Dark Secrets

Chapter 06

Chapter 06

I answered the phone. "Hello?" I said, sounding a bit nervous.

"Ella..."

It felt like my heart stopped. That name. There was no way...

I froze. My body, my mind. It felt like everything had stopped.

I tried to respond, but no words could make it past my lips. I just stood there in a trance, afraid to move or say a word. My heart and my mind were racing with confusion and fear, but I just couldn't move. The reception was choppy and I could barely hear anything that was being said on the other end. The voice was trying to speak again, almost out of breath.

"Who is this?" I demanded, trying to get some answers.

The voice came through again, but it was still so muffled and difficult to understand. I still had no clue who was on the other end. The voice was now in a rush, and I was becoming nervous. Was this a joke, or was someone genuinely in trouble and reaching out to me? Finally, a voice broke through. "...Cassandra?" It was my mother.

I sighed, coming myself down. I suddenly felt like crying. What was going on? Was she okay? Was she in trouble? My voice instantly began trembling. "Mom? Is everything okay?" I said, trying not to cry. I couldn't control myself now, feeling my heart race.

"Oh, Cassie! Are you okay?" She asked, sounding worried.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just got home from work. What's wrong?" I asked, wondering what was going on. I felt my heart begin beating quickly and my emotions start to stir once more. This wasn't a normal conversation and I knew something important was about to happen.

"I'm so glad!" She continued. "Someone broke into our house today while we were out. I was just worried maybe they came to your house too."

The world around me seemed to come to a halt yet again. I was shocked. This couldn't be happening. I just...I had no words. It felt like I was going through two different emotional states at once, my body frozen in fear and my heart racing with worry. "What!? I'm coming over!" I instantly responded. My parents needed me and I wasn't just going to stay at home while they went through this. Apart from me was still shaken up about that name... was it just hearing things? There's no way my foster mom would have called me by that name... I must have just heard her wrong due to the reception. I hope.

I didn't even bother to change, I just left the house and walked over to my car, when my phone dinged with a notification. I walked over to my car when my phone dinged with a notification. I looked down at my phone and saw a text from Nathan. '

Nathan: Hey, I'm glad to hear from you. Got some time to chat?

My heart nearly stopped. My mind went blank as I opened the notification and read the text. There was a pit of worry in my stomach because I had to go, yet my excitement to see the text from him made me feel so happy.

What should I say?

A wave of worry hit me as I realized that I had to respond. Was it a bad idea to respond right now? My parents needed me, but I didn't want to ignore him. I knew that if I didn't respond, I was probably going to kick myself about it 1000x later. Probably best just to be honest.

Me: Hey, I'm sorry, talk about bad timing. I'm just heading out to my parents... someone broke into their home.

My thumbs tapped quickly on the screen as I responded. I hit send and placed it back in my purse. I proceeded into my car and turned the engine on. I was about to leave when my phone started ringing. Grabbing it out of my purse, I looked to see that it was Nathan calling.