Who Are You?
It was four thirty in the afternoon and Nick was at home watching his two children. He was feeding his infant son Houston a bottle while his little girl Jasmine played on the floor with her favorite doll. His wife Jackie should be arriving home any minute now.
By 5:15 Jackie still had not come home, he was beginning to get worried so he dialed her cell phone number-no answer.
"She probably had a meeting." He thought to himself, but if she did have a meeting it was totally out of character for her not to call and let him know. He had spoken to her during her lunch break and she sounded fine, and she hadn't mentioned a meeting, but perhaps a parent had dropped by after school to talk to her and she had just lost track of time. She often stayed late at the school she taught at to prepare for the following day but again she always called to let him know, and she always liked to check in to see how Jasmine and Houston were doing.
By six o'clock when she still hadn't come home he knew that something was wrong. He called Catherine to ask if she would watch the kids, he didn't tell her why he needed a babysitter and she didn't ask, she just said she'd be happy to babysit and that he could bring the kids over when he was ready. He loaded the kids in the car and drove to Catherine's, he dropped the kids off and then drove to the school where she taught. There were still a few cars in the parking lot but he didn't see her van. The school door was still unlocked so he went in, the secretary had left for the day and the school was mostly dark except for a few of the classroom lights that were still occupied by teachers that were preparing things for the following day. He wandered down to Jackie's classroom, the light was off. The door was open but all the classroom doors remained opened at night after the teachers left so the janitors could clean them. Nick flipped on the light switch. He saw nothing out of place, her lesson plan book was on the back table where she normally kept it, the student's desks were in nice rows, and the floor was fairly clean considering the room had 23 first grade students in it just a few hours ago.
"Nick?" a voice asked.
He spun around.
"Oh hi Susan, what are you doing here so late?" Nick asked, he hoped that she'd say that she had an after school staff meeting, because if she did that meant Jackie did as well, which would explain why she didn't come home.
Susan Anderson was a fellow first grade teacher, and also a good friend of Jackie's.
"I'm going to be gone tomorrow so I was preparing for a sub, I was just heading home when I noticed Jackie's classroom light was on. Is something wrong?" she asked sounding concerned.
"Do you happen to know what time Jackie got out of here today?" he asked.
"Yeah, around 4:20, she popped her head into my room to tell me goodbye, why do you ask?" She said.
"She never came home. Did she happen to say if she was going anywhere after she left here?"
Her friend's eyes clouded with concern, she knew it was totally out of character for her to not call home to check on her kids.
"Yeah actually she did, one of her student's birthday's are tomorrow and so she said she was going to go by cupcakes for the class tomorrow."
That didn't surprise Nick at all, Jackie was always buying treats and fun things for her students.
"Did she happen to say which store she was going to?"
"She didn't say, I'm sorry."
"That's alright, thank you." He said.
"What can I do to help you find her, I'll help anyway I can."
"Thanks, I appreciate that, right now I hope she just got stuck in traffic, or she met one of her friends for coffee and he cell phone is just dead."
"Well if you need anything let me know, I'd be happy to baby sit Jasmine and Houston while you look for her."
"Oh, thanks, but my coworker has them, but if you hear from her could you tell her I'm looking for her and that I'm worried about her."
"Sure Nick, when you find her let me know will you?"
"Sure, thanks for your help." Nick said.
Susan nodded with a smile and then left the room.
Nick poked around in Jackie's classroom a while longer but he didn't find anything that could help find her. As he got back into his truck he had a bad feeling, he didn't think it was a simple case of a dead cell phone, she'd find some other way to contact him if she could. He thought of where she would probably go to buy the cupcakes and decided that she would probably stop at the store closest to their house. He took the route she was most likely to take, as he drove he scanned the road for anything that might lead him to her. He was only a couple miles from the store when something caught his eye. There were skid marks on the side of the road, the skid marks stopped at the edge of an embankment. Nick quickly pulled over to that side of the road and jumped out of his truck. He looked over the edge and saw Jackie's minivan upside down.
"Oh my God." He said and without even thinking about it he slid down the embankment.
"Jackie." He screamed.
As he got closer to the mini van he heard country music and he noticed the drivers side window was down which made sense because it was very nice outside. When he had finally reached the vehicle he peered cautiously into the open window, afraid of what he might find. He was relieved to discover she was breathing and her eyes were wide open.
"Jackie, sweetie, are you ok?" he asked as he gently reached in and touched her hand.
"Yeah, I'm ok, I'm just stuck in here because I can't get my seat belt undone."
Nick breathed a sigh of relief. "You're sure you're not hurt?" he asked.
"I'm ok." She repeated.
"Ok, thank God, don't worry I'm going to get you out of there." He promised.
"Ok but before you do, can I ask you something?" she asked.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Who are you?" she asked.
Nick's eyes grew wide and his heart sank.