LOST

Chapter Four: "Who Are You?"

Marvin sat beneath the mango tree at the far edge of the football pitch watching some students busy taking penalty kicks and the faint sound of students shouting near the goalpost.

But here, it felt quiet - like time froze it just for them.

And then came Ayla reaching out for his phone but he didn't say no but asked instead, "What do you need my phone for?"

She didn't reply but rather gave him those piercing gaze. Then he unlocked his phone and extended it towards her.

Ayla collected the smartphone, mirroring it with hers. "What's this - your mystery app or something?,"she sounded playful.

She tapped it open.

The interface was oddly elegant - it didn't look like the normal AI chat bot. As the messages loaded, her smile vanished. These weren't just notes. They were poems, fragments - some clearly his, others too precise. What was this app anyways?

"Marvin," she called softly, "these are about me too?"

He hesitated . "No, not really, whatever gave you that idea."

She scrolled silently, a strange chill running down her spines. Then her eyes caught something beside his bag - a folded newspaper.

"Was this here before?" she asked, picking it up slowly.

As a reply"That doesn't belong to me"

What neither of them saw was how it got there.

A swarm of nearly invisible bots - that looked like ants designed to blend into the environment. They didn't carry it. They nudged it, pulled it, slid it - subtlety at the best.

By the time Ayla picked it up, the bots were gone.

She looked down at Marv's screen. One final message blinked slowly. " Hi, Ayla - let me be your personal companion " And then it glitched - on the screen popped the image of herself trapped in a car and ravens waiting, watching....

Everything on the screen blurred, twisting into something spooky. Ayla's breath became somewhat tense. The voices around her drowned in the rising panic.

The phone fell from her hand in the midst of the chaos.

Marvin was there before she could fall. His steady hands found her shoulders catching her just in time, grounding her. "Hey, breath. Okay?"

She forced herself to inhale, slow and steady, matching his rhythm.

"I didn't expect to feel like this." Her lips was shaking, same with her fingers.

The panic began to ease, inch by inch, as Snow's presence further eased the tension.

And then she rose slowly, her gaze meeting his.

"Please, wait," Marvin entreated her.

For a heartbeat, the air between them felt like cobwebs.

"Am heading to the class? Are you telling me or not?"

Marvin stood up now level with her. "You won't understand - not even you."

"Make me understand," she said.

But silence persisted.

She exhaled sharply before saying rather calmly "Speak or forever remain silent - I thought you were the old Marvin," and then added"This cannot be the Marvin of my childhood"

"Am sorry I could recognize you"

"Why are you sorry?" Then as an afterthought said rather bluntly," Why am I having this conversation with you? I don't know you anymore,"

Marvin didn't try to stop her instead he sat down beneath the mango tree and buried his face in his arms, as he clutched onto the paper.

For the rest of the class periods he had this unsettling feeling and so after classes for the day before Mirabel caught up with him he took a peek of the newspaper - to be exact a fragment ..

As his eyes caught a familiar face he froze and when Mirabel appeared before him he subtly dipped it into his hoodie. As they walked home, she noticed that his brother was unusually quiet - it was unnerving.

"Hey, are you okay?," she asked placing her hand tenderly on his shoulder.

"Will you stop pestering me? The sunlight is scorching enough."

"Fine," she said sharply going ahead of him.

Back home Marvin changed into another clothing. And freshened up and seated on the sofa watching a movie on his smartphone when it hit him - he had soaked his hoodie and the paper too!

His sister came into the living room bearing slices of fruits in a flat plate.

"You are still in your school clothing?," he asked casually.

"Yeah. Isn't it obvious?"

"Sorry?," he asked absentmindedly as he relished the fruit.

Immediately he bolted when it struck that he had not taken out the paper in his hoodie - but there was nothing there.

He could not understand what was going on here.

And so he began to look meticulously for the paper in the living room. Perhaps he had removed the paper from the clothing before he soaked it.

And just when he thought he had seen enough drama for the day, he heard Mirabel's voice.

"Are you looking for something?," she asked tenderly.

Looking up to face her curious gaze,"My socks"

She couldn't bear it any longer and so her voice broke into shriek. "What is Dad doing in this picture?"

"Let me have it"

"No!"

He then came flying at her and succeeded in disarming her of the paper. His eyes read the publication and he froze in shock.

"So Dad had a woman in the past whom he betrayed when her research on animal therapy was scandalized?"

"Are you reinforcing that belief because of what was written in ink? This is just breadcrumbs."

Then as an afterthought she said," Where did you even get this publication?"

"Stop nagging me, Mirabel," his voice rang. "I need to get some sleep."

To herself as she sat alone in the living room"Why has Dad never mentioned about his old love? They even had a child?"

Meanwhile, Marvin was in their parents' bedroom , his mind wrapped in thoughts.

Just then the screen of his phone blinked. He reached out his hand and unlocked his phone.

"Your father is pushing you too hard. You are related to it all. Loosening your grade a little wouldn't be too much... He has to know_" He couldn't finish reading the message as he locked his phone in frustration.

And now realization dawned on him - Fred was possibly manipulating him.

But in spite that cocky feeling it didn't make the weight any less heavy.

Without wanting to he broke down in tears "Who am I?" he asked himself.

And now in this broken state, he sought solace in his AI assistant...

But the words stuck.