┊┊┊┊ ➶ CASSIE 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

"That wasn't Olive's secret to tell," Cassie heard Grace and Ben talking in the kitchen.

She looked at her niece who had her arms crossed the same way she always does when she gets defensive, "I did the right thing," she muttered.

"Ol-"

"If I didn't tell dad about Danny's storage room, Cal wouldn't have any of his old stuff back. I did the right thing," the sixteen year old girl watched her eleven year old brother play with Arte The Dragon.

Cassie smiled as she looked at the old toy, when the twins were born Michaela took Cassie shopping, Cassie was only twelve at the time and Michaela was fourteen, they didn't know what babies liked but when Cassie saw Arte, she knew that was the perfect gift to give to a baby boy. She was so proud of herself when Ben told Cassie that Arte was Cal's favourite toy.

She lightly grabbed Olive's arm, rubbing it softly, "You did what was best for your brother, but you could had asked me, you didn't need to take your father there."

Olive shrugged, "He would had found out anyway, plus you were cleaning. I know how you don't like your cleaning zone being disturbed."

Cassie chuckled, "That's true, it's important not to disturb me when I'm in my cleaning zone."

"Holy shit-"

"Olive, language!"

The teenage girl shook her head, "Aunt Cassie, look!" She pointed at the television which had yet another banner about flight 828 on it. Cassie's eyes widened as she listened to the news reporter speak. "Mum! Dad! Something bad happened!"

Ben ran straight into the living room, Grace shortly after. "Unconfirmed reporters point to a murder investigation. In recent days-" the lady on the television said as she stood behind blue and red flashing lights.

"Mick-," Ben got the attention of his sister.

"Hey guys, let's go brush our teeth," Grace said as she grabbed Kayla's hand, the four year old grinned as she followed her Aunty without question. Cal frowned but followed, taking Arte The Dragon with him.

"Taylor has been extremely candid, not only about her experience on flight 828, but on her treatment by authorities since her return."

Cassie, Michaela and Ben watched the television together. The was saying a lot of words but none of them made any sense to Cassie. She was saying the same thing over and over, that Kelly Taylor was murdered and that she was on flight 828. "Did you know her?" She asked her siblings, the question hung in the air for a few moments.

Michaela shook her head, "No, not really. She made a small remark to me when we were in the tent, but no we didn't know her."

"She's been all over the news," Ben added.

"You think there's a connection?" Cassie looked at the banner, 'flight 828 passenger dead,' her throat tightened at the idea of Kelly Taylor being murdered because she was a passenger, the idea of her losing her siblings or her nephew again, made Cassie want to cry.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Michaela turned away from the tv and grabbed her car keys, "I'm going to find out what's going on."

Michaela walked out of the house with a second thought. Cassie felt uneasy at the idea of Michaela being alone with the possibility of a killer targeting flight 828 passengers being out there but Mick is a police officer, it's her job. Cassie turned to Ben, "Do you think this means your in danger?"

Ben shook his head, "I don't know, we just been to be careful. Olive come straight home from school tomorrow, Cal can will stay with one of us until we figure this okay."

Cassie nodded, "Okay, we can figure this out."

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

Cassie is a morning person. She's usually the first one awake, which means that she ends up making the breakfast despite Grace being the professional chef. Cassie put her hair up in a ponytail as she walked down the stairs of the home, "Morning, Cass!"

"Ah! Ben! You're awake?" Cassie jumped as her heart skipped a beat. The blonde hair girl looked at Ben, he was sitting on the kitchen table hunched over his laptop and scattered newspapers.

"I couldn't sleep."

"So you've been awake all night?"

Ben sighed as he pushed his glasses through his messy dirty blond hair, rubbing his red eyes.

"Ben-" Cassie walked up to her brother, catching a glimpse of what he was looking at in the newspapers, job ads. "You know, I can get you a job. My school is looking for substitute teachers."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I can talk to Stacey about it. I'm sure she would be impressed by your resume. It's not everyday that an University Professor is interested in a job as a middle school substitute teacher." Ben frowned, "But it will do, just until you're back on your feet again and able to find a better job."

"I've never taught kids before."

Cassie shook her head, "But you've raised them, trust me, if you can raise them, you will have no problem teaching them."

"That was two kids, not a classroom full of them."

"If you can teach a classroom full of hungover teenagers and twenty-something-year-olds, I'm sure you can survive a bunch of 11-14 years old."

Ben rubbed his eyes, "I don't know..."

"Just let me give Stacey your resume, we can see what happens from there."

Ben nodded, he hesitantly gave Cassie a copy of his resume which was sitting on the table, "This isn't a yes."

"Thank you!" Cassie hugged her brother, "I know, I know. But, thank you for letting me do this for you. I haven't been very useful to you in the past."

"That's because you're ten years younger than me, it's my job to look after you, not yours."

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

"Stacey? Are you in there?" Cassie knocked on the principal's door as she waited for her to answer. Cassie was careful as she held her brother's resume, she didn't want to rip it.

Cassie waited a few seconds without a reply before knocking again, this time a short elderly woman greeted her. "Miss Stone! Just the person I need."

Cassie tilted her head to the side, "You were looking for me?"

"Yes. Take a seat."

Cassie walked over to Stacey's desk before taking a seat. She remembered the first time she had ever sat in this chair, three years ago, she had to bring Olive and Kayla. Olive was only thirteen, Kayla was two and just starting to walk. Despite Cassie being underprepared and having two children with her, Stacey Norman gave her the benefit of doubt and Cassie has been grateful every day since.

"You have a new student joining your class today. She has recently gone through a trauma that I couldn't even begin to imagine. Her guardians are concerned that the other students won't understand and alienate her for it."

"That's horrible, I'll make sure to keep an eye on her."

Stacey nodded, "You may be one of the only people in this school, who can begin to understand what she's been through."

"Excuse me?"

"She was on flight 828."

Cassie gasped, "What? So she's-"

Stacey nodded, a deep frown narrowing on her face, "Biologically she's an eighth grader but legally..."

"She's 18."

Cassie thought about her brother and sister, Ben was biologically 33 while legally 38, and Michaela was still 25 even though she should be 31. "I'll make sure she fits in. My siblings and nephew are going through the same thing as her, I'm surprised she is even ready to go back to school."

"I'm not sure how much of that decision was actually hers, she seemed hesitant. When I saw her the other day it was as if she didn't want to be here, my best guess is that it was her guardians who convince her."

Suddenly the bell rang, "Class is starting, I don't want to be late." Cassie stood up and walked towards the door, she went to open the door but her hands were full, 'Ben,' she remembered. Cassie walked back to Stacey's desk and placed her brother's resume on his desk. "My brother was on the same plane as this girl, he lost his job and five years of his life. He really needs a job and he has more than enough qualifications to teach here."

Stacey grabbed the piece of paper and took a glimpse at it, "I'll consider him."

"Thank you."

┊┊┊┊ ➶ MJ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

MJ regretted agreeing to go back to school the second she walked through the front doors, then again as she met the principal and again when she lined up at her class. Her classmates stared at MJ and whispered, somehow gossip had spread about MJ being a passenger. "I wonder how old actually is," MJ heard a girl with glasses whisper to a boy.

The boy's eyes widened, "My father said that the passengers on flight 828 were replaced with aliens."

A chubby boy gave the boy a light push, "You're dad is high half the time."

MJ crossed her arms as she listened to her new classmates' thoughts about her, she bit her lip to stop her from picking a fight.

"So sorry that I'm late, class. Come in, leave your bags out the front," a lady with honey blonde hair and blue eyes said as she unlocked the classroom with a key.

"Miss, a moment please," the teacher said as she stopped MJ from entering the classroom, the other students watched the interaction, intrigued and curious about what their teacher wanted to say to MJ.

MJ rolled her eyes as she stood next to the teacher, waiting for all of the other students to take a seat. When the students were all sitting she looked at her teacher, "Did I do something wrong?"

Cassie shook her head, "No! No! Of course not. I just wanted to introduce myself, privately." MJ raised her eyebrows, she has been to over six schools and not a single one of her new teachers ever did this. "I'm Miss Stone, I teach Social Studies & History, so you most likely have me for two classes, not just this one."

MJ nodded, "Yeah, I remember seeing your name on my schedule twice."

Cassie grinned, "Social studies is my passion, History is more just a hobby that I'm really good at."

"I don't really like history," MJ blurted out. MJ froze, "I mean-" Cassie chuckled, causing MJ to stop mid-sentence.

"Most people don't. Let's join the others before Raven burns down the classroom."

MJ and Cassie entered the room. Cassie walked over to her teacher's desk at the front of the classroom and MJ left alone to find her own desk. She looked around the room, most of the desks were taken since she is the last one in the room but there are a few empty spaces, one at the back of the room, a few in the middle and one at the front. MJ walked over to the backseat before placing her earphones, book and pens on the table, claiming it as her own.

"Morning class, as I'm sure you've all realised, we have a new student with us today. Everyone say 'hello' to Mary."

"It's MJ."

"Right, my apologies. Everyone say a 'hello' to MJ."

Everyone in the class took turns saying hello to MJ, some excited to meet their new classmate, some who couldn't care less and others who glared at MJ as they said their hello, one girl even called her Mary and MJ had to fight the urge to punch her.

MJ was surprised to see that in the five and a half years she'd been gone, they still taught the same story she had been told about the Founding Fathers at every other school she had been to.

In 90 minutes the lesson was over and MJ was excused, she sat in the cafeteria as she reread her notes from the class. MJ's eyes widened as she saw something that she didn't remember writing. In her notes, she wrote 'own your truth,' over and over again.

"What the hell?" She whispered to herself as she looked at the writing, the handwriting didn't even look like her own.

She felt a familiar memory in her mind appear as she read the three words. She's heard the words 'own your truth,' somewhere before but MJ can't remember where.

MJ grabbed out her phone and searched the words into Google. Videos and news articles flooded her screen, all about a passenger Kelly Taylor and her death. MJ remembered where she had heard the phrase before, Kelly had been all over the news lately about 'own her truth,' and now she's been murdered.

MJ packed up her stuff and stood up, "It's a calling," she told herself, MJ searched for Kelly Taylor's address on her phone and it was the first thing that came up.

She ordered herself an Uber, "I'll be quick."