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

The Aftermath

I could almost taste the sweetness of reunion in the air, a separate fragrance from the perfume of her breath; the emptiness when we were apart left its own bitter aftertaste, something I didn't consciously notice until it was removed.

Who Moved My Cheese?

I have been complaining about the job market lately because there's just nothing out there for anybody. No one I know can find a job, especially not the dream job. Right now we are all kind of stuck where we are until things get better. If things get better. Last week, my dad handed me a book that was about 80 pages long called Who Moved My Cheese? He said a client handed it to him and he read it in about 30 minutes. The book tells the story of change through mice and their cheese. I found the PDF of the book online and I highly recommend it. They even made a movie about it. I hope it inspires you.

The Mystery of the Broken Fence Part 2

Susan starts to dig as Paul watches with amazement. What does she think she’s doing? This is going to look horrible if someone catches us. We will need to cover these holes back up when we’re done. But Susan just keeps digging. And digging. She digs until she hits pipes and finds another area to sink her shovel into. Wouldn’t it be smart to find a patch of fresh soil and dig there? If the neighbors were buried in the backyard, the soil would be fresh. Suddenly, Paul sees a flash of light and grabs Susan to keep her from moving. What was that? Was it a car passing by or did someone just pull into the driveway? Paul and Susan both sneak around to the side of the house to where they can see the driveway. That’s the third car. The car that was missing from the garage. Did the neighbors come back? Where in the world have they been this entire time? Susan and Paul try to escape the backyard without being seen. They both watch from their house as the neighbor’s begin to unload their car. It’s as if nothing has happened. Susan and Paul go back to watching TV. Next time, we need to make sure they tell us when they’re leaving.

The Mystery of the Broken Fence

It started out like any other day. Paul and Susan were making breakfast before heading out for a walk in their new neighborhood. They had just moved to Charleston not too long ago. It was their first home and they were very excited. As Susan begins to serve breakfast to Paul, they both hear a loud crash. What was that? Paul leaves Susan to finish serving breakfast and looks out the peep hole of the front door to see what all the commotion is about. There’s no one there. Paul doesn’t see anyone moving so he goes back to his breakfast with Susan.

Soon, they embark on their walk of their friendly, new neighborhood. As Paul and Susan round the corner to return to their house they notice the neighbor’s fence. It’s been smashed. Maybe their gardener accidentally hit it with the lawn mower.

Time progresses and Susan and Paul notice that their neighbor’s fence has yet to be fixed. This is a brand new community. They should have fixed their fence a bit ago. Susan decides it’s time to knock on the neighbor’s door and find out what’s going on. No one answers. Maybe they’re at work or out for the day.

Later that night, Susan gets a weird feeling. Why would they just leave their fence like that? There has to be some explanation. Susan grabs her flashlight and Paul follows her to the neighbor’s house. This probably isn’t a good idea. We shouldn’t be shining our flashlights into their house. Nothing in the house looks odd. All the furniture is intact, but no lights are on and it doesn’t look as if anyone is home. That’s strange. It’s only 8:30pm. Where could they be? Their 2 cars are parked in the garage, but the house is very still. Susan remembers the family has 3 cars and the third car is no where to be found. Maybe they packed up and drove away?

Another month passes and no word from the neighbor’s. Their fence is still a wreck and their gardener has stopped tending the lawn. He must not be getting paid. Susan and Paul haven’t seen the neighbors in some time and decide there’s one last thing they can do.

The Sheriff pulls up around 4pm in the afternoon. Susan greets him and describes the past few weeks. She tells him the fence has been broken for some time and the neighbors haven’t been seen since. The Sheriff investigates the house. He sees the cars in the garage and a few pieces of furniture in the house. He notes that the mailbox is filled to the top. That’s not a good sign. What could have happened to these people? There have been no missing person’s reports filed. The Sheriff tells Susan the house will more than likely foreclose soon unless a method of payment has been set up. There’s nothing else to be done at this time. Susan and Paul wave as the Sheriff drives away. There has to be something else that can be done. He’s the Sheriff. He can’t just walk away from this and wait for the house to foreclose. These people didn’t just vanish into thin air, especially because their third car is missing. But Susan and Paul are forced to go about their business. If the Sheriff says there’s nothing to be done, than Susan and Paul are forced to wait.

Two weeks later, Susan and Paul are watching television in the living room when Susan sits up suddenly. It’s one thing to skip town and not tell anyone, but that doesn’t explain why the fence is broken. Why would the fence be broken? If it wasn’t for that, we never would have snooped around and noticed they were gone. This has to mean something. Susan grabs her shovel out of the garage and Paul follows her to the backyard.

To be continued…..