Then, she came upon a box that said, Rachel’s school stuff. There were only two boxes left to sort through until she’d have to give up. She opened the box slowly and started lifting up various school related items. This exercise was like taking a journey through her past. She felt a bit nostalgic for the days that had gone by and wished for a second she could still have a use for these things. She lifted up her old notebooks, her pens, pencils, and her Filofax. She pulled out old notes that her friends had written her and she even found her old AHS school schedule. Then, she saw her LeSportSac back pack. She picked it up to put it aside and continue searching, but it felt heavy to her. It was heavier than she’d remembered it feeling. She opened up the front zipper and pulled out her diary. She couldn’t believe it. She’d missed her diary so much but couldn’t remember where she’d put it. She quickly removed it from the backpack and put it in her new leather messenger bag that she carried across her body. She then opened up the large zip pocket and she couldn’t believe her eyes. It was a true miracle. There in all its glory, shining brightly was the kaleidoscope. She pulled it out and it was exactly as she’d remembered. It was perfect and now she knew she would be able to find the Red Amulet. She put the kaleidoscope to her eye in hopes of seeing the answer, but she saw nothing. It was like looking into a black hole. She shook the kaleidoscope and then looked through it again.
Nothing.
She couldn’t believe it. All of this for a blackened blurry vision of nothing. She couldn’t believe it. Her heart sank in her chest and she knew it was over. She knew she would never find the Red Amulet, and she knew she would never save Benji. Thinking about this brought tears to her eyes. She slunk down to the ground, holding the kaleidoscope in her hand and cried.
Then she heard a noise coming from outside of the garage. She couldn’t believe her ears. How did she not hear them before. She had no warning, no time to hide. She heard the door creak open and they walked in as she was sitting there, crying on the floor. She didn’t know what to do and the only thing she could do was look up and acknowledge what was about to happen. She’d been caught.
“Rachel?” her dad said in surprise.
“Dad!” Rachel replied.
“Rachel? Is that really you?” Marc said, looking down at her.
“It’s me. I’m back,” Rachel said, still clutching tightly to her kaleidoscope.
“What are you doing here?” her dad asked in an angry voice.
Rachel didn’t know what to say or do. She knew her dad was going to let her have it. There was nothing she could do to stop him. She could see the anger in his eyes as his face got redder and redder. All of a sudden she’d wished she’d never come for her kaleidoscope. She knew it was all a big mistake.
“What do you mean you’re back?” her dad snarled. “Do you think it’s funny to leave for a year and then come back and say, “I’m back!”’
“I, um…N, N, No,” Rachel stuttered.
“I can’t even believe this,” Marc said. “We thought you were dead!”
“Dead?” Rachel questioned. “Me dead!” she let out a little laugh.
“You have no idea the trouble you’ve brought our family, Missy,” her father said.
“I’m sorry,” Rachel said. “But I don’t know why you’re so angry with me. I didn’t do anything to you.”
“You didn’t do ANYTHING!” her father screamed. “That’s exactly it. You DISSAPPEARED!”
“I had to,” Rachel said vaguely. “Trust me.”
“Did you not stop for one second to think about how that affected your family? Did you?” her father yelled. “You have no idea the toll it took on us. Especially your mother.”
“Did you even hear what happened to Mom?” Marc asked.
Rachel couldn’t imagine what it could be and said, “No.”
“Well, to be honest, I don’t even think you’re worthy of knowing,” her father said.
“Worthy of knowing where my own mother is?” Rachel questioned.
“Yes. You probably wouldn’t even care anyway,” her father remarked.
“Tell me, please,” Rachel begged. “I must know.”
“She’s not well,” Marc said. “She’s not well at all.”
“What do you mean?” Rachel asked in worry.
“She got very ill. She fell into a deep coma and she’s in the hospital now,” her father said.
“Coma?” Rachel asked, devastated. “But I don’t understand.”
“She couldn’t take it anymore. She got sick from worrying about you and then once everyone started talking about your death, she tried to kill herself, too. She overdosed on pain medication and just about died herself. She lapsed into a coma and has been like that ever since,” her father sighed.
“How long?” Rachel asked in fear.
“It’s been a while now. Almost five months,” Marc added.
“Five months!” Rachel exclaimed.
“Why didn’t I know about this?” Rachel asked.
“Probably because you didn’t come back to us,” her father said. “You don’t seem to care about anyone else but yourself these days. It serves you right really. What’s happened to your mother is all your fault. Imagine if she’d died. How would you have felt?”
“But, I …I,” Rachel said. “I didn’t do anything. Really, it wasn’t my fault. Stop blaming me for something I didn’t have control over!”
“Control over!” her father yelled. “You’re the one who left!”
“Dad, please. Please. You have to understand. I had to go. Things changed for me. You have to believe me. But now I’m back, but only for a short time,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, why did you come back here anyway?” Marc asked. “And how did you know we were here.”
“I went back to Bedford and the guy who lives in our house told me you’d moved. So, he gave me your phone number and it was the same as before, so I figured you’d just moved back to our old house. And I was right. Here you are!” Rachel said.
“So why did you come back here?” her father asked.
“I had to come back for my kaleidoscope,” Rachel said.
“What?” Marc said.
“What kaleidoscope?” her father asked.