The story so far:
---- Aija is a Volunteer at the Pristine School at Innermost. She works along with Zuri and Ze, who are her friends.
---- Zuri meets Nala in her town and likes her.
---- Ze meets Zuri and Aija for dinner and doesn't return for a long time when he goes to get water. Aija finds that Ze hasn't returned for a long time – she decides to go look for him as she is worried about the kidnappings. When she doesn't find him in her Apartment basement, she goes looking for him in another Apartment. She stumbles upon a boy, Rez, hiding from his kidnappers. She takes him out of the basement into the cold night, where the boy's kidnapper catches up to them. The man puts a blade into Rez's chest after an attempt to flee.
---- Aija witnesses a strange event – light emanating from Rez's body. The man is after her next, but he leaves her alive and goes away.
---- Another man finds her and asks if she is alright. He tells her that he needs to talk to her but not there. He wants to take her somewhere else, Aija, though wary of him agrees. He takes her away.
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****5.1 - Zuri****
When she woke, she found herself all tangled up in the blanket, and as she tried to sit up, she lost her balance and fell to the floor.
Zuri cursed out loud when she hit her elbow on the low coffee table as she fell. It hurt badly.
It took a few moments more for her to truly feel awake, so she lay on the floor covered in the blanket. She gradually opened her eyes to the afternoon sun, yawned, and looked at the time. It was two in the noon.
Her head ached slightly, and she just lay there on the floor, her limbs tangled in the blanket, still sleepy. After she yawned for the fifth time, she called out for her friends. No one answered.
"Ai! Ze!" she called out again.
"Call Aija!" she shouted, not knowing where her Scroll was.
"Calling Aija." came the male voice of her AIVIO Scroll from somewhere across the room, followed by the dialing sound. Aija had set her command voice to a female one. But, Zuri liked the deep male voice option.
Aija didn't answer the call.
"Call Ze!" she commanded next.
When Ze didn't respond too, Zuri sat up, untangling herself from the blanket and searched her home to see if they were asleep somewhere. She found neither of her friends, so she called them both again. But, none of them responded.
"Geo-location: Aija," she told her Scroll.
"Unavailable," it responded in a second.
"Geo-location: Ze,"
"Pristine School Housing, Block H." responded the Scroll.
Zuri wondered why Aija had switched her Geo-location off. Was she with Ze, perhaps? But why would she want to hide it from her?
Zuri huffed as she sat groggily onto her couch. Had those two left without telling her? She sat on the small couch, coming up with possibilities for her friends' absence. Unable to come up with a reasonable explanation, she assumed Aija was with Ze after all. She left Aija a message asking her to call when free.
She then rummaged through the Cool Store and found nothing that she wanted to eat. So Zuri headed out for brunch.
For the nearly past year and a half, if Zuri and Aija both spent the weekend at the School Housing, they would have breakfast at Market. Now, walking alone to Market, Zuri felt glum. She had never been to the Market for breakfast alone. And, she thought again and again about Aija. Where was she? Why hadn't she responded to her calls? Why hadn't she left a message about where she had gone to?
The Market looked so different in the morning with the hover lights off and lesser people out. The DigiScreens were still bright even in the morning light, but it was in the night when the Market transformed into a totally different place. The lights from the hover lights, DigiScreens, gave a magical glow to the area. Even the art, music, and dance performances happened at night, and most food places had different menus for mornings and evenings, and the whole vicinity smelled good – it was better at night.
The Market was quiet now – still waking up to the day. A few food places were open, many closed after a long night.
Zuri walked through a DigiScreen with the image of Mike Wiet asking people to be careful when traveling to the Outer Towns and to take precautions against the Green Plague. Zuri had heard of the Plague and had read the symptoms, but had never seen anyone affected by it. It was rampant in the outermost towns and the Open.
The DigiScreen buzzed out of existence, and she felt the prick of electricity on her skin. It buzzed back into life after she had passed through it. Zuri loved doing it to feel the gentle prick of current on her skin. A lot of DigiScreens were lined throughout the streets of Market, easy as they were to install and control. They were tiny round devices embedded onto the ground and controlled by AIVIO Scroll. It was easy to create content on one's DigiScreen and push it to the device on the LINC – the Leadership's Inter-Network Connection. There were DigiScreens lined up in front of shops selling their products, in front of the virtual game centers advertising new games and nearly everywhere showcasing announcements from the Leadership about safety, their rules, about the Green Plague, about kidnappings and such.
Zuri went into their favorite place – a small shop selling sweets and savory breakfast. Aija had introduced the place to her, and she had fallen in love with it instantly. There were no shops that sold freshly made food in her town – or anywhere else other than Innermost.
When Zuri had first come to Innermost, she hadn't known anyone. On the first day of Volunteering, she had seen Aija and had a crush on her straight away. Aija was beautiful, not in the conventional sense of beauty, but in her own unique way. Zuri found her alluring. She seemed so shy, yet Zuri found a strange strength; a strength very still and poised.
From her very first day, Zuri had spent every following day with Aija. They had become close soon, and Zuri had debated with herself several times about confessing her crush to Aija but withheld herself when she had found out about Aija's crush on Ze. Aija only saw her as a friend – at least as someone she cared for. That had to be enough for her.
Zuri ordered a sweet and a savory dish – both were Aija's favorite. She brought them over to a bench at the Circular Park and sat there. The bench nestled in the cusp of the Park and the brick-paved roads of Market, giving a view of them both – Aija's favorite place to sit other than in front of the lake.
A part of Zuri would always love Aija – more than just a friend, even if Zuri fell in love with someone else, even if Zuri was asked to marry someone else.
She wondered what Aija would do after their volunteering. Aija still hadn't decided what Major to take up. She seemed lost. Zuri only hoped that she could stay close to Aija no matter what she decided.
"Zuri..."
Zuri knew who that voice belonged to even before she turned around.
"You live in Innermost? Or have you come for the food?" she asked, coming in front of Zuri.
"Both..." answered Zuri, her heart pounding.
Nala sat next to her and smiled.
Zuri had hoped countless times to meet her again. She hadn't told Aija about her, yet.
Nala looked just like how Zuri had remembered her.
Her silver-blonde hair with pink streaks was tied up yet again, and she wore blue jeans and a yellow crop top. Zuri hadn't felt this enticed by anyone, not by anyone other than Aija.
"What is it that you do at Innermost?" Nala asked, her soft voice glazing over Zuri's senses.
"Um... I...uh...I volunteer at the school."
"Lovely....," she said.
Zuri looked into her eyes. They were unlike any other Zuri had seen before. And, people did have unusual eyes as they were mixed with different heritages.
Nala's eyes were silver near the pupil, and it radiated into light brown. They were stunning.
"You're so beautiful." Zuri blurted and immediately felt her cheeks warm up.
Nala smiled, a secret laced up in it. Zuri fell in love with her smile.
"So are you."
Nala's eyes held a look so intensely magnetic; Zuri was drawn to her more than she gave herself credit for.
"Come," Nala said, standing and holding her hand out.
Zuri didn't squander a single second unto thought. She gave Nala her hand to hold and stood up. They strolled around the Circular Park hand in hand, mostly quiet except for a few words.
Zuri felt buoyant. Nala made her feel exhilarated and peaceful at the same time. They were out till late in the evening when Zuri admitted that she needed to go home, and Nala offered to walk her home. It was slowly getting dark.
"What's wrong?" Nala inquired when they almost neared the Apartments. "You seem apprehensive."
"It's just that my best friend hasn't replied or called back. I haven't seen her since last night." Zuri revealed her worries.
Zuri thought she had assumed it and wasn't sure if Nala frowned slightly as trying to remember something.
"Maybe she's visiting family."
"No. She would tell me. She would never keep things from me. And she would at least send a message if something came up suddenly."
Nala tightened her grip on Zuri's hand. "I'm sure she's okay." Nala tried to soothe her.
They stopped near the School Housing, a few steps away from the gate, and it auto-unlocked for her.
"I must let you go here." Nala's voice was honeyed, as she took a look at the open gate.
Zuri caught a slight musical tone in Nala's voice, a slight accent that came out when she seemed unguarded.
"Will I see you again?" Zuri asked Nala, the melancholy of letting Nala go already settling upon her.
Nala leaned in towards Zuri, her silver-brown eyes blazing with the want that Zuri felt coursing through her own veins. Nala placed a kiss on Zuri's cheek, making Zuri blush with wild elation.
"Maybe..." Nala whispered into Zuri's ear, her voice sending a minute tingling sensation through her with that musical the tone of hers.
Nala left, leaving Zuri with an unabashed smile on her lips.
She walked into the gated Housing complex, still clinging to the feel of Nala's hand in hers. As she neared her Block, she could make out a horde of people gathered on the lawns outside. Zuri quickly made her way there, and she caught sight of a few Secures in their black uniforms. A few surrounded a woman who seemed to be crying. She spotted two media personnel in their grey uniforms. It had to be something serious.
The first thought that went through Zuri's mind was that someone had been kidnapped. The second one was – Aija.
Zuri reached the crowd soon and asked a woman who was standing there watching the proceedings.
"Her son is missing," the woman said as Zuri stood next to her, voicing her thoughts. "There seem to be traces of blood on the grass here."
Zuri was terrified now. Blood? It was a first.
She looked at her AIVIO Scroll on her wrist; there were no calls or messages from Aija. Zuri felt uneasy. Was Aija safe? Was she in trouble all the while she had been having fun? Zuri looked around, hoping to see Aija there among the crowd. She wasn't there.
Zuri grew hysterical. She called Aija twice, but there was no response. Lost, unable to think, she looked around and caught Ze walking towards the crowd, an anxious expression on his face. Aija wasn't next to him. She waved at Ze, grabbing his attention, and he walked towards her.
Where was Aija?
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