b a b y s i t t i n g t h e p r e s i d e n t 's d a u g h t e r

Chapter 23: Focus. And Stay Away From The Pretty Boys.

Things were seen to be heating up in the newspapers lately, with more speculations and predictions in social media about the disappearance of the President and his family. Press conferences were often held and assistance from the other countries was even offered although I knew the residents around here had their doubts about the 'help'. Conspiracy theories were rife, and the confusion was building as to the investigations, or so they say. Amidst these troubling times for the nation, the Vice President acted as Head of the country temporarily until the President would return. He was often present in the articles and newspapers, assuring the public and informing us of any updates from the investigations.

Till now, I knew Amanda was well hidden here, but as yet, nobody, no, not even her, knew where the President was, and I pitied her. For the most part, the conspiracy theories and the speculation were almost torture to her. People had their own views and spoke about it to the media as if they were experts about analyzing and decoding, when they didn't realize that a mere suggestion was painful to bear. The reason I say this, is because they began to attack the President himself, and the reasons as to how and why he went missing.

Amanda shook her head in a mocking way as she read the news, "People will say anything these days."

"You should really stop reading this." I pulled the newspaper away from her as she sat resolute on the chair, sighing as she looked on when I closed the pages.

"None of the rumors are true. I know my father; he wouldn't do something like that." Amanda huffed, "Now the reporters are saying he ran away with the money. I don't know how much longer I can take this. One day the people say they support him that they look up to him. Yet..."

I looked at her, making my best to listen, "On the bright side, my uncle got you out safely."

Thankful, she broke into a smile, "Thank God."

"What actually happened that day?" I ventured to ask, "I thought my uncle was no longer in Washington. One day he was here in Everton and the next day he leaves early and suddenly you're here."

"Your uncle, he just knew something was up. He got a funny feeling about everything in the White House when he heard the news and how I was the only one who survived the kidnapping. So he let the only person he trusted, the chef, know of the plan and sneak me out into the catering trucks during one of the events. I made the switch to a car he rented and we drove for miles without looking back before we reached another car rental," She explained, laughing at my unbelief at how many procedures had to be taken, "Meanwhile of course, I fixed my hair and changed so no one would recognize me. We did the whole car rental change about 3 times with different names every time until we were finally in his own car, driving the long course to Everton."

I gaped, "That's..."

"A lot of safety measures, yeah."

"That must have cost thousands!"

Amanda shrugged, "I guess, yeah,"

I thought for a minute and scratched my head, "Is that why he's always out? Returning those rented cars?"

"Maybe," She quipped, "I don't know."

"Wouldn't anyone notice though, if they really checked the cameras, that it was the same person all along?" I asked, very curious.

Amanda smiled and shook her head, "They were his friends."

I gaped, "The plan is perfect!"

"Of course! In fact, he even introduced me to one of them, who turned out to be in the secret service. I can't recognize every single member of the secret service but this one was strangely familiar. And he was in the plan all along, keeping mum about me."