The Red

Chapter 6

I wake up in the morning. Mom and Dad should be home now, for sure.

I stand from my bed and walk to their bedroom. The bed is empty.

"Mom?" I call, "Dad?"

No reply. The house is as quiet as it's ever been.

"Maybe they missed their flight," I say to myself, desperate for something to stimulate my ears.

Maybe I should go let Ms. Calloway know, I think, Okay, I'll do that.

I walk outside and then next door to Ms. Calloway's house. Mom and Dad said to go there if I needed anything.

I ring the doorbell.

The door opens, and Ms. Calloway stands there. Mid-forties, graying hair, nice lady.

"Hello, Natalie," she says, "Can I get you something?"

"I wanted to tell you," I say, "my parents aren't home."

She looks confused. "You sure?"

"Yes."

"Come in," she waves me into the house.

I sit on her sofa while she buzzes around the room, tidying up as fast as she can.

I'm thirteen, I think. She shouldn't be worried about impressing me.

"Where did your parents go, again, sweetie?" Ms. Calloway asks me.

"Hawaii," I answer, "For their anniversary."

She walks to the phone and dials a number from an open phone book.

I scrape the red nail polish from my nails and watch the pieces fall onto the carpet.

Crap, I think, I need to remember my manners. I rub my foot over the carpet, trying to make the little chips disappear.

From what I can hear, she's called the airport and is asking for information on my parents' flight.

"It did?" she says into the phone, "Well, have you heard anything about Matthias and Emma Cace?"

Someone speaks on the other end, and Ms. Calloway's face becomes confused.

"What do you mean?" she asks, "Did they-" She stops, and looks at the phone.

"They hung up on me!" she exclaims. "Anyway, Natalie, they told me that your parents were not on the flight to Hawaii."

"What?"

There could be lots of reasons as to why they're not back. They must've stayed another day, or took a different flight.... But I know better. They would have called me if there was even a slight change in plans. Wouldn't they?

"I don't know!" Ms. Calloway says, "None of this makes any sense!" She looks at the phone and I can almost hear her brain telling her to "just do it". She dials again, but this time she only presses three numbers.

"Hello, sir," she says, "Have you received any type of report on Matthias and Emma Cace? They seem to have gone missing. ...No, they haven't exactly been missing for twenty-four hours, but they were on vacation and never came home."

The officer on the phone says something and the color drains from Ms. Calloway's face.

"They...what? Shoot! No...she's with me.... I'm their neighbor.... What?! Why-? Oh, okay, then.... Do I really? she can stay with me.... Her parents said that? Why-? ...Well thank you, officer."

She hangs up the phone, and I am terrified of what comes next.

"Natalie," she walks over and sits herself down on the couch next to me.

"I guess...you're parents...got in a car crash...and they didn't make it."

I never imagined how I'd take the news when something like this happened. But I didn't ever think it would be so numb, so painless, so...empty.

I don't move. I've forgotten how. The words have been spoken, but I don't believe them. My parents wouldn't die. They're so strong...so...so.... A tear rolls down my face.

"Your parents apparently said that should they die, you are to be taken to Madame Catherine's."

The orphanage? What? No! This somehow makes the news more real to me. My parents are dead. I have no one. Ms. Calloway isn't even allowed to care for me.

Why, why would my parents put me in an orphanage?

"I'm so sorry, honey," Ms. Calloway says.

But her words mean nothing. All I can imagine is my parents, and, oddly enough, the red on my nails.

I hope they didn't lose blood. I hope they died looking peaceful, not red.