Light in Dawn

Chapter Four - The Cyaneous Rose

She had known him for only one day. Less than 24 hours.

That vengeful, smug, good-for-nothing... person.

She wasn't used to swearing after all.

Andriana gritted her teeth. What she couldn't forgive him the most was to make her so riled up. Maybe his claims were false. Today was Friday after all. By the time the weekend passed and Monday came, he would have forgotten about her and found another girl who had better appreciation for his attention.

Yet something at the back of her mind told her that it wasn't so simple. Something else happened today, hadn't it? What happened in the first period?

Miss Madison took her class instead of Mrs. North. What did she say? Something about not repeating mistakes... And Julyan drew something on his desk.

That's right. Julyan was drawing something with a red crayon because it was Art. Mrs North did take the class - Miss Madison came in to return Maths tests for students who were absent on the last day of the last term. She reprimanded someone for always forgetting to convert units.

No.

She tried to recall that period again.

Miss Madison took the class, but Mrs North came in halfway through to check on them. She saw Julyan's drawing and added a strange symbol with red acrylic paint. And then she also mentioned Amethyst's painting...

What?

Why would Mrs North draw on a student's painting? What did that symbol look like? Who was Amethyst?

Andriana raised her head and saw her own reflection in he bathroom mirror. She wasn't shaking - but her eyes, pale and cold as ice, were frantic.

Just what had happened to her memory?

With a light push against the glass counter Andriana backed away from the mirror. She ran back into her own room and tugged out the second drawer under the desk, rummaging through with desperation. From the bottom she pulled out a notebook. Her free hand snatched the first pen-like object it touched from the pen holder on the desk - it was a green highlighter. Without another thought she flipped open to a random page and put her thoughts onto paper.

Julyan. Miss Madison. Mrs North. Amethyst.

Her mind cleared a little. Amethyst was a girl in her class. She was quiet and soft-spoken, and her name was always right before Andriana's in class roll call. Besides that she remembered little about the girl.

And then there was the symbol. What did it look like? It resembled a certain letter didn't it?

The letter M.

She printed the letter. Underneath, she drew it again in every font she knew.

There had been a time when she was completely obsessed with different fonts. During that phase she practiced day and night, producing countless posters of every fancy font she could find.

She scanned the page full of M's, waiting for one to trigger her memory. Nothing. There was nothing.

Andriana stood up and pushed the window open to the maximum.

Right then a cry sounded. Andriana jumped, her eyes taking a rapid sweep over the clock - the hour hand stopped on the number "7". Seven already? Abandoning her stationery and all remaining thoughts, Andriana dashed into Josephina's room.

Josephina was already on the floor, a cluster of photo albums scattered around her. Sensing Andriana's arrival she cast her a reproachful look at her direction and proceeded to remove a piece of cut onion from her own pocket. As Andriana's watched without much surprise, she placed the slice under her nose and took two quick sniffs.