Missing

Mark was a boy who was genuinely interested in keeping up with his grades, so when he sneaked out of the back of his school, it was no doubt that even the teachers were alarmed regarding his behavior, as they have received nothing but good words regarding this kid. What caused him to act out like that in the first week of middle school?

“I am sorry, we got here as fast as we could.” The woman, amongst what appeared to be a couple , spoke. “What happened to Mark? Are you sure he sneaked out”? Anxiously she asked. Who was she? She was Mark’s mother, Mrs Megan McCain.  She had a genuinely good reason to worry for her kid missing out, something she can’t quite convey to the teacher.

“All we know is that he asked permission to go to the infirmary, but he never showed up there”? The homeroom teacher, Mrs Lawrence, shrugged.

“What about the CCTV footage?” Her husband, Don McCain, asked the teacher.

“Yeah, in this government school you wish to see CCTV footage.” Mrs Lawrence rolled her eyes.

“Are you kidding me!” Megan was beyond furious. “How can you say that? You are a teacher! We send our kids here under your supervision and you are telling me that you don’t take the safety of the kids seriously?” She snarled at Mrs. Lawrence who was quite annoyed at the outburst.

“Please, calm down. This is a school.” Mrs. Lawrence argued. 

“Is it? I thought this was a place Parents send their kids to get screwed”! She snarled.

“Meg, calm down.” Don tried to calm down his anxious wife, who was in fact close to blowing smoke out of her ear. “And, you Mrs… Dorothy Lawrence, I will see to the fact that you are fired for your unprofessional behaviour and your failure to do the bare minimum for the children’s safety.”

“And how do you plan on doing that”? Mrs Lawrence was barely taken up by that threat.

“As a lawyer, I will sue to this school, and with that, I will sue you.” Don declared and grabbed his wife away. When they were at a relatively secluded spot, lowering his voice Don spoke, “I think we should track him.”

“His phone is switched off.” Megan shook her head in dismay.

“I was not talking about the phone.” Don raised his eyebrows suggestively.

“You mean…” Megan was taken aback by that. “No we can’t… this place is supposed to be safer.”

“Come on, it’ll be faster. Let’s just try to use our sense of smell first. If it well we will consider shifting. We need to find our son anyways.” Don suggested. 

“Fine”! Megan sighed. Exiting the school, they decided to take their car to the nearby bar for the time being before they started their search for their son on barefoot. One of the best things about a bar is that most people in their were drunk, enough to not notice any suspicious behaviour.

Going back to the school, they sniffed around, a lot until they were sure they couldn’t smell their son at all. “I think it’s time we consider shifting.” Don suggested again. Feeling hopeless, Megan agreed only to be interuppted by the principal of the school who was just happening to be passing from that area. 

“Mr and Mrs McCain, I am Principal Roberts, I heard about your son. I am extremely sorry about Mrs. Lawrence’s unproffessional behaviour. Our CCTV footage in the front gate broke last week, and we still haven’t been able to secure the budget to fix it. We will get right to it, meanwhile, I will help you find your son.” The Principal offered.

“And how do you suppose we do that”? Don asked. 

“Here is the locker combination of your son’s locker along with the locker number. Maybe there is some clue there.” Principal Roberts suggested.

Don and Megan glanced at each other before they thanked the Principal for his assistance. On their way, Megan asked her husband anxiously, “Why do you think he left so abruptly? Do you think they found us?”

“No Meg, I have been extremely careful and checking their radar. We just moved here, and they have no idea we are here. Meg, no matter what I will not let anything happen to you or Mark. Remember that.” Don assured his wife. 

“Mom, Dad!” a familiar voice called out to them. They both turned around in a second and jolted with surprise and ran towards him. “Mark where have you been”? Megan asked and before Mark could answer, she engulfed him in a giant hug. 

“I…” Mark was confused with the whole situation but let his mother strangle him until he got a proper chance to say anything at all. When Megan finally let her son go, Don decided to speak up.

“Son, the school called saying you skipped class and then you were missing?” Don asked.

“Oh… I was at the terrace and I fell asleep.” Mark admitted, with a ton of guilt.

“What?” Megan was confused. “You fell asleep just like that? Didn’t you sleep properly last night”? She was confused.

“I did… But after lunch I have been feeling a little dizzy and there was this headache. I left to go to the infirmary and somehow I ended up in the terrace. I dunno, but being there, helped. I think I felt asleep.” Mark shrugged. 

Both Megan and Don glanced at each other, with a knowing terror in their eyes, “Mark, honey can you tell me what happened before you started to get those headaches”?  Megan asked her son.

“Um…. nothing much.” Mark shrugged. “I mean, I did smell cinnamon even though the lunch lady denied she had any. Maybe she was lying, or I was imagining, but other than that nothing weird happened.” He shrugged.

“Okay…” Megan nodded, “You feel better.”

“Yeah.” Mark nodded. 

“Go back to class, your school is about to end, we will wait for you.” Megan patted her son’s shoulder and sent him away to class. “I keep telling you, he is too innocent for this world.” she declared with fear as soon as she was alone with her husband.

“Innocent or not, I think it’s time. He should know the truth.” Don declared.

“But, Mark is too young.” Megan begged. “He is supposed to be at least fourteen if not more before this becomes a concern.”

“He needs to know all this if we are to keep him safe. Headaches, him smelling cinnamon? You know what it means right?”

“Maybe the lunch lady was lying?” Megan tried, although even she didn’t believe it herself either. 

“Honey, you know this school will never serve Cinnamon. And Mark loved the scent of Cinnamon. If he smelt it suddenly, then you know very well what it means.” Don raised a suggestive eyebrow.

“His mate is here.” with dread, Megan declared.

“And that has triggered his precocious wolf transformation.” Don sighed.