The Forgotten City

Chapter 3

I slowly open my blurry eyes to my best friend shaking my shoulder gently.

"Hey girl, Professor Williams just came by to let us know we will be leaving in a half an hour, so you need to get up and get ready for another great day of traveling! And who knows, we may actually make it to our destination today," she says with a wink.

I am still a bit groggy from all the tossing and turning through the night. Something wouldn't let me get any sleep. I would close my eyes and visions of people vanishing and empty streets haunt my mind. I startled awake more than once. I would have even sworn I heard one of them whisper my name in the dead of night.

Grabbing my clothes, I thank Tiffany and move to hop in the bathroom for the worlds quickest shower. I can't help feeling that there are others just watching me. It gives me the creeps, but no one was in the bathroom with me.

After slipping on my clean clothes I flee the bathroom to run a comb through my unruly hair, trying to ignore the gossip between Samantha and Sara about Jason; it is a halfhearted attempt at best, to tame the wild beast claiming to be hair. Looking at my reflection again, I give up on it as a lost cause.

Finally we are all ready to go and slip out our shared room without a backward glance. Sara and Sam are up ahead chatting and sending sly looks and giggling over their shoulders, while Tiffany wraps her arm around my shoulders and glaring at the other two with death lasers in her eyes.

"Don't pay attention to them, honey. They are just jealous! Jason is a great guy and you are beautiful. You guys are great together. It doesn't matter that you are taking things slow. After what you have been through, no one could ask for more..." Tiffany continues to try to cheer me up with mindless chatter, but eventually, I just tune her out.

Jason saunters up to me just as I reach the bus and envelopes me in his arms. They are so warm and welcoming, I melt into him. It is just what I need to erase the earlier doubt caused by ugly gossip... But still there is a lingering shadow I can't cleanse from my soul.

I lean my cheek against his chest and stare out at the others gathering around the bus. I spot Ian's gaze locking on mine from across the lot. There are emotions in them I'm surprise to see. One is sadness, along with longing; and another one I can't quite figure out.

As soon as Ian notices me checking him out, a slow and sexy smile drifts across his face. The look in his eyes changes to one of hunger, causing my pulse to rise and my face flushes. Something about they way he looks at me wrenches at my soul. The confusing emotional storm in my belly leaves me scared. Not sure what to do about it, I tuck my face into Jason's neck, trying to control my reactions to another man.

"Everybody on!" calls out Professor Williams.

I peek over at Tiffany and give her a smirk as I observe my girlfriend's face light up and slip on a million dollar smile she directs at the professor. Not that I blame her. He really was kinda cute in a geeky way.

When everyone is on the bus, Tiffany starts chatting with me about how hot she thinks our teacher is. She even thinks his nerdy glasses, that kept sliding down his long sharp nose, are adorable!

After several minutes of Tiffany's nonstop monologue, I look around. We hadn't moved, and I notice the professor is up talking with the bus driver. He doesn't look very happy. In fact he, is down right grumpy.

"Professor," I call out.

Professor Williams looks startled and walks back to us.

"Hey, why haven't we left yet?" I ask.

"That's the problem! I don't know! In fact, neither does Steve! Everything was in perfect working order when we went to bed. As far as we can tell, nothing has been tampered with, the bus just isn't starting! It's going to take a while to figure out what is wrong and have it fixed. Maybe we can call the mechanic," he grumbles, finally getting out his frustration.

"Well, since we are stuck here, what if we just wander around for a bit and meet back in about an hour or so and see where we are?" suggests Tiffany.

"Oh! Well, I don't have a problem with that." He looks around at the rest of the group and asks, "What do you think, guys? Do you want to explore for a bit while I try to figure out the bus situation?"

The others agree, so we all decide to meet back up in an hour or so.

Everyone brakes up into groups. Since I am with Tiffany and Jason, Ian decides that he wants to tag along. And for some reason, because Ian is with us, Sara and Samantha make their own group, but follow us closely.

We make our way through the quite little town. We pass a gas station, a bank, a little white church with a white picket fence. As we near a school we watch some of the kids outside running around the play ground. Teachers and adults carefully paying attention the their charges. Whistles are blowing, balls are bouncing. Girls are playing with jump ropes, boys are hanging off the jungle gym. It made me smile. It is happy and busy. Just like life should be when you are young!

Ian chuckles quietly, then reveals, "I wish I could still be so innocent, and all I had to worry about was which superhero I was going to play; to defeat some evil villain. Now I have to worry about grown up stuff and it sucks.... Maybe some day I'll be a daddy and teach my son all about super heroes..."

For some reason my heart cinches in my chest. I could so easily picture him playing super heroes with a little boy...

We make our way to a small grocery store and move inside. I head to the first aisle to have a look-see.

Samantha and Sara follow us shortly after, and to my surprise, with Ben in tow. Where had he come from? Ben leans down and whispers suggestively in Sam's ear. She got a sly grin on her face and slides her arm through his.

"Hey, baby, I need to go get somethin', okay? I'll be right back," Jason whispers to me.

I can't help but notice he is heading to an aisle a couple down from me. I also notice that he is following Sara. I don't know what to think about that. It is probably just a coincidence...

"Ali, I'm gonna slip off to the lil' girls room. Be right back!" Tiffany calls out as she hustles toward the back of the store.

That just leaves Ian and me.

Ian sidles up to me, and slowly lifts his hand up to my face.

My breath catches in my chest. I don't know what to do. Those dumb butterflies are doing a war dance inside my tummy.

"Hey beautiful," he murmurs. "How are you holding up? And don't give me that crap about you bein' fine like you tell Jason. I don't know if he just isn't observant, or if he is just doesn't care. But I know somethin' is botherin' you, and if you can't tell him, tell me."

My breath comes out in shallow bursts as his finger trace my cheek down my jaw line. The look in his eyes is so serious, I am tempted to tell him about my doubts I am having about Jason.

"Ian, I..." I trail off and case the area, afraid someone will see us talking, and I don't need anymore grief from Sara's talk to make me more miserable than I already am.

Gently he lifts my chin with his forefinger so I gaze into his concerned chocolate eyes.

"Tell me," he pleads.

Something in his voice was so sincere that I open my mouth to do just that, when a figure careens down our aisle. We split apart instantly as Jason jogs up to us and slides his arm around my hip.

For a split second Ian's face hardens as he looks at Jason, but then he schools his features to seem impassive.

"Hey baby, you ready?" He asks, panting.

I look closer at him and notice the flush on his face and his swollen lips, and if I'm not mistaken, there is a smudge of pink lipstick on the corner of his mouth.

Something in my chest cracks. I don't want to believe it. I am sure it is just my imagination running away with me, caused by Sara's evil gossip. This is all her fault. But, maybe if I ignore it, it will go away. We don't need to get into a big fight and break up. Things can stay just as they are... That's what I want, right? For things to stay the same forever? Maybe... or maybe not.

I turn to a shelf and grab the biggest chocolate candy bar I can find and turn back to Jason, waving the bar in his face with smile I force on my face. "Yeah, I'm ready. I was just asking Ian which bar I should choose," I respond.

I smile at Ian. "Thanks for your help."

"Anytime," he whispers sadly.

We all make our way to the front and I pay for my candy, and we all shuffle out of the store.

We'd only been in the store for maybe ten minutes but as we make our way past the elementary school, I notice a heavy mist crept across the playground.

There is no sign of the children. No parents or teachers. Even the classrooms are empty. In the distance, I hear the squeak of a rusty swing and what sounds like a bouncing ball echoing across and empty field. No one is there.

A feeling of emptiness and loss creeps up my spine.

Something is wrong.