"Shadow was growling at something in the woods, and a deer and some other animals ran past us." Karin said. Miss Claire sighed worriedly, as she gently rested her hands on one of Aya and Karin's shoulders, watching them with a worried expression. She stayed silent several moments, then suddenly let go of them. "Return to your desks please, and find something to do. I have to make a phonecall." Karin turned to Aya. "Want to draw with me?"

Aya nodded lightly and went to sit down at her desk, "that sounds nice".

Karin followed and sat down at her desk, pulled out two pencils and two sheets of paper, and handed a pencil and paper to Aya. "I've always wanted someone to draw with me, but no one ever does. Thank you Aya." Karin smiled at Aya.

The teacher, Miss Claire hurried over to her desk, and quickly picked up the phone, and dialed the number of the front office. Glancing over at her students, she listened to the ring tone, as she nervously waited for someone on the other side to answer her call.

The girl that had approached them before took her seat in front of Aya and Karin and turned around, "nothing came out of the woods," she pouted, "I wanted something cool to happen".

Aya scribbled on the piece of paper, being quite terrible at art as she decided to doodle the ship she saw in her dream.

Karin didn't look at the other girl, as she began to sketch on the paper. "..don't say things like that. Shadow was growling, something bad is out there." She said in a quieted voice. Pausing from her own sketching, she glanced over at Aya's paper, and started to watch Aya draw.

"Halloween is coming, I want to see something weird before it comes" the girl replied, "im Lauren" she said. She was a small girl 6 years of age with a big grin on her face. She brushed some of her short brown hair out of her eyes and giggled, "whatcha drawing?" She asked as she had the attention span of a goldfish at times.

Aya said nothing as she continued to make the boat as best she could.

Karin didn't reply to Lauren's introduction, as she was too focused on what Aya was drawing. "..oh..it's a boat." She said almost as though out loud to herself in thought, before speaking to Lauren. "Why do you want to see something weird, Lauren?" She asked curiously.

The teacher, Miss Claire, was still waiting for someone at the office to pick up on the other end of the phone.

Lauren looked at Karin puzzled, "wouldn't anyone want to see something weird?" she said as she rested her chin in her hands, "this place has been boring since father made us move here." Lauren payed no attention to the drawing as she continued, "There are these 7 myths foreigners make about this island, and I want to know which ones are true"

Aya looked up curiously as the girl spoke but said nothing. The finished drawing was of a broken boat on a beach, a shipwreck.

"..well..I guess I am a little curious." Karin admitted a little quietly, as she was looking at Aya's finished drawing. "Aya? Have you been to the beach before?" She asked suddenly.

After several rings, the teacher Miss Claire hung up the phone with a worried sigh. "No one at the office is answering." She said in a low, worried voice to herself, and walked over to a window in the classroom, and pulled the curtains closed before moving to another.

Aya nodded lightly but then shook her head as though seeming to avoid the subject.

Lauren giggled lightly as she put up one finger, "Myth number one. People have a tendency to disappear from this island without any explaination" she said moving the hair out of her eyes with her other hand.

Karin finally looked away from Aya's drawing, at the sound of curtains closing, and watched as the teacher Miss Claire moved to a third window and closed those curtains too. There was a worried expression on her face, and Karin caught a glimpse of it, when the teacher Miss Claire walked back over to her desk after closing the curtains. She sat down, looking down worriedly at her phone, and slowly raised her hand towards it as though to pick it up, but with a slow shake of her head she put her hand back down. Assuming that whatever was keeping the people at the front office from answering was important, she decided not to try calling them again, at least for now. With her students safely in the classroom, the teacher Miss Claire tried to relax a little, but found that she couldn't shake the feeling of something bad happening.

Anyone who was outside the cafeteria, on the playground, would notice a wolf with bristled fur and ears back as it growled in the direction of the woods.

Back in the office, the last of those working there had hurried out towards the playground, having ignored the ringing phone.

As the remainder of the students got bored of watching the wolf growl at nothing they slowly trickled into their classrooms and the cafeteria went silent.

Aya looked around at the classroom. It was noisy before, but now it was silent. The sounds were only disturbed by a man knocking on the door.

Miss Claire flinched at the knock, her mind having been elsewhere. "Y-yes, one moment." She said a little nervously, and got up and hurried over to answer the door. She turned the knob, opened the door, and looked to see who was there.

"The principle has told us to notify all the teachers to send the children home" he said as he turned to head to another classroom to spread the news.

Miss Claire's eyes widened in shock at the news. "..send..the students home?" She repeated to herself in disbelief. ..what on earth could it be that means the students must be sent home? She thought worriedly to herself, before quietly closing the door, and turning to the children. "Children, may I have your attention?" She asked, watching them worriedly, wandering if they'd be safer inside the school, instead of being sent home-sent outside. Some of the students were off talking to themselves of the food fight, and the strange cold from earlier, but as young children they didn't think much of the strange day at school. "Children. I've been informed that you're to be released early. Please pack your belongings, and be ready as quickly as you can." Karin glanced over at Miss Claire then at Aya and Lauren.

Lauren simply grinned and went to pack her things.

Aya stayed at the desk with her backpack on her lap as she gave a sigh.

Karin noticed that Lauren was strangely calm for them just having been told they'd be going home early. ..she knows something? Karin thought to herself, then quickly packed her things, and stood up. She leaned close to Aya's ear. "Follow me." She whispered.

Lauren simple grinned as she headed for the door and stepped through. She looked around for a moment and walked toward the front door.

Aya nodded lightly as she watched Lauren suspiciously looking out the doorway. "where is she going?" she asked curiously.

"I..don't know, but..let's follow her?" Karin whispered to Aya, after Lauren was out of earshot.

Aya nodded lightly and followed Karin.

Lauren was heading for the beach. The city was quiet as many of the children were slow to pack their things, and she intended to be out of sight before any of them caught up.

Karin, followed by Aya had managed to get out unnoticed along with Lauren as Miss Claire's attention was focused on helping the students hurry to leave. As they were following Lauren, Karin kept very quiet as she led Aya along. As they got closer to the beach, and her home, Karin looked out at the sea. The waves seemed restless, as though a storm would be soon upon the island. Karin led Aya over to a large boulder for them to hide behind and peek out from, to watch and see what Lauren was up to.

Lauren looked around on the beach for a while before walking up and picking something up off the ground. It was dark and fell apart as she tried to look at it.

Aya looked curiously until something in the distance caught her eyes. "A... ship" she said nervously as it resembled the drawing the had made. The wood of the ship was dark with half of it missing as though the sea had ripped it in half.

Karin turned to Aya. "Aya, what's wrong, are you okay?" She whispered.

Aya rubbed her eyes lightly, "that looks just like my drawing" she said confused and stepped out from the boulder and walked towards it.

"A-aya wait..!" Karin called after her nervously, forgetting to keep her voice down. She followed Aya.