The morning went no more different than usual. Mazhun wakes me up, fails to decide on what to make for breakfast, we eat cereal or whatever's in the cabinet, and soon we're on our way to my school. My eyes never met those of my father, instead they drifted out to the silent winter passing outside. It was the middle of December, and you could really tell - the trees were skeletons of their summertime bloom, the skies grey and melancholy, the ground wet and muddy and covered in ice. We didn't really get much snow here, but it sure got cold enough to. There was some possible snow for later today, if I recalled correctly - maybe we could even get out of school. But I doubted it - it's not supposed to be more than an inch.

As we drove, I kept imagining what it would feel like if I still had siblings. I'd be in here with them - Marina and Tristan in 8th and 7th grade, respectively, and me still in 5th. Their school would've started fifteen minutes earlier than mine, so we'd all be out the door much earlier. We'd drive to the middle school, having fun and talking in the car like actual families. Maybe we'd be like the dog and her family on TV, on the show I like to watch. They seemed terrific - two parents who can tolerate each other's company and love their children, siblings who get along and play and do things that kids do. Playing games, having friends at school, not feeling like every day was a waste of your time. That bright, colorful world on the screen was all I've ever wanted. A family, a true, loving family.

Don't get me wrong, I do love Mazhun. He's my dad, after all. But... sometimes I don't feel like we have that sort of relationship. We don't have the connection of father and son. We're more like... related people who live in the same house. I know he cares about me, but it's hard to think of him as a caring person when it seems he cares about nothing but the past. I didn't blame him for missing Marina and Tristan, but I knew there was no chance they were coming back. They're dead, after all. The dead don't come back.

I was barely a few months old when Marina died, but I was maybe one or two when Tristan did. I didn't remember it well. I didn't see it happen. I was on the playground with him, and Mazhun was on the bench, as usual. I remember Tristan was talking to some kids much older than him, which I thought nothing of. I just kept playing in the mulch and climbing up the slide or whatever I was doing on a playground at that age. But in the blink of an eye, there were red and blue flashing lights flooding my vision, Mazhun was hugging me close, and I just... don't ever remember seeing him again. Was Mom there? I don't know. Maybe she was. Mazhun never talked about her, but I knew it was somehow her fault that Marina died. Maybe she caused Tristan to die, too. It would make sense - that's why she left, I think. Some people took her away to a place they could help her at some point, Mazhun had once told me. She was sick, and that's why Marina died. Was the disease she had catchable? Is that why Marina died?

My thoughts were becoming too much. I shook them away. The car stopped, and I began to grab my backpack. Mazhun looked at me in the mirror and gave me a very obviously forced smile.

"Have a good day, Taiga," he said. He sounded sad. He was always sad, though. I nodded, barely looking at him as I hopped out and found my way to the front doors of the school.

There were two teachers on drop-off duty, both of which I recognized. The PE teacher, Mr. Whelms, and my social studies teacher, Mrs. Garrett. They were both making sure no kid wandered off as their parent or guardian drove away and saying "Hello, good morning" to most kids who passed. You could tell who the troublemakers were, because sometimes they'd add a cautionary warning or remark. My favorite so far that day was "Jeffery, make sure you leave your bug friends outside this time."

Mrs. Garrett smiled sweetly at me as I passed. "Good morning, Taiga."

"Hi." I kept my head mostly to the ground as I greeted her back. She didn't ask me to look up or anything, just moved on to the next kid. Good. I'd learned at this point that if I kept my head down, no one would notice me (except the teachers, of course. They must have really good eyesight).

I walked into the cafeteria doors and out into the hall to go to my first class. The fifth grade hall was shared with the fourth, third, and preschool classes. Each grade had one classroom on either side of the hall, minus the preschoolers, who got one room on the left side of the corridor. There weren't really many, anyway, as there weren't many kids here. I think the biggest class here was about twenty-five kids total - the fifth graders, my class. Small town, I guess.

I passed the preschoolers, third graders, and fourth graders, eyes still glued to the ground even as I walked into the room and sat down at my seat. There was music playing, a song I didn't recognize. No one turned to talk to me, no one said hello. They all knew by now I wasn't a talker.

Eventually class started, and so started the blur and melting together of the hours that passed. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to an hour, moving on to a different subject, another hour, and after a few repeats it was time for lunch. The teacher rounded us up and put us in an organized, alphabetical order line. I stared at the ground still, having not said a word all day besides to myself. I followed like a sheep in the herd, our shepherds guiding us to the pastures. I wasn't too hungry, surprisingly, but I decided to eat anyway.

I sat down with my lunch after going through the line and silently stared at my tray for a moment. I had just gotten a slice of pizza and some fruit, some sort of sustenance at least.

My thoughts went back to Tristan's vision. I didn't know exactly what it was, but it troubled me. Agnes and I were... I assume dead, and whoever he was seeing the whole thing as was presumably Mazhun. Did Mazhun kill Agnes and I in the vision? No, he couldn't have, he's nothing close to a killer. He's suffered death enough that he's done everything to avoid the topic since he lost my siblings.

I was snapped from my thoughts by a soft, female voice.

"Are you okay, Taiga?"

I looked up at the teacher standing behind me - Ms. Kipper, the teacher I'd been with all morning. She looked down at me with a soft concern.

I shook my head yes immediately. "Yes. I'm fine. Why?"

"You just seemed disturbed by something," Ms. Kipper pointed out. "Is there something bothering you?"

"No, not at all."

Ms. Kipper hesitated a moment before nodding. "Alright, whatever you say."

I sighed in relief as she walked off

After lunch was recess. Everyone loved recess. It's out of class free time, after all. They just let us loose on the playground outside of the school, allowing us to play and be chaotic to our hearts' content (at least, within the hour that recess is).

I didn't like it. At all.

It was cold, but not so cold we were forced to stay inside. Everyone put on their coats and ran outside, going to the slide and the swings and the jungle gym on the mulch-covered area of the playground. I watched them all run off before taking the book in my hand and sitting in a little tree-surrounded area called the Nature Center with a few benches in the middle. The trees were bare, the very last of the dying brown leaves clinging onto the branches for dear life above me. I looked up at one of them, shaking in the breeze. Eventually it detached itself, failing to keep its grip to its mother branch and gliding along the winter wind until it found a place on the ground not far away. I stared at it until it was picked up again and blown out of sight.

Exhaling, I opened the book I had. It was long, at least for someone my age. But I could read it. It felt good to dive into a new world that wasn't this one.

You'd think people would tease or bother me because I would read at recess. But they don't. People tend to stay away from me. They all think I have some connection with the devil or something. I guess they're not entirely wrong, since I talk to dead spirits in my dreams, but it also couldn't be farther from the truth. I didn't complain about the rumors, though. It let me have quiet time to think.

I lost count of the minutes, but before I knew it, I heard Mrs. Garrett and Ms. Kipper calling the fifth graders inside. I looked up from my book and closed it, walking towards the door. I was one of the first inside, taking a quick right into the room I was meant to go into.

I said nothing. I only put away my book and sat at my desk without a word.

-

Finally the end of the day came. Usually I'd be just as stoic about riding the bus home as usual, but today I was a little more excited. Today was one of the select days I got to go hang out at the coffee shop while Mazhun worked. That wouldn't seem like a great time, but it wasn't the coffee shop that I was excited about. Agnes never came over to our house, so I only saw him whenever I came to the shop. I liked Agnes. I sort of considered an uncle of some sort, even though we weren't related in the slightest. He was really nice - if I was lucky, he could sometimes get me something from the shop. I liked the strawberry frappuccinos, they tasted good.

I hopped onto the bus and pushed my way to the nearest open seat. I sat my backpack next to me and flopped onto the seat, resting my arm and head on the backpack as I looked out the window. The bus was loud, everyone ecstatic to go home or talk about video games or Pokémon cards or whatever they were into. I remained quiet, trying to keep the loudness from overwhelming me.

Once everyone was on, the bus lurched, sputtered, and was rolling. The wheels pushed the yellow vehicle onward, the driver in front occasionally looking back to make sure no one was breaking the rules. There were a few he yelled at for standing up or yelling words no six to ten year old should know, but I wasn't any trouble. I might've been the quietest person on the bus.

After a few drop-offs, we came to my stop. I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulders as I walked towards the front of the bus. Most kids didn't pay much attention to me, but others stopped their conversation to glance at me warily. I paid them no mind as I walked down the aisle and down the stairs, exiting the glass doors.

I entered the door to the coffee shop and looked around. There weren't too many people inside, considering it was three in the afternoon, but there were a few that sat at tables or stood around waiting for their drink. There were a few people behind the counter, people I didn't know too well. They were other people that worked here. I didn't bother them or talk to them ever. The guy in charge told Mazhun and I that I could come every now and then so long as I didn't get in the way. I tended to sit and quietly do my homework or read in the break room. So that's where I went.

There were a few people waiting to take their shift. I scanned the room until I found who I was looking for, then walked across the room to tell them I was there.

"Hi."

At the sound of my voice, pale brown eyes looked down at me, accompanied by a smile that grew pretty quick from the neutral expression he'd had. Agnes knelt down in front of me, greeting,

"Hey, Taiga! How are you today?"

As if it took him a minute to process my voice, Mazhun looked down at me a bit more delayed than Agnes did. He smiled at me, though it wasn't as bright and excited as Agnes's expression.

"Hi, Taiga."

I smiled a little bit up at him before turning back to Agnes with the same smile. "I'm good. Hi, Agnes."

Agnes gave me an affirmative shoulder pat. I'd help you get set up in here, but we're about to start our shift. You can get your homework started, and I'll see if I can get you something."

He winked at me. I giggled, an unstoppable grin, crawling across my face.

I never noticed the sad, distant expression on Mazhun's face as we talked.

I got out my math homework and sat down on a chair in the corner. Agnes and Mazhun left for their shift, but after a bit Agnes returned with a strawberry frappuccino. I smiled at him, taking a cold beverage and drinking some of it through the straw as I continued with my work.

It was an hour or two later when we could go home. I said goodbye to Agnes and followed Mazhun closely out to the car. Eventually we were on the road in our silent ritual as we drove home.

Everything seemed normal until we arrived at a particular road we take to go home every day. It was through a small section of homes, with small front yards and everything you'd imagine for cute little family homes. The problematic one was right near the turn we take into the street. The house itself was fine. It was the flashing red and blue lights that caught me off guard.

Mazhun stared at the scene for a moment, as did I. There were a few people standing at the door of the home - two officers, as well as the residents of the home, a man and a woman. The woman was crying, it seemed, and the man, even from this distance, I could tell was struggling to hold it together as he talked to the policemen. Was there a murder? Kidnapping? Robbery? I didn't know. Maybe it'd be on the news tonight. I didn't like watching the news much, but I was quite curious.

Mazhun's sigh broke me from my thoughts. "Guess we're taking the long way."

The supposed "long way" actually cut five minutes off the trip between my school and home. Mazhun just didn't like going that way. But if we had to, we had to.

We drove past the crime scene and down the current road we were on. It wasn't long before we were passing a large building. It was a hospital, I think. The words on the side of the building said "Fallen Willows Psychiatric Hospital." I had no idea what "psychiatric" meant, but I just assumed it was related to some body part, like how there's heart hospitals. I couldn't think of what the word could be referring to, however.

We'd passed the hospital on a few other occasions. Mazhun didn't like it at all. Every time we passed he was really tense, and sometimes he even went over the speed limit to get past faster. I was always really curious about it. I wanted to know why Mazhun didn't like going past. Was that where Mom was sent? Mazhun said she was sick and had to leave. Maybe they're taking care of her there.

Just as I'd guessed, I felt the car speed up a little as I looked out the window. I didn't look at Mazhun, but out of the corner of my eye I could see his eyes in the rearview mirror. They were glued to the road, as if deliberately trying not to look at the hospital. If Mom was there, why didn't he go visit? Why couldn't I visit? I hadn't truly met Mom - I didn't remember her enough, anyway. She left when I was two. Did he blame her for Marina dying? He mentioned it being her fault. That's sad. I'm sure she didn't do anything wrong, she probably just wasn't watching her for some reason.

I watched as the hospital grew farther and farther behind us. It was only when we turned a corner and it was no longer visible that Mazhun finally relaxed.

-

"Police have shown up at Mangrove Avenue to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a child, Perdita Adams, from her home. It was told by the parents that the girl had been planning to leave early to go to school, which was why they did not call the police earlier, when she first disappeared this morning. It is unknown if she was kidnapped, or ran away herself. Her teachers and friends claim she had never arrived at school, and no one that morning or the previous night had seen anything suspicious. Police are still investigating where she could have gone, and citizens are told to be wary of if there is a kidnapper on the loose. Keep in touch with your children at all times, and always make sure they are safe, for it is in your best interest to be careful of further incidents in the future. I'm Jerry Thornes, and this is 55 News. We're here for what you need to know."

-

3050 words.

Oh no a child has gone missing- oh well, she can't be important, right-