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?