Anna awoke. It was 5 in the morning and the sun was already shining into her room. She slid out of her bed in nothing but an oversized shirt she used as a pyjama. A yawn escaped her tired lips and she rubbed the sand from her eyes.
She opened her bedroom door and walked into their kitchen, not worrying about someone seeing her like that. Her mother would not wake up for another 2 hours and her father had left them when she was still young.
She grabbed the cereal box and poured it into a ginormous bowl. In the morning she was always extremely hungry. She took a spoon full of cereal before noticing she had forgotten the milk.
Searching for it, she opened the refrigerator. "Oh no." She said plainly. "The milk is empty."
Closing the refrigerator again she sighed and put her spoon into the sink. She grabbed the bowl and walked to the living room and sat down onto the couch. She took a handful of cereal, literally and stuffed her mouth with them. Finally, she turned on the TV and leaned back, feet on the table.
What she saw shocked her. Her mother had left on the news channel and they were in the midst of explaining an event. The headline paralysed her in shock before she used their recorder to rewatch the entire section she had missed.
"Tim, what did you do?" She muttered while stuffing her face with cereal.
On the news was a censored video of a boy who looked like Tim at night, stabbing someone and running off with the weapon. Then there was a second clip of him following a teenager home.
"Please don't be the boy on the news." She muttered while muting the TV and searching for Tim's phone number in her contacts. She tapped on his name and then the call-button.
Her phone rang loudly. She had put down her bowl of cereal and was now leaning forward. She stared at her phone and at Tim's name as the phone vibrated and slowly moved around on the table.
"Pick up." She muttered. Hands in front of her mouth in a thinking posture.
Then her phone screen turned black before showing that Tim had indeed not picked up. "If he is still sleeping, maybe it wasn't him. I don't think he could sleep well after doing this." She glanced back at the silent TV, they were currently showing pictures of the crime scene, the body censored.
The bus station floor was covered in blood and so were some of the walls which were lower. The person had apparently drowned in his own blood. And that took a while. Around the crime scene she could make out children who were crying and screaming. Those poor first graders had found the body with their parents.
She stood up, leaving the cereal, and rushed into her room. Anna took off the shirt revealing her entire naked body and took some clothes from her pile to put on. She had about an hour and 10 minutes before she had to be at work and an hour and 40 minutes until she had to open the shop. If she hurried, she should have time to visit Tim and make sure he was okay.
Anna ran face first against the door, hurting herself. She slowly unlocked the door, closed it after stepping out and locked it again. Then she ran again.
She bolted past people on their way to work and nightshift workers on their way back home. It did not take long for her to reach Tim's house. After only 4 minutes she already rang the doorbell, over and over until Tim's sleep deprived brother opened the door, cursing at her.
"Where is Tim?" She asked, arms crossed below her chest.
"Your shirt is the wrong way around." His brother said, "At a friend's house, for a sleepover."
Anna noticed his gaze and crossed her arms in front of her chest, covering it from his eyes. "Which friend?" She asked, hoping he would not say—
"Lukas' house." He said to her disappointment, "I think that was his name. Went there and did not come back yet. But it's early, so just wait a bit."
It was obvious she got frustrated at his answer. "Are you his girlfriend or something? Why so angry?" He asked.
"Just… worried." She muttered and left the porch again. She looked around, where could he live? She did not know where, but she knew where she could learn his address from: The contract Lukas had signed to work in their shop had his address on the front most page.
Anna sprinted off again and towards their café. Then she remembered something. "Mom put it into the safe." She had no key to it, or the pin to open it. "Do I just… wait in front of his school like a weirdo? Or do I wait for him to visit the café in the afternoon?"
She contemplated for a moment before deciding on one of the two options and heading off.