3rd July

New day, new day. Brilliant day, if I do say so myself. Let's see… Today's a Sunday, is it not? You know what that means? I'm gonna avoid the sun!

I got out of bed, my head spinning slightly as I jumped out. I staggered to my bathroom, wondering what the hell the time was. I stared at myself through the mirror before pointing finger guns at my own reflection.

"Looking decent today," I complimented.

Sometime later, I left my room to join Fable at the dining table. He was eating a doughnut and sipping a cup of coffee. I sat down across from him, asking, "What's the time?"

He glanced up from his phone before lowering his head again. "Eight in the morning."

"Huh, pretty early still," I commented, leaning back into my seat.

I glanced around before asking, "So… where's Mom?"

"She went out with dad somewhere," Fable replied. "No idea where though. But Mom and Dad did say that we should stay home until they return."

'Ding'. Huh, I wonder who could be texting me at this time of the day? I pulled my phone out and read the message sent to me.

"Mom and Dad said not to leave?" I asked to confirm.

"Yeah," Fable nodded.

"Well, I'm gonna leave," I told him, getting up.

"Sure, whatever, knock yourself out," Fable said.

I put my hands on my hips. "Aren't you supposed to be the responsible one and tell me to stay home instead? What's going on here?"

"I can't be bothered."

I walked around and tried to sneak a peek at Fable's phone, but he turned it off before I could see much. I poked his shoulder with a cheeky smile, "What? Texting your girlfriend again? You're so admirable for being such a nice guy."

"I'm not texting my girlfriend right now," He grumbled, shooing me. "I'm dealing with something at the moment, so get lost."

"Rude."

Well, let';s ignore that ungrateful guy and move on to more exciting things, like me. I just got a text, and honestly, it's the first time I have ever gotten a text like this. Why, Catherine, remember her? She's the lady I met at the convenience store yesterday. Well, she texted me to ask if I was free to join her for a little outing.

My, how romantic of her.

I rushed to my room and got changed as quickly as I could. Huh, wonder what Catherine could be asking me for? I only met her once, and she seems like a really nice person to hang around.

Later that morning, I stood near a pillar in a shopping mall. I adjusted my glasses as I looked around. You know, thinking about it, it's the first time I've ever been invited out by a friend. Could she be considered my friend? Ah, who cares?

Catherine's here~

I faced her, my usual smile on my face. "Good morning, what's up?"

Catherine looked a lot less tired compared to when I first met her at the convenience store. She adjusted her hat and sighed, telling me, "Well… I was kinda bored, so I called you over."

"Don't you have any friends?" I asked.

She shot me a look before going along with it. "Yeah, neither do you. I may be in University, but a lot of people there are younger than me, okay? It's hard to socialise when there's an age gap."

"Makes sense," I shrugged.

Catherine crossed her arms and looked around before asking me, "So… what do you usually do during your free time?"

"I don't know, actually haven't decided on it yet," I replied.

"What do you mean 'haven't decided on it yet,'?"

I tapped my chin, shrugging. "I mean, I don't really fit in with people my age? I guess? There's so much to do. So I've been thinking that my gig's gonna be that person that talks to everybody. I think I've made some progress so far, but who knows?"

Catherine gave me a confused look before letting out another sigh. "You know what? You're weird, let's just get going."

"Go where?"

"The arcade," Catherine said simply.

I don't believe I've ever been to an arcade before. Well, the first for many things, I suppose. I walked closer to Catherine and told her, "I've never been to an arcade before. What's it like? Heard there's a bunch of good-for-nothings around."

"You've never been? What kind of life have you been living up till now?" Catherine countered.

I shrugged.

"The arcade isn't that bad of a place. Normal people go there too, not just the punks. I go there all the time to take a break from studying."

We walked a little more before I asked her, "Is it loud?"

"Yeah, why? Not good with loud places?"

Truth be told, loud noises make me just a tad bit frustrated. Loud people, car horns, all of those things make me feel like punching someone. However, Catherine did personally invite me to join her, I can't possibly let her down like that.

"Not at all, just curious."

Guess we're at the arcade? I could tell from the loud noise coming from the machine and the chattering of people. Also, some guy moving his hands really quickly and tapping the machine. That guy's really funny if you ask me.

"Wait here and don't get lost," Catherine ordered me.

"I'll try."

Catherine went into the arcade to get some tokens, I presume. I may not have been to an arcade before, but I at the very least knew how arcades work. I stood there, just looking around. Some people glanced at me. Probably my presence.

Someone tapped my shoulder.

I looked back. There was some guy I don't think I've met before, I think. Wonder what he wants? Maybe he's trying to hit on me?

"Uh… hey, I'm Jonathan, you're —, right?" He asked me.

"How do you know my name?" I asked, making sure to still smile. "Are you stalking me or something? Thanks for the attention, but no."

He put his hands up to apologise. "Wait, I'm not someone suspicious. I'm Jonathan, we're in the same class, remember?"

I tried to think about it. Is it something with my memory? Cause I can't remember a damn thing about him. I started talking again, "Right, so you're my classmate. What's up?"

"You don't remember me, do you?"

I nodded. "Not at all."

He let out a small laugh before saying to me, "Don't worry about it. Not many people know me anyways. After all, so many of them are so focused on Candace, am I right?"

"Exactly!"

Oh my oh my oh my. Does this person also have something against Candace? Heh. I think we would get along just fine~

"So, Johnny," I said, pointing a finger up at him. "What'cha doing here?"

"I'm here with my girlfriend," He replied, pointing to the side where a girl was waiting. "I saw you, so I just wanted to come by and say hello, that's all."

"That's real nice of you," I nodded. "You should go back to your girlfriend before she gets funny ideas."

"Nah, she's not the kind," Jonathan insisted, laughing lightly.

He asked me after he stopped his forced laughter, "Just wondering, what are you doing here?"

"To hang out," I told him bluntly before looking back. "Speaking of, my date's here, so I gotta bounce."

"Date?"

"Friend. What's the difference?"

I walked away before he could give a reply. He does seem to like talking a lot. I don't get those kinds of people. Don't they have anything better to do with their lives? Besides that, luckily I managed to find Catherine in the crowd. She too noticed me.

She held a small plastic bag of tokens. When I got to her, she told me, "Your hair really stands out, you know that?"

"It's fine," I waved it off. "Besides, the more people look at me, the better, right?"

"I wouldn't say that," Catherine said softly.

I followed Catherine, not exactly sure where to go myself. She guided me over to the claw machine section of the arcade. Huh, I heard that those things were usually scams, were they not?

Tick tock…

Time sure does fly when you're having fun.

Or so it seems.

"Wow, had a ton of fun there," I told Catherine after we left the arcade.

We held a total of one stuffed animal, a toy gun and one jammed finger between us. In my defence, I wanted to be funny by smashing the button of the crane game we were playing at the time. It may or may not have been the last crane game we played. Funnily enough, Catherine seemed to be smiling, I don't think I've seen her smile before.

"Yeah, I guess so?" She replied.

My, aren't you a shy cutie?

I hugged the banana plushie as we walked, asking Catherine, "So, where are we going now? It's still rather early."

"Lunch, probably," Catherine answered.

"But it's only eleven?"

"Brunch? What's the difference? Eleven may as well be twelve."

Way to go, Cat.

We entered a restaurant that seemed pretty decent. Huh, wonder what they got here. I don't go to restaurants very often. After all, I don't particularly enjoy my time there. However, going with a friend felt different, somehow… I think.

"Welcome!" One of the staff members greeted us.

I could tell she was staring at me, whether at the plushie or my face, I couldn't really tell. We were seated down. I placed my backpack to the side and placed the banana plushie beside it. I faced Catherine, who was already checking out the menu.

"Seems pretty fancy," I commented.

"You think so?" She asked, looking around as well. "Seems like a pretty average place for a restaurant. I mean, it's nothing on the high end, at least."

"Really? But there's air-conditioning here."

Catherine tilted her head before mouthing the words 'What?'. I laughed and waved her off. She said to me, sounding only slightly concerned, "Just wondering, what kind of family did you grow up in?"

Pause.

"A normal one, why?"

"I mean, you live in a pretty well-off apartment but think this is considered a fancy restaurant?" Catherine elaborated. "Did you grow up different?"

"Hm…" I tapped my chin, rather amused.

Stop talking about my family.

"I don't think I'm adopted," I told her. "Trust me, I had a blood test to confirm it with my Mom. It's pretty complicated."

"Then I won't try to ask anymore then," Catherine stopped pursuing. "I understand if you have some family issues."

"You too?"

Catherine was silent for a bit, staring at the menu. She frowned before saying simply, "Yeah, my parents kicked me out of the house years ago. Made sense though, judging by the person I was at the time."

I nodded.

"Enough with the talking, what do you want?" Catherine showed me the menu. "Today's on me, so don't hold back. Just keep in mind that I'm paying for my own diploma."

"That does put me in the spot," I laughed lightly.

I scanned through the menu. Seems alright, the prices don't seem too bad… Hold up, those are the appetizers. Okay, on to the main course and goddamn are those numbers higher than I expected them to be. Okay, deep breath, let's think about this.

"Are you someone who cares about calories?" Catherine threw out the question randomly.

"Yes?"

"Huh, isn't that lifestyle kinda boring though?"

I shrugged while still staring at the menu. "Well, I mean, I don't particularly have much of an appetite normally anyways, so it doesn't matter."

"Right."

I pointed at a quesadilla on the menu. She nodded and scanned through the menu herself. Meanwhile, it was my turn to throw out the questions. "How bout you? Are you one to care about calories?"

"Not really," She said, almost off-handedly. "Who cares what I eat? Not like there's anyone I want to impress."

"Makes sense."

She set the menu down and called over a waiter to place our order. Before the waiter could get to us though, Catherine asked me, "Wait, what kinda drink do you want?"

"Oh, I saw this tangerine juice that's an off-season special. Could I have that?"

Catherine placed our order.

Waiting for our food now~

"How do I repay you?" I asked Catherine.

"You don't need to give me any money," She refused. "Just, I don't know, hang out with me from time to time?"

"Awww," I said jokingly.

She rolled her eyes before crossing her arms. "You're pretty weird, but I think it's fine to be weird."

"Aww, thanks. You're weird too."

"That was n-" She started before stopping herself. "Whatever."

I swung my legs as I waited patiently for my food. Or at least, as patiently as I could. Eventually, I asked Catherine out of curiosity, "So… don't you have any friends from the past?"

"Not really," She shrugged, looking rather bored.

Food's here. Yum. I heard quesadillas were considered relatively healthy, but I'm not so sure about that. Well, whatever, food is food, and I was eating it anyways. The tangerine juice was alright, I guess?

Done with eating, I'm not some food reviewer, so I won't go into detail about how the food tastes.

When we were done, I followed Catherine around, still holding onto the banana plushie we had gotten from the arcade. I don't really know why, but I find the plushie rather humorous.

"I was wondering, did you dye your hair?" Catherine started talking as we walked.

"Yep," I nodded. "Can't exactly be born with green hair, huh?"

"Yeah, but why did you dye your hair in the first place?" Catherine followed up. "You dating some weirdo?"

I laughed before saying, "Nah. I just dyed my hair cause I felt like it. I'm not dating anyone, and I probably don't plan to."

"Yeah…" Catherine said, lowering her head slightly. "It's better to be independent, right?"

"Exactly!"

I don't think she actually thinks that. I wonder, what happened to her?

Before I could ask her the big questions, Catherine stopped and asked, "Hey, you don't mind following me for a little bit more? I'm gonna go get my hair cut real quick."

"I don't mind~"

No wonder she brought up my hair. Well, my hair's way too short for me to even bother trying to cut it, for now, at least. Who knows? Maybe I'll go for a tomboy look in the future. For now, though, I'm satisfied with my hairstyle.

"My hair's been getting kinda annoying recently," Catherine elaborated. "I don't want it to disrupt my studying."

"Makes sense."

"How bout you? Wanna get a haircut too?"

"Nah, I'm good."

I sat at the hairstylist, swinging my legs as I waited for Catherine. A friend should be supportive and wait, right? I mostly played around with the banana plushie though.

Catherine's done!

"We going anywhere else?" I asked as we left the hairstylist.

"Not particularly," Catherine shrugged. "I mean, I did drag you out quite suddenly. Don't you have anything to do today?"

"Oh, not at all. The only thing I gotta do is homework, and screw that, right?" I joked around with her.

"Take your studies seriously though, or you'll end up like me," Catherine told me bluntly.

Why so uptight?

"Speaking of studies, Cat, do you got a special someone in your life?"

Catherine paused for a moment before continuing. She asked, "What does that got to do with studies?"

"Well, I mean, you tell people not to get into relationships, so I was just curious," I explained to her. "Besides, my family's basically been begging me to get a boyfriend, so I was just curious."

She rubbed the back of her neck before holding her neck. She told me simply, "I used to date, but I broke up with my boyfriend some time ago."

Judging by her expression, I won't pry any further.

"Do you want to keep this little guy?" I gestured to the banana plushie in my hands to change the topic. "I have absolutely no problem with taking this home."

"Sure, you can keep it," Catherine answered. "I've got too many of those at home."

"You don't say…"

"What'cha gonna name it?"

I paused, thinking for a moment. What would be a great name for a banana plushie? I'm not the type to come up with names for things, but I guess I could think of one. "Hm… how about Peel?"

"That's pretty basic."

"What? Want me to name it Seargent BAN Arnold Nathan Anderson?" I asked.

Finally, she laughs. Catherine looks nice when laughing. She stopped herself and shook her head, "You know what? Peel's a fine name."

We continued walking, and before we knew it, we were at the exit. She awkwardly put her hand up, likely to wave me goodbye, but I high-fived her instead. Catherine said to me, "Guess we split here? I gotta catch up on my homework, and you gotta do the same, yeah?"

"I guess so, huh?" I agreed.

"Till next time?"

"In a bit."

Hanging with Catherine was pretty fun. I guess having friends make things a lot nicer, huh? I even got a new partner in crime, Peel! Man, this thing's gonna give me good memories for a while. Besides that, I gotta get home.

I Hope Mom and dad aren't too mad at me.

What? You can't blame me for hanging out with Catherine.

Bus. Home. Hell yeah. Wait a minute, random thought, isn't tomorrow the fourth of July? Wouldn't that be Independence Day in America or something? Well, doesn't exactly affect me… well darn, I still gotta go to school.

Home sweet home~

"I'm back!" I announced when I walked in.

One check, two checks, they're not home. Oh… and from the looks of it, neither is Fable. I wonder what he could be up to? Better not be something illegal again, otherwise, he's gonna be in a lot of trouble.

Also, I really just announced my presence in an empty apartment room.

"That's awkward," I said to myself.

Wonder if I could build a scarecrow out of silverware. Nah, we probably don't have enough anyway. Besides, what's a stack of silverware going to scare off? Vampires?

Peel gets to rest on my desk for eternity.

Ding-Ding Ding

Again with the weird doorbell. I swear I'll change that to play twinkle twinkle star if I have to keep hearing it.

Anyways, I went over and opened the door just to see who exactly I was expecting, some stranger. He held a parcel, asking me, "Is this the Sullivan family?"

"Why yes, it is," I confirmed.

He looked at my face, then my hair and then what assumed was my attire, but who knows what he was looking at exactly? He passed a clipboard to me, telling me, "Could you sign this? It's to confirm the delivery of the parcel over here."

"Sure thing."

I signed it and passed it back. He passed the parcel and off he went. So quick, what's he afraid of? There's only like, one surveillance camera along the corridor he was standing on. I locked the door and placed the parcel on the coffee table to try and guess what it was. Mailed to Tucker Sullivan, my dad.

Nah, not interested anymore.

It could be a bomb for all I care.

Homework, I'm doing homework… kinda boring, huh? When's Mom and dad coming home? Also, where in the world did Fable disappear to? Well, whatever, I'm a grown girl and I can take care of myself easily.

"That's a lie," I told myself.

"Oh, but aren't you supposed to be this popular girl that you've always dreamt of becoming?" I talked to myself more.

"Yeah, but you can't exactly be popular when you're alone, huh?"

"So what are you gonna do then?"

"I dunno, maybe do some reflection?"

I laughed a little at myself before looking around my room once again. For some reason, it really does feel empty in here…

"Here comes the existential dread," I sighed. "Well, time to head out again."

I carried nothing but my phone and purse. I'm probably just going to go on a walk, who knows what might happen? Hopefully something interesting. As I made my way downstairs, I started humming to myself, "Knock knock. Who's there? Nobody. Nobody who? Literally, nobody, 'cause nobody's at home."

It's pretty boring.

I just started wandering around the area, trying to familiarise myself with it. I hadn't lived in the apartment for that long, and I had never bothered to try and explore before. Like one of those little stores, or that playground right over there. I guess living in a decent apartment has its perks.

From where I was, I could already see my target. Call me childish, call me an idiot, but if I see a slide, I glide.

Heh.

Well, in the middle of my tomfoolery, I noticed the strange lack of children around. It was a Sunday, it was the afternoon, weird that no one wants to leave the house, huh? Are kids these days more anti-social than Fable? That's a hilarious thought.

Oh my oh my oh my, who's that I see from the corner of my eye? Try to guess, something small and annoying… I mean cute. A kid, and from the looks of it, a girl. Being my not suspicious self, I approached the kid.

"Yelloh," I greeted the girl with a friendly smile.

The girl shied away from me. She seems to be tearing up, my, am I that scary? From the looks of it, she seems afraid, I wonder what could be the problem? Not being a psychic, I asked her, "What's up?"

"M-Mom… Mommy…" She started sobbing.

I glanced around, great, no police to work off of. I cleared my throat and squatted down to get face-to-face with her. I tried a smaller, more calming smile as I asked, "You can't find your mom?"

She rubbed her eyes, nodding. I could tell she was on the verge of breaking down again. Frankly, I would hate that.

"I'll help you find your Mummy, okay?" I told her.

"Mommy left me…" She sobbed. "She doesn't want me anymore…"

Well… Meh. This happened to me all the time when I was a kid. My Mom loved pulling pranks on me, leaving me for about ten minutes to see if I would start bawling my eyes out in public. Ah, good times.

Though there was that one time she actually did forget me…

Well, whatever.

"Come on, no mother is like that," I tried to cheer her up. "She's probably pulling a prank on you. Maybe she's playing hide and seek? We gotta find her."

She nodded, but I could tell she was not in the least bit convinced. My, are kids more intelligent these days?

The little girl held my hand as we started walking away from the park. We didn't get too far before I noticed her laboured steps, so we sat down. I sat down beside her, swinging my legs as I asked, "So, what's your name?"

"Chloe…" The girl muttered.

"Well Chloe, nice to meet you," I told her. "You can call me Sis."

"Sis…"

"Yeah, exactly that. We'll rest up a little before we continue searching for your Mummy, okay?" I asked. "With my skills, we'll find her in no time."

Chloe nodded.

"Speaking of, how old are you?"

"...Seven…" Chloe replied.

"How did you end up here?"

Chloe shivered before talking. "I was with mommy at the shop, but mommy told me to go out first… I tried finding her, but I couldn't…"

That's not assuring.

After checking my phone, I stood up, clapping my hands. "You know what? Let's ask some people if they know where your Mummy is."

We spent around the next hour or so trying to ask people around the area. To absolutely no one's surprise, we couldn't find anyone helpful. Instead, I tried finding the store Chloe mentioned she lost her mom in.

Losing a child… scary times man.

"Is this the store?" I asked Chloe.

"Mhmm."

I barged in and instant;y approached the customer service person. I have absolutely no idea what you call those people, so I'll refer to them as 'Customer Service Persons'. I approached one of the Customer Service People and asked, "Hello, has there been a request for a lost child today?"

"Lost child?" The Customer Service Person asked.

"Yeah, she said she lost her mother here today," I explained. "Surely there have been some attempts to find her, right?"

"Sorry, but we haven't exactly… gotten… one…"

Pardon the glare.

I apologised and smiled again, requesting, "Sorry, could you make an announcement for a lost child then?"

Chloe looked just about ready to give up.

"Cheer up, chap, you're about to find your Mummy," I told her.

"Mhmm."

Tick tick tick…

…

You can just about see where this is going.

I did not expect it to go this way either, but after a couple of hours, it started becoming clear as day what was going to happen. I patted Chloe's back as she just stared at the ground, her eyes too dry to cry another tear.

"Mommy doesn't want me anymore…" Chloe muttered, leaning on my shoulder.

I patted her shoulder as she continued talking. "Daddy said he didn't want me and Mommy. Now Mommy doesn't want me."

I got up and told her, "Let's go."

"Sis… you don't want me too?" Chloe was shivering.

"I would kidnap you if I could, but I can't," I told her. "I can't simply bring you into my family, it doesn't work that way. I'll get into a ton of trouble."

"Why?"

"You'll find out when you grow older."

I led her onward. She clutched my hand tight, asking, "Sis… where are you bringing me?"

"Police," I told her simply. "They can help find your Mummy."

"But Mommy doesn't want me…"

"Don't say that," I told her. "Even if people act like that, even if they say it, as long as you want them, they will want you too."

"Sis you make no sense."

Police station. I told the police officer, "I found her at Reeler's Park. She said she lost contact with her mother at the Alpha Mart down Sixth street. We've been there, but there's no report of the mother having contacted Customer Service."

I sat with Chloe as the Police Officers tried to get things settled.

"What's gonna happen to me?" Chloe asked.

"No idea," I patted her head.

Soon enough, the police officer approached me. I was brought away from Chloe before she told me, "Right, we have identified her as Chloe White. We've tried to contact her family, but we are currently having difficulties with it. For now, we'll move Chloe to a nearby Foster Home until we are able to locate her parents."

"By foster home, do you mean Kaster's?" I asked.

"Yes, that would be the closest one, are you familiar?" The police officer asked.

"A little," I shrugged. "I'll leave my contact information with y'all?"

"Yes, that would be much appreciated," She agreed. "We will keep you updated on the situation."

"I'll probably try to visit tomorrow evening then," I told her.

"Thank you for helping the child."

I waved her away. "Nah, it was entertaining while it lasted, you know?"

I approached Chloe and patted her shoulder. "The police are going to take you somewhere safe, okay? I'll come to see you tomorrow, so make sure you don't miss me too much."

Chloe nodded.

Well, wasn't that one strange day?

First I meet with Catherine then I get myself involved with another girl with a name that starts with C. Well, whatever, guess I gotta go back home then. Hopefully, Mom and dad aren't too mad after hearing of my heroic exploits.

Spoiler alert: They were.

When I got home, Mom had her arms crossed. Luckily enough, dad was nowhere to be seen.

"Wazzup?" I asked Mom jokingly.

"Where have you been?" She asked me.

"Well, long story actually. You see, I met this little girl who got lost, so I just had to help her," I tried to explain myself. "No worries though, she's in safe hands now at Kaster's. Remember Kaster's?"

My Mom sighed and told me, "Well, Fable told me you went out with a friend."

"I did, this happened after I returned home," I explained to her. "Speaking of, what were you up to outside today?"

"We went shopping downtown," My Mom replied. "I didn't want you two to leave the house 'cause I heard rumours of a gang roaming the streets recently."

"How nice."

I walked into my room. I'm quite tired from whatever just happened today, so I thought about checking out early. Right dinner…

Well, whatever, no one's interested in that, right? I'll skip right on ahead…