were talking, a student walked into the lounge to ask Mr. Murphy a question about an algebra problem. As he explained the problem to the student, he seemed to really care about the student and the student felt very comfortable with Mr. Murphy. Mara could tell that the student really looked up to Mr. Murphy.
Mr. and Murphy gave Mara and Bailey permission to sit in their classrooms while they taught. The students had a chance to talk with both of the girls. It was difficult for Bailey to talk about her experience at first, but the more she opened up, the easier it became. She realized that if she could prevent even one student from becoming a victim, then it was worth it.
At noon, Mara’s parents returned to the high school to pick up Mara and Bailey. While they were eating lunch, Mara’s mother asked her if she had solved the mystery yet. “Not yet” said Mara. “There are still a few pieces missing from the puzzle”.
After lunch, they returned to the hotel. Mara and Bailey swam and lounged by the pool for the rest of the afternoon. While they were sitting in the lounge chairs, Mara noticed a boy about eleven or twelve and a girl who looked eight or nine, playing on a playground behind the motel. When Mara called out to them, they ran off. When Mara went looking for them, they were nowhere in sight.
Something clicked in Mara’s brain. That evening, she begged her parents to let them order room service again that evening. Reluctantly, they agreed.
Mara ordered two hamburgers and two orders of fries, and at Mara’s urging, Bailey ordered the same thing. They each ate half of what they had ordered. Mara put the rest of the food on the tray and set it outside the door. By this time, it was dark outside. From inside of the room, Mara peeked out from behind the curtain. Fifteen minutes later, she saw a boy pick up the hamburgers and fries and wrap them in a towel. Then he quickly walked in the direction of a large storage shed behind the motel. Mara recognized him as the boy she had seen on the playground.
Mara and Bailey put on their shoes and snuck out of their motel room. They walked very quietly towards the shed. When they got there, they could hear muffled voices inside. Mara carefully opened the door and was shocked by what she saw. Both the boy and the girl that they had seen on the playground were devouring the hamburgers and fries as if they had not eaten in days. Mara looked around and guessed that they had been staying in the shed for a week or more.
When the little girl saw Mara and Bailey, she began to cry. “I don’t want to go back, Alex,” she said to the boy. “I’d rather go to jail.”
“Don’t worry, Marissa” said the boy. “We are never going back there.” Then, Alex put his arm around Marissa to protect her.
“Everything will be okay,” said Mara. “We’re not going to hurt you, Marissa”. It was at this point that Mara realized that Alex and Marissa were two names from her dream.
Mara and Bailey both sat down so that they seemed less scary to Marissa. Mara asked Alex why they were living in an old shed. After she convinced him that she and Bailey wanted to help them, he began to tell their story.
Alex was twelve and his sister, Marissa was nine. Two years earlier, their parents were both killed in an automobile accident. Since the children had no other known relatives who could take care of them, they were put into foster care.
A month after the car accident, they were both placed in the home of John and Vickie Nelson. At first, they seemed okay. They were very polite to the social workers who evaluated them and evaluated the home. However, once they were approved to take Alex and Marissa, everything changed. They had only taken in the children because of the money that they would receive from the state. They used most of the money on drugs and alcohol and very little of it on Alex and Marissa.
The Nelsons could not allow the children to tell other people about their home environment, so Vickie convinced the social workers that she would home school Alex and Marissa. The Nelsons never allowed both of the children to play in the yard at the same time. They figured that one of them would not run away while their sibling was still living there.
That is precisely why Alex put up with the situation. He knew that he and Marissa could be split up and put into two different foster homes. Even if they were mistreated, at least they were together. Alex took most of the abuse. After the Nelsons had been drinking or doing drugs, they would sometimes become violent. They beat Alex often. Alex put up with it, so that he and Marissa would not be separated.
One day, that too changed. John had become angry with Marissa and was about to strike her. Alex jumped in front of his younger sister to protect and ended up being hit in the face instead. Alex realized that Marissa was no longer safe. He waited for the right time to put his plan into action. One evening, both John and Vickie were passed out in the living room. He collected what cash he could find in the house and then he and Marissa quietly left the house and ran as fast as they could. They ran until they could run no further.
They found themselves near the Blue Jay Motel. They hit behind an old shed behind the motel and when it got dark, they opened the door of the shed and they saw that it was not being used for anything except storage. Alex decided that they would hide out in the shed until he could figure out what to do next. Alex took scraps of food from room service trays he found outside the rooms of the guests. He made sure that Marissa had enough to eat, and he would eat what was left. Over the next few days, he took blankets, sheets and towels from maids’ carts, to make a more comfortable sleeping area on the floor of the shed.
Mara asked them how long they had been hiding in the shed. Alex told her that they been there for five days. He begged Mara and Bailey not to tell anyone. “Please” he begged them, “we can’t go back to the Nelsons. They would kill us and we can’t go to the police because they might split us up.” Alex was trying hard not to cry. “I have to take care of Marissa,” he said. “I promised Mom that I would.”
Mara and Bailey convinced Alex and Marissa to follow them into the motel room. Mara ordered more food from room service. When it arrived, Alex and Marissa gobbled it down in a matter of minutes. Mara told Alex and Marissa that they could share one bed and Mara and Bailey would share the other bed.
Alex and Marissa were so tired that they fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.
That night, Mara had another dream. In the dream, she saw Mr. and Mrs. Murphy sitting alone in their living room. Then, Mara saw Alex and Marissa in a room with two adults whom Mara is instinct told her were the Nelsons. They were yelling at Alex and Marissa threatening them that if they ever ran away again they would not have long to live. Just as Mr. Nelson was about to strike Alex, Mara woke up.
As Mara woke up, she heard someone knocking on the door rather loudly. Mara woke up Alex and Marissa and told them to hide in the bathroom. Then, Mara heard her father’s voice outside the door. “Mara” he said rather loudly. “Open this door, please”.
When Mara opened the door, her mom and dad walked into their room. Her dad was holding a motel bill in his hand. “Would you like to explain to us how the two of you were able to run up a seventy-five dollar room service bill last night?” he asked. “Did you have a party? You could have at least invited us, since we are paying for it.”
Mara quickly explained about Alex and Marissa. “This is the reason that we came to Little Rock,” she said.
“You do realize that we have to notify the police, don’t you?” asked her mother.
“Yes, I do,” said Mara, “But this situation has to be handled just right. These foster parents are monsters. I had a dream last night that showed me how to handle the situation. Can you please trust me with this?”
Mara told Alex and Marissa that it was okay to come out of the bathroom. When the two children saw Mara’s parents, they both looked frightened. Mara convinced Alex and Marissa that it was going to be okay. “No one will ever beat you again,” said Mara. “I pr
omise you that.”
Mara’s mother noticed how dirty the children were. They had been wearing the same clothing for six days and they had not bathed in a week. Mrs. Louis wrote down their clothing sizes, went to a clothing store across the street from the motel, and bought each of the children a shirt, pair of pants and new underwear. When she returned to the motel room, she told Marissa to take a shower in Mara’s bathroom and then put on the clean clothing. Mr. Louis took Alex and the new clothing to the bathroom in the other motel room, so that he could shower and change into his new clothes. Mrs. Louis took their dirty clothes, put them in a plastic bag, and tied the bag shut.
After everyone else had showered and dressed, the six of them all went to the restaurant to eat breakfast. Mara asked the desk clerk for directions to the nearest police station.
As the car pulled up in front of the police station, Mara saw that Alex and Marissa looked worried. She promised them that it would all turn out okay.
Mara asked to speak to the person in charge and she was taken to see Captain Brown. Mara explained all about Alex and Marissa and explained what she had in mind. It was fortunate for Mara that Captain Brown had heard of her and her psychic abilities.
Captain Brown