Parents Missing for Years; They Were Famous Daughter-Doting Fanatics

I was making up my bed on move-in day when a voice came from behind me.

Hi, everyone. I'm Maxine James. We've got four years together, so let's all look out for each other.

The girl in the top bunk lit up.

I know you! You're the daughter from that My Little Maxi Growing Up account, aren't you? I can't believe we're in the same dorm!

I'd never watched a single one of Maxine's videos.

My roommate was kind enough to fill me in.

"You've never seen Maxine's videos? Is your phone still stuck on 2G or something?"

"They run a family account. They've been documenting Maxine's whole childhood, and it's huge. Tens of millions of followers!"

"And her parents are basically the best parents on the internet. They've spoiled her like a princess!"

She was still going strong when a couple appeared in the doorway.

"Maxi, so this is your dorm? Let us help you make the bed."

I glanced over, and I froze on the spot.

Because the couple standing there, Maxine's parents, were my own mom and dad, the ones who had been missing for years.

...

Maxine checked the bunk assignment chart from the school and directed her parents.

"The one by the window is mine. Go ahead and make that one up for me."

"Thanks so much, Mom, Dad. Once the bed's done I'll take you to eat at the campus dining hall, my treat."

My dad ruffled Maxine's hair, doting.

"You'll be eating in that dining hall for who knows how long. Your mom and I will take you out to eat later."

My roommate's voice was thick with envy.

"That's my internet mom and dad for you. Your family's vibe is just too good."

My mom looked up at the roommate, and then at me beside her.

"This is Maxi's first time living in a dorm. If she does anything wrong, I hope you'll all be patient with her."

As she spoke, she pulled two sets of high-end skincare products out of her bag and handed them to us.

"Just a little something from me. Please take them. I hope you'll all become good friends with Maxi."

My roommate agreed at once.

"Don't worry, ma'am. I'll definitely be good friends with Maxine. I feel like I watched her grow up, in a way."

My mom smiled and held the other set of skincare out to me.

"What's your name? I noticed you've barely said a word."

I looked at my mom, fists clenched to keep myself under control, terrified I'd lose it right there.

So they hadn't recognized me.

That made sense. Grandma always said my parents left home not long after I was born and never came back.

Twenty years had gone by. Of course they couldn't tell who I was.

The only reason I could recognize them was that Grandma had given me a photo from their wedding and told me to remember their faces.

But how had the parents who'd been missing all those years become Maxine's mom and dad?

And turned into influencers the whole internet knew?

My hand shook as I reached out and took the skincare from my mom.

"My name's Gail Mason. Thank you... ma'am."

The word ma'am came out stiff.

My mom didn't catch anything off about me. She just assumed I was that shy by nature.

"No need to thank me. You seem pretty shy. When you've got time, you should hang out with Maxi more. Let her bring you out of your shell."

I didn't say anything. I just watched Maxine out of the corner of my eye.

She was pretty, the corners of her mouth always turned up, confident and easy with herself.

And if you looked closely, she and I actually looked a lot alike.

But only when she smiled.

And I didn't like to smile.

Once she'd handed out the skincare to me and my roommate, my parents got to work making up Maxine's bed.

Maxine stood off to the side filming it on her phone. This, apparently, was material for their next episode.

I could feel myself losing my grip on it, so I bolted into the bathroom.

Once I was inside, I remembered what my roommate had said. I pulled out my phone and searched for the account, My Little Maxi Growing Up.

I figured that somewhere in here, I'd find the truth about why my parents had been missing all these years.

The moment I opened the page, the front feed was nothing but Maxine, from a baby all the way up.

I tapped the pinned video. It ran through a photo shoot they'd done of her every single year, from age one to eighteen.

Maxine was born in '05.

A year younger than me.

Which meant that not long after Mom and Dad left home, they'd had Maxine.

So my parents hadn't gone missing.

They'd abandoned me.

They'd had another daughter out there, and they'd thrown me away.

Once the truth sank in, something inside me went raw and aching.

I opened every video on my parents' page and watched them, one after another.

The more I watched, the harder I cried.

When Maxine was in preschool, Mom and Dad took her around the world to show her how big it was.

Back then, I was picking up bottles on the side of the road with Grandma Mason just to get by.

Grandma used to tell me,

"Gail, honey, I don't know when your mom and dad are coming back. It's been a long time since they last sent me any money."

"You'll be starting grade school soon, and I need to save up your tuition ahead of time."

"Every one of these bottles is a chance for you to go to school."

Back then I didn't understand how a bottle could be a chance at anything.

All I knew was that I was with Grandma, waiting for Mom and Dad to come home.

After Maxine started grade school, Mom and Dad signed her up for all kinds of classes.

Piano, dance, skateboarding, all of them things she'd picked herself.

They said to the camera,

"We don't ask anything of Maxi. We just want her to be happy."

Maxine rode past on her skateboard behind them and shouted,

"Mom, Dad, I love you!"

By then I'd only just started school.

Grandma had scraped together money for a long time before she could cover my tuition.

After class, I'd go home and cook, carry the food out to Grandma in the fields, then help her pack up and head home together.

By the time Maxine was in high school, Mom and Dad cared even more about her inner world, afraid she'd pull away from them during her rebellious phase.

Every day they walked her to and from school, and on their days off they took her to concerts and musicals to unwind.

That whole stretch, I was living through the lowest point of my life.

Grandma was sick and in the hospital, and I couldn't come up with the money for her surgery.

The school took up a collection, my teacher put out an appeal, but it still wasn't enough.

Watching Grandma get worse by the day, I finally decided to drop out and earn money for her treatment.

I gave up the SATs that year, but in return I got to keep Grandma alive.

That was when I learned just how much money mattered.

One musical for Mom, Dad, and Maxine cost thirty thousand dollars. That thirty thousand, to me, was Grandma's life.

I threw myself into studying, wanting to earn more so Grandma wouldn't have to work so hard.

My effort paid off.

This year I was the state's top SAT scorer, with the scores to get into any college in the country.

The only reason I chose this school was that they'd given me a two-hundred-thousand-dollar scholarship and promised to cover all my living expenses for four years. That was why I came here.

I never imagined that here, of all places, I'd run into the parents who'd been missing all these years.

By the time I finished my parents' videos, I had no tears left.

In my heart, I'd always believed they were missing, maybe even dead.

I never imagined it would turn out like this.

They weren't dead. They were living better than most people.

So why, in all these years, had they never once come home to see me?

I still remember when Grandma was gravely ill, how I sent a text to my parents' number, full of hope.

No reply ever came.

Right then, someone knocked on the bathroom door.

"Gail, are you almost done? Maxine's parents said they want to take us all out to dinner."

It snapped me out of my thoughts, and I refused, flustered.

"No thanks, you guys go. I'm not feeling well."

The roommate sounded a little disappointed.

"Alright, but you're really missing out. Maxine's parents said they're taking us for a seafood dinner."

And with that, I heard the door close outside.

I came out of the bathroom, and once I saw the dorm was empty, I took out my phone and called Grandma.

When she picked up, her gentle voice came through the line.

"Gail, honey, how are you doing? Are you getting along with your roommates?"

I made small talk for a minute, then asked the thing sitting on my heart.

"Grandma, back then, did Mom and Dad really go missing?"

"Is there still no word from them, even now?"

My question left her quiet for a moment.

Ever since high school, I'd barely mentioned my parents at all.

It was a while before she spoke.

"Your mom and dad said they were going off to find work, and they never came back. Maybe something happened to them."

"You're grown now. I suppose you can handle the truth."

So Grandma didn't know either, that my parents had abandoned us.

I didn't tell her I'd run into them. I planned to wait until they came back from dinner and get the truth out of them.

Whether it was abandonment or some other reason, my parents owed me an explanation.

That wait stretched on for hours.

I dozed off without even realizing it.

Until a scream jolted me awake.

"Ah!"

I rubbed my eyes and took in the scene in front of me.

It was Maxine who'd screamed.

She was frantic, searching for something.

"Mom, my necklace is gone! That was your gift for my eighteenth birthday!"

My parents heard her and looked just as panicked.

"Gone? Wasn't it right here on the bed when we left? How could it be missing?"

Maxine's eyes were red with panic.

"Right, I remember putting it right here too. But I've turned the whole bed over and it's just not here."

Seeing how upset she was, I got up and asked.

"Do you want me to help you look?"

Maxine's head snapped toward me.

"You were the only one in the dorm just now. Did you steal my necklace?"

The moment she said it, my parents and the roommate all turned to look at me.

I denied it on instinct.

"It wasn't me. After you left, I stayed on my own bed the whole time and slept."

"Who else could it be but you?"

Maxine's eyes were full of suspicion.

"Don't tell me the necklace grew wings and flew off."

"And I noticed it the first time I saw you. Your family clearly doesn't have money, the shoes you're wearing are knockoffs."

"So it's very likely you're the one who stole my necklace!"

The roommate spoke up for me.

"We've all just met today. I don't think Gail is the kind of person who'd steal. There has to be a misunderstanding here."

Maxine shot her a look.

"What makes you so sure about her? Are the two of you in on this together?"

That one line shut down whatever the roommate had wanted to say for me.

Then my mother spoke up too.

"Young lady, whether you stole the necklace or not, we'll find out once we call the police. If you took it, hand it over now."

"Otherwise, once the officers get here, you'll end up with a record."

Before I could get a word out, Maxine turned down the idea of calling the police.

"Mom, there's no need to take it that far. Let's just search her and her bed right now."

"If she really stole it, we tell the school and have her expelled. That's all it takes."

My dad looked at Maxine with relief in his eyes.

"Our Maxi is just too kind. Go ahead and search, then. I'll film it for the next vlog."

When he finished, my mom ignored my objections and stepped forward to start going through my things.

I tried to stop her, and Maxine cut me off at once.

"Feeling guilty, are you? If you've got a clear conscience, you should let us search!"

That line left me nowhere to stand. Stop them, and I looked guilty. Let them, and I lost anyway.

By the time I finished hesitating, my mom had already finished searching my things.

I hadn't brought much with me, just a set of bedding, two changes of clothes, and a few books.

She finished digging through it all and shook her head at Maxine.

Maxine pointed straight at me.

"You haven't searched her yet. Maybe she's hiding it on her body."

I wrapped my arms around myself and refused.

"You have no right to search me!"

Maxine paid no attention. She came at me and started patting down my pockets.

I tried to twist away, and my mom seized my hands hard.

"Hold still, we're almost done!"

I squirmed against them, sick with the humiliation of it.

Then Maxine let out a sudden shout.

"Found it!"

And she pulled a necklace out of the back pocket of my jeans.

"Dad, Mom, look. I told you she stole it!"

"How can someone like this be my classmate? Hurry up and tell the teacher to have her expelled."

My parents looked at the necklace, exchanged a glance, then turned their eyes on me with disgust.

"What kind of child are you, taking what isn't yours? Didn't your parents teach you how to be a decent person?"

My mom's brows knit tight.

"Parents these days really are irresponsible. A girl this grown, and no manners at all."

"I thought Maxi was making a fuss over nothing. I never expected you really stole it."

The two of them went back and forth, tearing into me.

I looked at Maxine, shock all over my face.

I hadn't stolen the necklace. So why was it in my pocket?

Unless.

Maxine had planted it on me.

Once they were done cursing me out, my parents didn't hesitate to call the academic advisor and tell him to come over.

When he heard there'd been a theft the moment the term started, he came right away.

Once he arrived, my parents gave him the quick version.

"We demand that Gail be expelled. Someone with sticky fingers like her can't stay near my daughter."

"If your school doesn't do something, I'll put this online and let my followers weigh in."

"And I can't promise what that'll do to your school's reputation."

The advisor looked at me, the strain plain in his eyes.

He knew I was a special-admission student, that I couldn't be expelled, so he turned to my parents.

"This child comes from a very hard home. Her grandmother raised her."

"But she works hard. She's this year's state top scorer on the SATs, and the school paid to bring her in on special admission."

"Look, how about the school offers you some compensation and moves them to a different dorm?"

My parents hadn't expected me to be anyone of note, let alone the state's top SAT scorer, and for a moment they had no answer.

Maxine, though, stayed just as unyielding.

"I don't care. She has to be expelled, or I'm not studying at your school."

"You know how many followers my parents have. When it comes to it, you're the ones who'll lose out."

Seeing Maxine take that stand, my parents both fell in behind her.

The advisor was truly stuck now, with no idea how to handle something this thorny.

That was when I spoke up.

"Sir, since they want to blow this up so big, why don't you contact my guardians?"

"After all, I'm just a kid. I can't make this call myself."

The advisor quickly dug out my enrollment records, and the moment he saw the names in the parent field, his eyes went wide.

After a long moment, he lifted his head and looked at my parents.

"You're Maxine's parents. But the records say Gail's guardians are you two as well."