Dead & Forgotten

Ch. 20

That evening after Mom had set the table for dinner, the phone started ringing. She went to answer it and said, "Hello, who's speaking, please? Nice to meet you, Mrs. Rogers. Yes, this is Vivienne Fuller, Cassandra's mother. What happened?" There was a moment of pause before Mom continued talking. "Cassandra is not at school? How can this be? Where could Cassandra be at this time?" There was another pause, this time a little longer. "Oh, well, she certainly isn't at home, that's for sure. If she isn't at school and she isn't at home either, then I'm awfully afraid I do not know where Cassandra is. I'm very sorry." Another pause. "Okay, I'll inform my husband about this. Thank you very much, Mrs. Rogers." Then she hung up.

Aunt Elena and Aunt Hillary came into the kitchen. "Who was that, a prank caller?" Aunt Elena said jokingly.

"No, I'm afraid not," said Mom with a sigh. "That was Headmistress Flora Rogers, Cassandra's principal."

"Uh-oh, did little Cassie-wassy start to rebel against her teachers now?" asked Aunt Hillary.

"Not even. Worse than that," replied Mom with another sigh. "Apparently, she seems to have mysteriously vanished from the school building. According to the principal, that is."

"Mysterious, huh?" said Aunt Elena. "Now this looks like another Rachel Lang case. Two girls who mysteriously vanish into thin air without a trace."

"Yep, another mystery case to solve," Mom groaned.

I asked Mrs. Hank an absurd question. "Shouldn't we eat first?" Of course we couldn't eat at the Springfields; we didn't get along with them, silly me!

"Sweetheart, you need to return back to school," Mrs. Hank said. "I'm pretty sure that all your teachers are worried about you right now. They don't know of your whereabouts, so it's important that you go back."

She was right; I needed to go back. I missed dealing with the thrill and excitement, drama and chaos that made up Marshall Academy. It felt like a movie, like a roller coaster of emotions. You had no idea what it truly felt like. Just then, there was another moment of an awkward silence between all of us. "Well, it certainly was a pleasure meeting you Hanks," Mrs. Springfield said, sounding indifferent.

"Great company," Phoebe said, not really meaning it. Everyone was mad at each other. It was a terrible time for all of us.

"You can always come knocking on our door at anytime you desire," Mr. Springfield said, although there was a zero-to-hundred possibility of that ever happening again. "Whenever you need us, we're always here." I wasn't sure if he was being sincere, but we all had the feeling he wasn't. The Springfields hated us; they wouldn't give a damn if we ever came to visit them again. And hopefully, we'd never visit them again....or would we now?

I had to say this one thing before we left. "Your son is a really nice and charming boy," I told them, even though I didn't really mean it. And they could sense that I didn't mean it. So Mrs. Springfield said, "Thanks," with that same tone of indifference in her voice.

"Well, we're all departing now," Mrs. Hank said, all of us leaving the house together. I shut the door behind us, and the Springfields seemed like they didn't mind our departure. Some company they were.

When we got into the car, Ariadne said, "Mother, I believe I must potty. Don't you too, Penelope?"

"No, thank you. I'm good," Penelope replied.

Mrs. Hank said to Ariadne softly, "Sweetheart, why don't you try to hold it until we get home? It isn't too far now. Cassandra dear, when we get home, please call your taxi driver. You really need to go back to Marshall Academy."