The Hidden Truth

Chapter Thirty: Trouble at School

As the week progresses the vigor in her activity level slowly continues to roll down hill. It gets to the point that I have to help her with most of the things that she did for herself the first few days she was here. By Thursday evening I gave up on her homework completely. I didn’t care if it was done or not so as long as she didn’t shut down on me. 

Phoenix's disappearance also has me concerned. I figured he would have been back by now or at least shown up for her tutoring sessions. When I last talked to him about what he does afterwards, he claimed that he goes to his spot and lets it flow out but refused to tell me how. Without some kind of idea of what he's doing, I’m clueless as to when he will be back and that worries me the most. At that point, I decided to make some extreme changes.

A few hours after dropping her off at school on Friday, I received a call saying that she hasn’t shown up to class after lunch and questioned me if I dropped her off to school yet. I spend about twenty minutes on the phone arguing with the woman that I watched her walk into the building before leaving and it’s not like her to miss a class before realizing how easy it was to get her to leave the group home. At that moment I rush over towards the school driving around the grounds, looking to see if I can spot her anywhere before expanding my search.

Finally, I spot her three blocks away at a park, the opposite direction from her new home. I park the car in a stall nearby and walk over. As I approach the swing she’s sitting on, she doesn’t so much as look at me. It's as if she didn’t hear me walking towards her when I know well enough that she did. I sit down on the swing next to her as I ask, “Why are you avoiding school?”

She continues to sit there lightly moving the swing back and forth not responding to me. So I try again, “Sara, do you have a problem with one of your teachers?” This time she answers me with the shake of her head and I continue, “Another student, perhaps?” Once more I receive nothing. Silence passes between us as I think.

Several minutes later, I tell her to go to the car but she remains there on the swing still ignoring me until I shout, “Sara! Car! Now!” At that moment she gets up without so much as a flinch from my loud booming voice and makes her way to the car and climbs in behind the driver's seat. Mystified over her sudden strange behaviour I follow her and head back to the school. I was curious as to why they called me instead of looking for her themselves. 

As I arrive I decide that it's best for her to stay by my side as I command her to stay close and not to say anything while entering the building and heading straight to the principal's office. The whole way here I debated the best way to deal with this situation and find that since she’s following my orders in a specific way it was best to keep my instructions short and to the point. I just hoped that her actions don’t draw any suspicion in my direction. 

Upon entering the principal's office, Sara lingered a few feet back but continued to follow me like a puppy on a leash while I greeted Father Damien, “Sir, I’m sorry once again for snapping on your secretary about my daughter's vanishing trick. It seems that she’s having an issue this morning with staying on task. I’m going to be taking her home for some proper rest. By the way, is this a regular occurance that I should be made aware of?”

“Mr. Morgan, I’m surprised that Sister Mary didn’t explain to you that your daughter has a medical condition that prohibits her from keeping up with the rest of the students here. We can only do so much to accommodate her but it's getting to the point that the arrangements we have in place aren’t enough.”

“What exactly are you trying to tell me?”

“To put it bluntly, sir your only option is to home school her. There isn’t a school around here that has the resources to adjust to her requirements.”

I stare at Father Damien over his irrational suggestion for her skipping school the first time in her life before asking, “Can she at least finish out the year here?” hoping that it will at least give me some time to figure out what to do with her next.

“Since there’s less than three weeks left of school, I don't see why not. But Mr. Morgan, do be advised if you think that her condition is going to improve anytime soon, it's not.”

“Out of curiosity, why didn’t you send someone after her when you found she was missing?”

“We don’t have the staff to chase down every student that decides to cut class, let alone enough teacher’s to educate the ones we do have. If it wasn’t for our parishioners we wouldn't even have this building.”

Hearing about the schools lack of funds makes me wish I could aid them in some way but my priority is mere feet behind me standing near the entrance of the office too afraid to come in any further. I kindly thank the man and head out the door with Sara tagging along behind me. 

As many times as I’ve analyzed Father Damien’s words on the way back to the house, I still couldn’t believe that a man of his faith would cast one of their own out on a whim like that. The poor girl ran away from school once, did he seriously think that she would do it again. Besides as much as I would rather teach her at home I just don’t have the time right now. Not with my boss’s demand taking a toll on me the way it has. Apart from that if I take careful consideration to the directives I set in place I don’t see how anyone could possibly override her objectives but I had to be sure. 

For the next several hours I worked with her constantly trying to figure out just how much I can say before I lose her in the list of tasks I assigned at a time. Afterwards I did my best to overrule anything I previously commanded. First without the use of her name and the second time around with. As a result I found that the only time I was able to terminate her mission completely was when I said, ‘Sara, stop.’ At that point she froze solid as if she was made of ice. I realized just then that the word ‘stop’ is going to be my biggest issue with the plan I had in mind to get her through the rest of the school year. 

A few minutes later there is a knock on the door. I quickly order her to her room as I make my way through the kitchen to answer it. There standing on my back porch is the last person I expected to see this week as I greet my boss, “Mr. Ramirez, what are you doing back so soon?”

“I wanted to see how you were coming along with the assignment I gave you.”

“Sir, I already told you it takes time and for what you want it takes even longer but I will get the job done.”

“Michael, you’ve already had two weeks ….how much longer is it going to take?”

“I don’t know, sir.”

“Maybe I should just find someone else that can.” he replies as he starts to walk down the driveway.

“You won’t find anyone else!” I retort folding my arms across my chest and leaning on the door frame. My skill set is a one of a kind and by bringing this to his attention, I have confidence that it will secure my position.

He turns back to me as he questions, “What makes you so confident about that, Michael?”

“No one is courageous enough to plunge.”

He then walks back, curious as he inquires, “Why is that?”

“Dementia stops people from learning it.”

He raises his eyebrows at me and asks, “If you knew that was the risk, then why did you pursue it in the first place?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Are they the same reasons you are willing to use it for me?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, I better see some progress soon or I’m going to have to pull the plug on our little deal. I’m not a patient man and you know that!”

I nod as I say, “Give me two months, if I don’t have anything for you by then, I’ll personally hand deliver the girl to you.”

He smiles as he replies, “I like the sound of that. Okay then, I expect either another name or the girl in my office no later than July eighth.” before disappearing into his rental car parked behind mine and driving off.