The perfect timing
Chapter 21

Different thoughts were spinning through my mind and I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do right now. Running after Aiden and apologizing for everything and for nothing? Crying even more even if I knew now wasn’t the time for it. Or looking for that girl Reece and I saw yesterday.

I decided for being brave and getting over my cringing fit. I needed to be strong for Nancy. Her life was more important than anything else. So I used my sleeve to wipe my tears away and told Reece to tell me everything that had happened.

“Well, I told my mother about that girl yesterday and this morning she sent some people to her house or home, howsoever you want to call it,” he told me as we walked out of school.

I knew it wasn’t the right thing to skip classes, but this was an emergency and really important, so I didn’t say anything as Reece lead me towards his car on the parking lot. We made sure that no one saw us, but with Reece good ears this was the easiest thing in the world. He didn’t even have to look around and was walking with no care in the world. And in the end we didn’t even met another student.

“But when they arrived she was nowhere to be found and her room was empty. Everything was gone, and it looked like she never lived there.”

“Maybe they went to the wrong apartment,” I tried to reason out. But Reece shook his head immediately.

“Impossible. After that I went straight away to the house and take a look for myself. It was like there never was a girl in the first place.

I became more frustrated with every word that Reece said. How was this possible? She wasn’t a hallucination. But I wasn’t the only, who got worked up about it. Reece was clenching his fists in frustration and a scowl was plastered on his face.

She was just gone, just like that. The first real tip we had was gone, and it was probably our fault.

“It’s my.... our fault. Isn’t it?” I whispered and Reece didn’t even try to complain because he knew I was right.

“Yeah, but we didn’t know what would have happened or that she would be gone the next day.”

“I know, I know,” I said and stared at the back of his head as he opened his car.

“What are the two of you doing?” A voice suddenly called out and my head snapped around in shock. But then I sighted annoyed. I couldn’t handle another person right now even if he was my partner.

“Eric. Are you out of your mind you scared the shit out of me,” I snapped, but immediately regret my words, when I saw the surprised look on his face. I was never mean to him and I never wanted to be like that.

“Sorry for snapping at you,” I then told him and the smile was back on his face again.

“You don’t have to apologize for anything to him,” Reece said satisfied. I knew he didn’t like Eric because he was going out with his sister. But he didn’t need to make it that obvious. He was still my partner and a nice guy.

Eric the guy he was, just ignored Reece comment and told me it was alright. Then in a more serious tone he asked, “So what happened? Why are you going to ditch your classes?”

“That’s none of your business,” Reece of course answered and I elbowed him for his attitude.

“Ouch.”

“We will tell you later, but we need to go now Eric. Sorry,” I said, and he nodded in understanding.

“Someone is coming, get in the car,” Reece suddenly called out and I looked around in confusion. I wasn’t seeing anybody. But still did what he had told me because he was the one with the good senses.

“I will cover you,” was the last thing from Eric I heard before Reece speed out of the parking lot and onto the street. I turned around a last time and just saw a teacher walking towards Eric and him walking casually towards him. He really is the best partner I could ask for.

As I got home, the first thing I did was collapsing on my bed in frustration and because I was exhausted. After Eric covered us, Reece drove us to the M.E, and we met his mother in her office. Nothing had changed there and so Juliette Matthews. She was still the classy and powerful woman I remembered.

And she was the one who made me so angry and frustrated, because she told us to do nothing about the girl. She more forbade us to do anything. Why? She didn’t explain why; she said it was the best for now.

It was hard not to get up, jump out of my seat and strangle her at that moment. How dumb was it to do absolutely nothing? This wasn’t going to help Nancy at all and the woman couldn’t even give me a good reason.

As I went out of her office with Reece on my side, who had been awfully quiet since we arrived in the M.E, I was boiling. Reece probably sensed my irritation and grabbed my arm before I stormed out of the building and go for a hunt by myself.

“Don’t,” he told me while shaking his head.

“Don’t what?” I asked him and tried to yank my arm out of his grip.

“Don’t go after her alone.”

I was speechless at his words. Had it been that obvious what I was going to do next?

“Listen,” he said as he noticed I wouldn’t answer him. “I know you are angry and want to find that girl. And believe it or not I want to find her as badly as you, but you are not thinking straight right now. And my mother knows what she is talking about. She is doing her job for years now and no one she wanted to find ever escaped her and the M.E. So just listen to her even if you don’t have the same opinion as her. She just wants the best for you and the best thing is to look out for her and wait what is going to happen.”

I think this was the most I ever heard Reece saying in one breath and it all made sense to me. But my feelings were spinning around like crazy and I could not handle them at this moment. So I snapped at him. And I felt bad, terrible, but it happened.

“Yeah, let us just do nothing. Let us wait and look how Nancy is dying slowly. Let us do nothing as you did in her office. You were just watching and didn’t help me at all as I tried to reason out why we HAVE TO DO SOMETHING.”

The hurt was written on his face at my words, but it was too late now to take it back.

So I stormed out of the M.E and let a taxi drive me home.

And now lying in my bed all I wanted to do was crying over everything. What was wrong with me? I wasn’t such a cry baby, but it was like someone else was controlling my feelings and I sobbed and couldn’t stop.

The next thing I remember before falling into sleep, was my aunt walking into my room finding me crying and just taking me into her arms as she always did, when I was younger and for example hurt my knee from falling. She even kissed the top of my head and was stroking my hair. I missed these old days when everything was so much easier.

In the next moment I was dreaming. Why I knew this? Because I felt so light and was walking around a scenery I somehow remembered. It was a breathtaking lake.

“Celia,” a loving voice said, another reason why I knew this was just a dream. It was the voice of my own mother. And in reality it couldn’t be her because she died with my father in a car accident years ago.

“Mom”, I answered with a smile on lips and turned around to see her face. She looked exactly the same way she did last time, and I was so happy to see her even if it wasn’t really her.

“How are you love?” she asked me as she stepped closer to me and laid her arm around my shoulder lovingly.

“Here with you amazing,” I told her honestly. But my answer only let a frown appear on her beautiful face.

“And in real life?”

“Not so good mum,” I said and felt like crying again.

“Oh my lovely child, don’t be sad. Everything is going to be okay, you will see,” she told me and gave me one of her brightest smiles to cheer me up.

“But I don’t know that to do and I’m so confused.”

“I know Celia, I know...,” she was about to say something else, but her face became blurry.

“Mum,” I screamed and reached my hand out for her, but it felt like somebody was dragging me away from her and pulling at my limbs with so much force that I didn’t have a chance.

The last thing I heard was her saying, “The bracelet, always wear the bracelet it will protect you.”

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