What would be of us

"Okay"

Have I gotten the answer? Yes. The message she sent was incomplete. I was sure of it. I took my phone from my bag and opened her message again. I waited for the chorus to play again and when it did, I edited her message, typing in the missing words in bold letters so I would know which ones were missing. I was confused at how cryptic that text was.

Even though I got the rest of it, it still doesn't make any sense. Why did she send me that message? What should I do with it? What does this have to do with me? Is she trying to tell me something? If so, what is it? Is this the reason for her sudden transfer? I had a hundred questions in my head, trying to process everything. Then it just went downhill from there. I called her a dozen times and texted her a dozen times and she still didn't pick up. Something was wrong. And I couldn't shake off that feeling.

"Are you Beatrize Roye?" I froze. She knew my name. I looked up and nodded. The lady at the cashier bent down as if to get something underneath. She then resurfaced and handed me a large brown envelope.

Before I asked why she knew my name, she said, "Eleen wanted to give this to you."

When I left the store, everything was hazy, I could've looked drunk but I was having a headache so I didn't care so I called for a cab home. When I got home, I landed on the bed like a pillow. I was too tired. I checked my phone what time it was and it was only five o'clock. I pinched the bridge of my nose, went to the kitchen, and started stuffing my face with the leftovers from breakfast.

Thankfully, no one was home so I didn't need an excuse to dismiss the tiredness on my face. I glanced at my reflection in the glass of the cupboard. I looked awful. Food was always a good kind of medicine and I felt a little better after eating. I went back to my room and saw the contents I got from the store on my bed. There was the envelope, the chips, and the drink but something had caught my eye. There was a note taped to the drink. How did get there? I didn't know. I started to judge my sense of being observant. I took the note and started to read it.

more

split

know

I took my phone and opened up the now complete message.

I was one

But I thought wrong

I was two What a delight Now I know

I am satisfied

I placed the two pieces of paper together and tried my best to find something, anything, at this point. Sadly, I couldn't find any. I lay back in bed and closed my eyes. Just when I was about to drift into sleep, the ringing of my phone made me jolt awake. I cursed and made mental note to minimize the volume of my ringtone later. I picked up the call without bothering to check the caller.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I was trying to reach you six times already. Why weren't you picking up?" I was guilty. I could hear his worried voice as well as the others.

"Sorry"

"I was downstairs, taking a bite to eat," I explained. It was already seven o'clock.

"Oh, okay. Just checking in to see if you're alright. You are, right?"

I wasn't. I was far from okay. I was too tired but my voice didn't give anything out.

"Yeah, it was just a little boring without you guys."

"Sorry about that, are you alone?"

"Yes."

The conversation ended soon after. Matt always was a worry wart when it comes to things like these. Once he finds out about this, he would not let me continue. I'm pretty sure the other boys won't either. Great, I have seven dads including my boyfriend. How nice.

I fixed my things and kept everything. I didn't want to open the envelope just yet. I didn't know why though. Maybe because I was afraid of what I would find or I wasn't ready. My head was throbbing with pain, and my body begging for sleep. I then went to bed and slept like a log.

I was woken up by the sunlight hitting my face. The house was quiet making me think that my parents had both left early. My mind immediately started thinking about the note on my drink, the text from Trove, and the song from the store. I was one but I thought wrong, it said. What was Trove wrong about? It took me a good three hours to get out of bed. My dear bed, I don't ever want to leave you.

I took my phone and made my way downstairs. I was weirdly not hungry at all and sat on the sofa. I looked around the room. There were photo albums neatly stacked next to the television. The albums were all made by mom. She used to say that compiling photos in albums is a good hobby to have so she forced me to make some with her. When she stopped making them a year ago, half of them were gone.

I tried calling and texting Trove again but she still didn't reply. I was really worried so I decided to visit her today. I was about to call her again to tell her I'll visit her but then Chris suddenly called.

"Hey, did you hear anything from Trove? She didn't come home last night."

"I've been trying to reach her since yesterday. She isn't answering any of my texts or calls. I was about to go visit today to see if she was alright."

"Crap. Where the hell did she go? She would normally say if she won't come home."

"File a missing person report. I'm getting worried, Chris. Something's not right."

"I know. We're about to right now."

"I'm going to tell the other boys what's up. Then let's try finding her."

The whole day was spent looking for her. We went to spots we knew she would go to like the big, old oak tree by our school. It was the first place we went to. It was just a five-minute drive from our houses so we got there pretty quickly. The tree was taken care of by the whole town. It was older than all of us but because everyone cared for it, it was still a beautiful tree after all these years. For generations, children would play there, people would make out there, read books there, and do almost everything there. It wasn't just the tree that was beautiful. The tree was sitting on a hill overlooking the town. At sunsets and sunrises, the scenery was breathtaking. The boys along with me and Trove invented a game where one would hide something anywhere on the tree while the rest would find it. The winner gets everyone to do a dare. Trove was pretty good at it. Both in hiding and finding it so she rarely did a dare.

The next place we went to was the diner. It was Daniel's family business and branched out all over the country. It had a great reputation for customer service, food, and the aesthetic of the place. It was the only diner in town but no one was complaining. You will never get sick of the food, no one did. Everyone who was working in the diner was respectful and kind. There was a time when I was eating their best-selling fish and chips, and an old lady walked up to the counter and started going crazy, complaining that the meal that was served was different from what she asked. Amazingly, the worker she was shouting at was very calm and apologized. The woman wasn't satisfied and called him incompetent and useless. She told him that he should just quit his job and become a janitor instead. Harsh, I know. He wasn't a bit triggered by what the woman said and calmly said that he would fix the problem. Turns out the woman thought she ordered a chicken salad but ordered a chicken burger instead.

"Mom, did Trove ever come here anytime yesterday or today?"

"She didn't. Why, is something wrong?"

"She didn't come home last night. She's not answering her phone either."

"Oh dear, I wish I could help but I didn't see her yesterday or today. I'm sorry."

"It's fine mom. We'll just look elsewhere."

"Alright. You guys take care."

We didn't stop looking until the sunset. We tried everywhere in town and even went the next town over but still didn't find her. We asked everyone. No one knew where she was.

"Let's try tomorrow. I'm not stopping until I know she's alright."

"I don't think we can go to the concert, Trize."

"Yeah, I know."

"No, are you kidding?"

"Yeah, you guys should go. You can't just waste your efforts in getting those tickets. We'll continue looking while you and Chris will go to the concert. Okay?"