Highland, Texas
Lillian Adams entered the Highland Realtors office. She walked up to the receptionist. “Hi, I'm here about a recent client?”
The receptionist looked at the (rather) young woman. “Which clients would these be?”
“The Morgendorffers, they lived on Felton Drive.”
“I'll just check,” the receptionist said.
Lillian smiled a Mona Lisa smile.
A few minutes later the receptionist turned back to Lillian. “I have the information, but I can't just give it out to anyone!”
“Of course not.”
“Name?”
“Lillian Adams.”
“And why are you after the Morgendorffer's information?”
“I happen to know where their lost daughter, Daria, is.”
“Oh, but many people may come claiming to know where Daria is.”
“Of course, but I know the proof that the Morgendorffer's may have required.”
“Fifteen year old Daria told you, did she?”
“You can say that.”
“Alright, what was her favourite book?”
'That's it? Anyone could get a lucky guess in,' Lillian thought. “Black Beauty,” she answered.
“And what happened on the day before she ran away?”
“Some sort of psychological test at school.”
“And finally, her paternal grandfather's nickname.”
“Mad Dog.”
“All correct, Ms. Adams, wait a moment.” A moment later, the receptionist handed a sheet of paper to Lillian. “Here, I hope that Daria is OK.”
“She's fine, she just wants to return to her real family,” Lillian said sincerely.
“Of course.”
Lillian exited the realtors before looking at the information on the sheet. “Lawndale, Maryland?” She knew that she had a long journey ahead of her. For Lillian Adams wasn't the name she was given when she was born. Whilst Adams was the name of the family in Colorado who took her in nine years before. Lillian was merely the name that she had given them. Her real name was Daria.
Daria Morgendorffer.
Lawndale, September 17, 1996
Jane Lane entered the Self esteem class. Immediately she noticed that Mr. O'Neill had the same psychobabble on the board as before, and that the class was the same. The only new student was a shaggy haired boy. 'It would be interesting to sketch him,' Jane thought with a smile. She sat down.
A few moments later, another new student came in. She was wearing all black and the color of her hair reminded Jane of that of her sister, Penny. 'If Penny had waist length hair,' Jane thought. She seemed rather annoyed to be there.
Soon Mr. O'Neill started the class. “Esteem... a teen. They don't really rhyme, do they? The sounds don't quite mesh. And that, in fact, is often the case when it comes to a teen and esteem. The two just don't seem to go together. But we are here to begin realizing your actuality...”
'The same old babble,' Jane thought as she sketched. However something new happened.
“Um, Mr. O'Neill,” It was the new red headed girl. “I have a question.”
“Sorry, question and answer time is later.”
“I'd like to know what "realizing your actuality" means.”
“It means... look, just let me get through this part, okay? Then there'll be a video!” Mr, O'Neill said to her. He turned back to the class. “Before we unlock your potential...”
Jane leaned forwards “He doesn't know what it means. He's got the speech memorized. Just enjoy the nice man's soothing voice.”
“How am I supposed to get anything out of this class if he's speaking gibberish!”
“I can fill you in later. I've taken this course six times.”
“OK.”
Jane and her new friend, Quinn, walked towards Jane's house.
“So, then, after the role-playing, next class they put the girls and the guys in separate rooms and a female counselor talks to us about body image,” Jane said.
“I can guess what they talk to the boys about,” Quinn said. She and Jane stopped.
“Nocturnal emissions,” they both said. Quinn shuddered.
“Ick! Jane, I don't get it, if you have the whole course memorised, why not just test out of it?”
“I could pass the test, but I like having low self-esteem. It makes me feel special,” Jane said as they approached a cream colored house with an ill maintained yard...
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