Safe Word

Indigo.

"Whenever you hear that name, see that name, I want you to stop and remember. Do you understand?"

- -

It was fourth grade; I had just turned ten, and back then, I was one of the "popular" kids. Everyone knew my name: faculty and staff, my entire fourth-grade class, and even the older kids. Those days I remember clearly, the best days of my life. I was new and was scared I wouldn't have any friends, but I proved wrong. Even having my name known to all those people, the one person I needed by my side, who without, my days wouldn't have been possible, my best friend, Anya.

Same height, same age, and shared birthday, Anya and I had a special connection back then. Moving to a new neighborhood was hard for my family and me. Where we were originally from, we had to leave for reasons I was not aware of, but I'm grateful we did. If we never had moved, I would've never met Anya, who was also our next-door neighbor. Her family had come over to help us move in and invite us to dinner, and that is when I first met my best friend.

Anya was a short girl with long brown hair that went down past her back. Her favorite color was pink, and she had this unique pink bracelet she would carry with her everywhere; I always wanted, so I disliked her at first. Then there was me, Bella, short for Isabella, with shoulder-length black hair. My favorite color was blue, and after opposing Anya for her bracelet, she made me one in blue. The exact same one. Other than that, all I had were board games and a teddy bear. When my family and I arrived in our new house, the family next door came over and greeted us; that was the day I met Anya. From then on, we played together every day after school and on weekends.

We did everything together. Dressed up, played in our mother's makeup, argued about who would be the mother in the mother-daughter skit, and specifically went to the playground next to the school every second Sunday. That playground is where we spent most of our time together. We would stand at the top of the slide and pose like models or go on the swings and see who swung the highest. But the most significant part about that playground is the tall oak tree. When we would get tired, we always went to that tree to lay down. If it was sunny, we would go under the tree to get some shade. If we were supposed to meet up and one was running late, we would wait under the tree until we were together. We even engraved our names. But now our actual names.

One day we talked about why we were given the names we have, and of course, I made up a wild story about how I was named, and so did Anya. We both knew we lied to each other, but it didn't matter to us then.

"I never liked my name," I stated. "I wanted to be named Indigo."

Anya looked at me with surprise in her eyes and replied, "I wanted to be named Indigo too!" We then settled that we would only call each other that in case of an emergency. That we would spell it so that only the two of us would know it was each other. The last letter 'I' would be replaced by the number 1 and the 'O' replaced by the number 0 since we were 10, the age we promised this to one another. That number was a key to our friendship and the number that changed everything because ten years later, she went missing.

—-

Now I'm on the hunt for her. She went missing in our senior year on the day of graduation. She never showed up, and I didn't have time till now to find her. It took me so long because, straight after graduation, I had to leave for college. The college I received a full scholarship in which I had to leave for straight after graduation. That's why I'm back. I'm going to find my best friend no matter the stakes.

I will find Ind1g0.

As I pull up to the police station, I pray that they have some information they can give me about her. But coming here was a complete waste of time. I dropped out of school immediately and began to work somewhere near the school to save enough to get back home and find her. I luckily did not live on campus, and I could give my scholarship to someone else that needed it. They told me she has still not been found, and the police have put the case on hold. There is no recent evidence but, "I'll be updated on anything new when it arrives and is processed."

Now I have to take matters into my hands.

I have no clue where to start, though. I'm not a detective or anything close to it. Didn't go to college to become one either. I want to find her. It'll be worth it when (not if) I see her.

Speak it into existence.

"I will find her."

Driving down the road, I'm still thinking of where I can start this search for her. Everything is different around here now, and it's hard for me to do anything. Knowing it's not safe for me to think about her and concentrate on driving simultaneously, I pull over to a fast-food joint and park my car. Getting out and sitting on the hood of my car, I get some fresh air and try to puzzle something together to get a start on this search.

Getting into the mindset of Anya shouldn't be hard because we are literally the same person. If I were kidnapped, where would I be that would get me kidnapped? This question doesn't make sense, but it's all I can come up with. Then I check my phone. Today is Sunday. I check my calendar; it's the second Sunday of April. On every second Sunday, we go to the playground next to the school. I immediately get back into my car, start it, and pull out to head to the garden next to the school.

A lead. I'm doing something. I'm one step ahead of where I was before in finding her. As I arrive at the playground, memories hit me of the days we spent here together. How we would compete to see who would swing the highest or pose at the top of the slides as if we were models and then that oak tree we would sit under.

The tree.

I notice something by it.

Something pink.

As I run over to it, I remind myself, "Whenever you hear that name, see that name, I want you to stop and remember. Do you understand?" I say this to myself, every day that she is still missing. I can't live my life without my best friend. And as I approach the tree, I'm honestly surprised it's here.

It's right under the tree, and that pink bracelet is there. That special one she never left without. The matching blue one I still have on my wrist. I don't want to touch it to harm any evidence, but I noticed an engraving in the tree.

Ind1g0.