Family first

The familiar shout of "Angel, let's go!" from Kani, a school friend, pierced the quiet afternoon. It was a daily ritual, meeting up with friends at the park, a small slice of normalcy in a life shadowed by absence. My best friend, Kayla, had vanished a year ago, and my own family had departed on a 'vacation' they never returned from, leaving me in a hollowed-out house.

“Coming!” I yelled back, the word catching in my throat. We met Zandi and Temi, the four of us falling into our usual banter. We played spin the bottle, a childhood game that felt increasingly fragile as adulthood loomed. When the bottle pointed at me, Zandi dared me to act drunk on the road.

I swayed and stumbled, a pathetic caricature, until a message on Temi’s phone signaled an abrupt end to our carefree afternoon. We walked back in silence, my friends peeling off to their homes. I walked the rest of the way alone, the silence of my house echoing the emptiness inside me.

Kayla used to fill that void. Sometimes, I still felt it was my fault she went missing. If only I hadn't… if only she hadn't seen…

The next morning, I was up at 4 AM, a restless energy driving me. The predawn streets were quiet, a welcome balm for my haunted thoughts. I walked until I found a new park, a fresh start, then headed to Kani's house. Her mother greeted me warmly, but Kani’s smile held a strange, unsettling quality.