Chapter 5%
In a flash, a chill ran down my spine and cold sweat soaked my back. The image of my daughter falling from a building in my past life flashed before my eyes.
My voice shook uncontrollably with fright as I replied, “My husband took her to school this morning himself! She has to be there! There’s no way she’s missing! Are you sure? Did you check the whole school?”
“Teacher, this isn’t a joke. If my daughter is missing, it’s a serious matter!” I pleaded.
The teacher hesitated. She was clearly caught off guard. After two seconds, she finally explained, “Ella’s parents, I’ve been at school all day and I haven’t seen Ella at all. Are you sure your husband dropped her off? Maybe she felt unwell on the way and he took her to a clinic. You should call him, just in case….”
“I already did a quick check after noticing Ella wasn’t at school today,” the teacher said over the phone. “Third–year high school students are under a lot of pressure because of their studies and they usually don’t go far. I asked some of her close classmates and they said they hadn’t seen Ella at all and no one mentioned she’d planned to take a day off.”
She then advised, “You should talk to her father. I really hope nothing bad happened. High school seniors are under so much stress … What if she couldn’t take it anymore and …”
I could not hear the rest and my mind blanked out. Only one thought echoed over and over in my head my daughter went missing. As horrifying images flooded my head, I did not realize when I ended the call.
By the time I came to, I was already slumped on the floor and I was completely numb as I fumbled to call Aaron’s phone with trembling fingers in a hurry.
The phone rang for nearly a minute before he finally answered. It seemed he was still in a meeting.§
“What’s wrong, Honey? Why are you calling me now? Weren’t you supposed to pick up Ella from school?” he asked.§
Hearing his familiar voice made my throat tighten painfully.
“The homeroom teacher just called,” I said, voice breaking, “She said Ella never showed up today. Are you sure you dropped her off this morning? Did you see her go inside?“>
“How could a perfectly fine child just disappear? What were you thinking? You call yourself her father? She’s been missing all day and you’re still in a meeting … what are you working so hard for, huh?! Who are you earning that money for?” I shouted.
Maybe I sounded too sharp, too accusatory. Aaron who was normally a calm man, became annoyed.
“I did drop her off,” he said defensively. “I took her right to the school gates. No, I didn’t watch her walk inside, but where could she have gone after she entered the gate? Maybe the teacher made a mistake.“}
“Ella is always so well–behaved. She loves school. Look, calm down. I’ll go to the school now and talk to the teacher myself. If we still can’t find her, we’ll call the police. This is a law–abiding country so nothing bad will happen to a kid her age,” he added.
Aaron’s words jolted me. I had been so panicked, that I almost forgot to call the police.§
Then I remembered that Cassandra was just at the station last night. So, she would not have a chance to do anything bad in this short period of time and as long as she was still at the police station waiting for her adoptive parents, my daughter would not relive the tragedy from our past life.
She might have been so stressed out from studying that she took a day off. It was also possible that the stress had gotten into her and she just needed to take leave and relax.
I quickly called the police. As soon as the phone connected, I said, “Hello, I’m the woman who brought Cassandra to the station last night. I just wanted to check … is she still there?“}
However, the officer’s next words froze my blood.
“Cassandra? Oh, she’s been picked up already. It was quite a while ago. I’m sorry, I forgot to inform you.”
My grip on the phone tightened and just as I was about to tell him that my daughter had gone missing, the officer continued in a confused tone, “Although, we did find something odd when her adoptive parents came. Their story didn’t quite match what Cassandra said last night.”
“They said they just wanted to add a daughter to their home. They do have a mentally disabled son, but they weren’t looking for a child bride. The family’s struggling financially and they thought a healthy child could help look after things and support them in old age,” he said.
Then he added, “They even said they’d prepared a room just for her and bought her new clothes. They replaced her wheelchair with a better one too. But Cassandra didn’t seem to react much. She was just … emotionless. She is not like a normal kid at all.”
“They figured Cassandra was just shy or maybe a bit withdrawn because of her disability, so they didn’t press. However then, out of nowhere, she disappeared that very night. They were nearly hysterical when we called them…”
The officer seemed to think I was just worried about Cassandra because I had not said anything for a long time, so he tried to reassure
me.