Chapter 23: Chapter 23

It was late, around seven in the evening, the sun had since set and the sky looked dark with a hint of setting bluish in the far distance. The entire camp were out in the burning cold with torchlight, burning candles and phone flashlight. There was no rain anymore, thank God, but from the sounds of thunder far away, that might not be the case in a short while. Jameela wrapped her thick beige blanket around herself, as she shivered. It was ironic - how just few hours ago, they were all complaining of the hot sun, and now all they could do was speak in hushed tones about the cool environment. Jameela walked alongside Nat and Nina deep into the forest. If she had been in this part of the forest at another time, she would have been scared shitless. But today, it was not about feeling frightened or not. It was about finding their friend Peyton no matter what.

Jameela couldn't stop the blaming game her mind was conjuring up. She blamed herself for letting Peyton go all alone. But she never even told her. Ugh. Peyton. Why? If only she had told someone, Jameela was sure at least one other person would have followed her. Even if it was reluctantly. How could she wander off into the forest just for the sake of using her phone? Gosh. This generation were really screwed. What Jameela was really worried about was for how long Peyton had been gone. Since this morning, she hadn't seen her. Someone said they had seen her during breakfast. Though today, breakfast was a mess - some students took their food outside, excited for the clear weather finally, while some still had cold and stayed in their rooms. Few sat at the dining. Jameela racked her brain but couldn't remember seeing her. So if she was indeed there, it must be before Jameela was there. She must ask the others whether they had seen her. Maybe she stayed in the dining for a few minutes before heading out the back door to avoid questions. Oh Peyton. Where are you?! Was it even important to know the timeline? Maybe. Maybe not, Jameela wasn’t sure.

And how did her phone cover and ribbon get on the cliff without Peyton being there? Something was awfully wrong, Jameela could feel it. What went on there? Did her phone slip from her hand? If that was the case, Peyton must be really mad. But how could she explain the ribbon? Perhaps Peyton was tired of it and tried to take pictures with her hair flowing in the air. Yes, that must be it.

It was late, the weather getting cooler and a storm might be underway. Peyton was out there somewhere. Everything was just in a mess. A thought made her shiver, silently cursing herself for thinking such - what if she forgot her way back? No, no. That won't happen. She focused on the task at hand, looking behind every tree she passed. She pointed her torch to the ground, careful not to step on a sharp object, even though she had her boots on. Mr Cameron had warned them not to dive deeper into the forest, even though they were itching to. That might be the only way to find Peyton. White, and blue lights filled the forest from all directions.

"PEYTON! PEYTON! PEYTON!" Their shrill voices filled the dense forest.

“If you’re playing you better stop this, girl!” Dan’s voice boomed with desperation.

"Where could she be? We shouldn't have let her go. I'm feeling guilty." Drew came up behind the girls, looking distraught.

"Well, what should we have done? Were we to lock her up? You know Peyton, she still would have gone even if the teachers stopped her," replied Nat.

"Guys, what has happened has happened. We can’t turn back the hands of time. We need to look forward. And that means looking for her. We made a mistake. Next time, we would avoid this." Ade pointed out. Jameela took a deep breath. He was right.

"All because of this stupid girl, now we can't sleep. I can't even get my beauty sleep." Adriana continued blabbering to herself as she passed.

Jameela exchanged looks with Drew and Ade. None of them said a word to her. The best answer to a fool is silence. She had been on their matter for far too long. But even at that, Jameela couldn't fathom how someone would be this cold. Someone was missing for God's sake. Have some compassion.

Her mind turned back to her encounter with Adriana over the years. Adriana had a

lways been popular in school, since junior year, when she first arrived. At that time, her dad had become the Ambassador to America. That was when she began drafting students into her group. She called it her clique. More like her servants. She took the ones that she could control easily. She was the cliché version of mean girls. Coming from a rich background, she tried to show off at every chance she got. When they were in their last year in junior, her relationship with Jameela only got worse. They actually never got along well prior to that. Well, basically she never got along with most of the students. They were kind of scared of her. There was one time the school was selected for the annual school games in Istanbul among other schools. It was one of the biggest school programmes. Skybay high school was proud to be chosen. Everyone wanted to win, so Skybay put the students under the immense torture of extra classes, intense tutoring, practical, quizzes, tests and exams.

A minimum of ten and a maximum of thirty schools, including the junior and senior year students took part. There were different sections. The games included gymnastics, rugby, running for the seniors while tennis, swimming, lacrosse were for the juniors. Debates were taken in both junior and senior categories. Quizzes and spelling bee was taken for the juniors and an IQ test for the seniors. All these were done in the presence of thousands of audiences, mainly teachers, parents, family members and friends.

Jameela remembered vividly taking part in the quiz, spelling bee and debate. She prayed, read, read and read further. One of her aunts, Hajiya Larai even bought a local medicine saying that it would help her remember everything she learnt. Jameela and her dad would laugh every time they remember this. Before they went to Istanbul, the school divided them into different categories.

For some, it was obvious where they would be put. Ryan in the lacrosse area, Nina in ballet and Joe in swimming. Jameela was paired with Adrianna. They didn't work well together. In Istanbul, amidst audiences watching, she emerged the winner in debate and quiz while coming third in the spelling bee. This made Adrianna furious. She stomped, shouted, cried and even claimed it was unfair - that Jameela cheated. To add salt to injury, Jameela was given her award and Adriana’s parents congratulated Jameela and gave her a gift which was supposedly actually meant for Adriana, had she won. Also, her older sister Cassie won the debate she took part in, in senior category with distinction. Probably, Cassie rubbed it in her face. Her sister and she had some kind of rivalry, each one thinking they were the best. Before they left for home, Adriana approached Jameela. Her angry, botched face was still visible in Jameelas's mind. She snarled. "The game is on!"

"We need to talk." A voice whispered in Jameela's ear, startling her back to reality.

"About what?" She questioned innocently as they deliberately lingered behind the others.

He rolled his eyes, "of course you know. How could you have let her go just like that? You could have informed me, and I would have checked up on her."

She gave him a look.

He shrugged. "Yes, I wouldn't have allowed her to go, but I know you all. She would still have gone and I would have kept an eye out."

"Ok look. Don’t blame this on me, ok? I only discovered she was not even at camp when Drew told me."

He took a deep breath, nodding. "I understand. I just thought you knew. But princesa, next time you tell me anything crazy involving you guys?"

She nodded solemnly.

"Gosh," He continued, "I should have known she'll try something as crazy as this, with the way she kept asking about the network and the mountains. If we had known earlier on she wasn't at camp, it would have been easier to track her. But now..."

Jameela felt a tug in her heart. He was blaming himself just like her. Oh Peyton, why did she had to do this? She promised to inform someone if she was going. Only God knew how many hours she had been in the forest. Alessio had said that if they knew where she was, it would have been easier. Did he mean... Oh God, was he saying it was impossible now? But why? She looked nervously at him.

"Bueno, let's continue looking."

After what felt like hours, Mr Cameron made an announcement that it was very late and the best thing was for them to return to camp and continue looking by first light. Jameela felt it was unfair. Peyton was somewhere out there - hungry, lost, in the dark, in the cold. Tears trickling down her face, Jameela knew there was nothing they could do right now. Continuing the search meant that they would tumble and stumble in the dark and probably not look well enough. Besides, someone could get lost or hurt by the sharp pines sticking out all around. Tired and anxious, they went straight to bed without eating.

~~~~~

The night proved to be a long one. Jameela tossed and turned. At one point, she felt the others might be angry. She had left the room for some water, returned and still couldn't sleep. She shivered in the still night, wondering about Peyton. The window was open, even with the cold, nobody bothered to close it. It wouldn't surprise her if the others weren't asleep as well. Jameela prayed Peyton had found somewhere to hide.

Weird thoughts filled her mind. They were practically in a jungle. The rooms had no window bars, and with Peyton out there all alone ... her thoughts turned sinister. Fear paralyzed her in place. She prayed silently for an animal not to jump in. Well, even if it did, it would more probably land directly on Nat. She chuckled silently imagining everyone running helter-shelter. Even the teachers wouldn't be of much help. All would lock their doors, for sure. So much for protecting them.

That was it. These thoughts were doing nothing but instilling fear in her. She would lock the window at least. Turning to the side, her eyes caught a movement at the window. She narrowed her eyes an, making out a figure. She froze for a moment before remembering that Peyton was missing. Relief washed over her. At last, she was back. Where on earth did that girl go to keep everyone worried? And why sneak in through the window? Hmph. She must have thought no one noticed her disappear and she was going to return just like that. Jameela pushed back her blanket and tiptoed to the window. Best not to scare her lest she falls down. They were on the first floor. How nasty would that be? The figure was breathing rather harshly, she noticed and was looking straight, therefore didn't notice her. Oh no. Who was this? This wasn't Peyton. This was... in shock, she screamed loudly, causing the figure to startle and look towards her. Oh God. In an instant, fear paralysed her. Red eyes stared at her menacingly. Everyone in the room woke up just in time for the figure to dart down. Nat screamed as lights were turned on and the door flung open to reveal other students.

"What on earth is going on here?" Mr Cameron's voice boomed sternly as he pushed past the students blocking the door. He wore a white and blue strips shirt and trousers. His eyes were red and puffy from sleep.

Jameela was slumped down on the floor, Nina and Alexa at her sides. She didn't trust her voice so all she could do was point at the wide open window. Whispers erupted, no one understanding what was going on. At last, she found her voice, shaky and unbalanced. "I-I-saw--I saw a man through the window. He was looking straight at N-Nat's bed." She stammered through gasping breath. Her body was hot from fear, and she could feel the rapid thuds of her heartbeat.

"Yes. I saw him too." Nat rasped, breaking into tiny sobs.

"What? Where?" Everyone started asking questions.

"There," she pointed towards the window. In a flash, Alessio and Cameron ran downstairs to investigate.

She noticed Graham standing behind some students, his dark eyes boring into her flesh. She felt goosebumps all over. Meanwhile, Drew sat in front of her, concern etched across his face. "Are you ok?" Before she could reply, a loud laugh cut through the air. They turned to look at Dan, leaning against the door, laughing so hard he couldn't bring out a single word.

"Pleaaase. I'm sorry y’all. But this is all so funny. Jameela, are you happy now? You have gotten the attention you wanted. Bravo. Thanks very much for waking us up in the middle of the night, in the middle of my precious sleep."

She looked at him in a sick way. How dare he? How on freaking earth could Daniel insinuate that she was lying? That she made it up? Why? What sick reason would make her do that? Her hands, still trembling were so weak she couldn't lift them up. If not, she would have given him a good punch right across his sick face. That wouldn't be the first time either.

"How can you say that? I saw him!"

"Oh. Now it's a him? Hmm. So let me get this straight. First you saw a figure out in the dark. Then you recognized the figure being a man right?"

Nat cut him, still crying. "I also saw him. Immediately I woke up after hearing her scream, I saw a large figure that definitely looked like a man looking straight at me. Oh my God. His eyes."

"Did you recognize him?" Mrs Sana spoke kindly, clearly disturbed by this turn of events. She had walked into the room, with two steaming cups of tea and some biscuits on a tray, for both Jameela and Nat.

"No Mrs. I didn't. I've never seen this person before." Nat replied.

"Neither have I," Jameela added.

Mr Cameron came back inside. "No one's outside. But we saw footprints leading to the forest. It might have been an animal.

"A huge one." Mr Alessio countered.

"I would have said it was a dream, but the footprints tell a different story. Hmm. We need to add security. Might be some villagers wanting to see the new people around here. Tomorrow morning, when Sir Robert arrives hopefully, we need to talk about this and see how we can enforce security. Until then, everyone calm down and rest." Mr Cameron continued, "first, we must lock all the windows. Why was this window even open? And ensure that the doors are properly locked too. Second, if anyone hears a noise or something weird or out of the ordinary, don't check it out alone. Come to us and tell us. We are here to protect you.” At this, Nat burst into tears again. He glanced at her before adding. "Don't go into the forest. If by any chance we are not around, talk to your friends and lock your doors. Understood?"

They all nodded their heads gravely. The implications of this was beginning to dawn on them all.

"Don't worry, kids. I'm sure it is nothing to worry about," Mr Cameron said. "Now go to sleep, everyone. Chop, chop."

They locked the windows and doors securely and went to bed. Jameela's mind was turning around frantically. What was going on? Could all these occurrences mean something? First, it was Nina's dream. Second, it was Sarah telling them of her uncle's discovery at work, which they all refused to believe. Third, mom's bad dream, which was horrifying. Fourth, the people they met at the rest stop telling them to be careful. Then, Peyton went missing. And now, this guy at the window. She just couldn't get it.

She missed Peyton already. Her dear friend was missing and with that man outside, she couldn't begin to think of the situation that Peyton could be in. Peyton didn't know of his existence just like they didn't until few minutes ago. So she would not be cautious when going about. Oh Allah. Please protect Peyton. She hoped that man would not set his eyes on her. Tomorrow, they were all going to look for her. She wished they could inform the authorities. But how? Sir Rob still wasn't back. He ought to have been back a long time ago. What if that man… No, no. stop thinking of negativities, she cautioned herself. Someone must go up the mountain and call the cops. Ya Allah, please help us. Save us.

It suddenly hit her like an ice block, the events of the past year. This was all too similar. Were they in danger yet again? She certainly hoped not. Last time, she survived. She wasn't sure if that would be the case this time around.