How Long Is Forever

Chapter 2: Where To Start Next

Three months had passed, and no one had any trace of where my mother was. No footprints...no hounds could pick up a trail...nothing. It didn't make any sense. How could someone carry another person away somewhere without a trace in the snow!? The police were as helpless as ever!! What the hell was going on!?

I wanted to be done with school. I wanted to be done with life. To end it with the knife I found in the bathroom. The amount of pain I walked around with, seemed to follow me everywhere I went. I had no safe zone away from it. Even nights I couldn't bring myself to sleep at home and I slept outside in the backyard shed, I couldn't numb this pain. The negative whether couldn't even do that for me.

It was springtime now. The rain didn't come down often enough to wash the hurt off me. To wash away those visions of blood I constantly obtained when I closed my eyes. Some days I didn't sleep, so the images of blood on my hands haunted me. Reality began to slip away from me.

The state paid for me a therapist. The therapist was useless, as expected. I eventually stopped going. However, he did send me a letter in the mail, giving me an address to attend. In the letter, he claimed that this place would be able to further serve me. He even claimed that they could assist me better than the police could with the disappearance of my mother.

Curiosity took a hold of me, bringing me to the entrance of a school academy. Standing at the locked gateway, I waited for someone to open the gate. Already using the buzzer that sat on the wall of the gate, a man had told me that someone

would be coming to let me in.

The scenery of this place was sort of creepy. The school was cut off from society, having to go deep into the woods just to get here. The letter gave me specific directions to follow, otherwise, I would have been lost for who knows how long, before finding this place.

Hearing a twig snap, I quickly turned around, prepared for anything that attempted to sneak up on me. Gripping the dagger strapped to the side of my pants, I came face to face with a woman. A familiar face at that. If I wasn't mistaken, approaching me was-

“Dawn?” She spoke before I could.

Tossing her arms around me for a warm felt hug, verified she was indeed who I believed her to be. It was none other than my childhood friend, Luna. A girl I used to stay next door to when we were twelve, back when my parents were still together. She was my best friend.

She wasn’t much taller than the short-sized girl she was back then, hair still long and black. I'd never forget the day I was forced to move away from her. The day my mother split from my dad for good.

Luna and I sat on her porch steps as usual. However, unlike her, I wasn't in such a talkative mood. I couldn't hide my strange behavior from her, before she finally asked me, “Is there something wrong?”

Using every ounce of manpower in my kid body, I held back the water of weakness that attempted to run down my face. I paused for a moment before answering her as I investigated the mid-day sky, giving me an excuse not to look her directly in her face.

“We're leaving.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mom...she's leaving my dad. I have to go with her.”

“So... you’re moving away from here?”

“Yeah. Today actually. I guess this is the last time we'll be able to hang out.”

What once was a lonely hand that rested in between the two of us, was soon covered with warmth as Luna's hand now rested over mines, bringing my eyes on her face. I could see that she was now holding tears back as well.

“I thought I heard your parents arguing last night,” She told me, placing a false smile on her face.

“Sorry about that,” I attempted a similar smile.

“Don't worry about it. At least you were still here. At least we could still hang out.”

Her cheeks slightly blushed, her false smile slowly faded.

Breaking the moment that quickly turned into silence, I heard my mom call out my name. It must have been time to go.

“I have to leave now,” I pointed out.

Turning away as I slipped my hand from underneath her hand, I felt another source of warmth. This time, it was against the side of my face. A cheek of warmth as I realized...it was her lips that welcomed my face. A kiss goodbye as she ran into the house right after that. That was seven years ago.

Looking at her today as we separated from our hug, she hadn't changed much. Just like that day of departure, I placed another front on, wanting to avoid telling her that my mother was missing; possibly dead by now.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her.

“I go to school here,” Her smile showing, she continued talking. “What are you doing here?”

“I was sent here by someone,” I simply told her.

Approaching the gate was a guy around our age. A young guy with slick hair and glasses on. He opened the gate, pushing a button on his end of the wall. As the gate opened and Luna walked further through it, she looked back at me and said, “It was nice seeing you.”

“Same here.”