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“That would be great, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not. I’ll be right back. Do you want lunch? I can pick something up.”
“That sounds good. I wasn’t hungry until you said that.” She laughs.
I let my brothers know I’ll be grabbing lunch for everyone and get in my cage to pick Maddie up. The drive to Maddie’s school used to take about thirty minutes. But now that they live with me, it’s only fifteen minutes. I pull into the parking lot to wait. I’ve got ten minutes before school is out. Lila said she goes in about five minutes prior.
Hollis: Just got here. I’ll start walking in a couple minutes
Lila: Okay. Thank you for picking her up. And thank you for everything
Hollis: I told you, cupcake. You and Maddie are my girls. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore
Lila: (heart emoji)
I head inside, stopping at the office to sign in. Everyone who comes into the school has to go through the office first. Then I walk to Maddie’s classroom. When I get there, I look inside. I don’t see her right away and I get a weird feeling in my stomach. Maybe she’s just not visible from where I’m standing. Other parents are starting to gather outside the classrooms. Some stare at me, but I’ve gotten used to it. Some are curious and some look judgy. Fuck the judgers.
The kids start coming out of Maddie’s classroom, but there’s no Maddie. What the fuck is going on? I walk in to ask her teacher.
“Hi, I’m Hollis and I’m here for Madeleine Slater.”
The teacher stares at me with a shocked look on her face. Which is comical because I just saw her this morning when we dropped Maddie off.
“S-she was picked up earlier. H-he said he was her father and that it was an emergency. Something had happened to her mother,” she stutters.
Holy fuck. What is going on? Is this school so incompetent that they don’t follow their own fucking rules? I’m going to suggest moving Maddie to a different school immediately.
“Only two people are allowed to pick Maddie up. Me, and her mother. Not even her aunt or uncle are on that list!” At this point I’m yelling and I don’t give a fuck. The teacher starts crying, but I don’t care. She can cry all she wants—she's the one who fucked up.
“Sir, you can’t come in here and start yelling at our teachers.”
Oh good. The principal is here to stick his nose in.
“I wouldn’t have to yell if you ran your school the right fucking way.”
“You don’t need to use that kind of language.”
“Fuck you. You and your staff let someone take my child. There are two names on the list for pickup, and that’s me and her mother. I know where her mother is because I was just with her, and I’m standing in front of you. So where is my daughter?” I get right in his face and I can see the fear in his eyes. He waits until the other parents and kids are out of the area before addressing the situation.
The principal turns to the teacher and asks her what happened. She explains to him that she got a message to bring Maddie to the office because her dad was there to pick her up early. And so she did.
“Did you see the guy who was waiting?” I ask her and she nods. “I’m calling the police.”
“Wait, we can handle this. There’s no need to call the police.”
“No. You've done enough,” I snap as I get my phone out to call Salvatore.
“Hello?”he answers.
“Hey Sal, it’s Cavallo. I need you to come down to Walden Elementary. My daughter was taken. Please hurry.”
“Your daughter? Wait, nevermind. We’re on our way.”
“Thank you.”
And then I realize I have to call Lila. Fuck. I call Fantasma first.
“What’s up, Cavallo? You get lost on your way back?”he jokes.
