CHAPTER 4
DISAPPEARANCE
I wish something could happen that would
make her instantly disappear.
Erin can hardly wait for her shift to finish, carefully checking every single node in the busy network.The more I check, the quicker the time will pass, she thinks. Much sooner than she expects, she hears the loud beep signalling the shift’s end. It is five o’clock in the afternoon, time to hand over her tasks.
She has impatiently waited for a full three minutes, and at last, the next shift assistant has arrived. It’s her former classmate, Stella, Sam’s sister.
Stella walks past Erin without even looking at her, plunging onto the swivelling chair in front of the widescreen monitor. As Stella takes off her sun hat and shakes her head, her thick black curls pour over her shoulders. She reclines, finally glancing at Erin, arching her thin dark eyebrows and pouting her lips in scorn.
“Doing double shift today on your birthday, eh? Well, I suppose I’ll have to fix what you didn’t finish.” Stella groans.
Erin lowers her head, briefly closing her eyes in disapproval.
Stella’s attitude could not be more different from that of her brother, Sam. She is unwelcoming and rude. Her grudge and disdain make for an uneasy atmosphere around her presence. All the while, Erin wants to keep the peace. She’s learned to ignore Stella’s animosity since they were at school together, especially after that incident before leaving for university.
The scene flashes through Erin’s mind for a few seconds. She was returning home from school when three girls from her class ran in front of her, blocking her path.
She stopped to avoid bumping into them, but one of the girls charged towards her, pushing her against the wooden fence along the footpath.
The girls mocked Erin, trying to intimidate her. As Erin tried to run away, Stella cut across her and slapped her angrily on her face. Erin felt a sharp pain on her cheek as the blow pushed her head briskly to one side. She tried to lift her hand to soothe her aching bruise, but the other girls grabbed her long braids and started pulling until she fell to the ground.
“Not so smart now, are you, Big Eyes?” Stella yelled. Her brows snapped together, and her mouth folded in a sour smirk.
Stella tried to slap her again, but Erin started to kick her legs in all directions.
First, Stella fell and then the other two.
Erin felt quite relieved and even impressed with her sudden burst of strength, but as she realised that somebody else was there helping her, she felt emboldened.
A boy was pulling the three girls up one by one and leading them away.
She felt so grateful when she recognised Sam. He turned to a stunned and aching Erin, still lying on the pavement, and extended his hand towards her, helping her off the ground.
As she grabbed his hand, she only managed to sit up against the fence, feeling dizzy and confused.
“Thank you, Sam. I’m so happy you came.” Erin smiled at him in gratitude
But her face was soon veiled in sadness as the upsetting scenes rewound and replayed continually inside her mind. “Why would they do this to me?”
“Listen, Erin … they envy you because you’re smart.”
“Envy? What’s envy?”
“Well, let’s say that they would like to have something that you have, but they can’t,” Sam explained.
Erin tried to digest Sam’s words as she stared at him, baffled.
“But that doesn’t mean you need to change anything,” he continued in a comforting tone. “You just need to know that there are those kinds of people about.”
Erin nodded as she got up and shook the dust off her clothes. She smiled at Sam while arranging her dishevelled braids.
As he accompanied her home that evening, Erin told him she would never forget what a good friend he had been. Sam told her the same, and with a kiss on her bruised cheek, he added: “I’ll be here when you come back from uni.”
Erin has always wanted to tell Stella she’s prepared to forgive her, but Stella has always kept a hostile mood towards her.