Frazzled Eyes

It was one minute past seven on 25th December. The arrival of Christmas. A day for joyful cheer and celebrations. But Andrea, Akemi, and Alisa had other plans.

"From all the information Andrea and I have gathered so far, it seems to us that all such cases are random. However, every case happens at night. But there's no particular place or children these people choose to target. They also don't show any sign of vindictive behavior either. It's happening with orphans all over the world. And still, I could only find a few articles about this online. Few news channels are giving this any coverage. It's like us orphans don't matter to them, do we? Why hasn't anyone done anything about this yet?"

 

Andrea seemed sad and tried to think of a reasonable explanation. An explanation about why the world was acting as if this wasn't happening. Deep down, she knew there was no explanation. The world didn't care enough about the children. After a sigh of dismay, she proceeded to say something.

''Yeah, you're right, Akemi. They don't care enough. If everybody decided to come together for us and save the orphans, the world wouldn't have so many orphans around anymore. We don't matter to them enough. But it's up to us now. Since we've decided to do something about this, what should we start with? How do we begin the search? Should we start with the Christmas gathering at Central playground?''

Andrea looked at everyone with concern.

Alisa seemed to be in a state of introspection. Akemi was trying to think of something. Words were there, but he hesitated to say it. But by then, Alisa already seemed to have something in her mind.

"Well, we could start with the place that's going to be the most crowded today. Today's Christmas and our town will have a Christmas gathering event in Central playground. Just like always. That's where the most orphans from our neighborhood would be. If the one who's doing this plans to do this time around, we can be sure they'll be there. So,we can start with this place."

"Yeah, I was about to say that too. But...Alisa... you know...it's just..."

Akemi's eyes glistened. He blinked his eyes too hard and shook his head as if to not remember what happened last year.

The memories of the playground were strong. For them, it was a place of attachment. A place capable of evoking profound emotions. Filled with Christmas memories. They spent every Christmas over there each year.
But it was too late for him. A trip down memory lane had already begun.

"Remember how we all used to go to that Central playground every Christmas? Running around like no care in the world, eating whatever we wanted, no one but us together, doing crazy stuff like there was no tomorrow?"

A moment of happiness filled the room.

"You and Andrea always rigged all the games. Chow and I barely managed to control our laughs when the people got perplexed. And all the fake ride tickets we made to fool everyone for free rides. Pretending to be children of random strangers to get free food. Oh and the noodles! Those ridiculous noodles competitions....."

Dark frazzled eyes glimmered with evanescent delight.

"Do you remember how Chow decided to go against Andrea and tried to challenge her to see if he could eat more spicy noodles than her? It was like their little tradition. Andrea always won, and Chow always ended up on the toilet the next day."

"Oh, I would never forget that. And even then, he still never gave up on beating me. And I always looked forward to it, every Christmas. That idiot."

A fleeting moment of happiness.

"Man, I sure miss those days. Why did they only take Chow? I wish whoever did this, took us together. At least then, we could have been...I don't know, we could have been with each other, even in the darkest times? I wonder how Chow took it, all alone."

Everyone noticed Alisa. She started to look regretful as if she was blaming herself.

 

"I'm sorry, guys. For not being there. I should've been here last year. I shouldn't have waited for Christmas, a whole year to meet you guys again. I should've come here sooner."

"It's alright, Alisa. You weren't well. We all know how hard it was for you. It's not your fault your parents had to move because of their job. You had to move with them and you had no choice. You weren't eighteen then."

"Akemi's right. You're here now. And that's enough. Let's put our attention back to where it needs to be. Right now, all we can do is wait for tonight's gathering."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. You guys are right. Right now, that's the best we can do. But Akemi, what are we going to do when we catch them red-handed tonight? Call the cops? What do you think Andrea, would they believe us?"

"That's pretty much the only option we have. But in case the police don't arrive, what will we do then?"

Andrea enquired, hoping their search for Chow would not have such an ending.

"Well, we can follow them and see where they go. Although that's a bit risky. But if the time comes, we'll have to do it. That's our final option."

"Alright. Let's wait for tonight. Till then, we could go and take a look around the neighborhood and see if there's something suspicious. We could find a clue or two."

"Andrea and I did do that last night. We found nothing yet. But since it's Christmas, we should probably check once again."

"Let's go then. It's going to be a long night. A long week too. We've got some serious crime to solve."

Andrea, Alisa, and Akemi went outside and began their search. The Central playground might have some special guests, and they hoped to catch them in the act. Hours passed fast, and now it was time for the main event. All three started taking their positions inside the playground. The wrongdoers could come at any minute, and they needed to keep their frazzled eyes real sharp.