Out of Time (2 page)

“You deserved it.” Kendra remarked through
gritted teeth. Sasha couldn’t tell whether or not Kendra was
completely serious or just putting on an act as she quite often
did.

“Probably.” Simon said, agreeing with her.
“So do you want to look after class?”

Sasha opened her backpack and started to
shuffle through it. “I think we actually
have
a class up
there.” she said as she took out her schedule from her
backpack.

Mandy beat her to it. “Yea, Brit Lit. We have
that class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I guess they renovated over
the summer and made some classrooms in the attic space.”

“We could always check it out before class
then.” Simon offered as Sasha slid her schedule back into her
backpack.

“Let’s wait for a bit.” Sasha said
hestitantly. “I don’t want to get in trouble on my first day of
school.”

“Right.” Kendra agreed, flipping her hair
again. “That would completely mess up my chances at being cheer
captain.” The group stopped talking as the teacher walked in and
closed the door.

“Let’s talk about it later.” Mandy said
quietly. The teacher then began with the introduction of herself
and went around the room asking for their names.

Sasha entered the door to her house and could
hear water running in the kitchen. Being an only child, she knew it
was her mother doing the dishes. Her mother worked as a real estate
agent and from home for the most part. It was nice for her mom, but
Sasha sometimes felt clustered in her home, without the freedom to
do what she wanted. She always felt like she was being
monitored.

Sasha decided to sit down at the kitchen
table, quietly enough that her mother didn’t even notice she was
there. She pulled out a notebook and pen from her backpack along
with a textbook and started on her homework. She didn’t really mind
homework — mostly because she knew when it was test time she could
reflect on what she had written down. It was how her memory worked.
When she was finished, she put down the pen and turned to face the
direction of the kitchen.

“Hey Mom?” she called out. “Have you heard
about that girl disappearing from the school?”

“Oh, hi Sasha. I didn’t hear you come in.”
her mom said, turning as she wiped down a plate. “I think I read
about it in the paper and also the newsletter the PTO board sends
out.”

“I don’t remember hearing anything about it.”
Sasha said. She was an avid reader and enjoyed taking the time to
look over news every day. She would have remembered if there was
something interesting happening at her school, since hardly
anything did.

“They didn’t want it to get out and scare the
students before classes started up.” Sasha’s mother noted.

“We’re practically adults.” Sasha said,
rolling her eyes. “It’s not like she was murdered or anything.”

“You don’t know that sweetie.” her mother
said lovingly. Sasha didn’t know how to react then, so she decided
to talk it out.

“One of the guys at school that I’m friends
with was talking about it. He said she disappeared from
inside
the school. I thought it was strange.” Sasha said,
getting up from the chair and heading over to the kitchen. She
opened a cupboard and took out a glass, then went to the fridge to
retrieve a bottle of orange juice.

“It
is
strange, but that’s why it’s
been kept quiet.” Sasha’s mother told her.

Between sips, Sasha continued, “It’s almost
weirder that the popular girl in school was talking to us about it.
Like she was
actually
interested in what we were talking
about.”

“I thought your school was like that —
everyone talks with everyone.” Sasha’s mother commented.

“Yea, for the most part. I don’t know.” Sasha
said with a shrug. “I think I’m going to go to my bedroom.”

“All done with your homework, then?” her
mother asked curiously.

“Yup. I just finished. I think I’ll give
Mandy a call. She is probably back from band practice by now.”
Sasha said, putting her glass down and opening the junk drawer. She
retrieved a hair band and used it to put her hair up in a
ponytail.

“Just don’t tie up the phone.” her mother
said, finishing up with the last dish. “I have a conference call
with a client at seven about a house I’m working on selling. He
needs to get some remodeling work done before we can do any open
houses and I’m going to get the contractor on the other line.”
Sasha’s mom was also very pro-active with her clients. If they
needed work done she would make sure it was carried through, almost
like an interior designer would.

“Can I go out then?” Sasha asked. Her mom
hesistated, looking at the clock first before replying.

“Be back by ten.” she answered her
daughter.

Sasha muttered back, “Will do.”

The drive to Mandy’s house wasn’t terribly
far, but with the waning light, Sasha had to keep a close eye out
for any deer that might jut across the road. The last thing she
needed was an accident on her plate. She knew she’d never hear the
end of it. So she decided to take it slow and make full use of her
brights.

As she approached Mandy’s house she smiled.
She loved the old Victorian style with the wrap-around porch. It
was a step up from the ranch house she lived in with her mom, but
she didn’t mind her home. It was always exciting to get a change of
scenery though, and Mandy’s mom loved to spoil her.

Sasha walked up the steps and pressed the
doorbell, then kneeled down to fix a stranded shoelace that had
fizzled out from the knot it was in. When the door opened, Mandy
was there to greet her friend.

“You’re here. Didn’t take long.”

“Long? I was going super slow because I
didn’t want to hit deer. I
did
take a shortcut this time.”
Sasha told her.

“There’s a shortcut?” Mandy asked. Sasha
shook her head, as if Mandy didn’t know even though she had grown
up here.

“If you don’t go on the main road, and take
the dirt road instead that goes between —.”

“Yea I know where you are talking about. I
can’t believe your mom let you drive though.” Mandy said. Sasha’s
mom was very protective of her daughter, given that she was an only
child and because her husband died behind the wheel. Sasha was
rarely ever allowed to drive on her own.

“I was surprised with the whole disappearing
Betsy thing. Did you know the PTO board sent out a memo to parents
and they wanted to keep it hush-hush?” Sasha asked.

Mandy replied, leading them both farther into
the house. “Really?”

“I wonder how Simon found out.” Sasha
wondered.

“Considering how many conversations we’ve
caught him evesdropping on, are you really all that surprised?”
Mandy asked with a light and airy giggle.

“True.” Sasha admitted.

Mandy yawned and then looked at the clock.
“It’s eight now. How long can you stay?”

“Mom said until ten.” Sasha stated.

“Want to see if I can dig anything up on my
computer?” Mandy offered as she opened the door to the fridge, took
out a can of 7up and flipped the tab back.

As the carbonation sprang to live, Sasha
replied, “Sure, I didn’t even think of doing that.”

“Let’s go then. Do you want anything to
drink? We’ve got some more 7up in the fridge. There’s also milk and
water and I think some juice.” Mandy asked. Sasha shook her
head.

“Nah, I’m all right.”

“Okay then.” Mandy stated as the two walked
back to her bedroom. Mandy had the luxury of having a first-floor
bedroom in the two-story house. Her parents did have a couple
bedrooms on the top floor, one of which Mandy used to sleep in, but
Mandy preferred her own quiet zone away from them as she grew
older. As an only child as well, she was able to get her own pick
of where she wanted to sleep. The bedroom had no windows so her
parents gave in to her pleading.

Mandy’s room was the typical spread of a
teenage girl. There was a bulletin board in the corner with crudely
written notes pinned onto it. A few photos dotted the area, and
there were a few movie posters hanging on the walls. Not any photos
of boys, though. Sure, Mandy was into boys, but most of them
couldn’t see beyond “band geek”. She thought it was shallow to pin
up a hot guy on the wall.

She had a desk under the board, and she
turned on her computer and adjusted the monitor a bit. Once it was
into the operating system, she pulled up the web browser and
started typing in keywords.

“Not much is coming up, but there are a few
results.” Mandy said as she scrolled through the list.

“Click on that one.” Sasha said, her finger
pointing to one search result that looked relevant. “Scroll down a
bit.”

“Betsy Frankle, a senior at Everidge High
School, was last seen inside the school by one of the teachers. An
investigation was made and the teacher was cleared of any
suspicion, but no evidence or leads have been discovered or made.”
Mandy said, reading the contents of the article aloud.

“They didn’t mention the attic did they?”
Sasha asked. Mandy squished her brow together as she scanned the
page.

“Not that I can see. Do you want to sit down
and look more?” Mandy asked.

“I can’t see well enough from behind you.”
Sasha said, squinting her eyes. “You need to get a bigger
monitor.”

“Bedroom first, monitor second.” Mandy said
with a laugh. “My parents said they’d get me one for Christmas this
year. I’ll have to wait on it. They did spend a lot getting this
room decorated for me. I mean, there was no way I was going to have
my bedroom still look like a pediatrician’s waiting room.”

“But it’s so tiny.” Sasha commented with a
long dramatic sigh. Mandy just rolled her eyes, knowing that Sasha
was milking the situation and not terribly serious.

“Sasha, it’s seventeen inches. It’s not
that
bad. I know...you’re used to a twenty-four inch.” Mandy
chided.

“I can always look when I get back home.”
Sasha mentioned.

Mandy nodded her head, reaching down to the
power button on the tower to turn her computer back off. Sasha was
just about to tell her that she should go through the shut-down in
the operating system as a hard shut-down could lead to issues, but
she was interrupted by Mandy. “Right. So I guess they did a police
investigation and everything and couldn’t find anything
suspicious.”

“It doesn’t say who the teacher was, though.”
Sasha remarked, thinking over the contents of the article she had
just listened to.

“Yea, I know. It’s not like the teacher was a
minor. Usually they release the names.” Mandy agreed.

“Maybe I can work on digging that up and
asking the teacher about where he or she last saw her.” Sasha
commented.

Mandy flipped an errant hair out of the way
as she got up from her computer chair. “We can talk about it later.
You might want to start heading home. I think it’s supposed to rain
tonight and it’s hard to see without street lights.”

“Living in the country sucks doesn’t it?”
Sasha asked with a laugh.

“Sometimes.” Mandy told her.