The Test [#1]

Chapter 23: Lissa

Daniel and I hide in the closet, not wanting to attract any attention from anyone, even though we are the only ones in the room.

"So your mom gave you a phone?" he asks me.

I nod, looking through the contacts. "I actually just remembered earlier when I was looking through my bag. And I realized I haven't called since we got shipped here. So if I'm going to get in trouble, you'll be in on it too."

He rolls his eyes. "How generous," I say, sarcastically.

I let out a small laugh as I dial my mom's phone number. "Do you think we'll get caught? What will they do if they find us here hiding a phone?"

I feel his hand wrap around my free one. "I'm sure they don't just walk in a room without knocking. We'll probably be able to hear them."

I smile at him as I hear the phone ringing. Usually, my mom picks up as soon as possible. But today, she's not. The rings all the way through before sending me straight to voicemail.

That's weird. My mother has never missed a call from me. And neither has Sam, which I called right after mom. Neither of them answered my phone call. Letting out a sigh, I call nth of them one more time before getting sent straight to voicemail.

Daniel noticed there was something wrong before I could even tell him. He scoots closer towards me and rests my head on his chest.

Then finally, someone answers. "What?"

"Were you ever going to answer?" I demand.

Sam chuckles. "Sorry, baby sis. Mom and I were outside. How are you doing?"

"Good," I say, leaning more into Daniel. "What were you and mom doing outside? And why didn't she just take her phone with her?"

Sam hesitates a little. "We were just working on the garden outside. You know, the one that we always forget about ends up dying."

I smile at the memory. "Of course I remember. How are you guys doing?"

He hesitates a little. "We're good. Everything is good."

"Okay," I say slowly. "Now I can tell you're lying. What's going on?"

There's silence for a while and I thought he hung up but then I hear my mother's voice.

"Hey, sweetie," she says. She sounds different, weaker.

"Hey, mom," I say softly. "Are you okay?"

"Of course," she tells me. "Is there a reason as to why you are calling?"

"It's been a while," I tell her. "I just wanted to see how things were going over there?"

She sighs. "Well, Lissa, I really have to get going. But call me again some other time, okay? Just not right now."

Then she hangs up.

I stare at the phone in my hands for a long while. Something is definitely wrong.

All of a sudden, there's a loud banging on the door. Daniel and I glance at each other before quickly getting up from the closet.