Principal Carter looked at me concerned and raised one of her well groomed eyebrows.
“Okay then Ariah, I’ll come and see you later to get a statement from you.” She said softly and then turned her attention to the person on the other end of the phone, gently waving us off to class as she did so.
I turned back to look to see which way the stranger had gone, but he had already disappeared leaving no trace that he’d even existed.
How did he know my name? I thought and I tried to remember if I’d met him before in some random encounter, but nothing came to mind. I didn’t really have that much of an online presence for someone to know me through social media and the presence that I did have was only accessible by my friends and family so I quickly ruled out ‘online stalker’ from the list that was forming in my head.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Dylan asked, concern etching his features as we walked up the concrete steps towards the front doors of school, his arm still around my shoulders, a comforting weight that strangely made me feel both protected and vulnerable.
“A bit shaken to be honest, but I’ll be okay.” I said, my voice trembling slightly as I struggled to maintain my composure, still in slight disbelief about what had just happened. Something had been triggered in the back of my consciousness, a whisper of familiarity that eluded me, teasing my thoughts but slipping away just as I tried to reach for it. I couldn’t quite grasp onto what was causing the slurry of thoughts and feelings but I instinctively knew deep down that the stranger was definitely part of the solution. There was something about their eyes, a spark of genuine recognition that hinted at a deeper connection, as if fate had intertwined our paths for a reason.
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“Make sure you talk to us if you need to.” Georgie said with concern on her face.
I nodded again.
A warm breeze blew past, making the hairs on my neck stand on end. It sent a shiver down my spine even though it was warm in temperature and I turned and looked back out across the car park. The light was pinker than it had been earlier that morning and with the slow swirling clouds looking puffy and full, it was almost like the sky was turning the colour of candy floss. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before.
“Can you guys see that?” I asked incredulously, pointing up at the sky. “Are you seeing what I'm seeing?”
“It's probably just something to do with the dust from the wildfires.” Dylan suggested as he pushed the door and held it open for Georgie and I, motioning us to walk past him. “Sometimes the smoke can do strange things to the light.”
Whatever it was, it was making me feel uneasy. As I walked through the doorway into the main entrance of school, I shivered again.