Lorelie vs the Life of Summer Rose

Chapter 14

This was quick, I think. Too quick.

I repeat it again and again in my head.

I thought I had two weeks.

I pretend to be shocked when he says it, even though I've been prepared this entire time. This is not the part I'm scared of, though. Because this part I know.

"I don't know what to say, Lorelie," Detective Burgundy says. "You don't exist. Anywhere. Your records are nowhere— you're a ghost. Our very own Jane Doe."

"Yay," I say weakly. "It's like a movie."
It's what comes after that scares me the most.

We're all sitting at the dinner table, this time. Cups of black tea steam in each of our hands but mine is the only one untouched. Summer keeps glancing at me like she wants to comfort me but doesn't know how to, and a part of me wants her to, but a part of me also doesn't know what will happen if she does. Maybe I'll cry. I feel strangely sensitive to all of this and at the same time I feel nothing at all. Numb.

"We'll be happy to continue having her here," Mr Inoue says, startling me. "She can stay here as long as she wants to while the investigation is ongoing."

"That will be helpful," Detective Burgundy continues, but he's still shifting in his seat like a nervous fawn. "But that's not the issue here."

"What's the issue, then?"

"She's not a legal adult, and she's also not a UK citizen. So she's a minor, and minors need to be managed by the government. But there have been no reports whether or not she's educated, chosen to drop out, in a trade school, nothing. The government has granted her a conditional visa due to special circumstances, but because of her situation, she has, well, conditions to fill."

We all stare at him.

"She needs to go to school. They've given her a student visa."

Silence.

I can't tell what any of them are thinking; they've all got the same, impassive face, one that's impossible to read. I can't tell if this makes them anxious. If this is too complicated. If they're waiting for this guy to shut up and tell us the full details instead of pausing for effect like we're on some reality TV show. Maybe everything, all at once. I can't say I expected any of this— I was fully expecting them to kick me out and put me in a home. School was just the cherry on the cake.

The surprise just hasn't hit me yet.

I clear my throat. "Okay then. I'll go to school."

"It's not that simple."

"What, do you need me to attend counselling sessions? That's understandable. I'll do it."

"Yes." He's uncomfortable again. "But that's also an issue. Because they've put you on a student visa, they want you to do skill testing before they immediately put you in school."

"Okay?"

"The government has reported this to Canterbury College." The boarding school. Summer's school. They're keen to offer you a scholarship if you can pass their entrance test."

Silence. So much silence.

But this time I can't breathe.

"No," I croak. What's happening right now?

Is this the world of a fictional government actively working against me? It doesn't make sense. I should be fine in a public school. If I get put in the boarding school, then that means I'm going to have to involve myself in the plot. Where everything happens. I don't even have plans on how I'm going to deal with it— but now I'm being pushed to the epicentre of it?