Gone Missing Part 2

Cassie is in utter shock. She opens her mouth to speak, but she’s suddenly lost the ability. Mom and dad said my twin sister died not too long after we were born. I don’t understand who’s sitting in front of me right now. Melanie just sits and stares at Cassie. Cassie finally gets the courage to speak. Who are you? My parents told me you were dead? Are you Melanie? I didn’t even know I had a twin sister until I received a letter yesterday. Melanie confirms her identity to Cassie. My name is Melanie, yes. Paul and Susan are my birth parents, but for some reason they chose to keep me locked away all these years. They never told you about me and then yesterday they told you I had died. I haven’t been dead, Cassie. I’m not just a figment of your imagination. This is real and I’m sitting right here in front of you. Cassie just stares now. Why did they choose to keep you locked away? What does that mean? Melanie explains to Cassie that Paul and Susan had only wanted one child, but ended up with 2. Instead of embracing both children and loving them both equally, they chose to love the first born and cast away the second child.

Melanie had been locked away in an orphanage, but Paul and Susan told them never to find parents for her. They wanted her to sit in the orphanage until she was 18 and then to let her go out on her own. Melanie goes on to explain that Paul and Susan would visit her once every year on her birthday and give her a new doll to play with, but they never spoke. One night Melanie got the courage to ask one of the caregivers why she was in an orphanage if she had parents. She grew to learn that only children without parents were kept in orphanages. Children seeking new parents were her friends and she didn’t understand why she was one of them. The caregiver would never tell her why until one night right before Melanie’s 18th birthday. The caregiver sat her down and told her what had become of her and why her parents left her alone.

The caregiver told her she had a twin sister named Cassie and that her parents only wanted one child and chose to give her away. Melanie told her she wanted to find Cassie so the caregiver steered her in the right direction, but Paul and Susan had given a false address and Melanie was left looking on her own. Melanie has been looking for Cassie ever since.

How can that be? My parents are the nicest parents. All of my friends love them. I can’t imagine that they would have a second child and lie about it or give them up. They’ve embraced all of my friends like they were their own children, so why give up a child that was actually theirs? We need to get to the bottom of this, Melanie. There’s something more we aren’t being told. I always wanted a sibling, but they always told me that mom couldn’t give me a sibling. Melanie, come back to their house with me so we can get this figured out once and for all.

No, they abandoned me. I don’t want to have anything to do with them. I wanted to tell you I was alive because I’ve always felt connected to you. Even before my caregiver told me you existed, I felt like I belonged to someone somewhere. It was you, Cassie. We belong together. We’re twins and they tore us apart. I can’t go back there.

But don’t you want to know why they did this? They never would have left one of their children behind like this. I know it. Whether they only wanted one child or two, they never would have just left you somewhere alone. The fact that they visited you once a year has to mean something more, right? If they didn’t want you, they would never have come to visit. There has to be something more to this story. There has to be something the caregiver wasn’t telling you.

Cassie talks Melanie into coming back to her apartment so they can talk some more. Cassie shows Melanie pictures of her parents and tells stories of how nice they have been to her. She shows her all the dolls they used to buy her for her birthday. Every year a new doll. Wait. Those are the same dolls Paul and Susan used to leave me when I was in the orphanage. I have those exact same dolls.

Escape

I'm done with this! I want to do something I'm proud of doing. I want to do something I'm passionate about. Right now I'm just going through the motions and hoping something new comes along and takes me away from here. I have all this passion bubbling inside of me right now and all I can do is sit and look at cool websites and dream what it would be like to work there. All I can do is imagine myself working there and smiling when I'm there and getting excited to wake up in the morning. I refuse to let those dreams and those passions go. I figure if I feel them and dream them long enough they're bound to happen, right?

I Stole Your Boots

I stole your boots
I took them out to the streets today
Sitting under your bed unused
They were calling out to me they were lonely
Just like me
Just like me
I stole your shirt
Took it out on the town today
While you were sitting stuck at work
It was calling out to me
It was lonely just like me
Just like me
There’s only so much you can say before it all just dissipates
You see there’s only so much you can take
I hope I’m one of those things
I hope you never leave
Leave me
You stole my breath
You tucked and pulled till I could not breathe
While I was wrapped around your neck
You said you couldn’t help yourself you were lonely
Just like me
Just like me
There’s only so much you can say before it all just dissipates
You see there’s only so much you can take
I hope I’m one of those things
I hope you never leave
Leave me
I stole your shirt
I stole your ugly Casanova shirt, couldn’t help myself
I stole your ugly Casanova shirt, I was lonely
I was lonely

My Big Move Part 2

Well, it's official. I no longer live with my parents. It's only been 2 days and I'm already a little home sick even though I've seen them both days and email with my mom all day every day. Not seeing them all the time will definitely be something I will need to get used to. I was very sad the first night, but I'll get the hang of it.

Our apartment looks like the box monster exploded. We are slowly, but surely getting things together. Out first priority was to put furniture together and in place so we had places to put the stuff from the boxes. 3 desks, a bed, and bathroom cabinet down, 1 dresser, TV stand, and bathroom cabinet to go. It's exciting to see everything come together and make the place into our place with the colors and the layout we want. I've obviously never moved before, but when I used to think about it, that was my favorite part. Being able to take this once empty blank canvas and turn it into something awesome and fun that was all mine. I feel like we're on our way to succeeding.

Once we get everything organized and less insane and like a maze, I can't wait for people to see it. It will be so nice to have people over.

Gone Missing

Cassie arrives home from work just like every other day of the week. She pulls into her driveway and parks in the garage. The first thing she does every night before going inside is grab the mail. She used to forget to grab the mail and she was late on a couple of bills and will never make that mistake again. She goes into her house and drops her stuff and begins to go through the mail. She sees a letter with no return address in a blank, white envelope. She drops the rest of the mail and opens this mysterious looking letter first. Inside is a hand written letter.

Cassie,
Your parents don’t always tell you the truth. The truth can be found here:

5691 South Rosedale Road

Sincerely Yours

Out falls a picture of Cassie as a new born with another new born baby and her parents, Paul and Susan. Cassie flips the picture over. The back reads: Cassie and Melanie, our beautiful daughters February 21, 1985. Cassie reads the letter again and stares at the picture again. She immediately picks up the phone and calls her parents and asks them about the letter. Where did it come from and who the hell was this other baby named Melanie? She decides it would be easier to just go over to their house and she brings the letter with her. They tell her the entire story behind the picture. Paul and Susan tell Cassie that she had a twin sister, but she died not too long after she was born and they never told her because she was too young to remember and they wanted to keep it that way. It was too painful to tell her when she got older and they weren’t sure how to bring it up. It was a traumatic experience for them and they were happy to have Cassie and never wanted to utter Melanie’s name again. Cassie asks what the address means and if they’ve ever seen it, but neither of them have any idea. Cassie is sad her parents never told her the truth, but she can understand why it would be tough for them to bring up so many years later. She leaves their house and returns home. She’s up all night re-reading the letter over and over. She decides to look up the address on Mapquest and Google Earth and sees that it’s about an hour away and decides she will go there first thing in the morning.

The next morning she follows the map to the address and it leads her to a vacant lot in the middle of nowhere. This can’t be right because Mapquest and Google Earth showed her otherwise. There’s supposed to be a house here. She looks around and the only thing she can find at the location is a mail box. She opens it and finds car keys. There’s no car to be found, but she decides to wander around and see if she can find something. She wanders to find a car hidden behind a bunch of trees. The doors to the car are unlocked. She gets in to see if the key works. She’s able to start the engine, but not too long after it starts, the engine dies. She notices that the car is out of gas. With no other options, she begins to look through the glove box and the trunk of the car. In the glove box, she finds the picture that was sent to her in the letter. On the back of the picture it says: Cassie and Melanie our beautiful daughters Feb 21, 1985. She takes the picture and stuffs it in her pocket. What else can she find in this abandoned car? She goes around to the trunk and opens it with the key. Inside is a bunch of junk. Cassie finds water bottles, a pair of shoes, and an old lunch box. Nothing of any use to her. Cassie keeps wandering down Rosedale Road and stumbles upon another mailbox. There had to have been houses here at some point. She opens this one and finds the same picture she received in the mail and found in the glove box of the abandoned car. She turns the picture over and it says the same thing as the other 2 pictures; Cassie and Melanie, our beautiful daughters February 21, 1985. Cassie stuffs the picture into the same pocket as the picture from the glove box. Cassie continues walking down the road and encounters another mail box. This one better not have another picture in it, or I’m out of here. This is getting ridiculous. If Melanie is dead, who’s placing all these pictures for me to find? She opens the third mail box and inside is another letter with no return address in a plain white envelope. Much like the one she found in her mail box. She opens the letter.

Cassie,

Thank you for coming this far. The truth is just around the corner.

Sincerely Yours

The truth is just around the corner? What corner? I’m in the middle of nowhere. Cassie keeps walking hoping something will pop out at her and she can find out the truth and go home and tell her parents this was all for nothing and Melanie can rest in peace. After a few more minutes of walking, Cassie sees the same car she spotted back near the first mail box with the keys. She runs to the car hoping something will come to fruition, but how could it have moved without any gas? Cassie approaches the car and the doors are unlocked. She retrieves the keys she found in the first mail box from her pocket and tries to start the car. Nothing. The car is completely dead. Cassie rummages through the trunk and the glove box and finds that this is in fact the same exact car. How did it get here without her even noticing? It was completely out of gas when she started it the first time and there’s not a soul around. If a tow truck moved it, she would have noticed. Cassie starts circling the car to see if there’s anything new for her to find. She notices tucked under the front windshield wiper is another plain envelope. Cassie opens it.

Cassie,

Look behind you.

Sincerely Yours

Cassie turns around as fast as she can, but no one is there. This has to be some sick joke. Cassie turns back around to face the car and someone is sitting in the driver seat of the car. Cassie practically jumps out of her skin. The driver’s face is covered. The driver leans over the passenger seat and opens the passenger door and tells Cassie to get in. Cassie looks around and sees nothing and decides to get in the car. The driver starts up the engine with no problem and begins driving. The car was out of gas. How are we moving?

There is complete silence. Cassie has so many questions, but doesn’t even know where to begin. Were you the one that sent the letter to my house? Where did you find the picture of me and my dead sister? Where are we going? All these questions were spinning around in Cassie’s head, but she was too scared and worried to even ask. The car stops about 2 miles down the road from where Cassie was picked up. The driver leans over Cassie and locks the passenger door so she can’t get out. Where are we? The driver takes off the face covering. Cassie can’t believe her eyes. Melanie? Sitting across from Cassie is a girl who looks identical to her. Cassie feels as if she’s looking in a mirror. Mom and dad said Melanie was dead. How can she be sitting directly across from me?

My Big Move

So here we are. Found an apartment with my girlfriend and mutual close friend and we’re moving in one week. I’m going to miss my parents and living in their house and just being able to see them everyday. I will still go over at least once a week for dinner and see movies with them on the weekends whenever they want to so I will still see them, which is nice and feels comfortable, but I will miss them nonetheless. They keep telling me I didn’t need to leave home just yet and I could have stayed longer, but I feel if I didn’t make the jump now, I never will. I don’t feel forced to leave at all and most 25 year olds don’t live at home anymore so it makes sense. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from being sad about the situation and packing just makes it all harder. To walk into my room and see boxes everywhere is tough. For me and my parents I’m sure. Packing is a touchy subject right now. I don’t even know where to start. I took the books out of my bookshelf and went through my closet and looked at clothes to give away and have filled 3 bags, but there’s still so much more to do. I think I need to move my clothes out before I can do anything. My mom told me to leave behind anything I didn't need and then we could go back through it later to see what more can be given away. I don't mind giving things away. I have never had a problem with it, it just makes me realize how much stuff I have accumulated and for me it's a lot of stuff that has meaning and not just junk. I don't want to give away every soccer tournament shirt I ever got or all my soccer sweatshirts from high school, but I don't want them to sit in a box for the rest of my life either. I really want to make a memory quilt out of all my soccer stuff, which I plan on doing some day. Just makes packing harder when you pretty much want to keep everything because it all means so much, but you only have so much room to work with.

Reach Out To Me

Always struggling to find that place
That place where you can pick out each and every face
Through the haze of the day
That always seems to be standing in the way

Reach out to me
Please don't just let me be
Alone here waiting
And just lead me to fading
Reach out to me

Every morning there's something new
Something that you try and hold on to
To find the place where you belong
But nothing comes soon and it's gone

Reach out to me
Please don't just let me be
Alone here waiting
And just lead me to fading
Reach out to me

I see you through the crowd
I want to shout your name out loud
Come back to me
Come back and reach out to me

Reach out to me
Please don't just let me be
Alone here waiting
And just lead me to fading
Reach out to me