The Reincarnated Queen

She was almost about to hit her head on the glass wall of her cubicle when a tap on it jolted her awake. Her eyes blinked rapidly giving way to sleepy green eyes laced with boredom.

"You really are jobless eh?" It was Ellie, her colleague at the Newday Newspaper company.

"What?" Carla rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn not ready to banter words with Ellie.

"Vanessa Carter wants you in her office." Ellie eyed her with contempt before leaving.

"I'd be there in 2 minutes." She called after Ellie only to see her pause and turn to look at her like she had lost her mind.

"Madam Vanessa Carter wants you in her office this instant." Ellie stated with a tone of finality and Carla felt the eyes of a few people stare at her from their different cubicles.

"Coming!" She called back, mumbling a few curses beneath her breath and hurriedly gathering her note and pen.

Anna, her 7 year old daughter, had been a pain in the ass last night, forcing her to read out a bedtime story over and again till she found herself dozing repeatedly while Anna just stared at her with her non sleepy, repeatedly blinking eyes.

Peeking her head through the half open door of the Editor-in-chief, she almost recoiled when she met the stern gaze of Madame Vanessa Carter's green eyes behind her glasses.

"Come in." Vanessa's eyes followed her movement till she felt herself about to trip on her own foot.

"There have been strange disappearances close to the Darkwood Forest..." Vanessa started, looking down on the open book before her like she was reading from it.

"In the Darkwood Forest." Carla found herself correcting, her palms were beginning to get sweaty.

Vennessa looked up at her for a second, her glasses resting perfectly on her straight nose which looked just as strict as the owner.

"It's a good thing you follow the recent events." She gave a small smile that hardly qualified for a smile.

"As a jobless reporter, I am officially assigning you to take up the investigation of these disappearances starting with the most recent, report back to office as soon as possible." Carla stood still, her eyes only focusing on Vanessa's moving lips, the words coming out slowly to hit her ear with a force that made her heart tumble down to her stomach.

"Leave." Vanessa's stern and forceful voice jolted her and drove her out of the office in an instant.

Punching the air in frustration, Carla tugged at her hair and almost broke down in tears.

Who doesn't know about the frightening and mysterious Darkwood Forest?

Now, she was assigned to make an investigation on strange disappearances alone! Without a partner!

Back at her cubicle, with her hair now scattered like she had a bird nestle on it, she punched on the buttons of the telephone with anger, her jaws ticking and her eyes frosty.

"Hello?" The male voice rang into her ear on picking the call.

"Is this the Portlag Police Station?" She asked tiredly.

"Yes, any report?"

"This is the Newday Newspaper company and I am Reporter Carla Bennett, officially assigned to investigate the missing cases in the – in the Darkwood Forest." She stated, unsure of what to say next or what to expect.