Back to the Dream Page
Chapter 9
The entire group sat, silence blanketing them all as they sat in front of the television, watching the news. The remaining thirty-four students who had once made up HSS's class of 96 watched with their two former teachers and their families. All eyes remained glued to the screen as a local news reporter retold what they already knew. Mel had been kidnapped early that morning by two people. The main surveillance camera in the lobby had seen two, masked men enter the building a few minutes after everyone had left for the hike. She was discovered missing and her door wide open when Mrs. Marchetti had gone to check on her and bring lunch. The only problem was, no camera had seen the men leave and no one had witnessed anything for themselves. It was as if they'd just disappeared, but Don knew better. While the police had searched the entire building to see if they'd stuck around, Don had seen flashes. She wasn't here, he knew, but somewhere cold and dark…
Mrs. Marchetti, ever the leader despite her now advanced age, stood up and switched the television off. Her voice was low and she looked into everyone's eyes, meeting their gazes. "This is doing us no good, moping around because a tragedy like this happened to one of us. We can't do anything now though, and it'd be useless to even try. I'm sure the police have everything under control and they're doing their best to help us out. But in the meantime, let's try to think positive. I think it'll be good for us if we can distract ourselves and see if we can think of some things that we remember and know about her."
A thoughtful quiet descended on the group as they tried to think.
"She still can't ice-skate," Aaron broke in and they all laughed.
"She was a great singer," Joseph recalled their days together in choir.
"One of the best I've ever led," Miss Murray whispered, thinking of how she'd been thankful for her dedication to the group.
"She's still as neat as ever," Liz commented, thinking back to the days they shared PE lockers in high school.
"Still polite," Brian added.
"She was so smart," Ryan said.
"Yeah… I still can't believe she actually had the guts to accuse me and you of cheating though," Dennis said from his side of the room.
"It's your fault for even trying to cheat off someone like that," Tony chuckled.
"She's a hard worker," Joannah spoke up, remembering how Mel had taken charge of their Yosemite group project.
"So innocent though," Katie remarked. "I remember her saying she'd led a sheltered life but I recall how out of things she was at times."
"It was odd, yeah, but she was also happy," Stephanie pointed out. "She didn't care about what was in or whatever as long as she had fun."
"She was so shy when she first came," Danielle mused.
"But she turned out to be a great friend," Mona replied. "She trusted all of us blindly. I don't think I deserved some of that trust though." A number of heads nodded in agreement.
"I could always count on her to listen," Nicole said.
Rae added, "She always helped me with my anatomy homework."
"And me with pre-cal," Janelle said.
"She had the neatest handwriting," Denisse said.
"Very organized," Sherie commented.
"Naïve when it came to guys back in high school," Allison remarked.
"Pretty good at drawing when she tried," Larry mentioned.
"Still too short though," Eric smiled.
"She was always practical," Jason commented.
"She could play piano well," Lindsey added.
"A very nice person," John said.
"Quiet, too," Heidi added.
"I saw her a lot at church with her family long time ago and then a few times at Davis," Frederick commented.
"I remember seeing her in that play our junior year…" Diane mused.
"She had great typing skills," Chris said.
"She was easy to talk to though and she really listened," Rachel thought out loud.
"She liked working at Saint Vincent a lot, I remember," Monique mentioned.
Mark agreed. "Yeah, she was the dedicated type."
"I still can't get over how compassionate she is, you know?" Jameson asked. "She really, really cares about what we tell her and how we're doing, even now after these twelve years."
"All I remember was that she was a lot of fun to tease and make fun of," Christian laughed.
"Especially when it came to the subject of Don," Art smiled.
All eyes fell on Don as they waited for his comeback. "I liked her too," he said quietly, eyes down, staring at his hands. He could feel their sympathetic gazes on him, all of them wondering if she'd ever learn the truth of his feelings, knowing that they hadn't died down any bit over the years.
The same quiet that they'd been trying to avoid came upon them again.
Mrs. Marchetti stepped in once more. "I know we're scared. Who knows? We could be next. But we're here now, together. I know we're not at HSS anymore and I know that some of us aren't even religious… But this is a trying moment for all of us, whether we knew her well or not, and I believe that we should take the time now to pray for Mel's safe return to us." They linked their hands together and waited for Mrs. Marchetti to continue. "Lord, watch over this group of very special people. We are all very frightened right now and we ask that you keep us and all of our loved ones safe. We also ask that you keep an extra look out for our friend Mel. Let her come back to all of us safe and sound." After a momentary pause to let them all reflect, she went on. "Let's take a few minutes now to add our own, silent prayers."
One by one, most of them relaxed and closed their eyes to reflect. Don took in a deep breath but found he could not relax. He leaned back against the wall and focused on a dirty spot on the floor. The guilt he'd felt when he'd come back from the hike and heard the news had grown more with each second and he was still at a loss as to how he could help. Knowing that she was somewhere out there in the wilderness did not help him any bit and it was all he could do from crying out in frustration.
He stole a glance towards his friend Mark and found his own eyes glazed over in worry helplessness. Mark was another Lhaam and Don understood what he must have been going through. A quick mind check and Don knew that Mark didn't know much more than he did at the moment. A brief stab of guilt coursed through him for intruding but he pushed the guilt out. He'd done it before and had never been caught…
Mark looked up and locked gazes with Don before Don was able to turn away. Mark had been trying to locate Mel through soul searching and the feeling of someone else watching through his eyes had brought him back to the present. When he'd felt the intruding mind begin probing his own, he'd stilled his thoughts and tried to establish contact. It wasn't Mel he felt though, and he'd looked up to find Don giving him a blank stare. That blank look was quickly replaced with a guilty one and Mark now knew there was another among that small group. It was only a matter of time until others knew as well.
Even as Don fled back into his own mind, Mark pursued. Can we talk? He asked in thought-speak.
Don could only give a half smile in return, being unskilled in things like this.
Mark took that as a yes and waited patiently for the group to go to bed.