HIDDEN

Chapter 22

People around the area turned to see where the abrupt scream came from but didn't find the source.

~■~
Meanwhile, Mia was in the vacinity, about to purchase a bus ticket when she heard a short-lived scream.

"That kind of sounded like Amanda's voice", Mia thought as she stopped what she was doing, "Maybe I'm just reading too much into it."

She soon found herself moving to the direction she thought she heard the sound. "I have a bad feeling about this."

~■~
The park was louder than ever making it difficult to hear anyone from a far distance.

"Let's try this ride next", Nathan said as he stopped in front of a big flashy looking ride.

"It's getting late. We should really start heading back", Roxanne suggested.

"What?! Not yet. I've been looking forward to today for sometime now. Just this last one."

"Fine but I'm not going. I'll wait for you here."

"Nooo. I don't want to go alone", Nathan whined.

"You'll not be alone. Just go with Dale... Dale?" Roxanne called as she saw Dale staring at the distance as if he had heard something.

Almost immediately, he took off and started running out of the park.

Roxanne and Nathan looked at each other.

"You know, you really need to stop doing this!", Roxanne exclaimed as she ran after him but he was faster than them.

"(Sigh) There goes my last ride", Nathan complained as he followed.

~■~
"Where is she?" Mia asked  looking for Chimamanda as she called her on the phone but there was no response.

She tracked the sound to the best of her ability but couldn't pinpoint where it came from.

"Am I sure I heard right", Mia thought as she brought out her phone to check the time. "Two more minutes to the bus leaves. I can still make it if I run fast enough."

She then saw a familiar figure pass in front of her as she was on her phone.

"Aman–", she looked up to see no one. "I could've sworn...."

She then looked around in hope to find her. "Where did she go?" she thought then saw the same figure at a distance entering a dark alley. Not many people were around the area at that time.

"Isn't that Amanda? Why did she enter there?" She went towards that direction but then slowed down as she approached the alley.

"This looks way too familiar", Mia thought remembering what happened to her before as she hesitated, "But I know what I saw."

"Hel—"

"That sounded like Amanda right now. Her voice was muffled but I'm sure she said help ", Mia said frightened, it was then that she recalled what Roxanne said about teras kidnapping people to get to them.

"It might not be what I'm thinking plus I've never encountered a teras that day with The Three. Mia thought terrified. "I can't call the police because I'm not sure of the current situation and I have no proof that Amanda is missing... but I'm sure she's in there. She might be getting mugged."

Mia then got a semi-long stick that was lying on the ground and entered the alley.

The alley was unusually dark despite it was still day. This reminded Mia of how dark the other alley around her school was but it was somehow darker. She could still see though.