I'm driving to go to Zoe's house, I want to see her, and check if she's okay.
When I reached their street, I saw some police lines and some ambulances. It looks like there's something wrong happened in here.
The policeman is asking the girl, I think the girl is around 8 to 10 years old based on her face and appearance.
She's crying while answering the questions. I saw the thing inside the police line, it's a lady who is missing some body parts, and her stomach was ripped off.
My eyes widened. In my opinion, she was hit by a car, and the wheels of the car ran to her body that which makes to lose her body parts.
My stomach is rumbling, I feel like I want to vomit all the foods that I consumed.
I think they were involved in a car accident. Some media are flashing their cameras, and maybe, there's an investigator.
The medics were starting to compile all the body parts and put them inside the Ambulance.
I shook my head, I drove immediately until I reached Riego's residence.
I gulped and cleared my throat. Furthermore, I went out of the car and walks towards their gate.
It seems like, their door was locked, and no one is there. I pressed the bell, and it makes the sound as a sign that someone is waiting outside of their house.
All of a sudden, there's someone who spoke from the speaker, “Who are you?” the voice is making me have some goosebumps.
“I'm Harvey McKenzie, Zoe's classmate, Sir,” I introduced. The speaker beeped, “Who are you?” I arched my eyebrow, I don't know if he heard me?
“Zoe's classmate in high school, I'm Harvey McKenzie,” I repeated, “Sorry for that, I think the system was broken, sorry for the long wait.”
I gasped when someone suddenly spoke to my side, “I'm Zoe's father, what are you doing here?” His face is blank, while his voice sounds like a piece of ice. I think it's her adoptive father.
“I want to check Zoe if she's fine, she doesn't attend the school yesterday, Sir,” I answered. I looked at the ground to at least ease the awkward moment.
“Why? Do we look like a killer?” My eyes widened, “No, Sir, I didn't mean that, I'm sending my apologies if you think of it.”
I gulped, “What I mean, Sir, if you will give me permission, I want to fetch Zoe until we reach the school, our teachers were looking for her.”
His lips pressed into a thin line, and his eyes were giving me a blank stare.
“Is that so? Zoe was not here, stop bothering her, and what are you to her? What's your relationship with her?” I arched my eyebrow.
What does he mean? I didn't understand.
“I'm her classmate, and a friend, Sir,” I murmured, “You can go now, Zoe was not here, she's going to school for tomorrow, don't worry, and stop asking me if where did she go,” he said.
His stares were killing my soul, “Thank you for informing me, I'll go ahead, and nice to meet you, Mister Riego,” I whispered. He nodded.
I went back to my car and scanned the whole place. I'm not convinced that Zoe was not there. I can feel that she's there, and they are just hiding her for some reason.
Her father doesn't want to be questioned, I sighed. Maybe, it's a good idea? I mean, does my decision was right?
Who knows? I'm going to investigate that further.
I drive away from their house, I decided to message my group mates, Shun and Charlotte, I'm asking if they are available this time.
Luckily, they said yes, so I said that we need to meet at the pizza shop for the interview.
After a few minutes, I arrived here, when I entered the pizza shop, I saw the two figures who were sitting in the corner. They waved their hands.
“Hi, you're late, so what do you want? I'm going to order, so we can eat while brainstorming the topic,” Charlotte said.
“Yeah, I apologize, I did some important things, any flavors will do for me, you can decide,” I answered. Shun also said the same words.
“Can I ask? Where have you been?” I looked at him. He's sitting in front of me, can I tell to him, or not?
What are the consequences if I tell him? I hope there will be no consequences.
“I'm from the Riego's residence, Zoe's house, our classmate,” I murmured. His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped a bit.
“Riego? Do we have a classmate whose surname was Riego?” I'm sitting speechless. My heart began to race.
“Y-Yes, you can't remember? She's absent yesterday,” I added. His eyebrow arched, “Really? I can't remember her, maybe, she's always quiet when she's inside the classroom.”
Maybe? I muttered, “You didn't notice her? I mean, she's our classmate since day one.”
He laughed nervously, “Yes? So, what are we're going to do? The plan A is asking ourselves, then if we are not satisfied, the plan B is asking our parents, then if our parents were not able to answer it to satisfy us, the plan C is asking the random people,” he explained.
Charlotte arrived while holding three pizza boxes, “I already told it to Charlotte, all we need is your approval, do you agree with that?” he asked. I nodded.
Charlotte sits beside him, and opened the first box of pizza, “So, that's great! Shun is the first person to answer, from your perspective, what is family?” she asked.
She took her paper, and she's already holding a pen.
“For me, it's hard to explain it clearly, but Family is giving you some lovely, whether it's complete or not, you will feel that your family is enough for giving you some love.” Charlotte was writing it to her paper.
“I don't know if it's clear or not, I'm sorry for that, but I hope it will help,” Shun apologized. We both nodded, instead of saying that it was okay.
“For me, family is something that you can lean on, you can tell them your rants in life, and they will listen to you, whether it's your adoptive parents or biological parents, it doesn't matter, Family is a support for you.”
She writes her answer, “It's your turn, Harvey,” I became silent for a second.
“In my opinion, Family is something that you can learn from it on how to discipline yourself, how to love yourself, and your family, to value your time in life, and the most important thing is to love your parents,” I answered.