Silver Card

Chapter 9: Missing Friend

I swiftly run to the restroom and wash my face through a stream of water.

It's not working...

No matter how much water, how much pressure I throw them into my face. Despair surrounds me still.

17 years I have lived and this is the first time I have experienced something like this. Even so, I couldn't manage them. Is it because I no longer have mother to accompany me in my dejection? Is it because my father is too busy with his work? Or is it, I'm just destined to be a failure?

Creak!

Sound of an open door divert my thoughts to the mirror. Ah right, I just recalled that I have to meet someone. I better hurry, I should waste no time.

I dabbed at my drenched face with a crumpled restroom tissue. Knowing a gang of students about to enter, I wait for them to open the door for me to leave. I quickly weaved through the crowd, dodging every stroller I came across. For some reason, I can't keep my head up. This is probably not a big deal, but I have avoided everyone's eyes ever since Alan disappeared. It felt like they'll see through me if I gaze at them.

No, it's because I'll hear their voices.

"Hey, that's the guy that posted posters of a missing student. Rumor has it he called his friends as a search party and of them disappeared."

"After that, he looks so down. Is it guilt?"

"Our parents have troubled themselves to pay enough money only to focus on studies and he just wasted his time to search for a missing student? Who the hell does he think he is?"

"This is why you shouldn't pry into someone's businesses. Calvin always does that, and instead of facing punishment, he involves his friends. What a loser."

"Doesn't that make him the kidnapper's accomplice? I wonder if he'll do the same to us."

Stop it, please. Make it stop.

The voices get louder on every step. I pick up my pace, fleeing from these wretched feelings. This is a bad time to be miserable, I can't let them take over me. I pray this darkness be hushed as I reach my destination, the library.

Quiet and structured, packed with knowledge and rules. Intrigued from lack of insight and you'll be blessed by towers of wisdom. But if you cause a scene, you'll be cast out. It is the perfect place to investigate Alan's disappearance discreetly with him. I quickly scan my surroundings, seeking a familiar face. Most of the patrons here are my juniors with Freshmen as the majority. Numerous tomes of mythical covers wrapped by curious readers. I only regularly visit the library for research, probing knowledge for my assignments. This time, I come with much more urgency.

"Over here, Calvin." Aiden waved on a nearby table, standing out amongst the crowd.

I quickly advanced forward, responding to his call. "Forgive me for being late."

"All good, I have also just arrived."

Aiden pulls out papers from his bag, sorting them on the table. "I have done some research and this is what I found."

A train in Hascait disappeared after passing through a long tunnel. Sighting of a mysterious boy in Corgan vanished in an alley. 30 students in Gauder went missing on a field trip in a forest. A young boy returns after going missing in the arctic claiming that a flying monster took his sister. The CEO's son of Agehenn company vanished after a trip to Duna.

As is common for people to go missing, they are never pleasant. These abnormal cases happened around the world and none of them have been given conclusions and only leaves them as unexplained mysteries. Most people probably thought these as conspiracies and fairy tales, but cases relating to a CEO of a big company and a missing train should have left at least a small trace of evidence. Although with all these similarities, none of them talks about a silver card.