Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
A Teacher's Nightmare
Jackie looked around her classroom at all of her students sitting in their desks. It was only 8:25 in the morning and the students had just arrived to start the day. Jackie surveyed the room, checking to see if any of the students were gone for the day so she could take attendance.
There was only one student gone, a little girl named Avalon. Avalon was a very sweet little girl, all of her classmates loved her because she was such a good friend to all of them, she hated seeing any of her classmates sad or upset. If someone didn't have someone to play with at recess Avalon would go up to them and asked them if they wanted to play with her. Avalon was also a teacher's dream, she never got into trouble, Jackie couldn't remember a time when she had ever had to even redirect her, and she was a smart little girl too.
Jackie had also taught Avalon's older sister a couple years ago and the two girls were a lot alike, both in their academics and their sweet demeanor, although her older sister Christine had been a little more shy then her younger sister. Jackie also really liked the girl's mom Samantha, Samantha was very involved in the girl's school, she helped out at all the school functions, accompanied them on all their field trips, and she was even a weekly classroom helper in Jackie's class, meaning she'd come in once a week and basically act like an aid to Jackie. It was easy to see why her two girls were so polite after meeting her.
Jackie didn't know the girl's dad very well because he worked a lot but from just the couple times she'd met him he seemed like a very nice guy and a loving father, Avalon would tell Jackie stories about how she would always watch football with her dad, it made Jackie smile to hear her stories because it reminded Jackie of all those basketball games she and her dad watched together while she was growing up.
Jackie got onto the computer to take attendance, expecting to see an E or an I by Avalon's name. Kent Elementary had a policy that if your child was going to be gone for the day you need to call the school to let the secretary know, and then Sarah Caldwell (the secretary) would mark either an E-for excused absence, meaning they were on vacation, or something else was going on for the day and the parent or guardian for whatever reason was keeping their child home. Or Sarah would mark an I-for illness if the parent or guardian called and said the child was sick.
Jackie was surprised when she got into her attendance and noticed Avalon had nothing by her name, Samantha was usually so on top of things, it wasn't like her to forget to call into the school to let them know why Avalon wasn't there, but Jackie wasn't too worried, sometimes it slips a parent's mind to call, especially if your kiddo is sick, and Jackie knew that if Samantha didn't call soon Sarah would call and make sure Avalon was ok.
"Has anyone seen Avalon?" Jackie asked the other students causally.
Jackie thought maybe Avalon was in Christine's classroom talking to her or that she was possibly down talking to Sarah Caldwell, as much as the teacher's at the school liked to believe that they themselves were the kid's favorite, there was no denying that Sarah Caldwell was nearly ever child's favorite person at the school, and for good reason, Sarah put her heart and sole into each and every student in the school, she genuinely cared about all of them and it showed.
Jackie looked up from her computer and noticed one of her students standing by her side.
"What is it Lucy?" Jackie asked.
Lucy was Avalon's best friend.
"Mrs. Stokes, Avalon was suppose to meet at the crosswalk so we could walk to school together this morning but she never came, she's probably sick today." The little girl said innocently without a care in the world.
Jackie's heart sank.
"Maybe Sweetie." Jackie said calmly to the little girl so she wouldn't scare her but a much more horrific and sinister thought crossed Jackie's mind-something or someone had prevented Avalon from meeting her friend at the crosswalk this morning.
TBC….
