Where's Warren?

The next day, Lunch didn't stay down so easily. I had to almost force myself to eat.

Just as I was forcing the last of my turkey sandwich in my mouth, a girl came and sat with me at my empty lunch table. I surveyed her unusual appearance, her pale skin, her dark brown hair and her nonchalant expression. Several thick wrist bands graced each of her thin wrists, neon skinny jeans clutched onto her legs, while a white shirt hung carelessly off her shoulders. Paint splattered shoes held in her seemingly dainty feet.

I raised my eyebrows at her, but didn't say anything as she slowly ate her tuna sandwich and tapped away on her smart phone. I wanted to say something, talk to her, but I couldn't force any word out. How do I address a stranger that I kinda want to make friends with? I had no idea, seeing as Warren was all the company I needed for years.

“Ever since Warren walked into your life, you surrounded your life around him. Same with him” Ellen Mae's words came back to haunt me tenfold.

I groaned, too stubborn to admit their truth. Stupid, crazy girl, invading my head and planting her words inside my brain. Something told me that I was going to be hearing her shrill voice a lot more then I would have liked to.

The girl looked at me for a nanosecond, just at the same time as I was looking at her and we make eye contact. Embarrassment shot through my body and I jerked my eyes away. But I thought I saw something flash in her eyes. What was it? Recognition? Do I know her?

I turned my head to look at her once more, but she'd abandoned her seat without a sound. Her lunch tray, phone and paint splattered shoes were gone. Turning around in my seat, I scanned the cafeteria for her long brown tresses. I found her speed walking out, shoving the doors open before breaking into a run. I contemplated following after her, but rendered the thought useless due to her head start and me not knowing her at all.



I dreaded Spanish, which meant I had to face Ellen Mae again. Her words were confusing and they made me extremely uncomfortable. Ugh, why couldn't she just be a normal girl?

I took a deep breath before walking into class. Ellen Mae grinned at me, sitting up straighter in her chair as I sat across from her.

“Hey hey Daisy Walker, how's the search going?”She said smoothly.

“We haven't found a thing, not even a hair,” I grunted, feeling more than tired of answering this question. But, even more discouraged at how the volunteer searchers are groaning about how it's almost been 4 days and they haven't found anything. They don't even have any leads.

“They always roam where they can whisper their secrets in to the wind, and the trees won't tattle.” Ellen said almost poetically, her eyes closing for a minute or so.

“Did you get that from? A book?”I asked, truly curious.

She opened her eyes and looked at me, tilting her head like she had a tendency to do. “No book needs to document this; it's simply a fact. A fact of life, nature.”

Okay...so I'm talking to hippie Ellen Mae.

“Oh,”

Ellen sighed, as if knowing that her words were lost on me. “If you want to discover something, it's best if you to go somewhere he didn't go a lot or that he hated. People always look in the obvious places, never where they would never look. You'd be surprised what you could find.”

“Ohhh,”I nodded thoughtfully, already making plans to go Downtown, where Warren would never go without me with him. I necessarily didn't like the place either so we barely went there. “Thanks for the advice Ellen.”

She smiled gently. “Your best bet is to go after dark, where the police men are stationed in actual stores instead of roaming the streets. You wouldn't want people to see Little-miss-good girl Daisy walking down the streets of bars, prostitution alleys and strip clubs, right?”

Oh, she meant the places he really hated. Warren hated strip clubs, and even with how nice he was, had no respect for the people who showed/sold their bodies for a couple of bucks.

Ellen Mae observed me, her blueish-grayish eyes darting over me. I looked at her, unable to decide what to do. My level of comfort was dropping by the second and I was becoming more self conscious. Finally, she smiled at me and reached over to grab the clunky orange beads that hung around my neck.

“Warren would have liked this outfit...these colors. He liked bright colors.” Ellen murmured, her eyes had that far away look in them. She appeared to be in a trance, her fingers rolling the beads around, and it made me even more uncomfortable.

I'm sure my comfort level was at a 0 by the time that she sat back in her seat and added neutrally, “But of course, you know this.”

I did, but what did it have to do with...well anything?

I looked at Ellen Mae Bonner, wondering her intentions. She only gave me a sweet smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. Instead, her eyes looked awfully troubled.

“If you knew where Warren was, you'd tell me right?”I asked, not breaking my stare.

“Of course I would,” She said, widening her eyes at my question. She looked as though I had kicked a puppy, and then accused her of doing so. “Daisy, I'm learning just as much as you are just about every day.”

“Every day?” I questioned.

She wrinkled her nose and squinted her eyes. “Meh, just 'bout every day. It varies, I guess. It also helps when your dad's the go to guy for almost everything.”

“If you know more, tell me.” I pressured her, leaning towards her. My hands clenched around the edge of the table involuntarily. “I barely know anything!”

Ellen frowned. “That's because you need to think more. Stop thinking about him and start thinking with him. Daisy, you know him better than anyone else, you know how his mind works, use that knowledge to win the game & find him.”

“Game? What game??”

Ellen stood up and shouldered her bag, as if she was suddenly bored with talking to me. She walked to the door. Senorita Rosa opened her mouth to protest, but the bell signaling our release rung and the teens flooded out the room.

Of course, I was the last to leave and the last to get to my next class, Health. Sitting in that class proved to be torture, seeing as I couldn't stop staring at the place Warren would be, at the desk behind me. I'd remained mute as the minutes ticked on painfully slow, imagining Warren twirling my brown strands around his finger and whispering horrible jokes that still made me giggle. This was a whole new level of loneliness, and I was worried that at the pace that I was going, I was going to fall into a depression before I could find Warren.

When the exit bell rang, I was extremely excited to be getting out of there. My excitement was short lived. Turned out, the teacher for my next class was absent, so I had to go stay in Health. Yay.

By the end of the second hour of Health, I didn't know whether to punch, hug, scream at someone or just sit there and cry. Some girl and her male best friend were whispering back and forth to each other all period. He played in her hair, even began to braid it, while class progressed. At one point, she turned around in her seat and doodled on his arm in a sparkly blue pin. When she was finished, he happily displayed her work to anyone who wanted to see. It was their names and two stick people, holding hands. Little designs framed the work. It was completely adorable. It made me yearn for Warren.

They were nearly the last two out of the class, and when they left, they were almost attached at the hip. I felt my heart twist uncomfortably and the urge to go home and cry into my pillow was unbearable. I sped out of the classroom with my head down, even though there wasn't nearly anyone in the hallways by the time I was able to compose myself enough to at least walk to my bus.

I fought to keep my tears from blurring my vision, but I failed and had to wipe my eyes. Suddenly, I collided with someone else and they let out a 'uumph' sound as they stumbled back. Then a weird giggle.

I cleared my eyes of my tears and straightened up a bit. “Hi Ellen.”

She giggled and waved. “Hiya there Daisy, wassup?”

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and adjusted my binder to rest on my right hip. “Nothing, just on my way home. You?” I attempted to sound as casual as possible but even I could hear the faint quivering in my voice.

Ellen, on the other hand, seemed to not hear anything. She stood there, her eyes wandering over the hallways, her hand running through her brown curls. I stared at her. The girl who was being poetic and mysterious earlier now looked like a little child inside a new place.

Suddenly, she stepped over to my side and faced my direction. “Come here,” She pulled me towards her by my elbow. I cautiously slid over to her side, feeling a bit more then my space being invaded.

Ellen smiled at me playfully, and then leaned over. “There are two dummies, nothing like mummies. The walls talk in rhymes, they know all about crimes. Doors are portals, these only meant for mortals.”

My eye brows creased and I jerked back, staring at Ellen in surprise. She giggled, twirling in circles. I grabbed her thin shoulders and shake her a bit.

“What exactly are you trying to tell me??”I urged her on, irritated yet intrigued at the same time. Dummies? Walls talking? Doors are portals?? “Do you think this is a game Ellen??” I shook her again, this time more forceful then I intend to.

She smiled softly, tilting her head with an innocent look on her face. Her eyes were guarded. “You're so innocent Daisy, oh so innocent. If only you know what he did in the dark...."She trailed off.

I stared at her in confusion. What the fuck was she talking about??

“Ellen..I don't...”

“Shhh,” She pressed a finger to my lips. “Be careful when revealing secrets, these windows have eyes. They can easily rip off your disguise.” Her tone was mysterious now, her eyes darting around the now empty hallway. She stepped back and almost tipped over, forcing me to stable her against the lockers. Her thin body slouched against them, putting her almost a 2 feet below her regular height. Her breath retched of alcohol.

“Have you been drinking??”I asked, my eyes widened with alarm. Ellen never even glanced at a bottle until she was positive her parents were at least 80 miles away from home. Yet, there she was, drunk in broad day light!! What was she thinking??

“Shhh,” She soothed out again, tilting her head slightly and gazing up at me. Her eyes were rimmed with red; her cheeks tinged a slight pink. This is certainly not the Ellen Mae Bonner that I was dealing with earlier. She looked like Party Girl Ellen, not Preacher's Daughter Ellen.

“Listen Daisy, I've helped you enough, now play the game.”

“What game??”I asked, exasperated.

She chuckled, the sound soft yet gravely. Pushing herself to her full height, Ellen gazed at me as if waiting. I gestured for her to continue but she didn't. Instead she just gazed vaguely, looking like a tired woman instead of a teenager.

After what seemed like forever, Ellen murmured. “The game Warren lost,”

I froze. The game Warren lost.

Ellen knew more about Warren's where-abouts than probably anyone else! I didn't know how to feel, but I was sure that my body shook with whatever emotion that I was feeling. Maybe it was hope. Probably happiness.

I almost launched myself at her, questions flying out of my mouth at an alarming rate. Maybe there was hope! I could find him!

Smack!

I stumbled back in shock, tears clouding my eyes. She slapped me...Ellen Mae Bonner slapped me!

Her mechanically laugh rang out, accompanied by the slapping of lockers. “Daisy! I don't know where Warren is now! Eventually I will, and I'll tell you when I do. But for now, I work in puzzles and I suggest you do the same.”

I looked up just as Ellen literally strutted away....then bent over and puked all over the hall.