Siren Sight

Chapter 2

A loud banging on the door made Neivayka pop up like a jack-in-the-box.

“Get up, you lazy, no good child!" yelled her mother.

Or rather, what should have been her mother. Phyllis had never had a motherly bone in her entire body.

Ignoring Phyllis's rant through the particleboard door to her bedroom. Neivayka rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and tried to remember going to bed. Instead, she found she had no memory of anything since she had rounded the corner a block before her high school.

Had she even made it to school? What time was it? Was she sick? What was going on? The question continued to tumble through her foggy brain as she searched her room for answers. Unfortunately, the only thing in this room that was scarcer than the furniture; was answers to unusual questions.

She ran a hand cautiously through her jet-black hair, gingerly touching the scalp, trying to find some evidence of injury. When she found nothing, Neivayka checked her whole body, thinking in a panic of every possible way that her memory could have been erased. However, other than still being fully clothed, including her shoes, there was nothing.

Slowly, she slid out of bed and tentatively put her feet down as if a monster was going to jet out from under the bed and attack. Only when she was certain that nothing was going to happen could she force her oddly still exhausted body up and stumbled out the door.

There was yet another mystery, why did she feel as if she had been running for hours?

Concentrating on putting one sluggish foot in front of the other, she walked down the short hallway to the living room. She normally didn't mind being at the far end of this tiny two-bedroom apartment away from her parents. But, today, every step seemed to be an enormous effort.

What day was it? What time was it? She really wished her parents would spring for a decent clock in her room. But they were 'not rich' as they loved to remind her whenever she asked for anything, like school clothes and supplies. Although, they would find themselves better off if they actually worked. But that was Neivayka's unwanted opinions, and there was no way she was going to say that to them. Not if she wanted to remain alive for another day.

What did they do for money? She wondered absently for the millionth time as she walked into the living room.

That question flew from her mind once she caught sight of her mother standing in the doorway of the attached kitchen.

Phyllis' hands were on her hips, and she was glaring down at Neivayka menacingly. At least as menacingly as she could look in a faded pink bathrobe that was desperately hanging on for its dear life tied around her thick, generous curves. Topping her head was a tangled mess of curlers wrapped in her dyed orange hair. Phyllis's angry face was still covered in a sickly green anti-aging cream that Neivayka, herself, knew did not work.

She shook her head to push the unwanted humor away before she ended up laughing in her mother's all-to-stern face.

“What's going on?" Neivayka asked.

“What's going on is you staying out all night then tried to skip school again?" Phyllis screeched.

“Wait… I was gone all night?" Neivayka asked in shock. “I skipped school? When?"

“Yesterday! And your principal explained to me very clearly. I can get arrested if you have too many unexcused absences!" her mother yelled indignantly.

If her words hadn't been so crazy and unexpected; Neivayka would have pointed out that most mothers worry about why their child had skipped school, not that they would get in trouble for it. But Phyllis had always been extremely selfish and self-centered.

“Wait, I was gone all day…YESTERDAY?" Neivayka questioned again, wanting to clarify.

“I knew you were dense. But have you gone deaf too? Yes, you were gone all day yesterday. And if you think I'm letting you pull that sort of thing today, you are mistaken. I will not pay a fine or get arrested for you," Phyllis sneered. “Get your lazy butt in that bedroom and get ready for school. YOU ARE GOING!"

Like a robot, Neivayka walked back to her bedroom and got ready to go. Her mind was whirling with all the questions she was aching to ask someone. What had happened? How could she have missed a whole day and not remember it?

“Hurry up, girl!" Phyllis shouted again, pounding on her door.

Neivayka needed time and silence to figure out what had happened. But she knew she would find neither here. She hurried into a clean set of clothes and booked it out the door without even saying a courtesy goodbye to Phyllis.

Jogging out of her building, she didn't slow down until she was a block away. Her principal could just deal with one more no-show. Between her bone-deep exhaustion and the multitude of questions, she couldn't dredge up a single care about what he thought. Especially since she didn't really miss school that often. After all, it was either go to school or spend the day at Phyllis' beck and call. The choice was easy.

Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, she returned to the problem at hand. She began to pick apart what she could remember of yesterday.

The morning before had been much like this one minus the whole lecture from Phyllis. In fact, Phyllis hadn't even been up when she woke up. She remembered putting her clothes on and scrounging up the last piece of bread before heading out for the day. Neivayka had walked the same way to school every day since they had moved into the neighborhood. And nothing had ever been out of the ordinary. Except for right as she got to the…

A loud horn jerked her out of her thoughts, and she stumbled to a stop looking up quickly, worried that she had unknowingly walked out into the road. There was nothing. No one was on the road or on the sidewalk, which was extremely unusual for a Wednesday… or rather a Thursday.

It really bothered her that she genuinely didn't know what day it was.

A flash of color caught her eye, and she whipped around to see… an empty alleyway.

She looked around the filthy opening to find the source of the brilliant flash. But there was nothing beyond a few dirty trash cans, a torn, stained mattress, and tons of garbage blowing about. She almost dismissed the flash and walked off, except a low vocalization began to drift through the air. It grew to a beautiful, sweet, hypnotic song that rose and surrounded her, urging her deeper into the alleyway.