Visionaries

ten

// TEN //

That night, I don't sleep. The moment I shut my eyes, all the images of how they could have possibly taken Cass away takes over my dark vision and I need to flutter them open again. Fear is stronger than fatigue and so, I don't sleep.

I think over what I could start doing when the sun comes up.

Have a security guard check the surveillance tape. I can ask our neighbour dorms if they saw someone come into our dorm. I can talk to Keller and see if Cass ever made it to talking to him.

The only thing I'm not sure about is if I should report her missing. If I'm going to go and fix this myself, I can't have police running around. If I'm going to cooperate with this man to get her back, I can't have police think that I'm working with the ennemy. All I do is make sure her parents don't know.

I look for her phone around the room and thankfully, in a way, the people that took her took her phone off of her. I text her mom, as if I was Cass, saying that she might forget to text her sometimes because she's gotten busy at campus. Just to make it feel like she isn't hiding anything, she should reveal something. So, I also say in the text that she thinks she's starting to have feelings for a guy who will be at this school too.

She doesn't answer understandably considering it's 3 AM, but I'm sure that the lack of calls from Cass' part won't seem too suspicious for a while. And I don't intend on having Cass be gone for so long that it does become suspicious.

I try to fall asleep and it comes easier when it starts to rain.

***

Since I decided to not report Cass' disappearance, I have to come up with a story to have the security guard check the tapes.

"Hello, sir." I greet the one standing next to the SECURITY ONLY door thinking it might hold the computers with all the surveillance footage.

"Hello. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes, actually. I have a couple of friends who like messing with me and they took my phone from my dorm room last night. I saw a security camera right in front of our door so I was hoping I could check the footage."

I hold a please-help-me-my-phone-is-everything face. He looks down on me, because my 5 feet and 6 inches aren't enough to balance the height difference of the towering man before me.

"I have to stay here so, you'll be alone in there. I trust you'll watch your tape and that's all."

"Your trust is in good hands, sir."

It really is. I might have lied for the reason, but I still am only going to go watch that tape and that's it.

I walk in with smile. The room is exactly what I thought it was. A dark room only illuminated by the computers' light. Three rows of computers are on the wall and two principle ones on the table itself. The computers are like TVs showing the camera footage in different areas of the school and they're controlled by the two on the table.

I sit behind one. I manage to figure out how to pull the footage from the time and place I wanted. I click on the icon of the tape I want. The video is exactly from a range of 6 PM to 6h30 PM. WlDarius and I arrived at my dorm at 6h30 and Cass left only 5 minutes before us.

I fast forward the video to the end to make sure it ends when we arrive. When I see Darius and I from behind, walking into our room, I know that whatever happened is between these two times.

I bring the tape back to the beginning. I up the speed and pay close attention.

6h10: A cluster of students pass by.
6:18: Keller passes by in front of our door and his phone flashes from a text. My guess is one from Cass.
6:26: Cass walks into our room.