The professor assigned us a group project, as if all those previous assignments were incomplete without this group one. He called out our names in pairs. I was paired with a girl named Clara. I could not see her face, she was in the front row. She just said she got it. The fact she did not even looked around to see me raising my hand when professor called our names meant she already knew me. The professor then later continued with his lecture.

It felt like the class was never going to end. The professor was saying the assignment was due next week. Great, a few more minutes, and then I am out of here. “…….have a good day.” Were the words the professor, before going out. It seemed like he was in a hurry himself.

I went straight to the food court. I grabbed my lunch and was on a mission to devour the lunch. “Hi there, eating all alone by yourself?”

I look up to see who it is. The girl smirked, her hair was up to shoulder-length and straight, light skin and long nails.

“I am sorry, but who are you?” I asked her.

She sighed and said, “I am your group partner for the Journal project, Clara. You forgot about it so soon?”

I put down my spoon, and moved towards the bench edge to make space for her and say, “Oh, it slipped from my mind, I was too hungry to process anything in class.”

“So I was thinking th-", Clara is interrupted by her phone. “Excuse me, I have to take this.” She says while taking out a notepaper and scribbles something on it and hands it to me and says, “Call me, see you later.” After this she moves out of the food court.

Finally, I can eat in peac- “Hello my dear friend, what are you eating there all by yourself?”

I internally groaned and looked towards Mason with my best smile. “Eating food which I just got from the food court.”

“I thought you made yourself lunch this time.” He says while looking at my plate.

I took a bite and said, “I cook food only under the certain conditions, which are when I have free time, when I am in the mood to cook.”

“Well, I guess that would mean waiting until mid-semester exams are over.” He says, while eating the salad. His phone chimes and he checks his phone. Then he looked at me with a grin.

“What is it? And why are you looking at me like that? I swear I don’t like it.” I asked him.

He puts his phone down and asks, “You don’t have any other class after 5pm, right?”

“I don- Wait why are you asking me this?” I asked him.

“Dear Chris, do not ask so many questions, you are free, right?” He says before taking a bite.

“No, heading home after class, I got some work.” The door needs fixing. I have still not called for the door repair.

“Oohhhh come on Chris, give me some company while I am at practice.” He whines.

“No, I told you I am not coming.” I tried to make my voice sound as authoritative I could.

“You will get some fresh air and I can give you company at least till the bus stop. Didn’t Alex say to look out for each other in the midst of people going missing in our city?”

Well my attempt in sounding authoritative had failed. “Fine, but I will come at around 6pm, don’t make me wait too long.” I told him before heading towards my other class.

“Christopher, I promise you won’t find the wait daunting.” He said it with pride.

~~

After class, I go to the library. I sent a message to Clara asking her when she would want to discuss the project. She texted back that we can discuss about it on video call at 8:30 pm.

What Adam mentioned last night made me curious? I searched about the articles about people who have recently went missing, it was the same thing. They had disappeared. There were some locals who said they saw some of the missing individuals around the National Park. After I moved here for college Mason’s parents told me to avoid that area especially during the night time.

Though why would I go near that forest area? Camping, trekking and all that stuff was not my thing. The National park was somewhat of historical place too. A meteorite had struck that area 65 million years ago. The crater later was filled with water slowly by natural process, thereby creating a Lake, now known as Halcyon Lake. It’s around 550 meters deep. The article mentioned that there used to be a small research facility near that area too.

A message pops up in phone. I sigh, it was Mason.

Mason: Dude, where are you? The practice will be finished in half an hour.

Shoot, I did not realize time passed so fast. I packed my things up and headed toward the basketball ground. There were some people still playing, one of them was Mason and others who I saw with him regularly.

“What a coincidence! Christopher what are you doing here?” Clara asks, while motioning me to sit at the benches.

“Waiting for my friend. What about you?” I told her while sitting down.

“Same here, anyway got any ideas about what to work on for this group project?” she asked while staring towards the court.

The practice was going to come to an end soon. “I don’t have any clear ideas yet.”

“So what are your unclear ideas?” she asked while tilting her head at one side.

“We can work on the recent topics going on the news currently, ethics in businesses or we can work on history of popular towns or cities and their unremoved problems.” I said while trying to think of more ideas.

“Ethics in Business sounds like a lot of research work, town history won’t take too long.” She said while watching the basketball players.

“You have any clues on which topic to work on?” I asked her.

She replied, “No, I am terrible with topic selecting. I am okay with any topic you come up with, as long as it is not rocket science.” Her eyes were laser focused on the practice match. She observed the players like she was a coach.

“You want to go with easy topics, the professor won’t mind that, right?” I asked her as I glanced at her. It took some time for me to realise that she was specifically looking at the girl in court.

“The professor wants the assignment to be executed properly. It won’t matter as long as the topics are not repetitive.” She said while giving the girl in the court a thumbs up. In response the girl in court winked at her.

‘Hey, I thought you were not showing up!” Mason shouted at me.

“Sorry, lost track of time.” I replied to me.

 The players start coming out of court. Clara gets up and says, “We will discuss our about the project on video call, Bye!” 

“Ok, bye.” I told her.

The girl from court leans down and kisses Clara’s forehead.

“Hey, Chris, we will come back in a minute, stay here”, Mason says before moving towards the lockers.

I opened my phone, it was 7pm. I began to search for some topics for the journal project.

Someone taps my shoulder from behind. I turned around and saw a boy. He played basketball a while ago. His eyes were brown and he had wavy dark red hair. “Hi, I am Michael, Mason’s friend from the basketball club.”

“Oh, I am Christopher, I was waiting for him.” I told him.

“Yeah, he asked me to wait with you near the college gate.” He said while adjusting the strap of his bag.

“OK, alright sure, so let’s go.” I told him as I began to walk with him.

“So which major are you from?” He asked me.

I said, “I am from Mass communication. What about you?” He was walking quite fast, so try to match my pace with him.

“I am from Accounting.” He replies while slowing down his speed.

“Oh, okay.” I said. I cannot get exact words to make small talk with him until Mason shows up. Wait, is he one of those who prefers no small talk and prefers being quiet. Or maybe he is talking to make things less awkward as I happen to be one of Mason’s friends? Wait; what has me being friends with Mason got, with talking? I cannot think anything straight now.