7

Waking up the next day filled me with a mix of dread and nervousness. When I'd gotten back to the residence building yesterday I hadn't found my journal in my drawers. Ollie had looked on at me as I groaned and nearly taken everything I'd put away apart in search of the book. I'd wanted to leave the building to go and look for it again, but Halimat had stopped me in the hallway on my way, telling me that we couldn't go out after eight unless we had a school ID card to check back in with, and I hadn't gotten mine yet.

I'd spent the rest of the night worrying, and rolling in bed, praying that whoever had found it had just quietly returned it to the lost and found room in the student union building without reading it.

I tried to comfort myself by telling myself that even if the person read it they didn't know me, and would just think it was a random story, not something as personal as it actually was.

At five in the morning, I stopped rolling around in bed and decided to get up. I left the room to take a shower before coming back and getting into a fresh set of clothes. I kept checking my phone, trying to wait out the time I had left until the student union building opened, which was at eight. When it was time, I left my room, heading down the stairs to the main lobby before leaving the building altogether in a hurry. I found myself half running, and half walking through the fifteen minutes' walk, and I only stopped to catch my breath when I got into the main building.

"Okay, where's the lost and found," I muttered to myself under my breath as I checked my phone for the building information. After a while of zooming in on the floor plans, I realized that the lost and found was just a tiny room attached to the library on the lower level.

So, the basement. I thought to myself as I headed for the elevators. I pressed the button to head to the lower floor, and I got out after the elevator stopped and its doors opened. I sighed in relief, since the first thing that greeted my eyes was the sign, Lost and Found right at the top of a door just across from me. I got out of the elevator, heading over to the door before opening it and walking in without another thought.

After looking around the almost empty room I turned to the one person that was there. "Hello, I'm looking for where to search for my lost stuff," I muttered to the lady behind the desk. She didn't say anything — she didn't even take her eyes off the monitor, but she pointed at a row of boxes towards the left of her table.

"Thank you," I said before heading to the plastic boxes. I made to look through them, hoping that my journal had been returned. My heart fell when I went through each box, one at a time, and I didn't find my book. I tried looking over each box again, convincing myself that I might have overlooked it, but the search was to no avail. The only thing inside the boxes were a handful of textbooks, some sweaters, and a pair of winter gloves. I sighed, giving up before making to leave the room.

The lady hadn't asked me if I'd found what I was looking for. I was sure she didn't even know I'd left the room.

What now? I asked in my mind. I hugged myself, trying to keep calm. Maybe whoever was with it was planning to drop it off later today? I ran a hand through my hair, closing my eyes as I tried to think of what to do next. Should I just head back to the main residence and wait for another few hours—

"Xander!" I frowned in confusion at the sound of my name being called out. I mean, Ollie was the only one who really knew me at the moment and he was still in bed, and there was no possible way he'd be at the student union building now. I looked about, my eyes widening when I saw Maxwell walking towards me as he waved a book he had in his hand.

"Hey! I was looking for you yesterday," he said when he stopped right in front of me. "This is yours," he said as he made to hand me the book.