Untitled Story Part 1
"Ten o'clock." Hilda muttered as she glanced at the clock and then back at the door. "Where is Zelda? She's out on a date with Willard Kraft! It's not like she could be having fun."
Just then the door came open and Sabrina came hurrying in carrying her bookbag. "Hi, Aunt Hilda. Sorry I was gone so long. Val and I were trying to finish up our big English project. So, how did Aunt Zelda's date with Mr. Kraft go?"
"I don't know." Hilda said as she looked at the clock again and then back at the door.
"So bad she couldn't even talk about it, huh? We'll I'm going to bed. Four hours of Shakespeare was murder. Goodnight, Aunt Hilda."
"Goodnight, Sabrina." Hilda said as Sabrina hurried up the stairs, leaving her setting on the living room couch with the lights dimmed.
'Zelda's fine.' Hilda muttered as she settled back onto the couch so that she could watch the door without appearing too ovious. 'But still, I better stay up and wait for her, just in case her date was horribly traumatic and she needs to talk.'
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"Bye, Aunt Hilda! Bye, Aunt Zelda!"
"What?" Hilda muttered as she sat up on the couch and looked up to see Sabrina hurrying out the door.
"I'm running late for school!" Sabrina called as she hurried out yelling back over her shoulder. "Aunt Hilda, you really shouldn't sleep on the couch. It's bad for your back!"
"Wait, a minute!" Hilda cried as she darted over to the door. "Sabrina, is Zelda in the kitchen?"
"No. I haven't seen her this morning. I guess she's still in bed. I knew Mr. Kraft could put anyone to sleep. Oh, man! I am going to be so late!" Sabrina cried as she darted off.
"Zelda!" Hilda called as she hurried up the stairs and into her sister's room. "Zeldy, what..... Zelda?"
"Where is she?" Hilda muttered as she stared in shock at Zelda's still made bed. It didn't look like it have been slept in at all.
"Zelda?" Hilda called as she went back out into the hall and started walking from room to room opening doors and looking for her sister. She went into Sabrina's room and spotted Salem sleeping on the bed. "Salem, have you seen Zelda this morning?"
"I haven't seen anything but the inside of my eyelids." Salem said as he opened his eyes and stretched. "Where's breakfast?"
"Here." Hilda said as she pointed her finger and a bowl of tuna appeared on the floor. I'm going to check the Other Realm. Maybe Zelda had to go there for something. If she comes in before I get back, tell her to wait for me in the kitchen!"
Nearly an hour later, Hilda stepped out of the linin closet to the accompaniment of thunder and lightning. She hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen. She looked around hopefully as she came in but the only one there was Salem who was ripping the top off of a cereal box.
"Zelda hasn't showed up?" Hilda asked the cat.
"No. Can you get the milk?" Salem muttered as he started to munch the Lucky Charms.
"Here." Hilda said as she pointed and a bowl of milk appeared on the table. "Salem, where could she be?"
"Maybe her date went really well?" Salem said as he looked up from his meal. "Do you want some of these? Those leprechauns sure know how to make good cereal."
"I'm not hungry. I'm going to call some people around here. Maybe someone's seen her." Hilda said as she picked up the phone book and started to flick through it.
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"Val, what's going on?" Sabrina said as she came into class that morning. "I just passed Mrs. Quick in the hall and she looked even more nervous than usual if that's possible."
"Didn't you hear, Sabrina?" Val said. "Mr. Kraft disappeared! He never showed up this morning and no one knows where he is! All of the teachers are totally freaked!"
"Really? That's so wierd." Sabrina said as she sat down. "He went out with Aunt Zelda last night. I wonder if she has any idea what happened? I'll call her after this class and see."
Just then Libby came in. She looked pale, her hair was messy and she wasn't even wearing makeup. She dropped into her seat without even making a smart remark to Sabrina and Val.
"What's wrong with Libby?" Sabrina whispered as the teacher came in and class started.
"Who knows? She was acting funny when I got here this morning and found out that Mr. Kraft had disappeared."
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"Hi!" Hilda said as her neighbor picked up the phone. She had been calling people for almost two hours now with no luck. This neighbor was her last hope. "This is Hilda Spellman, your neighbor. I'm sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you might have seen a car pull into our driveway last night sometime after ten. No, nothing's wrong. It's just.... " Hilda paused as she thought up a plausable story to tell instead of the truth. "My sister left a check for me to give to a friend of hers. They were supposed to drop by last night to get it but I fell asleep and didn't hear anyone knock. I was wondering if you might have seen them pull in. I'm sure I wouldn't sleep through someone ringing the bell but I'd like some proof to offer Zelda. Oh, okay. You were up till one and you didn't see anyone come by. Okay. Thanks."
"Salem, Zelda didn't come home last night!" Hilda cried as she hung up the phone. "Where could she be?"
"She went out with Mr. Kraft." Salem said. "I don't think you want to imagine where she could be or what she could be doing."
"EEEEEWWWW!!!" Hilda cried as sudden frightening thoughts ran through her mind. "What if they eloped? I'm going down to that school to find out what Mr. Kraft did to my sister!"
"Great. You can kill Sabrina's appitite too." Salem muttered.
"I'll call the school." Hilda muttered as she picked up the phone again and started to dial. "Hi, Mrs. Atherton, this is Hilda Spellman. I need to talk to Mr. Kraft. What?! Well, where is he? Okay, well, if he comes in, tell him to call me. He has the number."
"Mr. Kraft isn't in." Hilda muttered as she hung up the phone. "No one knows where he is. Salem, I'm calling the police."
"The police?"
"Willard's so dull, maybe he bored Zelly to death." Hilda said as she dialed 911. "Hello, this is Hilda Spellman. I'd like to place a missing person's report. My sister, Zelda, went out last night and she never came home."
"Ma'am, that doesn't seem like the sort of business for the police." the officer said.
"I know that that doesn't sound very serious," Hilda said, "but she went out with the most boring man in the world and I should know. I dated him before her. He might have bored her to death! You have to find her!"
"Ms. Spellman, I'm afraid we can't file a missing person's report for two days." the officer said. "Why don't you just relax? I'm sure your sister will be home soon."
"Two days? I have to wait two days before I can report her missing? But what if something happened to her? The guy she went out with didn't show up for work this morning and no one can find him either. This just isn't like Zelda, officer." Hilda whispered. "She would never just disappear. Our niece lives with us. Zelda would never just leave and let Sabrina and I worry about her."
"Ms. Spellman, what's the name of the man she went out with? Maybe we can get in touch with him so you can be sure your sister's safe."
"Willard Kraft. He's the high school vice principal."
"Kraft? What does your sister look like?"
"She's very pretty. She's in her mid-thirties and she has shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes. She's about 5'8". Maybe 120 pounds or so. I have pictures. Should I bring one down?"
"Not right now. Why don't you just stay at home. We'll look for your sister and when we find her, we'll call you."