Adam said “Well, about-”

“Hey, Chris, you wanna have some pizza?” asked Jones while barging into his own room.

I told him, “Yes, maybe later. I am on a call now.”

“Ok. Come soon or you won’t even get the crust.” He said before heading towards the living room.

I turned my attention back to Adam and asked him, “Sorry, It was my roommate. So you were saying something about missing people?”

“Yeah, about that, we found som-” He paused. I heard someone else’s voice in between, but it was not clear. Adam was talking to someone. Later, he continued, "No, we don’t know about them yet.”

I frowned. He surely had something to say. But he had not completed it before.

“But considering the fact that 23 people have gone missing since the last 2 months, this whole thing might be done by a group of people with complete planning.” He said it in a serious tone.

I said nothing, just trying my best to not fiddle with the ends of the bed sheet.

“Christopher. Be careful around the forest area. There might be a possibility of that intruder or someone else approaching you again.”

I said, “Ok. I will be.” If this issue gets out of hand, then trekking in the forest might be dangerous.

“I have to go now. Be safe.” Adam said before cutting the call.

I sighed. Something did not feel right about what Adam was saying. I looked at the time, it 12:30 p.m. Well, 3 hours of sleep should be enough for now.

I headed towards the living room. Jones was watching TV. It was a news channel, and the reporters were saying something about cops still working on missing cases. Some people were spreading conspiracies about it being the work of some human traffickers.

“Hi, there. Good afternoon.” Jones greeted. 

“Good Afternoon. Don’t tell me you ate the whole pizza.”

He chuckled and said, “No, i just ordered it. It’s on the way. By the way, who were you talking to before?”

“It was one of the cops. They said to be careful of the forest area.” I replied.

He stared at the TV and said, “Oh, I see. I thought it was someone else.” He nudged my shoulder.

“Someone else, what do you mean by that?” I asked him.

He began lightly tapping the arm rest of the sofa with his fingers. “Someone, certainly not Mason. You would have declined the call before thinking once.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked him.

“Is that someone a girl, a boy, or them?” He asked out of nowhere.

“Where are we going with this conservation?” I asked him, feeling a bit uneasy.

“Which face popped up in your mind when I said someone special to you?”

M- . “What??” I asked in astonishment. But whether that question was directed to me or Jones was in between.

He looked at me in alarm, but got himself together in a moment. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Chris, chill. I don’t mind you being interested in boys or others. You are still my friend and my roommate. Nothing changes between us on that. Got it?”

“I got it. But what made you think that I had someone? I asked.

"Well, you have not denied that part of having someone.”

“I deny that now.”

Now it was his turn to be shocked. “What?? Oh, come on. What about that boy from our college you introduced back at the café?” He asked, gripping both my shoulders.

“We are just friends.”

“ ‘We are just friends.’ This was your first time taking someone other than your friends into The Café. This is serious, Chris.”

I sighed, "Alright, how much was the payment for the door repair?” I asked, looking towards my room door.

“Don’t you dare diverge from this topic, Christopher.” He said this while jabbing his finger on my chest.

“Really? What about you? Are you seeing someone?” I asked him.

“Given my personality, you might think I am already taken, but actually I am as single as Pringle who wants to mingle.” He said this while slumping his shoulders.

“Well, let’s not think about our single lives now, and when is the pizza coming?” I said while lightly tapping his back. “How shall I pay back the money for door repair?”

He took out his phone and typed something on it. My phone chimed. “I have sent you its bill, and I would like to have the payment made online.”

He continued, “As for the pizza, it’s 4 minutes away.”

“Alright.” I told him.

~~

I had come half hour early to class as Clara and I had decided to work on it’s missed out parts today itself. She was sitting next to me, going through various websites.

“Oh god, this is mind draining. We found nothing on the case of missing people’s cases solution.”

“Yes, I know. The only thing we learned from City library was that this similar case of people going missing within some months had occurred in 1918 too. But even back then, people could not figure who was behind this.” I told her while looking through a book I had issued from library.

“That’s all?” She asked, looking at me hopefully.

I nervously smiled, “Yeah..”

She groaned.

“Hold up, there is something else too.” I told her whiling flipping through other books.

“Yes right here.” I told her showing her a picture of man from 19s.

This man’s name is Edward Moore. He was kind of the in charge of this city back in that time. Back then, some group of scientists had found some pieces of meteoroid from the Halcyon Lake. Later a research facility was constructed near lake to study it.”

“So what happened next?”

“At the same time, city was facing famine. People were dying or starving to death. The prices of food were increasing and people had to still pay the taxes. The upper ups did provide some funds but they were feeble compared to people’s needs.

People were getting sceptical that how come there were funds available to conduct parties regularly for the upper ups, businessmen and merchants, and also to construct a research facility but not enough funds to fulfil basics needs.”

Clara raised her eyebrows and said, “Oh yes, Right. And that’s what caused people to protests. I read it somewhere too, in the midst of chaos and attacks at the various offices, that Edward guy fled the city.”

“Yes, that’s true. That whole year was a revolution. Various search parties were sent in nearby towns of Haltin but he was not found anywhere. That’s also the time when number of people who went missing began to escalate. In the start of 1919 the numbers spiked and then all of sudden in next month there was no report of any one going missing.” I told her

“Wait, what happened with that research facility?” she asked.

“Well, not much is given about it in here.” I said while pointing towards the couple of books. I continued, “It just states that by the end of 1918, the facility was demolished.”

She nodded and began writing something.

I told her, “The only good thing that came out of this revolt was that corruption done by upper-ups was exposed. It was believed they had been taking the funds for their own good. Later, the upper ups were replaced, and certain laws and rights were introduced that demanded transparency from the upper-ups and tax management authority.”

“This is it.” She put down her pen and showed me her plan. She said, “Ok, so let’s leave that current issue of missing people open-ended and focus on history about this previous problem, which people resolved back then. We can use this as an example as lesson for the future generation.”

“Yes, we can do that.” I told her while looking at the paper she handed to me.

She clapped her hands together and said, “Finally. This project is coming to an end. We need to just work more on this part and we focus on our next work.”

I began to feel doubtful of myself. She had been trying to hurry up this group project from the start. Did she want to finish this project as soon as possible so that she wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore? Was I being a problem to her?

The phone began to ring, and I was pulled out of my thoughts.

“Oh, I have to pick this up. Wait a second.” She said.

I nodded and began looking through my notes. Maybe not, maybe she was completing this project quickly because she had to study for exams coming in less than a month. Speaking of exams, even I have those. That would mean sleepless nights for the upcoming month.

My phone chimed. It was a message from an unknown number. It stated :-

I finally found your number.