“Something beyond our comprehension of physics and human biological processes was at work here” Diya continued. “I tried going through all of the various things that could explain these events within the logical realm of possibility. I went through much of the analysis that you made, Michael, and there were too many loose ends that couldn’t be patched up with simple explanations.”
Michael nodded as he listened intently to what Diya was saying. Freddy started to doze off as it was getting late and he was very tired.
“I thought that maybe the principal just forgot about it and forgot to tell the secretary” she continued. “That would explain a lot of it. However, the principal seemed to have no idea why I was there. Maybe I could have pressed him more, but if he was going to forget about it, then why should I actively seek out trouble?”
“I agree” Michael responded. “I would have done the same thing.”
“That’s all fine and well, but when the secretary had that look of confusion on her face over the bill on her disk, that’s when things weren’t adding up. I don’t know what came over me, but just something inside of me thought that maybe I should ask a student in the hall about the plumbing issue just to make sure that I wasn’t losing my marbles. When they said they didn’t remember it ever happening, that’s when I thought I was going crazy. I asked several more people and they said the same thing. I could have, and would have, just written off as a symptom of being tired or hallucinating in some way, but when I heard Sofya confront a girl in the hall about it and that girl didn’t remember either, I knew it wasn’t just me that was experiencing this bizarre incident.”
Diya paused for a moment before continuing, noticing Michael looking at her intensely.
“So then I decided to go beyond the realm of logic and into something more sci fi oriented.”
Michael was curious to see where this line of thinking would go.
“I thought that maybe it was like in Men in Black where the agents went in and wiped out everyone’s memories. I thought that, until I had two strikes against it. One, why did the memory wipe forget me and Sofya? You’d think that if they were going to erase the memories clean off the entire slate of the school, then you’d want to wipe out everyone’s memories. So why did I still remember it? And why did Sofya?”
Michael nodded as Diya continued.
“And then I remembered the plumbing bill on the secretary’s desk. In Men in Black, not only did they erase memories from people’s brains, they also removed all evidence that the event ever happened. If the point of the memory wipe was to wipe the slate clean, then why keep such evidence around that could make all that trouble end up being for nothing?”
Michael nodded and continued to listen intently.
“So, after some careful thought, I struck that possibility out. It also didn’t help that I didn’t know anyone personally who had those kind of FBI like connections to order such a move. So that left me with one other possibility.”
“This is the big moment” Michael thought to himself. “Either she’ll be right on the mark or she’ll be way off base.”
“As Sherlock Holmes once famously said, ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’” she continued. “So as much as this is going to come across as absolutely nuts, not that the Men in Black theory didn’t come across that way already, it has to be the most logical explanation.”
Michael looked at Diya curiously. Freddy began to stir as he woke up from his nap.
“Michael, I’ve known for a while now that you have an intense fascination with magic, or, as Freddy calls it, ‘hocus-pocus.’”
Freddy started to giggle as Michael nudged his shoulder.
“Hey, I was just kidding” Freddy replied as Michael stared at him with a glare.
“So” Diya continued, as Freddy and Michael turned back to her “I put a number of things together that made a lot more sense when covering those loose ends. It also started to explain the why and not just the when and how. I know that I was being sent into the principal’s office for something that I did to help you two out. When I put together the memory wipe plus the erasure of all computer data of the appointment…”
“I thought you said there was no record in the database?” Michael asked.
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that” Diya replied as she scratched her hair. “There was a recorded appointment at about 1 PM and when I looked again after he seemingly forgot all about it, it was if it had been erased.”
“When were you going to mention this?”
“It just slipped my mind for a second, Michael, but it’s not that important. Anyways, I thought that maybe you had cast some sort of magic spell to help me out of my predicament.”
“Hmm” Michael thought to himself before saying to Diya “I hate to poke a hole in your theory, Diya, but I didn’t use any magic to help you get out of trouble with the principal, even though I would have loved to have done so. And besides, if I could have done that, then I would have found some other way to get out of school that day to go help Freddy on my own.”
“Good point” she replied “so then my other theory was that someone else cast the spell to help me out for helping you help Freddy out. Michael…”
Michael looked at her as Freddy continued to be amazed with how much Diya was able to deduce on her own.
“Even though you didn’t help me out of trouble with the principal, I’d like to know if the reason that Freddy has been absent from school for four days this week has anything to do with magic.”
Michael thought for a moment as he wondered whether he should confirm or deny her question. After a brief pause, he made up his mind.
“It does, DIya” he admitted honestly.
“And by that logic, the danger Freddy faced had something to do with magic as well” she continued.
“Yes, it did.”
“Ok, that helps me out a lot. Freddy, Michael, have you been in communication with someone else in regards to magic this week.”
“Yeah the old man from the magic shop” Freddy blurted out.
“Freddy!” Michael scolded.
“What magic shop?” Diya asked inquisitively. “There’s no magic shop in town.”
“Yeah, the one we passed by on Sunday” Freddy continued. “That’s where we…”
“Freddy” Michael replied to cut him off.
Freddy didn’t know why Michael was being so short with him. Although he had thought that this wasn’t a good idea in the first place, now that the cat was out of the bag on the use of magic and that she had her own brush with it, he thought it was best to just tell her outright what was going on. Michael wasn’t so sure yet.
“Maybe…” Diya said as the two boys turned to her. “Maybe it’s like with the memories of the fire alarm incident. Perhaps the magic shop was only visible to those who are meant to see it and be in there. That may be why only the two of you know about it.”
“Maybe” Freddy replied.
“So what are you trying to say, Diya?” Michael asked her, wanting her to get to the point.
“Maybe, if you didn’t cast a spell to wipe out the memories of the students and faculty from our school, then perhaps the old man from the magic shop did. And he did it to help me for helping you.”
“Hmmm” Michael thought to himself. “I don’t really know for sure whether or not that’s true, but it makes a lot of sense. If the old man did help Diya out of a pinch like that, then perhaps it’s because we need to fill her in on what’s been happening to us. She might be of greater assistance to us than I thought.”
“So that leads to my last point” Diya continued as Michael snapped out of his thoughts. “As far as I know, only four people still remember that the school halls were flooded on Wednesday. You guys, me and Sofya. The only explanation that I have for why Sofya still remembers that it ever happened is because either she’s involved in whatever magic you guys got yourselves involved with…”
Diya paused for a moment before she finished.
“….or she’s a witch.”
“It’s both actually” Freddy said aloud, as Michael peered over at him with a look of annoyance on his face.
“Thanks for the confirmation, Freddy” Diya replied. “So this is where my theory stands.”
Diya got up from her chair as she paced across the room.
“From either Sunday or Monday until today” she continued “you two got yourselves involved in some sort of magic that led to some sort of danger for Freddy on Wednesday. In all likelihood, either Sofya is involved with casting the magic spell or she’s someone for whom the magic you’re involved with is an enemy in some sort of way. The old man from that magic shop erased the memories to help me stay out of trouble and I suspect it’s because I still need to help you out of the predicament you two have gotten yourselves into.”
Diya stopped before she looked down at Freddy and Michael.
“Now that I’ve deduced that much, tell me, guys, what am I missing?”
Freddy looked up at her, dumbfounded that she got of all that pieced together with little information. He was impressed. Although he was still salty over Diya calling him stupid, he had to admit that she was very bright and could be a big help in breaking this curse.
Michael, on the other hand, knew Diya got it right on the money as usual. She logically deduced all of the possibilities that could be seen as rational and suspended her disbelief in order to entertain the possibilities of the supernatural. He also knew that her experience with the principal’s office had to be a sign. The old man more than likely did erase the school’s memories of the events of Wednesday morning, although he did a sloppy job of it by leaving the bills behind. Still, Michael wasn’t so sure how much more he wanted Diya to know.
“So…” Diya continued as she sat back down in her rolling chair. “What’s it going to be? Are you going to fill me in on the rest or not?”
Freddy looked to Michael as he thought for a moment. After a brief period of time, he decided….