"Dear students and graduates: We hope this message finds you in good health and spirits. We are reaching out to you due to an emergency that has arisen at our academy. Unfortunately, one of our beloved students named Aria Schmidt has disappeared under unusual circumstances. This situation has shocked our academic community, and we are working tirelessly with the authorities to ensure her return.”

The authorities are aware that Aria Schmidt headed to the Barrio Norte station at 7 a.m. accompanied by a third party whose identity is still unknown. She took the B-15 subway line and did not register her exit at any stop; her whereabouts are currently unknown.

Given the severity of the situation and the need to maintain the safety of all members of our community, we have taken the following measures, such as closing the academy and securing the perimeter of Silvermist Square until approximately 12 p.m. the next day. Any student found in an investigation area committing an infraction will face severe disciplinary action. Consequently, internet and phone signal services will be suspended within one minute to prevent any information leaks.

Any observed anomalies should be reported immediately to the authorities present."

Lucas immediately recalled those individuals inside the auditorium. This new information about not allowing entry or exit made him break out in a cold sweat.

“At the bottom it says that the application results will be released at midnight and that relocations will be immediate,” Artemisa continued.

The complicated expressions multiplied inevitably; no one knew how to break the ice after reading all that. So those who could, finished eating to gather energy, while those who couldn’t just drank a soda from the cafeteria and shared chewing gum Artemisa had in her bag.

For the rest of the day, many slept, some charged their phones and played on them, others remained silent, and some tried to distract themselves. Hours passed and each graduate was called one by one to different interrogation rooms, but they were never informed about the young woman’s appearance. Pascal was returning after being called by the police, and gestured for Lucas to come.

Lucas walked calmly toward them, where Pascal gave a brief introduction, “Yes, this is my friend Lucas,” and the officers responded, “Hello Lucas, we are Logan Anderson and Saul Marchesi, military police officers.” They told him he was going to be interrogated and then slowly led him down the central hallways. This place was usually full of initiates, some high-ranking officers, engineers, etc. Lucas had walked those halls more than once, but this was the first time everything felt too empty to be real.

The officers tried to start a simple conversation:

“How are you feeling, kid?” one asked.

“I couldn’t really describe it,” Lucas answered.

“What do you mean by ‘I don’t know’?”

Lucas thought about how to explain it better but couldn’t. He usually spoke without thinking, but now having to think about what to say was hard. He never overanalyzed or tried to find meaning beyond what he felt. He also wasn’t sure if the drowsiness after eating was to blame.

“It’s just that I don’t understand. Why her?” Lucas asked.

“Are you close to her?” the officer asked, trying to fit the pieces together.

As soon as they entered the interrogation room, which was nothing more than an accounting office, Lucas sat on the uncomfortable chair and took a deep breath.

“Not exactly. We weren’t close friends, but we weren’t strangers either.”

“Colleagues,” the officer added.

They both sat opposite Lucas, placing their hands on the table and looking at him intensely, almost accusingly.

“‘Colleagues’ is a very formal term,” Lucas rejected the label.

“So you had an affinity then. She’s a pretty girl; do you like her?”

“I see her no more than a friend,” Lucas replied.

They put a folder on the table and started reviewing it in front of Lucas. There were many documents, including a photo of Aria.

“We’ve heard a lot about you,” Saul commented.

“And what have you heard about me?” Lucas began to suspect.

“Good things,” Saul completed, “but let’s not get off topic. Can you tell us what you remember about Aria in the days before her disappearance? Or if you received any messages from her recently?”

Lucas said he had invited her to a party after graduation, near the time she was last seen. He showed the message as they asked, and they began reviewing conversations that were mostly responses to each other’s stories on Glimpse. Nothing indicated a deep relationship between them; the replies gave very little context. In the chats, Lucas always answered about “which dress looked better,” or the outline, etc.

However, last night Aria had posted that she didn’t know what colors to wear. The easiest deduction was that perhaps she was going out with someone and wanted to look nice.

“Did she go out a lot?” one officer asked.

“Yes,” Lucas confirmed.

“How often? Was she a party girl?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Lucas commented, “she only went out after exams or when we were on vacation. Normal outings.”

“Define ‘normal outings’: drug use? Alcohol? Men?” one asked.

“Normal,” Lucas repeated. “Sometimes a little alcohol, outings with friends...”

“Oh, so she was a good girl by day and crazy by night, right?” Saul asked laughing.

Lucas couldn’t help but look at the officer with disdain for that thought. Honestly, he found it hard to believe that his friend Pascal would soon be hanging out with people of that sort. He felt uncomfortable thinking maybe the perspective they had of Aria was exaggerated and stigmatized just because she disappeared in the presence of a third party.

Seeing Lucas’s reaction, the officers just gave a couple of nervous laughs.