Where Have You Gone?

By Antonella Fantin

It is the middle of August, the month where it all starts, Monday morning Delfina is

starting her sophomore year in the new high school. Delfina has brown hair like milk chocolate

and is as short as a 12-inch ruler. Delfina was born in California, but her parents are from Latin

America.

Mija it’s time to go to school.” A new year, a new school, was all I could think about, I

did not care about my mom yelling because I was going to be late or the phone ringing, I only

cared about the fact that everything had to be done from the beginning again.

On my way to school I go through a beautiful field of very colorful flowers like the walls

at M&M’s shop in Las Vegas. This is my favorite way to get to school, the only thing that I like

about it. The next day the phone rang as always because my aunt loves to tell my mom

everything that had happened during the day, but this time it was not her. My mom was not at the

house at the time, so I answered the phone to see who it was, but no one talked, it was just a

heavy and loud breathing, it might be a joke from someone. After the phone call I made my way

to school. Once I came home, I was expecting my mom to be there waiting for me to ask how

school was, but she was not there, which was weird because she does not spend that much time

at the grocery store every time she goes. She went somewhere and forgot to tell me. I started to

do dinner and do homework for the next day while waiting for my mom. Once I ate dinner, I

went to take a shower and then to bed for the next day. When I woke up my mom was not home

yet, so I started my way to school going through the beautiful flower field. Getting to school I

realized that a black car was outside of the school looking very suspicious like waiting for

someone. I did not give it importance to it, so I just ignored it and went to my homeroom.
 Five days had passed without my mom coming home and I started to get worried because

she never did something like this; disappearing and not coming back and she would always let

me know where she was, but she did not this time. Next morning I went to the police station to

see if they could find her.

“Hi what can I help you with today?” This place made me feel sick, as if I had been here

before.

“My mom disappeared a week ago and she never told me where she went. She never did

this before.”

“Are you sure about that? Probably she went somewhere and could not tell you before.”

By now I was feeling bad and thinking what happened to her, is she okey, did someone take her?

All these questions went around my head non-stop. “Alright tell me your mom’s name, her

height and how does she look.” My mind was blank for a second and then I came up to my

senses.

“Her name is Soledad; she is tall like Selena Quintanilla. She has hair like me, like milk

chocolate but longer than mine, like two medium sized water bottles together and her eyes are

like the stem of a tree. Also, the last thing I saw her wearing was her favorite bubble gum shirt

and some leggings like going to exercise or something.” For a moment I almost cried because I

miss her so much and I am so worried because no one knows where she is.

“Thank you for the information we will do our best to find her and we will contact you.”

After that I went to the house to shower and get all the stress out. Once the shower was finished,

I went to the grocery store to get something to eat for the night and the following days. While

entering the grocery store there was a black car like the one outside of school, like waiting for

someone or spying on someone. This made me feel scared because I was alone at home, and I
always walk alone. Luckily, the car left after some time, and it was safe to go home again. Will

she be okey? Will the police find her? Evey time my thoughts about my mom were getting bigger

and bigger invading any other thing that could happen in my mind.

When I got home, I started to cook some quesadillas, my mom’s favorite thing to cook

when she is tired because of work. Once they were done, I sat on the couch and chose my mom’s

favorite thing to watch; her telenovelas. It was time to go to get ready for bed and sleep for

school when someone knocked on the door. Should I open it? It would be safer if I do not talk

and go straight to bed. The door sounded between two or four times more they were hard knocks

like if someone was trying to enter the house or as if they were mad. I did not pay attention to it

although it was scary, but I went straight to bed and tried to sleep for the next day.

The following day when I woke up, I looked for places that are hiring to work after

school because I need a way to pay my own needs while my mom is away somewhere. The

grocery store was, so I made my way there with a resume I made months ago with my mom’s

help because for a long time she wanted me to work. You would be so proud of me if you were

here. When I got there, I gave my resume to one of the employees and they told me that between

four or six days of business day they will contact me. After that I went home and did some

homework for my classes tomorrow.

Four days have passed since I went to the police station to find my mom. No one has 12 called or

talked to me yet, every day I'm getting more nervous than the day before. It was time to go to the

house after school, during my walk home someone called me.

“Hi, we wanted to inform you...” I didn’t even hear what they were saying all it was in

my mind was my mom.

 “Have you found something? Is she okay? Is she coming back home?” Then I realized

that everything was going too quickly, and I needed to calm down and let them talk.

“Ma’am I’m sorry but I'm from the grocery store, we wanted to inform you that we want

you tomorrow afternoon for an interview.”

“Oh, yeah I would be there on time tomorrow, thank you for the opportunity.” “No

problem, hope everything is fine.” My face was full of disappointment and sadness because no

news had arrived from the police station about my mom and every day is making me think

something new and worse about the situation. Is she even still alive? The next day after school I

went to the interview for my new job.

“Hello, I'm here for the job interview this afternoon.”

“Yeah, follow me” We went to the back of the place to the office of the hiring manager.

“This is the person who came for the interview.” the hiring manager reached to shake my hand

and present herself. “How are you? I'm Isabel the hiring manager and the one who will be asking

you the questions.”

Luckily, everything went well, and they hired me, and I was happy about it. Once I got

home, I made my dinner and did some more homework for my class and prepared for bed when

the phone rang. “Hi Mija, how are you? Sorry I couldn’t reach you before but I'm in....? All a

sudden the phone stopped working “Mom? Are you there? Where are you? Please answer!” The

only thing I could think of was calling the police to see if they could see where the call was made

from.