Chapter 15

Not to scare you, but for y'all who do not believe werewolves or superpowers or ghosts exist, I hope you will, with this true life story of mine. Like I said, it is not to scare you.

This diary is full of experiences you can learn from, and also relate with. I had a lot of things to cope with as a child, some of which you must have read up there.

Well, The next day in school after the incident, I went to Anita's class to confirm her absence. Her teachers said she was not on the assembly ground and she was absent during the roll call for attendance. In fact, a meeting was held in the school hall with regard to her disappearance. It was unlike her to come late to school or at the worst, not come at all, so her absence was so evident and felt by everyone, because she was a beautiful and bright girl.

Not like she was the only beautiful and bright girl in the whole school, but she's won a lot of awards for Enchanting Promises High School, that is, my school, and she was even in the school on a full scholarship.She was a very sporty girl, very good at races and basketball. Her long legs suit that game really well. Her dad was dead, according to reports, and her mother was poor. She had no sibling. But she had a cousin who lived with them and also was in the school on scholarship. Her name was Maria and she was in the same grade as me.

When the meeting was about to begin, I suddenly felt jittery, and weirdly guilty, like I had a hand in her death. It was probably because I witnessed the gory sight of her death. The scene still plays out in my head, up till today. Therapy helps delete a part of it, like the part where she was slashed in three, but the part where she screamed and fell silent? I still remember so vividly and it haunts me. That memory haunts me.

The school principal talked about Anita and her good deeds and award, and then told everyone that it was rumoured that she was kidnapped last night, and that her mother had reported to the school and police stations that her daughter had not returned home the previous day, after school. There was a search party released for her since then but it had been fruitless.

"We want everyone of us to be on the alert, and help in this search for our dear Anita. She must have been kidnapped, and we sincerely hope that her kidnapper would be brought to book soonest" she said. The hall remained silent.

That moment, rage grew in me, especially as I watched Uncle Robinson sitting calmly at the extreme of the room, with his glasses on his nose as usual, and his pen scribbling nonsense on his scripts. That moment, I wanted to set him ablaze, and burn him to ashes, and then destroy his ashes if it were possible. He was not fit to be among humans.

Yes, Uncle Robinson was about the meekest teacher in the whole school, he acted very kind and loving to students, and obeyed the school authorities. He had even gotten recognition from the school as the most affectionate, meekest teacher in the whole of Enchanting Promises High School. He even preached moral values to us after every class, but his heart was dark. Darker than an empty, underground tunnel. Darker than death.

"The other schools where she has represented us in times past have got the news too, and they're all working towards helping to find her. Research has it that she was last found in school yesterday around 12:00pm, just an hour, thirty minutes before closing hour.

Her mother claimed that she didn't come home and when the time turned 2:00pm and Anita wasn't back yet, she called two of her teachers. Madame Florence, French teacher and Uncle Robinson, her desk teacher. Can you both come out here and explain to us further what you said to her mother on.phone?"

So, both of the teachers stepped out and mounted the podium. The hall was silent. Everyone either had their heads bowed, or their hands on their chin. Most of them were shaking their heads, and sighing and a little girl at the middle of the hall was sobbing, wiping her hands on her face and being consoled by one or two or three teachers. It was Maria, Anita's little cousin.

Immediately Uncle Robinson began to talk, I immediately felt like puking.

"Rose, I need to pee, can you go with me to the bathroom please?" I asked one of my friends who was sitting by my side.

"This is the third time you'll be peeing since this meeting started. Did you swallow a river?" Rose said blatantly. I was so mad that I just shrugged her off and darted towards the bathroom on my own. I checked my reflection in the mirror and all I could see was hair, neglect, horror and numbness. The only person who could make me feel better that moment was Mike Tony. Not even my mom, because my mom had started to shun me then. My mind began to wonder

I began to think about how much mom was going through. My mom was turning into a potato, and not even a sweet potato but a Irish watery one. Sometimes she would yell at me, and made me do many chores. She'd sometimes ask me to go to my room, if I was trying to sit by her and talk to her.

She would refuse to come sleep in my room, claiming my bed was too uncomfortable for her. She'd go and sleep in the guest room and then come back to my room in the middle of the night and start to cry like a baby. Her crying woke me up everyday. I wondered why she did that. I wondered if it was so much pain to carry a baby in your stomach. I hoped mom would not get tired of carrying my sister and go slash her stomach, like "hey I can't carry you no more, kiddo, come out already". Her eye still hurt,but it did look better already. Cameron didn't stay home as much as before. He started to go on several trips, when he realized he'd not be getting anything from Ruby, my mom.

She was still hell-bent on not sleeping in his room although she still cooked for him. She also insisted on the divorce after the baby was born. But somehow I wished Cameron was around, because mom poured all her pregnancy frustrations on me and I wished all the time that she'd go into labour and deliver the baby already. It was not like if Cameron was around, he'd do much, but at least I'd know this woman's husband is here, she can pour her frustration on him, not me.

I was the helpless receiver of her frustration. Everyday she complained of back pains and cried real tears. She hid the tears from me but I always saw them fall down her cheeks.

After mom had made me angry more than once, she'd come to my room and apologize to me, by rubbing my head and kissing my cheek and giving me my favorite cookie, but she always did it again. That same annoying thing. She'd shun me again, but she'd tell me it's the baby growing in her stomach although that shouldn't be an excuse for her misbehaviors. And yes, her tummy was indeed growing big. So big I wondered if she was going to birth a baby elephant.

Sometimes though, she had her good days, and it was usually when this stranger called her on phone. She'd smile and laugh so hard while on phone with him. Maybe he was the reason for her planning the divorce with Cameron. He must be the one she was seeing.

I hoped everytime they called that he'd be a better father, if we eventually got to meet and live together. All I wanted was a father that'd carry me and love me, and call me pretty like Mike Tony did, and a man that'd love Mom like Adrian loved Nora, the nurse. Sometimes mom would puke throughout the night and I'd pour water on her face and lose some well-deserved night's sleep as a result