The piercing drrriiinnnggg of the school bell signals a stampede of students. Don reluctantly stands up and instantly diffuses into the crowd. Anna checks out with the employment office and walks down the block to her internship.
Being a photographer isn’t Anna’s life calling, but the money enticed her to sign up.
A few seniors scowl jealously as she passes by the school guard. Too bad they slacked off earlier this year, Anna contemplates, or else they would be leaving too. Lucky for me I completed my credits early. She smiles at the thought of only being on campus for a few select hours daily.
Half a block past the barbed-wire fences of SJH, a traffic jam blocks Anna from crossing the adjacent street. Horns blare and curses fly, as is the custom for anything more than a five second delay.
Blocking out the noise, she slides between two stationary cars. The driver is too preoccupied to notice Anna. To her eardrum’s great distress, he blasts his car horn in a deep drawn out note.
Anna turns her head, planning to give the driver some choice words, but her gaze goes right past the driver to the passenger seat.
Anna recognized the girl who initiated the backpack incident. She is staring at a paper in her hand; Anna can’t quite clarify the substance of the held object.
Realizing the rudeness of her staring- and that she is midway between the delayed cars- Anna continues to the opposite sidewalk.
The girl gets out of the car and walks past Anna, the sun radiating off her golden hair, and slowly places an envelope in an adjacent mailbox. As she struts towards the car, she looks Anna dead in the eyes.
Anna stares back, and a small smile forms in the corner of the girl’s blood-red lips. A cold shiver creeps up the base of Anna’s spine, brought on by the intensity of the stare. The girl looks away and takes her place in the passenger’s seat of the car.
Anna walks down towards the photographer’s shop, glancing behind her to get one more look at the girl’s piercing smile. The aggravated man is still there, but the passenger’s seat is empty.
Anna’s stomach drops. “Where’d she go?” She scratches her head, befuddled, “I just saw her get in that car.”
Anna looks up and down the street. No one is around for blocks. She runs back towards the car, quickly glancing at the opposite empty sidewalk.
Convinced her eyes have been deceived, she stops beside the car and receives a new shock of surprise when the seat is occupied by a young red haired boy with a mischievous grin. The car speeds forwards through the dispersing traffic, leaving Anna staring wide-eyed at the rushing traffic.
