Finding Home ~ Chapter 7: Every Step You Take
So I'd basically recommend that you listen to 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police whilst reading this chapter. That song based what I wrote for the first part of this chapter. And also, R.I.P. to the family of five from my town who died in a car crash on Friday. Such a tragedy. It's been on the news everywhere.
Mortimer had a hard time focusing whilst driving to work. It had been almost two weeks since his wife went missing and there'd been no news or sightings. He'd been forced to return to the lab in Riverview otherwise his performance would go down. He'd spent all that time comforting Cassandra and various members of Bella's close family when needed, and on top of that he had an infant son to take care of. He was currently at his Grandma Cornelia's house being looked after for the day. Jocasta Bachelor was no use; she was distraught over the thought of the fact that one of her beloved children could possibly be dead. Yes, Jocasta's seven children meant the entire world to her, despite the fact that they'd all grown up and moved out.
Deciding to try and take his mind off things, he turned on the radio. What Mortimer didn't notice until the music started playing though, that the stretch of road that he was driving on was the one that Bella's father had died on. What a horrible memory. Even to this day, it still gave Mortimer the occasional nightmare. He'd been there to witness it and he'd never seen someone cry more than Bella in his entire life. Even though he hated thinking that way, the events actually helped him and Bella grow closer together, what with Mortimer comforting her whenever she needed a shoulder to cry on and everything. Turning the radio up and trying to distract himself from the awful flashback, the sounds of 'Every Breath You Take' filled the car.
Since you've gone I've been lost without a trace
I dream at night I can only see your face
I look around but it's you I can't replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby please...
Mortimer couldn't take it anymore, the lyrics were too relatable. He switched the radio and pulled over so that he could let the tears escape. But then he realized that he'd pulled over at the worst possible place, the place where Simis Bachelor had crashed his car. The tree that had been hit hadn't been cut down, so the dent remained.
Where were the people to comfort Mortimer after all of this?! It was his wife, the love of his life that had gone missing. Yet all he was expected to do was comfort the relatives of his wife?!
He'd bottled it all up for so long. And with that, Mortimer broke down into loud tears, sliding down the side of his car and sobbing his heart out. Two weeks worth of tears were pouring out and he thought that they wouldn't stop.
'So Cassandra, what is the value of x if 11x is equal to the value of 71.5?'
Cassandra groaned. She was in her least favourite lesson, Maths. Though she gave at least some effort in that subject as it would partly help her on the path to becoming a scientist. But obviously her teacher would pick on her when she was daydreaming. Typical.
'Well uh... it's um... let me think... 7.5?' she guessed. Her teacher always seemed to give her the hardest questions to work out in front of the entire class.
'Incorrect, I'm afraid. The actual answer is 6.5.' the teacher corrected. Desiree turned around and stuck her tongue out at Cassandra. What a childish insult. That girl literally had no heart.
After that lesson had finished, it was lunch time. Cassandra ran on ahead and hid behind the PE sheds before beginning to eat. She couldn't even take half a bite of her sandwich in the lunch hall without someone coming up to her and being all like 'Omigosh Cassandra, I am SO sorry about your mom! I hope they find her soon!' or 'Have you heard anything about your mom yet?' and Cassandra just couldn't bear to listen to those questions any more. They were too personal, too intrusive.
But what if her mother was actually dead? Would she reappear as a ghost? Cassandra knew that ghosts existed; she'd seen heard voices whilst staying the night at Goth Manor. And they didn't sound like any living voices. She usually closed her eyes tight when she heard the voices that usually came along with creaking floorboards and shattering dishes. The voices would usually have conversations like,
'I still can't believe that they rebuilt Goth Manor! I prefer the old one so much more!'
'That's because you built it, Victor.'
'But still, this is nothing compared to the old one! This is all Lolita's fault!'
And that was usually when the voices would become fainter. Cassandra knew what the voices meant by 'old Goth Manor'. When her parents were fifteen, her father's house which was built on the exact same grounds as where the 'new manor' stood, almost burned down. Bella had managed to somehow notice the blazing building late at night before going in and saving Mortimer herself. Cassandra's Uncle Michael had told her when she was younger about how the morning after, he went back in there with her parents to see the damage that had been caused. And one of the main things that he could remember was stepping into her Aunt Lolita's old room that had been left exactly the way it was since she'd moved out, as somewhat awkwardly added on to the end before either her or Autumn asked questions, and just seeing everything charred. He was apparently distraught seeing everything like that; all of Lolita's stuff just ruined.
But what the hell did the voices mean when they said that it was all her Aunt Lolita's fault? Was it her choice to rebuild Goth Manor or something? Cassandra very much doubted it. And she really did need to get round to asking why her name was on that gravestone.
Back to reality, it was a couple of minutes before Autumn came running around the corner.
'Cassandra! You need to get to the lunch hall now! On the TV they're showing the news and there's been a sighting of your mom's potential kidnapper!' she exclaimed, obviously excited.
Cassandra gasped and jumped up, not even bothering to pick up her lunch. She and Autumn bolted into the lunch hall where sure enough, the main news article on the TV was about her mother and the potential kidnapper, this Stephanie lady. She felt happy tears brim her eyes. They may not have caught her and her mother might even be dead, but the main thing was that they had a rough idea of where the official suspect was and nothing else mattered.
'Get up now, you bitch! We have to go! GET THE HELL UP!' screamed Stephanie as Bella woke up, coming to her senses.
'No... are the police here?!' she exclaimed, hopeful smile starting to form.
'No, but they probably won't be far behind! My face is all over the news right now, they all know that I'm in Bridgeport!'
'Great! Now they're all going to go searching for me in this area and then I can go home whilst you get the justice that you deserve!'
'You little...'
Before Stephanie could do anything else, Bella launched an attack on her. Except this time, unlike twenty two years earlier, she wouldn't lose. She just wouldn't.
With a sudden force rushing throughout her body, Bella pushed Stephanie to the floor, hearing a loud snap in the process.
'Shit! I swear to God that if you've broken my ankle I'll make sure that you die sooner than planned!' she screamed as Bella ran towards the door. Now, where had Stephanie dropped her keys to open this place?
Next chapter... whenever. So basically, Cassandra's slowly facing the facts that Bella could possibly be dead (which she isn't, as we all know). Her and Autumn also have no idea about the whole Lolita dying-then-resurrecting thing.
