The Letter - Chapter 49

I woke up Monday morning realizing I was still in my mother’s house.  I had heard some stirring in my bedroom, and then I heard the door quietly close.  I pushed aside the bed curtains and saw a school uniform hanging on a stand beside the vanity.  I thought about refusing to go along with Mother’s plans to send me to the Academy, but decided leaving this compound might provide some opportunity to contact my Dad or my friends who could help me escape.  I showered, dressed and went down to see if I could get some breakfast.  When I got to the bottom of the stairway, Mr. Hughes met me and escorted me to the dining room where Mrs. Tomlinson had prepared French toast.  Mother was nowhere to be seen.  When I had finished breakfast, Henry appeared in the doorway.  He escorted me to the waiting limousine and drove me to my new school.  He opened the door and watched me walk into the school where I was met by the Headmaster.  

The Headmaster told me that he had had a long conversation with my mother.  He assured me I needn’t be worried because I would be well protected while attending school here.  I wasn’t sure what his assurances meant, but assumed he was telling me I would be watched constantly and there would be few, if any, opportunities for escape.  He escorted me to my first class where the teacher introduced me to my classmates. 

Classes were much smaller than what I was used to in my public high school.  I counted 18 in my English class.  They were reading The Sun Also Rises.  I sat and listened as I hadn’t read any of it.  As I sat there, I absentmindedly put my hands into the pockets of my school blazer.  I felt a scrap of paper in my right pocket.  I palmed it and discreetly held it out of the sight of the teacher to see if it was something other than one of those ‘inspected by #43’ slips of paper that you sometimes find in new clothes.  In fact it was a note.  I stuck it in my book and feigned reading along with the class while I read the message.

 Sorry I missed you this morning.  You were still sleeping when I put the uniform in your room.  I know it can be hard starting at a new school in the middle of the year.  I wanted you to know that my sister, Diana, is also a senior at the Academy.  Maybe you’ll have classes together and you two will become friends.  Your servant (and friend), Minerva

The bell rang for the next class. I followed my classmates who all seemed to be going in the same direction – to Social Studies.  As I walked through the hall, a girl with long, dark hair and brown eyes came up beside me.

“Hi Jennifer.  I’m Diana.  Did Minerva tell you about me?”

“Actually, she left a note in my pocket, which I read just before English class ended.  Very nice to meet you,” I smiled at her.  “So you’re a goddess just like your sister.”

Diana laughed.  “Yes, I suppose so.  Our younger sister is named Luna – the moon goddess.  Our mother was a professor of ancient history in Syria.  She expects great things from each of us.”

“Very interesting.  Does she teach at one of the universities here?”

“No, she was unable to get a position.  Now she works at my father’s restaurant.”

“I think it’s horrible that there’s so much discrimination against Muslims in our country right now.”

“So do I.  But my family is Christian.  You know that Syria was home to one of the largest groups of Christians in the early days of the church.”

“I’m sorry.  Like my father always says, when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.”

“What?”  She stopped at the doorway to the classroom where our next class would be.  The late bell rang and the students moved toward their seats.

“I’ll explain later,” I whispered as Diana left me to take her seat.  The teacher pointed me to an empty desk and welcomed me to Social Studies class.

By lunchtime, I was feeling more comfortable with Diana, but the other students seemed less friendly – like someone had put the word out to steer clear of the new girl.  During lunch, I asked Diana if I could use her phone to make a call, but she told me students were not allowed to have phones in the school.  Students had to pass through a metal detector each morning, and if a phone was found, it was impounded in the office till the end of the day.  If a student needed to make a call, they had to use the office phone.  I decided to stop by the office right after lunch and asked to use the phone.  I was told my mother had given strict instructions not to allow me to use it. 

I began to feel like a white collar criminal in one of those country club prisons.  This school was nice and my mother’s mansion was an amazing place to live, but at the end of the day, I couldn’t leave.  I couldn’t go outside for a walk, I couldn’t call my friends, and most importantly, I couldn’t see my father.  I had to concentrate on finding a way to escape. I wasn’t sure how far I could trust Diana, but decided I didn’t have much choice.  I followed her to her locker after our last class.

“Diana, I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you taking me under your wing.” 

“I am happy to be a friend to you.  I know what it is like to be a stranger in a new place.  My parents brought me here when I was a young girl, and it was difficult.  At least you speak the language here.”  She smiled.  “And Minerva told me a little about you.  She said you were in a bad situation with your father, but now you are safe.  Under your mother’s protection.”  She smiled again.

I grabbed Diana’s arm.  “No!  You’ve got it all wrong, Diana.  I love my father.  I enjoyed living with him.  I want to go back to his house.”

Diana backed away a step, a look of disgust on her face.  “But he does things to you that no father should.  That’s what Minerva told me.”

“That is a lie.”  I stomped my foot for emphasis.  “I don’t know who is spreading these disgusting lies about my father.”  I started to cry.  “God, I could really use a friend now.”

Diana pulled a tissue out of her blazer pocket and handed it to me.  “I’m sorry, Jennifer.  I believe you.  I can see how upset you are.  Someone must have lied to Minerva.”

“And I can bet it was her employer – either my mother or her husband.”

“But why would they do this?”

“It’s a long story.  Do you have to go?”

“Minerva is picking me up from school.  She can wait a few minutes.”

I proceeded to tell Diana about my mother walking out on us, the divorce, her having no contact with me for two years and then all of a sudden wanting me back with her.  “She literally kidnapped me from my high school semi-formal and is holding me like a prisoner until I don’t know when.  I haven’t even been able to call my father to tell him I’m alive.  Aren’t prisoners supposedly allowed to get one phone call?  Well not me.  Not this prison.  And the office here won’t even allow me to make a call – on instructions from my mommy dearest.”

“This is horrible, but I do have to go.”  The hallway was now empty except for the two of us. “Can I do anything to help?”

“I really need to get my phone.  I left it in my purse at the dance.  I’m sure my best friend Liz would have picked it up.  Could you call her and see if she has it?  If she does, then we just need to figure some way to get it to me without my mother finding out.”  I tore a sheet of paper from my notebook.  “Let me give you her number.  Please call her and let her know I really need my phone.  Liz is bright.  She’ll figure something out.”

Diana took the paper and hurried toward the door.  I walked slower, knowing that Henry would be at the door waiting – to take me back to my country club prison.