Misty managed to put some puzzle pieces together and figure out that this whole affair was a trap to get me, for whatever reason. She discovered that the Eloise we knew is actually a fake, the real Eloise is much smaller and is visiting her son in New York. We didn’t discover this before because Clarisse told us she had no brothers, only 2 sisters. Therefore it’s hard to find a brother when you are not looking for him.

We had no cause to believe they were lying to us. All that happened fit with what they told us, which makes sense now, they deliberately made this setup to fit with their stories. A good lesson for us. Misty put Nakedra in charge of security at our detention rooms, which are attached to the clinic. She told Nakedra that any time the door to Eloise’s room needed to be open, there must be 6 girls, two with guns out.

But they were not to kill Eloise, unless necessary, just stop her. Nakedra had already seen Dawn and her team, so she understood why Misty gave those orders. Everyone had gone back to bed now, except the clinic personnel and guards, plus Misty and Tracy. “Cassie should be up making donuts,” said Misty. “It’s 3am Misty,” said Tracy. “But I’m hungry,” said Misty, “are you not hungry?”

“Yes, I am,” she replied, “but I’ll just get a bowl of cereal, want some?” “Guess that will have to do,” said Misty, “being the Leader sure gives me an appetite.” “You are always hungry,” said Tracy giggling, “how come you never gain weight?” “EXERCISE!” exclaimed Misty just as Tracy was pouring cereal into the bowl. That startled her and she almost knocked the bowl onto the floor, but she caught it in time. However, the cereal went onto the floor.

“You spilled your cereal,” said Misty. “Actually, it was your cereal,” said Tracy, “I was getting it for you, remember?” Misty looked down on the floor and sighed. “My special cereal,” said Misty quietly. “There’s lots more,” said Tracy when she saw Misty picking it up off the floor, “it will be full of cat hair.” “What?” asked Misty, “This floor was cleaned yesterday, there should be no cat hair. I will give the person 5 demerits if I find any cat hair in my cereal.”

“There is always cat hair in here, we have lots of cats,” said Tracy, “got to expect it.” “Ugh, this is full of cat hair,” said Misty and she went to look at the list to see who cleaned the floor yesterday. She sat down again after getting more cereal, then she did something on her phone. “There, 5 demerits,” said Misty, then she continued eating. “Who was it?” asked Tracy. “Me.” said Misty sighing. Tracy laughed…loud and long.

Akila was checking Eloise’s computer, after breaking into it. “People use such easy passwords,” said Akila as she joined the girls for some cereal. “What was it?” asked Misty. “4FootHairball,” replied Akila. Misty ran out of the kitchen. “What’s wrong with her?” asked Akila. “Misty doesn’t do well with hairballs,” said Tracy. “Oh,” said Akila. Later, Misty took Kristina and went to talk with Clarisse.

“I am not talking to you,” said Clarisse, “so just go away. My boyfriend has your Steve by now and you will soon be working for him, or he will kill Steve.” “Your boyfriend Jacques will be disappointed,” said Misty, “Steve doesn’t cooperate that easily and neither do we. And your fake mother Eloise can’t help you either, she is also locked up here.” Clarisse had quite a surprised look on her face when she heard that.

“She is not my fake mother, she is my real mother,” said Clarisse, “and you better not have hurt her!” “I don’t think that’s possible,” said Misty rolling her eyes. It should be noted that Clarisse is also quite big at 5 foot 8 inches tall and 180 pounds. “If you hurt my mother I’ll break you in two!” yelled Clarisse. Before Kristina had a chance to do anything, Clarisse had picked up Misty and slammed her onto the floor!

Kristina then grabbed Clarisse and tossed her against the wall and Misty managed to press her emergency button which brought the guards into the room right away. Later… “You need to stay here,” said Samantha. “I can’t, I’m the Leader right now,” said Misty, “I’ll just sit quietly on a chair in the library.” “No, you will stay here,” said Samantha, “wake up Jennifer to take over.” “NO, I did that once,” said Misty, “she does not want to be disturbed for anything. I’m fine, really.”

Kristina helped her to the library and she sat on the most comfortable chair. “Tracy, show me a picture of Clarisse and her family please,” said Misty. So she did. “Now show me a picture of our Clarisse,” said Misty, “what do you see?” “Here’s a better picture of Clarisse,” said Tracy, “hey, she doesn’t look like our Clarisse at all.” “Right,” said Misty, “what happened to the real Clarisse? She must have been killed, check around for an unidentified dead woman from the last 2 months.”

“Got her Misty,” said Tracy, “5 weeks ago in Paris, and her mother too, so she didn’t go and visit her son.” “That means Thomas is involved too since he made the claim that his mother was visiting him,” said Misty, “and that would be after she died, which would be a little hard to do.” “But the brothers didn’t like each other,” said Tracy. “Thomas was having financial problems,” said Misty, “so if Jacques offered him some money, he would likely take it, just to say that his mom was visiting.”

“Good thought,” said Tracy. “Kristina,” said Misty. “Yes, what would you like?” asked Kristina. “I think maybe I should go to the clinic now,” she said, “um, I can’t move.” Kristina and Tracy were at her side very fast. Kristina picked her up and began to carry her to the clinic. “Hold it you two,” said Jennifer, “Kristina, why are you carrying Misty?” “May we talk about this later please?” asked Misty, “Um, I can’t move.”

Later at the clinic. “Misty, you should have stayed at the clinic,” said Jennifer, “you could have injured yourself even more.” “I’m tough,” said Misty trying to smile. “Uh huh,” said Jennifer, “now, rest and obey Samantha.” Even later. “Cristy, stop kissing me,” said Misty. “I kiss like Cristy?” I said. Misty opened one eye wide.

“Steve! You’re back!” shouted Misty and she wrapped her arms around me. Then there were 3 loud cracks and Misty screamed a bit with each one. “Hey, that feels a lot better now,” she said. Armed with our new information, I called Aari and told him it was time to put our new plan into action. I communicated with Kat the same thing. She and Aari will coordinate their pressure tactics…

To Be Continued. ©2025 Steve McLeod.