Epiphany

I finally made it.

My eyes beamed at the certificate clutched in my hands, pure fulfilment and contentment coursing through my veins.

I can’t believe it. I won the scholarship.

The fact that this scholarship would take me on an academic trip to where my father was currently residing was shocking. When I first learned about this opportunity, I doubted I’d even make the top ten; I took the test knowing full well that I would fail. I just took it because I knew a chance to travel to a foreign country couldn’t be passed up, whether or not I thought I’d win.

I beamed like a child receiving his first toy. Not only was I about to meet my father, but I was also about to visit one of the world’s oldest civilizations. The country known for its Pyramids and Sphinx!

I softly gasped when I realized I wouldn’t be seeing any more forest trees. The thought of escaping the forest’s dark gaze reassured me. Finally, I wouldn’t feel as if someone was constantly watching me.

Instead, I was going to relax by watching the massive mountains made of golden sand. The simple thought of grasping a handful of sand in my hands only to have it run away like a stream between my fingers intrigued me.

A sad thought interrupted the flow of happy ones. I was going alone, leaving her at home by herself.

I sighed. It was a school trip anyway. There was nothing I could do to bring her along. The fact that it was twelve darn months since we last saw him was depressing. She was depressed.

The loud ringing of the school bell cut me off and yanked me back down to earth. When I realized I was still at school, I sighed in frustration.

Let’s get this day over with.

“Alyssa!”

My ears perked up, and I spun around on my heels, only to be squashed by a warm embrace.

“Julia, hey.” I patted her back, wincing at the crushing hug.

“You did it! I’m happy for you.” Her blonde strands made its way into my mouth, and I puffed them out.

I giggled. “Thanks, Julia.”

She was my best friend. She probably would have been my only friend if it wasn’t for Luke. He was my other friend. Wait, where was he?

She pulled away from me and smiled, which I returned.

She had been my best friend for more than half of my life. I’d known her since I was eight years old. I had no real friends before that.

“You’re really lucky, I swear.” Her smile faded a little. Before I could tell her what was wrong, she grabbed my arms and dragged me along. I caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye, hoping that my morning prayers had protected me from the evil eye.

“If only I had taken it. We would’ve travelled with each other. I’m an idiot,” she chuckled to herself, bumping her palms against the side of her head. “I’ll escort you.”

I allowed her to drag me through the hallways like a ragdoll. We turned to the right and she said, “I need to get something from the classroom. Wait for me.”

She let go of me and left me with my thoughts again.

It would be a lie for me to say that an unpleasant feeling did not settle in my stomach from this whole travelling thing. A part of me was excited to meet my father, that was for sure, but the other part? I shouldn’t say it was ecstatic for the same reasons.

He left us after all. Left me and my mother all alone in this damned town. Why? I didn’t know, but that was the thing I was going to figure out, even if I had to confront him.

“Hey, Alyssa.” I looked to the side to find one of my classmates waving to me. “Come over here.”

I went over to those classmates, who were seated incorrectly in every way a person could possibly be seated. “Hey, guys. How’re you doing?”

I didn’t really like those guys—nor did I hate them. Whenever I sat with them because of Julia, they made me feel uneasy in some way or another. I’d indirectly beg Julia not to bring me along when she hung out with them, but she either didn’t get the hint—or she ignored them.

Ethan, the one wearing a black beanie smiled at me. “Congrats, by the way. You’re our school’s only traveler, right?”

I nodded. I was also the only one who took this opportunity. No one from our school bat an eye and applied.

“I bet it was really easy, right, Alyssa?” Aubrey, the girl with black raven hair said, which sent me furrowing my eyebrows.

The energy that they set for me was unlikeable. I took a quick look around the room and noticed Julia looking in her bag for something.

“Aubrey, of course, it was. She was literally the only one who applied for it. Good grades or not, it really didn’t matter.” The one with hazel eyes, Carson, convinced Sandy. And for some reason, this annoyed me.

This wasn’t entirely true though.

“If I got bad grades...” I said in a slow manner. “The school wouldn’t have—”

“No, actually,” Carson interjected, staring at me with unimpressed eyes. “If no one won, our school would look bad.”

“Hey, guys,” someone cut into the conversation. “You going to the carnival today?”

It was Julia, cutting into the strained conversation.

“Right, Julia?”

Or not.

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal,” she agreed quickly, avoiding eye contact with me.

Carson hummed and a smirk seemed to want to make its appearance on his face.

“So, who’s going to the carnival tonight?” Julia queried. “Carson?”

He let the smirk go and said, “Only an idiot would miss it.”

I tried to swallow the big lump in my throat. This idiot was probably going to be me. The idea of going to my favorite festival wasn’t as appealing anymore.

The day passed as usual. It was monotonous, and all I wanted was for it to be over. The reason for this was that Luke didn’t show up at school today. He was the person who made school ten times better. Julia, too, but only when she wasn’t hanging out with those guys. Why was he absent? What was more important than school? I’d scold him the next time I saw him—unless he was sick.

Despite the boring day, something strange happened when I went to the restroom for the first time today.

Upon entering the bathroom, I couldn’t help but smile a little. No one was there, meaning no nuisance for a few seconds. I casually skipped to the mirror and my smile dropped when I saw my reflection in it.

“Did I… look like this…all day?”

I looked like a homeless girl who had just been beaten up by the town’s street gang.

My caramel hair was muddled, almost like a bird’s nest, and the fact that it was short, just above my shoulder, contributed to my assumption. My eyes had dark rings around them, and my sweatpants were covered in dirt around my knee cap.

When I felt something poke my iris, I grimaced. I examined my brown eyes as I leaned closer to the mirror, the tip of my nose brushing against the cold surface.

’It’s amber not brown, Alyssa.’

My index finger grazed my eyeball, making me wince a bit.

’You do know that they’re pretty rare, right?’

I doubted it. Many people in my father’s hometown had this eye color. Our town was not the center of everything, Julia.

I picked up the hair strand that had poked my eyeball and moved away from the mirror’s surface.

I didn’t have time to enjoy my bathroom visit because some loud-mouthed teenagers decided it would be a good idea to spend their time laughing and gossiping in there as well. The marble walls and floors did nothing to help them lower their high-pitched voices.

I sighed, unsure whether today was going to be a good day or not. It started out well, but I could see things deteriorating by the end. It always does.

I drew my phone out of boredom when the shrieking girls left. When I excused myself, the professor was not explaining anything important, so another few minutes of me relaxing wouldn’t hurt. A surprise awaited me when I checked my notifications.

22 missed calls

I arched a brow. What the hell?

The surprise though was that it was from an unknown caller.

I jumped a little when my phone rang, the sound echoing off the bathroom walls. It’s the same number! my thoughts screamed at me.

I swiped my thumb so I could answer the phone. When I pressed the phone against my ears, I flinched as the voice from the other side practically yelled in my ears. My finger was quick to lower the voice down and that was when I heard something unusual.

“Alyss—”

My damn name was being spewed from a stranger’s mouth.

“You need to r—They’re comi—”

Even though static was quick to cut the man’s words, it was apparent that there was fear and urgency in his words. Words that you understood nothing of.

You cut off his incoherent sentences, trying to understand what in the world was this man saying, “Sir, I don’t under—”

There was no warning before a peeping sound penetrated your ear, indicating that the line had been cut off.

You were left in silence, in contrast to the hysteria a second ago, having no idea that this day would soon do a one eighty.