncle's room.

She opened her door to Silas's room but only silence was her companion.

"Apparently, he went missing too." Selene mumbled as she checked the bathroom, kitchen, living room, everywhere but he was nowhere to be found.

"Is this some sort of a game? It's past midnight and our only guardian decides to leave us alone?" Darcy spoke harshly from the other side, frustration clear in her voice.

"I hope they are safe though." Selene spoke as she went back to her room and stood by the window.

The moon was peeking behind the trails of clouds swimming in the clear sky. The moonlight barely reached Selene's window but it was enough to enlighten the streets and her room.

Selene clutched her locket as a habit as she looked at the moon, it's looming light falling on her face.

She quickly looked down at her backyard as she heard a shuffling, even though Darcy's voice booming at the other side of the phone, complaining how their parents should be more careful of them.

Selene's eyes followed the source of the shuffling, catching a glimpse of shining black hair. A shadowy figure.

It swished and vanished within a moment, making Selene widen her eyes.

"Darcy! There's someone in my backyard." Selene hushedly spoke into her phone as she held it near to her ear to hear Darcy.

"Check it, dumbass. Might be your uncle or possibly a serial killer." Darcy suggested as Selene shook her head as a dismissal.

"Okay so, I'm going down there. I'll call you later. Don't be afraid."

"Don't get yourself killed, Silvester."

Selene hung up the phone as she again climbed down the stairs, heading for the living room. She opened the glass door in living room which is forwarded to the backyard.

She quietly slipped her feet into the sandals and got down from the porch, a bat in her hand. Her scrutinizing gaze searched around for a presence but none was found.

She tattered her way forward in the overgrown grass, her eyes everywhere. But she found no intruder. All on a sudden, she heard a ruffling of grass behind her as she immediately turned around, her eyes falling on a face she did not expect.

"What the fuck, Aiden??" Selene screeched, putting a hand on her chest as she threw the bat in her hand towards him.

"Woah calm down, night princess!" Aiden dodged the bat aimed at him as he surrendered his hands in the air.

"What in the hell are you doing here!?" Selene glared at the messy haired boy in his PJs.

"I thought I saw someone here through my window. Turns out it's you! What are you doing here past midnight? Continuing your process to be a vampire!?" He narrowed his eyes at her as Selene gasped, hearing his words.

"I saw someone too. But turns out it's you! What are you doing here? Stalking me while I continue my vampire process??" Selene threw daggers at him as Aiden did the same, both afraid to their core but too arrogant to admit.

"Wait, maybe we both saw someone else and thought it was us. The person we saw had long black hair, didn't she?" Aiden curiously asked as he turned around to get out from the overgrown grass.

"Yeah. But how do you know the person was a she?" Selene asked back, following Aiden out of the garden.

"Bro her hair was long plus so shiny. She must be very pretty." A smirk dangled on his mouth as Aiden turned around to face Selene who just rolled her eyes in reply.

"May I ask how did you climb the wall, Gray?" Selene put both of her hands on her hips as she shoot Aiden a fake sweet smile.

"Why, like a ninja. I'm stealthy like a ninja." He flexed his biceps and flashed selene a toothy grin.

"No joking, Aiden! I just had an intruder in my garden." Selene pointed a threatening finger in front of him

"Okay ma'am." He nodded.

"You think the person who broke in my house is a pretty girl. Why?" Selene narrowed her eyes at him as she gave him a suspicious look.

"I dunno. But she had really long and shiny hair that I'm jealous of. I'm kind of dying to know who she is." Aiden admitted cheekily as he stared at the direction of the garden.

Selene felt a bit a sour at his words. "Yeah sure, bye." She bid him farewell as she fled away from the scene, leaving him alone.

—

The next morning Selene did everything she could to avoid the elephant in the room and that was

loneliness

Loneliness is the friend that stands behind you when you stand in front your mirror, always there to be with you. Loneliness creeps up into your bones, the black hands tightens it's grip around your throat, leaving you with nothing but itself and you can only depend on it.

Selene never minded the absence of her uncle since he had to attend business trips on various occasions in his office but this was different.

Nothing. No note, no call, no messages, nothing to keep Selene's unavoidable negative thoughts out of her head. Even mugs of caffeine didn't help to cleanse all her worries she developed since last night.

The morning started as she slung her bag on one shoulder and proceeded to lock the door before leaving for school.

After locking the door, she gathered all her hair from behind and tied in a low ponytail. As soon as she turned on her feet, her heart dropped into her stomach at the sudden change of scene.

"Stop scaring me, people!" Selene yelled as she glared at both Adira and Darcy, who appeared out of nowhere and both were struck by Selene's snappy attitude at the very morning.

"Silvester, what's wrong?" Darcy shot a look at Selene, trying to figure out the reason behind her friend's perfect sour mood,"who broke your heart?"

"No one. You guys need to stop appear out of nowhere." Selene muttered sourly as she fixed her bag strap again, "Adira? Why are you here? Anything wrong?"

"This girl brought me here without letting me have my breakfast to see if there was any vampire in your backyard." Adira rolled her eyes as Darcy grabbed Adira's arm, giving her the sickest sweet smile she has to offer.

"Vampire in my backyard? Did your delusional phase just start, Darcy?" Selene asked, squinting her eyes at her friend.

"You never know. Adira can sense any vampire presence since she is a fairy huntress sooooo I thought maybe she could use her potential here." Darcy smiled sweetly as she threw a look behind Selene at her garden.

"Vampire hunter." Adira corrected.

"Man, is that even a garden or a forest?" Darcy grimaced after seeing the condition of the garden and gave them a gagging look.

"Oh shut up. Do what you came here to do and get the fuck out of my house."

They spent minutes, strolling in the garden as Adira used her hunter sense to feel if there was any presence of supernatural immortals in this backyard but nothing was to be found.

Nothing became the word of the day.

Soon they left for school together, gossiping all the way, filling Adira in with various technics of how to survive Verlaten falls high school.

"So your father's a hunter too?" Selene asked, glancing at Adira as they walked on the pavement, towards their school.

"Yeah. Not that he told me earlier. I only knew after that incident." Adira shrugged, clasping her bag straps.

"Though I really have to ask you guys something." Adira spoke quietly, looking down at her feet.

"Spill already, woman." Darcy encouraged.

"Do you believe me?" Uncertainty dangled from Adira's emerald eyes as she stole a glance of her companions before looking down again.

"It's.......not that easy to believe. But so far with the proofs, we think it might be true." Darcy's lips drew a line as she gave the redhead a look,"or not."

Selene shook her head at Darcy's two sided comment as Adira let out a sigh.

"By the way, remember the man who approached us at the grill? He was outside my house last night." Darcy informed as Selene frowned.

"Why didn't you tell me about it when you called?" Selene asked, focusing her gaze on her road because of the stones scattered everywhere.

"He actually........just passed by. He went towards the woods." Darcy bit her lips as she earned a smack from Selene, letting out a laugh.

"You are impossible, Emerson."

"Lloyd's been daily visiting the woods. What's up with that?" Adira mumbled mostly to herself as they neared the school gate, students hurrying to reach their classes at time.

"Is he a vampire?" Darcy looked at Adira with a hopeful expression as Adira squinted her eyes at her.

"Um.....yeah." Adira hesitated a little bit.

"Knew it."

They entered their school premises as their eyes immediately went to the part where school reconstruction was going on.

The eastern part of Verlaten falls used to be the main building of this institution. But as time passed by, the school property increased and the numbers of school buildings did too. In conclusion of that, the oldest part of the main building looked out of place and the school authority finally decided to renovate it.

"After years of watching supernatural series and making myself believe that those aren't real, turns out to be actually true? Someone throw a brick at my head, please." Selene pursed her lips.

Suddenly Darcy ducked out of nowhere and pulled herself up with an unused brick in her hand as she mischievously spoke,

"Gladly."

After racing through the hallway and convincing Darcy that Selene didn't need a nice head injury, three of them were at Selene's locker as Selene took out her books according to her classes and Darcy complained about how much of short space they get in their locker.

"I swear, these lockers are the worst. I can't even stock my glitter pens here. Remember that time when I had this big gift that Ian gave—"

Darcy stopped mid-sentence as she noticed who she started to talk about and immediately shut herself up.

As if on cue, Adira stepped closer ,"Darcy, I'm really sorry about what happened between Ian and you. I really didn't want to cause any trouble. I apologize for ruining your relationship."

Darcy avoided Adira's gaze as she tried to look anywhere but her friends, "I don't blame you, Adira. It's okay. I'm not mad at you anymore. Besides you saved my life. How can I be?"

Darcy faced Adira with a small smile on her face which Adira returned with another one.

"You know what I think? I think Ian is compelled. I saw his irises change their colors when he saw me." Adira probed as she leaned against the lockers.

"I noticed that too. At first I thought it was a mistake of eye." Selene confessed as the theories in their mind were spiraling in their own headspace.

"It's one of the hints of someone being compelled by a vampire." Adira spoke lowly, trying not to catch attention of the people walking past them.

"Compulsion exists? Oh God." Darcy put a hand on her hip as she leaned on the lockers too, glancing at Selene who's attention was apparently somewhere else.

Darcy followed Selene's undivided gaze on someone and met with a scruffy lean guy whose eyes searched for someone in particular.

Aiden Gray, the guy who's basically perfect for Selene but their pride to admit it came in between and made it a hell lot difficult than it should've been.

Finally Aiden's searching eyes landed on selene as relief washed over his face. Darcy nudged Adira, whispering something to her behind Selene's back.

Darcy cleared her throat,"I'll see you in class, Sel." She grabbed Adira's sleeve as Darcy and Adira slipped away from Selene before she could even protest.

Selene's mouth hung open as she was left alone but as soon as she faced forward, the face she was staring at the whole time, stood in front of her.

"Care for a talk?" Aiden tilted her head looking at her, deciphering Selene's reaction.

Selene immediately straightened herself up, readjusting her bag strap,"when did we get so formal?"

"Oh I don't know. Maybe from the moment you ran off like a betrayer?" Sarcasm dripped from his voice as they started walking side by side.

"Hey! How did I become a betrayer?"

"By living me alone in that scary, horrendous backyard of yours."

"Don't be so dramatic, Gray. My garden's not that bad." Selene scoffed.

"Of course. The overgrown dirty grass, the broken bench, the dead flowers. it's just the perfect picture of a beautiful captivating scenery."

"It's not my fault that uncle Silas didn't had time to fix that bench or mown the grass timely."

"Why don't you do it yourself? For years, I've come to know that Selene Silvester is indeed a girl with a good amount of talented skills which most girls are jealous of." Aiden air quoted.

"Stop teasing me, will you??" She kicked the back of Aiden's leg,"I just don't like garden or flowers."

"Ouch! Trust me, I have been trying to make myself believe that." Gaining his balance, he continued—"but I still don't."

"Exceptions are always admired, Gray."

"Too much, may I say."

Their conversation was interrupted by loud noise and people gasping in the middle of the hallway.

Their faces turned so quickly and fell on the forming crowd around something. Usually they would just walk past it and get a peek or something but this time as Selene and Aiden approached the crowd and came into a view of bruised Ian.

Ian, who was clutching his forehead, blood dripping down his knuckles.

Blood, crimson blood was pooled on the hallway floor as another student helped him up from the floor and took him to the nurse's office. The crowd started to vanish as the whispers and rumors started flowing from one person to another.

Selene's widened eyes can only focus on a familiar wave of auburn hair.

Darcy's eyes were wide, red rimmed and filled with tears that formed without her conscience as she hugged herself tightly.

She looked scared.

Stood beside her Adira, whose expression can only be called amusement and curiosity both.

Darcy immediately shook out of her shocking demeanor and locked her eyes with Selene's grey ones.

She whispered, "You know what people say is actually true. Be careful what you wish for."

In the midst of all this, only if any of them had any normalcy left, they could've noticed the swish of black hair that just rounded up the corner in a flicker of moment.

Similar to the one that Selene saw last night.

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