Unravel

Chapter 1

It was 6 pm. Someone knocked on the door. Cassandra rushed to open it and as she expected, it was Jennifer her best friend roommate.

"Hey Cassieee, I bought us food!"Jennifer yelled with a big grin.

"Thank you, I was hungry."Cassandra said with a smile and looked at what she was holding. Jennifer had bought McDonald's burgers, pizza and some drinks.

"What are you doing?"Jennifer asked curiously when she walked in the study room and saw the scattered papers,notes and books.

"I was looking through dad's archives," Cassandra replied.

"How many times have you looked at these Cassie?"Jennifer said ironically.

"I know but I think I'm missing something all the time."

"Cassie you ain't missing anything, you have been looking at these papers for thousands of times. I know it's hard but it's time to move on," Jennifer said, reassuringly putting a hand on Cassandra's shoulder.

"You know I'll never give up Jennifer. I'll find my mother wherever she could be," Cassandra said with determination. She had settled her mind a long time ago. She'd go far enough to reach her goal.

"But why do you keep searching through your dad's archives?" Jennifer asked. Jennifer knew how stubborn and determined Cassandra would be but she doesn't understand what does her father has to do with her mother's disappearance.

"I think my father was hiding something from me, all the time I asked him about my mom he would just get mad at me for no reason. He was all the time like: "Cassandra your mother is dead. I don't want to talk about that anymore". It was always the same answer. I'm missing something for sure. "Cassandra said. She had a strong feeling that her father was hiding something.

Cassandra's family was very wealthy.Her father, William Roth died when she was 17 year old. When Cassandra turned 18, she inherited half of the wealth and the mansion. The other half was taken by her greedy uncle, David.

He and his family lived far away and they were the only relatives that Cassandra had but she wasn't even close with them and rarely contacted with them. Meanwhile Jennifer's father went bankrupt and Cassandra welcomed Jennifer to her house. Since then they live together.

"Ok Cassandra but let's just eat first, I'm starving,"Jennifer complained making a miserable fake face. After she convinced Cassandra while trying to move her out of the study room, they went in the living room and started eating.

"So I got a new job opportunity."Jennifer broke the silence.

"For what?" Cassandra asked.

"I don't really know much, I think it's something like writing reports or something like an assistant," Jennifer answered not knowing what else to say.

"Really? You don't know what job you're applying for?" Cassandra said confused.

"Oh come on, it's not a big deal, whatever it is I'll do it and then I will have my own money, I mean you don't have to care about me," Jennifer said trying to convince her.

"You know you're my best friend,and you're the only one I have,how can I not care for you Jen?" Cassandra said smiling.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jennifer said chuckling.

After finishing eating, Cassandra got up.

"Where are you going girl?" Jennifer asked frowning. She wanted to watch a movie together.

"I'm going upstairs, I have some work to do."

"Are you gonna leave me here alone? You're kidding right?"

"Ugh Jennifer... you can come if you want, are you scared or what?" Cassandra taunted.

"Well, it's not my fault that your house is creepy."Jennifer complained, her lips forming a pout.

She was right. The mansion was old and somewhat creepy, with its gothic and victorian appearance. But Cassandra didn't care much. Despite it's aura and edgy chambers, there wasn't anything else to be afraid of.

After giving glares to each other Cassandra left to her father's office to continue searching for what she wanted. Even a little clue would mean a lot for her.

She would rarely visit her house. During childhood, as well as teenagehood, she was board schooled. Later on, she was at university. So, her own house seemed foreign and undecipherable.

Now, she had no idea what Jen was doing but she was probably eating or watching some movie since it was her favorite thing to do, or maybe she left the house to hangout somewhere, but now this wasn't really a concern for Cassandra.

After 2 hours of reading unimportant and scattered papers, she was so tired and really wanted to stop until her eyes cought an envelope, quietly different from other documents as this one had a weird symbol and was painted light blue.

Cassandra thought of ignoring it and looking through it later, but her curiosity wasn't letting her go.

She decided to open the envelope and it revealed a folded letter. She noticed it was her father's handwriting, which meant her father actually wrote it. It was just a short paragraph, that she decided to read out loud:

"Dear Cassandra,
I know that someday you're going to find this letter and read it. And you might hate me after this. But you need to know that I didn't had much of a choice. I did it all for you and your safety. Your mother is alive. I don't know where she is but I know someone who might know it. If you want to learn about it which I know that you'll never forget,go to Oakland in California and find a woman called "Clara Jones". I know that isn't much information but it's all I know. Her photo is inside the envelope .I hope you'll forgive me someday for not telling you. I did it for your best.
Sincerely,
Your dad, William."

"What the...what in the world did I just read?!" Cassandra's eyes went wide. She was completely shocked, she wasn't believing her eyes and what was even written in this letter. To be sure she read it again quickly.

"My mom is alive! I knew it, I always knew it. I have to find her!" Cassandra cheered. Her heart rose up with hope. Hope and determination had always been there but now...now it was awakened even more.

Cassandra jumped up on excitement. It meant everything for her, the fact that her mother is alive. But remembering her father's lies and what he hid from her for years, these thoughts hit so hard on her that her big smile fell down.

"Why did he even do this?! Why didn't he tell me?" she asked herself, probably questions that wouldn't be answered at all.

She was so bothered that she totally forgot about the picture mentioned. She looked inside the envelope again and picked a small photo of a woman.

The woman appeared to be in her fifties. She had bob blonde haircut and brown eyes. It must have been like passport's photo.

Cassandra took a capture of it with her phone and slipped it in her pocket. Her hands were nearly trembling from the excitement.

After some time of walking back and forth, she decided that she would get to the end of this.

"I have to find you, Clara Jones!" she said full of determination and that time she would do everything to do it.

She didn't bother to put the papers in their place, this would take so much time so instead she just went downstairs with excitement evident in her whole being.

She nearly fell from the stairs. She couldn't wait to share this with Jennifer. As soon as the dark wooden staircase ended, Jennifer was nowhere in sight. Of course Jennifer could be anywhere now.

The mansion was big with plenty of rooms.