Chapter 4: Obvious Choice
November 3, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Iris
I stare blankly at the ceiling above my head, my assignment laid out in front of me, not started and untouched. Rosewood Warehouse... My mind is still stuck on the case. It was years ago that this news was such a big thing, so important that it stayed on the headlines for the next month of November as well. After all, it was a large fire in this unknown Warehouse on the Rosewood street. Most people not even knowing that street existed, and much less the warehouse. However, after the fire was put out... the world went in total chaos. An entire organization of human trafficking, murdered in a brutal way, but what was worse, were the fact that none of the victims of the human trafficking themselves, survived. At least, that's all to what I knew and know, for now. But that warehouse... Was also where she was taken away to. I remember so clearly when we drove past the street while on a road trip after that incident, and the fear that was in her eyes, murmuring things like they're taking her back. None of us understood what it was back then that haunted her from where she returned from, and even if we asked, and asked, and asked, she would not tell. She would just murmur words to herself as though the moment the topic was mentioned, she was transported into another world where no one existed. And then we never got to ask her about it ever again. Since she's no longer on this earth. It was so sudden, none of us expected it. I mean, of course not. Who would ever expect such things to happen? From a family of 6... to 5, and then to 4. One disappears, and another follows. All because of one warehouse that no longer exists. Not many people know the exact location of the warehouse on the street since it was closed off from all of sources of information, and because of the length of the street itself, branching off from main streets and smaller intersections. Some even believe that the Rosewood Warehouse was just a hoax. A fake story from the government to 'raise awareness'. Anyone trying to drive around to find the warehouse would be stopped by patrolling officers and road blocks. If anyone tried to post about it online, it would be flagged down in less than an hour. It's almost like a mystery. But I know it is real. Her name was on the victim list, marked missing before the incident happened. The trafficking organization kept a record of their victims, specifying when each one was 'obtained' when 'disposed', but on there, was also Andrea's name and picture. Beside her name was the date she was abducted, and to the further right, in bright large text: 'ESCAPED' with a date next to it, and it corresponded to when she appeared at the doorstep of the house again, 2 days after their entry. But one could only guess what happened to her during the entire time; what horrible things they did to her, what happened during the 2-day gap, and what happened to the 'old Andrea'.***
"Hey, is anyone sitting here?" I ask as I approach Narima's empty table at lunch. She shakes her head. "Mind if I sit here?" She shakes her head again. "Ashley?" she asks confirmation, and that was the first work that she spoke to me, answering questions excluded. "Noope, it's just Ash," I correct her with a smile. "Sorry." "It's fine... Um... How is this new school treating you? Where are you from? What school did you move from? Why?" Before I could stop myself, questions start to spill out from my mouth. "I meant--" "It's fine," she says. "The school is treating me fine, that's what I meant. Thailand... A small school in Thailand, because my family wants me to continue my studies after this year here." From the way she answers my questions at minimum precise words, I can tell that her brain is always calculating. It's not like I can read people or anything, but it's just that I'm the opposite, spurting out words I don't mean before I even give myself a chance to think over. "Are you sure that the school is fine? I mean, you don't have any friends..." She shrugs, "I'm just here for the studies, not friends." Is that the Asian thing or what? "How about one friend? At least you won't be lonely," I ask. She shrugs. "Besides, aren't you going to eat something?" She shrugs. "What does that mean?" I look at her completing the assignment from the previous class. "Do you not have lunch prepared? Do you not have money to buy food? Or just not hungry?" "Not hungry," she says as she writes down the answer. I stare at her in curiousity. Did she just calculate that in her mind? "Aren't you going to eat?" she asks and I realize that I only have a few minutes left for lunch. "R-Right," I say and begin to stuff myself with my food I've gotten from the cafeteria. "I have a question, why were you reading the book? The Rosewood Warehouse thing, y'know?" She stares at me in confusion, "I want to know more about the case?" Right, what kind of answer was I even looking for...? "I meant... Nevermind." There's an unsettling feeling in my stomach from the lunch that barely got time to digest as we both make our ways to our next classes. Or at least I think it's from the lunch.
