Chapter 13
Thirteen
‘MADDY’S GONE MISSING.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘She’s gone missing,’ Jolly whispered. ‘She’s not at home. Her housemates say they haven’t seen her since Saturday.’
It was Monday morning. Jolly, Victoria and I were at the far end of Rehearsal Room Four, warming up. Our first class was due to start in ten minutes.
Jolly dropped his chin to his chest and rolled down to the floor. I did the same while Victoria sat, massaging the soles of her feet.
‘Do the police know?’ she asked.
‘Yes. But I don’t know if they’ve started searching yet.’
Stefano came over. ‘Are you guys talking about Maddy?’
‘Yes. Why? What do you know?’ Jolly said.
Stefano crouched on his haunches beside Victoria. ‘My friend knows one of the guys she lives with.’ He shook his head. ‘She’s crazy.’
Victoria slapped his chest lightly and laughed – almost despite herself, I thought. ‘Stefano! She’s not crazy.’
‘She is!’ he replied, a little too loudly. Victoria and Jolly shushed him. ‘Sorry, she is,’ he whispered. ‘All that stuff with Casper? Pretending to be all hard done by. I mean, come on.’
‘The girl had a panic attack,’ Jolly said.
‘Yeah, but like it was kind of performative, no? Like Casper was just doing his job, and she had to go and get all dramatic about her uncle or whatever, then drag it out over weeks. She should’ve just let it go. That’s what I would’ve done.’
Victoria lowered her voice conspiratorially. ‘I was talking to Poppy, and apparently she reckons Maddy was abused or something, and that they cut the uncle out of the family because of that.’
Stefano shook his head and laughed. ‘Nah. Maddy’s just a drama queen. Her uncle probably just hugged her too tight one day or something.’
‘Oh my God, Stefano. You can’t say that,’ Jolly replied with gossipy glee. He continued, ‘I mean, I think Casper’s a good teacher and everything, don’t get me wrong, but it kind of seemed like he went too far.’
‘Yeah,’ Victoria said.
‘Definitely,’ I added.
‘What? Are you guys kidding? He didn’t go too far.
He didn’t go far enough. I don’t know about you, but I came to drama school to be challenged.
I don’t give a damn if he touches me or asks hard questions or punches me in the face even.
If it makes me a better actor then I’m here for it, I’m all in. ’
Victoria, with a look of grudging admiration, was about to reply when the door opened, and Obi ushered a frail-looking Maddy into the room. She was wearing the same clothes she’d left school in on Friday. Her face was drawn, her hair frizzy and unkempt.
Victoria stood and went towards her. She whispered something in Maddy’s ear and put an arm around her shoulder.
Maddy smiled weakly and let the two of them lead her to a chair.
She pulled a crumpled tissue from her sleeve and dabbed at her cheek.
Her eyes looked red and sore. Stefano got up and sauntered over to the scene, but Victoria shooed him away.
I saw other people in the class glance at Maddy, then look away. I looked away too. Here, sheltered within the White Elephant, weakness was a disease, one we couldn’t risk catching.
Just then, Frida and Casper entered the room.
They went towards Maddy and formed a tight huddle.
Frida crouched in front of her while Casper stood by the chair with his hands on his hips.
After a few moments, Victoria and Obi were dismissed, whereupon Frida helped Maddy to her feet and escorted her from the room.
The door slammed shut behind them.
‘Right,’ Casper said, clapping his hands. ‘Let’s begin today’s session.’
MADDY DIDN’T RETURN THAT day. She wasn’t there the next day either, or the one after that.
Six weeks she’d lasted, two weeks shy of an entire term.
Poppy said she’d chosen to defer. Archie said she was in hospital. Stefano, the loony bin. But, in the end, no one really knew. Looking back, I suppose one of us could’ve asked Frida. But no one ever did.
After a while, we stopped wondering where Maddy had gone.
Soon, ‘Maddy’ became a noun separate from the person we once knew, a byword for weakness, for failure, a joke, just a harmless joke.
That scene was intense, are you OK? You’re not going to do a Maddy on me, are you?
With time, the girl we’d known, albeit briefly, faded from our minds.
Now, so many years later, I find it hard to picture her.
All that remains is a shock of orange hair, a constellation of freckles, and those eyes, burning with hope for the future.