I swear, my math teacher is NOT dead. I just know it. Now let me explain a few things, my math teacher, Ms. Young, went missing when I was 16, in my junior year at Greenwood High School. It was a tragic and completely unexpected event. Everyone seemed to love her, she was so kind and generous to everyone she met. Her smile lit up an entire room, heck, it could light up an entire building. Her hazel eyes, a mix of brown and green, could look into your eyes, and you would be paralyzed for a moment. Ms. Young was in her mid-twenties, a beautiful, single, woman that almost every boy in school drooled over. She did not seem to be disliked by anyone at all. She taught in an extremely unique way. As sign language teachers only allow you to speak in sign while you are in class, she taught in a code. It was confusing at first, and some people hated it, but for me, I was so intrigued by it. Her code was numbers, obviously because she’s a math teacher, but her code was not something you would expect. Instead of using numbers 1-26 as letters going in alphabetical order, every other letter was an odd number. They alternated, i.e., A would be 1, C would be 2, E is 3, and so on. That code is exactly why I knew my math teacher was still alive. 
Close to one month before my 10 year high school reunion, I began to receive odd letters. They were written in a code, but I did not remember the code Ms. Young used until I stumbled across a paper I did in her class years ago. The letters gave hints on where she was and why she had disappeared. The first one,
“5 5:20:8:12 13:8:11 17:1:24:3 14:3:3:20 12:8:20:15:3:22:5:20:4 12:17:3:22:3 5
“I know you have been wondering where I
15:5:10:1:21:21:3:1:22:3:15 23:8. 5: 1:7 10:1:16:3, 5 21:22:8:7:5:10:3. 14:11:23 2:1:20
Disappeared to. I am safe, I promise. But can
13:8:11 7:3 1 16:1:24:8:22? 5 20:3:3:15 13:8:11 23:8,”
You do me a favor? I need you to,”
And that was it. I knew it had to be Ms. Young because of the code. It was so short, but could hold so many meanings. I couldn’t tell what Ms. Young was trying to say to me in the letter, and I couldn’t tell anyone because I didn’t know if hiding the fact that you know the whereabouts of a person who’s been missing for 11 years was a crime, so I kept it to myself.
A few days later another letter came, but this one was not in code. It read,
“Lauren, I need you to call someone for me. It is urgent. I’m sure by the first letter you figured out who I am, so I do not need to write in code anymore. The person I need you to call is,”And once again, that was the entire letter.
Three days after I received my second letter, I received a third. This one made even less sense than the first two,
“I hope by now you have decided on what you are going to do about this situation. I am in dire need of help from someone and I could only think of you three to help me.” I thought, “What? Three people? Who else has she been writing to?” But I couldn’t bring myself to ask anyone because I had no idea who she was talking about. I continued to read, “In helping me, you will all receive a great reward from me. But to pull everything off, I NEED all of you to contribute to this.”
It took me a few days to try and understand the information in the letters. There were three of us who were getting letters. Not just me, but two other people who I was supposed to know who they were. I mean, I had quite a few friends in high school, but I could not think of anyone else that could be receiving these letters or anyone who would have any idea of the whereabouts of Ms. Young.
After 4 more days of non-stop thinking about those letters and who the other recipients were, I came up with a list of people who could possibly be the other ones getting these odd letters in the mail. I figured it had to be two out of these people on the list because they were my friends who I was close with in high school and who were also close to Ms. Young. My list was Johnny Burnett, Aspin Johnson, Emily Peters, Timothy Marls, Mike Adams, and Sammi Jones. After I made my list, I sat down on my bed, opened my MacBook Air and got online. I searched for all of their names to see what I could come up with. First search for Johnny came up with a phone number and an address from another state. But, I saved the number in my phone and continued my search. Next was Aspin, her name came up with no results anywhere. I couldn’t find an old phone number or any address associated with the name, so, I crossed her name off of the list. Emily’s search came up with two phone numbers and an address that was relatively close to mine, and as I did with Johnny’s number, I saved the numbers in my phone, but I also saved the address. Timothy’s name came up with more information than Aspin, but it was unfortunate information. He had passed two years ago, so his name was crossed off the list as well. Mike’s name came up with a cell phone number, an address, and a company name (under HIS name), so I saved everything into my phone and looked for the next name. Sammi Jones came up with an address from a nearby city, but no phone number. After searching, I shut my laptop and slept.
The next morning, I decided to call everyone whose numbers I had. I started out with Emily and dialed the first phone number that I saved in my contacts. There was no answer, so I tried calling the second phone number in my contacts. I listened quietly, it rang quite a few times until I heard a familiar voice answer, “Hello?”
“Hi, uhh yes, my name is Lauren Waters, I went to school with you at Greenwo-“
“Greenwood High, yes, I remember you! We had Ms. Young’s math class together!”
“Yeah, I was, umm, calling to see if you have gotten any strange letters in the mail lately?”
“Uhh, I don’t know how to answer such an odd question, Lauren. I guess I have received quite a few letters in the past few weeks or so that have been ‘out of the ordinary’, but I haven’t thought much of it.” She paused, then began to speak in a low, quivery voice, “W-why? Have you been getting weird letters, too?”
“Yes, I have been getting letters, too. The first one was written in some sort of code – the same exact code that Ms. Young used to use.” I responded softly. “I believe there is one other person receiving the letters, too. In the last letter I got, she mentioned needing three people’s help.”
“How many letters have you gotten?”
“I’ve gotten three letters,” I paused for a short moment, “so far.” I didn’t know how to keep this conversation going, I had so many questions but no words to ask.
“I have too,” Emily said in a louder voice. She almost seemed to be scared. I could tell by the tone of her voice. She continued to speak, “I thought I was the only one getting these letters, the first one I got was in code, too. I just thought it was some kid trying to pull a prank on me.” I could tell that she was scared now by how her voice shook when she spoke about the letters. She continued, “Do you want me to read them to you?”
“Can I bring my letters to your house and we can try to figure out what they mean? I have a few other people that I suspect could be the other one getting the letters in the mail.” I replied.
She cut me off before I could finish telling her my plan to call the other phone numbers I had saved in my phone. “I know who it is.” She told me, “It is Sammi Jones, the girl who was head cheerleader, who was also conveniently in Ms. Young’s class. I think she chose all girls to get them because of our wits, I’m sure it would take more time for a man to try and unravel what she is trying to get us to do.” She chuckled.
“Probably, so when can I come over to put together some meaning to these letters?” I asked.
“I have some free time around 11:00 this morning, if that works.” She continued, “I can also ask Sammi if she can come, too- if you’d like.”
“Yes, please! That would be great.” I knew I sounded stupid, but for some odd reason, I was somewhat excited to finally put the pieces of this odd puzzle together.
“Alright, I’ll shoot her a text and I’ll let you know what she says, okay?” She asked.
“Okay, sounds good to me. Just text me and let me know. Thanks for the chat.” I said.
“No problem, I’m glad I now know who the other person is, maybe it’ll all make sense quickly so we can get started on helping Ms. Young. I hope she isn’t in too much trouble, she was my favorite teacher.” She told me.
“She was mine, too. Well, I have to run to the store, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay,” She said, “it was nice talking to you.”
“Nice talking to you, too.” I responded. I quickly hung up and got up to get into the shower.
I didn’t really have much to do, just run to the store that was all. It was only 7:30 in the morning. I threw my hair up into a bun, did a little bit of makeup, then left for the store. On my way there I couldn’t stop thinking about Ms. Young and the letters Sammi, Emily, and I have been receiving in the mail. When I got to my local grocery store, James’ Grocery, I walked quickly to the paper towels, and threw them into the cart. I then slowed myself down because I realized I was in no hurry at all. So, I walked at a normal pace to get the rest of my groceries. When I was finished, I went to the checkout, paid for my items, and left.
When I got home, I put everything away and went upstairs. I still didn’t have anything to do until at least 10:30, so I put on my PJ’s again and crawled into my bed. It was going to be a Netflix day until I had things to do. I turned on my laptop and opened up Netflix, put on my favorite TV show, Pretty Little Liars, and just sat and watched while I waited for a text from Emily. Finally, she texted me, “Sammi is going to meet us at my house at 11 as well. My address is 6742 N 9000 W in Greenwood, MT.”
“Thanks! I’ll see you then.” I replied. I opened Maps in my phone and typed in the address. It was only a 7 minute drive, so I planned to leave at 10:50, so I was early.
Next thing I knew, it was 10:50, so I hurried and put on some clothes, grabbed the letters and ran out the door. I opened up Maps once I was in my car and typed in her address. And before I pulled out of my driveway I texted Emily, “Leaving now. See you in a few.” And left. It only took me 6 minutes to get there. Once I pulled up, I picked up the letters and trotted to the door. I don’t know why I trotted, but I did. I got to the door and knocked. I heard the bark of what sounded to be a large dog, and a few moments later, Emily’s door opened and a huge Alaskan Malamute ran up to me and started sniffing me everywhere.
“I am so sorry, she’s still young and loves meeting new people,” she apologized and continued to speak in a baby voice, “Isn’t that right Timber? Her name’s Timber, if you couldn’t tell.”
“That’s a really cute name,” I began, “When will Sammi be here?” I asked.
“She should be here any minute,” she paused, “Ahh there she is.” She said as she pointed to a VW Bug pulling into her driveway.
She already had the door opened by the time Sammi was at the door. Sammi entered and greeted us both with a happy, “Hello.” She hugged us both.
“Hey Sammi.” Said Emily and I at the same time, almost in exact unison. I looked over at Emily then over to Sammi and we all laughed a little.
Everyone walked over to Emily’s couch and sat down. As soon as I was seated, I grabbed the letters and put them on the table. “These are the letters I have gotten in the mail so far.” I said. I then opened them and laid them flat on the table.
“I think every first letter that all of us received was in Ms. Young’s code. That’s how I knew it was her in the first letter.” Sammi spoke in a soft voice.
“So what did everyone’s first letter say?” I inquired.
“I’ll read mine first.” Said Emily.
“I know you have been wondering where I disappeared to. I am safe, I promise. But can you do me a favor? I need you to-“
I cut her off, “That’s what mine says!”
“Can I finish?” Emily asked.
“Finish? There’s more?”
“Yes.” Emily said firmly.
“I need you to make a call for me. It is to a friend of mine who owes me some money. I need it as soon as possible so I can come back into town.”
“That’s the entire letter.” Emily said.
Sammi then began to speak, “Mine said exactly what Emily’s said, but with more information.”
“I need you to call my friend Alan, he owes me about $20,000. It’s a lot of money, but I’m in trouble and the only way I can come home is to get that money. His number is 617-824-9000. Tell him what I’ve told you.”
“Wow, so did you call?” I asked.
“Yes,” Sammi said, “I called and he told me he’d get me the money by the next day. And that’s what he did. He showed up to my house with a large, yellow envelope with $20,000 in it.”
“Oh wow. He must have a lot of money, then.” Emily responded.
We all read our letters and figured out what we needed to do next.
“We need to go to that abandoned house and meet her there by 5 sharp. She must’ve known we’d assemble by now.” I jokingly said.
“Yeah, Sammy, don’t forget the money, Lauren, don’t forget the suitcase of chocolate, God only knows why, and I’ll bring the Starbucks.”
“This guy surely likes odd things.” Sammi said.
“That’s for sure.” I said, “Well I’m going to go and buy all of that chocolate, and a suitcase.”
“Alright, see you later, Lauren. It was good seeing you.” Emily said happily. I knew she sounded happy, but on the inside, I knew she was scared, just as scared as I was.
I left abruptly, I felt rude about it, but I didn’t know what to say. I was quite terrified, actually. I drove to the store and bought boxes full of assorted chocolate bars. The cashier made a smart remark, but I didn’t think anything of it. I paid and left. After leaving the grocery store, I drove to Walmart because I knew I could get a cheap suitcase there. I quickly walked to the back, grabbed the first one I saw and quickly walked back up to the front to the self-checkout, paid and went home.
Five o’ clock came a lot faster than I expected. We all met around 4:30 at Sammi’s house because it was closest to the abandoned house we were meeting everyone at. Once we were all there we briefly discussed what we were going to do and then we were off. It only took 20 minutes to get there, and luckily the others were there to meet us, too. A car door opened, a tall man stepped out of the car, and held his hand out to help Ms. Young out of the car. She did not seem to be in any sort of trouble. She looked great, in fact.
In this odd exchange between everyone, there were no words spoken until the very end.
“Thank you for cooperating, ladies. And thank you Ms. Young for everything.” The man spoke in a very deep voice. He continued, “No one will ever know about this.”
“Yes sir.” I said in a shaking voice.
“No need to be scared, ma’am, Ms. Young only worked for me to pay off a debt.” He said.
Ms. Young chimed in, “I was nearing the end of my time to pay it off and I needed the money. Thank you so much, ladies.”
The man left in his car and all three of us hugged Ms. Young. We all said how happy we were to see her, but we stopped because we could tell she was overwhelmed.
“Again, thank you, ladies. I would’ve never left that place if it wasn’t for you.” Ms. Young said in a happy voice.

I told you, my math teacher isn't dead.