Dear Cheyanne

Thoughts & Concerns

After that call from Vada, it has been a crazy couple of days. To my surprise, my mom let me skip school that next day since I was woken up to a crazy night. Instead, I helped her around the house by deep cleaning and taking a long, refreshing walk to myself. But that walk did not last long. It was starting to get colder outside, and winter was coming fast here in Oregon. But our winters consist of more rain than snow.

It has been a couple days since that day and today I had therapy around 1:00. I was going to be leaving early for school to go, which I was not complaining about. I would rather go see Ms. Dayton than stay in my school. I left right after my sociology class, which I wish I could have missed. Sociology was so boring to me.

The drive seemed so quick. For some strange reason, I was super excited for my appointment with my therapist today. I was feeling the abrupt urge to just talk. I parked in the same parking lot in front of the same boring building, nothing ever changed with that. I got out of the car and checked myself in at the front desk. It was like these receptionists were starting to remember me more and more each session.

"Okay Ms. O'Connor, you are good to make your way up to Ms. Dayton's room."

I thanked the receptionist and started the long walk to her office.

***

"You seem eager." Ms. Dayton commented, sitting at her desk. I was pinching the tips of my fingers like a nervous tick. I never know what Ms. Dayton is going to think of me when I truly want to tell her a story about what is going on. It could go two ways; she can either be proud of me or disappointed in me. I sighed, giving her a small nod.

"I'm ready." I spoke, sitting up straight in the loveseat. Ms. Dayton gave me a cheery smile, setting her pen down and leaning back. It seemed like she was enthusiastic to hear what I had to say.

"Well— we got some good news about Cheyanne's case." I started, watching Ms. Dayton's expressions carefully. But after stating about Cheyanne, she seemed still intrigued to listen. "They opened it up again."

"You are kidding!" Ms. Dayton jumped in her voice with a smile. "What made them decide to reopen it?" I shrugged, clicking my teeth at her question.

"I'm— I was there when her family talked to the detective. I guess they found some more interesting information on her case that made it more interesting to reopen. Surveillance cameras from traffic lights and fingerprints on her car that they weren't sure of. I was one of the fingerprints, but I was not surprised."

"Wow— "Ms. Dayton commented. "Looks like they are going to be finally cracking something down."

"Yes, but who knows what they will find." I spoke. I was not wrong. They were determined to find something the first time, but they ended up just closing the case. It was like they gave up on her. "I just want her to find peace."

"Do you think she is at peace?" Ms. Dayton asked in an honest tone. I scoffed, shaking my head at her question without answering for a moment.

"No, I don't."

"Why do you think that?"

"You will laugh at me; think I am crazy and lock me up." This was it. I felt confident enough to tell someone that was not Leah. I think I should, but I also think I will be locked up.

"I'm all ears." Ms. Dayton replied. The room was silent for a minute as I sat to think about what I was going to say next. My head started to spin again from anxiety. But I sighed, composing myself to finally make words with my mouth.

"Ms. Dayton, do you believe in ghosts?" I asked. She took a step back in her seat, trying to also think of what she was going to say next.

"Well, I've never experienced anything involving a ghost but, I've heard they exist. Why do you ask?"