Chapter 6: The Girl Who Disappeared

There was a strange comfort in pretending that nothing had happened.bMaybe that's why people lied.bNot always because they wanted to deceive someone.

Sometimes, lies were easier because they allowed you to continue living normally.

You wake up.

You eat breakfast.

You go to school.

You laugh with your friends.

And for a few hours, you get to pretend that there isn't something waiting for you at the back of your mind.

Something you don't want to remember.

Something that refuses to stay buried.

That was exactly what I did the morning after Raven Lane spoke to me.

I woke up at six.

Took a shower.

Got dressed.

Applied enough makeup to hide the fact that I barely slept.

Then I walked downstairs and acted as if I hadn't spent half the night staring at an old photograph.

Ava was already in the kitchen when I arrived.

She had her hair tied into a messy bun and was standing in front of the stove, cooking eggs while talking to someone on the phone.

She glanced at me.

"She's awake."

I immediately knew who she was talking to.

Mom.

I walked toward the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water.

"Good morning to you too."

Ava rolled her eyes.

"Mom wants to talk to you."

"Of course she does."

She handed me her phone.

I stared at it for a second before taking it.

"Hi, Mom."

"Dahlia."

Her voice was soft.

Too soft.

The kind of voice people used when they were worried but didn't want to sound worried.

"Hi."

"Are you coming home this weekend?"

I opened the refrigerator again even though I didn't need anything.

"I told Ava I'd think about it."

"Dahlia."

"What?"

"Just come home."

I closed the refrigerator door.

"Why?"

There was a short silence.

I noticed Ava glance in my direction.

"Mom?"

"I found something."

My fingers tightened around the phone.

"What?"

"Some old boxes."

I stared at the wall in front of me.

For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.

"What kind of boxes?"

"From the old house."

Ava stopped moving.

I noticed it.

Mom continued.

"I thought maybe you girls would want to look through them."

I smiled.

It wasn't a happy smile.

Just a reflex.

"Sure."

"Dahlia?"

"I said sure."

"Are you okay?"

I looked at Ava.

She was watching me now.

"I'm fine."

Mom sighed quietly.

"Okay. I'll see you this weekend."

I ended the call.

For a moment, the kitchen was silent.

Ava placed the spatula down.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing."

"Dahlia."

I looked at her.

"What?"

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"That thing."

I raised an eyebrow.

"What thing?"

"The thing where you smile at me like everything's okay when I know something is bothering you."

I stared at her.

It was interesting.

Ava had always been one of the people closest to me. And yet, even she only knew the version of me that I allowed her to know.

She could recognize when I was lying, but she never knew what I was lying about.

"Mom found old boxes," I said.

"I know."

"Then that's it."

Ava didn't look convinced, but she let it go.

She always did.

That was one of Ava's weaknesses.

She knew when something was wrong.

She just trusted people to tell her the truth when they were ready.

I had always found that naïve.

Trusting someone simply because you loved them.

How dangerous.

The campus was unusually crowded when I arrived.

There were students gathered near the main entrance, whispering among themselves and checking their phones. At first, I assumed someone had started another rumor.

Then I noticed the police car.

It was parked near the administration building.

My steps slowed.

Sienna was waiting for me beside the fountain.

The moment she saw me, she grabbed my arm.

"Girl."

"What?"

"Did you see?"

"See what?"

She looked around before lowering her voice.

"Someone broke into the old faculty storage room last night."

I stared at her.

"Okay?"

"That's it?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. React."

I gave her a dramatic gasp.

She frowned.

"You're annoying."

I smiled.

"Why are the police here?"

"Apparently, may mga old files daw na missing."

My expression remained calm.

"Old files?"

"Yeah."

Sienna shrugged.

"Probably boring documents."

I looked toward the administration building.

Maybe.

Or maybe not.

"Do you know what kind of files?" I asked.

"No. Why?"

"Just curious."

Sienna narrowed her eyes.

"You're being weird."

"I'm always weird."

"No, you're quiet-weird today."

I smiled.

"What's the difference?"

"You talk less."

"I talk?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Forget it."

We started walking toward our building.

But before we could reach the stairs, I saw Raven Lane standing near one of the police officers.

She wasn't holding her notebook today.

She was holding a folder.

Her eyes moved across the crowd.

Then she saw me.

I didn't stop.

Neither did she.

But her expression changed.

Barely.

Enough for me to notice.

Interesting.

Our first class passed slowly.

The professor talked about something I would normally understand without difficulty, but I found myself looking out the window more than usual.

The old boxes.

The missing files.

Raven.

Mia Bennett.

The photograph.

Everything felt unrelated.

That was what bothered me.

Coincidences didn't usually happen one after another.

People liked to believe that life was full of accidents.

I didn't.

There was always a reason.

You just had to find it.

My phone vibrated underneath the desk.

A message from an unknown number.

I stared at the screen.

Unknown: You should stop asking questions about Mia Bennett.

My eyes didn't change.

My breathing remained steady.

I typed.

Me: Who is this?

No response.

I waited.

Nothing.

I read the message again.

Then deleted the conversation.

"Dahlia."

I looked up.

Our professor was staring at me.

"Would you like to answer the question?"

Everyone in the room turned toward me.

I smiled.

"Sorry, Professor."

He repeated the question.

I answered it correctly.

Of course I did.

By the time the class ended, the room was already filling with voices. Students gathered their things, talking about lunch and assignments.

I stayed seated for a few seconds.

I was waiting.

I wasn't sure for what.

Then someone placed a hand on my desk.

Max.

"You're distracted."

I looked up at him.

"Are you keeping track again?"

"Maybe."

I packed my notebook.

"That's becoming a habit."

"You're becoming difficult to read."

I paused.

Only for a second.

Then I continued putting my things inside my bag.

"Maybe you're getting worse at it."

He smiled.

"I doubt that."

I stood.

"Confidence is attractive."

"I wasn't trying to be attractive."

"That's what you said last time."

He followed me out of the classroom.

"Where are you going?"

"Library."

"Again?"

"I like books."

"You never borrow any."

I looked at him.

He grinned.

"See? I pay attention."

I shook my head.

"You really need a hobby."

"Maybe you're my hobby."

I stopped walking.

Max almost bumped into me.

I turned around.

He was smiling.

I stared at him.

Then I continued walking.

"You should work on your flirting."

"I wasn't flirting."

"That makes it worse."

He laughed behind me.

For a moment, everything felt normal again.

Almost.

But then my phone vibrated.

Another message.

Unknown: Ask Raven about Mia.

I stopped.

Max noticed.

"What happened?"

I locked my phone.

"Nothing."

He didn't ask me to show him.

He simply looked at me.

And that was somehow worse.

Because Max didn't force answers.

He waited.

As if he knew that eventually, I would give him one.

I hated that.

I found Raven in the university's archive room.

I wasn't sure why I went there.

Maybe because the anonymous message told me to.

Maybe because I was tired of waiting for other people to make the first move.

The archive room was on the second floor of the old administration building. It smelled like dust and old paper, and the fluorescent lights above flickered occasionally.

Raven was sitting at a table.

Several folders were spread in front of her.

She didn't look surprised when I entered.

"I was wondering when you'd come."

I closed the door behind me.

"That's a little creepy."

She smiled.

"So I've been told."

I walked toward her.

"What do you know about Mia Bennett?"

Her expression changed.

Not much.

But enough.

"You first."

I laughed softly.

"No."

"Then why should I answer?"

"Because you're the one investigating her."

"How do you know that?"

I looked at the folders.

"Mia's name is written on one of them."

Raven glanced down.

She had made a mistake.

A small one.

But mistakes were important.

"Smart," she said.

"I've been told."

She leaned back in her chair.

"What do you know about Mia?"

"Nothing."

"That's a lie."

I smiled.

"You can't prove that."

"No."

Raven's eyes stayed on mine.

"Not yet."

There it was again.

Not yet.

People had started becoming very confident lately.

I placed my hands on the table.

"Why are you investigating a missing person case from three years ago?"

Raven was silent for a moment.

Then she opened one of the folders.

"Because cases don't disappear just because people stop talking about them."

She pulled out a photograph.

Mia Bennett.

She was younger than I remembered.

Long brown hair.

A wide smile.

Her arm around someone whose face had been cropped out of the picture.

"She was twenty when she disappeared," Raven said.

I stared at the photograph.

"She was last seen leaving a party."

"Where?"

"Near the old Gray property."

I looked at Raven.

Her eyes were already on me.

Of course.

"That's interesting," I said.

"Isn't it?"

"Not really."

Raven tilted her head.

"Your family owned that property."

"Owned."

"Yes."

"Past tense."

"That doesn't change what happened there."

I smiled.

"And what exactly happened there?"

Raven stared at me.

Then she placed another photograph on the table.

A police photograph.

An empty swimming pool.

The image was old and slightly blurry.

But I recognized the place immediately.

My smile disappeared.

Just for a second.

Raven noticed.

"Do you remember this place?"

I looked at her.

"Why would I?"

"You spent part of your childhood there."

"So?"

"So did Ava."

I straightened.

"Leave my sister out of this."

The words came out colder than I intended.

Raven didn't move.

For the first time, her expression became serious.

"I didn't come here to hurt Ava."

"Then don't involve her."

"That's not entirely up to me."

Something inside me shifted.

Not anger.

Not yet, but close.

I looked down at the photograph again.

The pool.

The place from the envelope.

The place from my memory.

The place I had spent years pretending meant nothing to me.

"You think Mia disappeared because of my family?"

"I think someone knows more than they're saying."

I smiled again.

Slowly.

"Good luck proving it."

I turned around and walked toward the door.

"Dahlia."

I stopped.

I didn't turn around.

Raven's voice was calm behind me.

"You know what's interesting?"

I waited.

"Every person connected to Mia remembers something."

My fingers tightened around my bag.

"Except you."

I looked over my shoulder.

Raven was watching me.

"Maybe I have a bad memory."

"Maybe."

I smiled.

Then I left.

I didn't go back to class.

Instead, I walked to the quietest part of the campus. Behind the old gym was a small garden that almost no one used during the day.

I sat on one of the benches.

For a while, I did nothing.

I just listened.

Birds.

Cars outside the campus.

Students laughing somewhere far away.

Normal sounds.

Normal life.

Then I thought about Mia.

I remembered her face.

Not from photographs.

From that night.

She had been crying.

I remembered that.

Her makeup was ruined.

Her hands were shaking.

She kept asking me the same question.

Over and over.

Please.

I closed my eyes.

The memory became clearer.

Dahlia, please.

My eyes opened.

I stared straight ahead.

Three years.

It had been three years.

I didn't know who was sending me messages.

I didn't know what Raven had found. And I didn't know why Mia's name had suddenly returned to my life, but one thing was becoming clear.

Someone wanted me to remember.

The problem was... I never forgot.

Not really.

I just chose not to think about certain things.

There was a difference.

My phone vibrated again.

One final message.

Unknown: You didn't kill Mia.

I stared at the words.

Then another message arrived.

Unknown: But you know who did.

For the first time that day, I stopped smiling. Because the truth was far more complicated than anyone knew.

I didn't kill Mia Bennett.

I hadn't even been the last person to see her alive, but I was there that night.

I saw what happened.

I saw who took her.

And then I went home.

I went to sleep.

And for three years, I never told anyone.

Not because I was scared.

Not because someone threatened me.

But because Mia Bennett had looked at me with terror in her eyes.

And for some reason... I wanted to see what would happen next.

I looked at the empty garden in front of me.

A soft breeze moved through the trees.

Somewhere across campus, students continued laughing.

The world kept moving.

Just like Max had said.

People went to school.

Cars continued driving.

The sun kept rising.

Even when someone disappeared.

I finally smiled again. But this time, there was no one around to see it. And maybe that was a good thing, because if anyone had seen my face at that moment, they might have finally understood.

I wasn't scared of Mia's case being reopened.

I was curious.

I wanted to know who had started this game.

And more importantly—I wanted to know why they thought they could play it better than me.