Stolen Secrets

Stolen Secrets- Chapter 27

~Natalie~

It’s been more than two weeks since we found Dad. I never went back to school. Dad let me be homeschooled with no questions asked.

Every day I went to work with Dad, he didn’t want me home alone for too long considering everything that had happened. I brought my laptop and the other small things I would need for school. Then I sat in the corner of his office all day and did my school work, and played games on my Facebook when I was finished.

I figured this was the best way to start over once again. I had promised myself that I would cut myself cleanly from Jeff’s life. And I can't do that if I saw him every day. This was the best choice.

And now I was spending time with Dad. It was a win in every direction.

But there was only one flaw in my big plan, Dad was presenting Jeff with an award in two days’ time.

Jeff was receiving an award from Dad thanking him for his commitment and persistence in helping the cops find both of us. It was like a good citizen award, but on a larger scale.

I didn’t want to go to the ceremony, but Dad was making me. He said it was the least I could do after all Jeff had done from me. He didn’t understand why I wouldn’t want to see him.

Dad had given me money and sent me with Cheryl, his secretary, to go a get a dress for the ceremony. Cheryl was in her mid-twenties and enjoyed shopping, so naturally I had bought a super girly dress that Cheryl was convinced I looked ‘stunning’ in, to get out of the mall as soon as possible.

So not only did I have to see Jeff and his family again, something I had avoided doing, but I had to do it wearing a dress.

So not my definition of fun.

~Jeff~

She’s gone. And this time I can't rescue her. She isn’t in danger, the cops have no reason to be alarmed. No, this time Natalie, my angel, is hiding from me. It’s just me she’s chosen to cut out of her life.

Natalie wasn’t the one to tell me she wasn’t coming back. Mr. Anderson, our English teacher, was.

I had left her alone like she had asked, for the rest of the break. More than once I had been tempted to pick up my phone and call her, but I knew she wanted her time alone with her dad.

I had expected her to call me when the break was over, but the call never came. I went to English the first day back and her desk was empty. At lunch she never came to me and the next day when I asked Mr. Anderson if he had heard anything, he said that Natalie no longer went to this school.

Natalie had gone to this school for only three weeks. One week out of those three, she had been missing and hadn’t even attended school. No one mourned the fact that she was gone except for me.

Mum tried to convince me that I wasn’t the reason Natalie was gone. She told me that there were other things that Natalie must have wanted to avoid at the school other than me. Like all the bad memories surrounding her kidnapping and the week without George.

I’m having a hard time seeing the positive in all of this. All I can hope is she will be there at the award ceremony. It’s supposed to be her and George presenting me, not just George.

What have I done wrong? What did I do to make Natalie hate me? I hope whatever I did I can fix. I don’t want to be away from Natalie much longer.

The only positive thing I am seeing in the last couple of weeks, is at least Mum didn’t kill Brandon and I for going to find George. Dt. Greene had called her right away, but she hadn’t cut her trip short visiting Grandma.