MY HUSBAND’S BEST FRIEND TAKES OUR 16-YEAR-OLD SON TO BALLET THREE TIMES A WEEK! BUT WHEN I SUDDENLY WENT TO THE STUDIO, MY SON WASN’T THERE! THE INSTRUCTOR CLOSED THE DOOR AND ASKED: “MRS. BENNETT, HAS YOUR SON NOT TOLD YOU WHAT’S GOING ON?”
My daughter Audrey has been passionate about ballet since she was a child.
Even though our kitchen in Calder Heights was small, he always practiced there while I prepared breakfast.
Last fall, she was accepted into the advanced teen ballet program at
Fernwick, with a scholarship for almost full tuition.
But it’s a fifty-minute drive, class ends after eight, and my husband Scott and I return home at the same time.
So when Derek offered, we were thrilled.
He’s been Scott’s best friend since high school—almost thirty years.
He was there at our wedding, when Audrey was born, and at every birthday and family gathering.
“My office is right next to the studio. I’ll drop him off and pick him up. We’re like family!”
For the first few weeks, Audrey was very happy.
When she gets home, she immediately shows off her new ballet steps.
But suddenly everything changed.
She no longer dances at home.
He goes straight up to the room and barely wants to talk.
He even refused to participate in recital auditions.
One night, I saw her standing next to Derek’s car, holding his sleeve tightly.
“But you promised you’d talk to him,” Audrey pleaded.
“Audrey, not now!” Derek replied sharply.
“Please, Uncle Derek…”
When he noticed me, his face suddenly changed.
Audrey quickly entered.
Later, I heard
My child was crying in the bathroom.
When I asked what the problem was, he yelled at me.
“I DON’T CARE! LEAVE ME ALONE!”
I couldn’t sleep that night.
The next day, I arranged my work schedule and drove to the ballet studio without telling anyone.
I peeked into the classroom.
Students are practicing.
BUT AUDREY IS NOT HERE!
I waited for class to end, but he still didn’t come out.
I approached his instructor, Ms. Alvarez.
“I am Audrey Bennett’s mother. I would like to surprise her.”
Suddenly disappeared the woman’s smile.
He quietly closed the door and came closer to me.
“MRS. BENNETT… HAS YOUR SON NOT TOLD YOU WHAT’S HAPPENING?”
MY WHOLE BODY IS COLD!
WHAT’S HAPPENING TO AUDREY? AND WHAT DOES MS. ALVAREZ KNOW THAT I DON’T?
“What do you mean?” I asked tremblingly.
Ms. Alvarez looked at the attendance sheet on her desk.
“Mrs. Bennett, Audrey hasn’t been to ballet class for almost six weeks.”
IT FEELS LIKE SOMETHING FELL INTO MY CHEST.
“Impossible! He’s three times a week.”
Derek is delivering it here!”
The instructor’s forehead furrowed.
“Is Derek the man picking her up?”
“Yes. Why?”
He took a deep breath.
“I saw him arrive with Audrey twice. But he never entered the studio. When I approached them, he said your son had a personal problem.”
I held on to the table.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“We tried. But the contact number provided on the updated emergency form is no longer the number on the original enrollment record.”
He took out the document.
Written
my name.
But the signature is not mine.
And the contact number is Derek’s.
“I didn’t sign that,” I said.
Ms. Alvarez also looked at the paper, pale.
“Mrs. Bennett, we need to know where Audrey is right now.”
I immediately called my son.
No one answered.
I called Derek.
He answered on the first ring.
“Hey, Laura! Is there a problem?”
“Where is Audrey?”
He was silent for a moment.
“Nasa ballet class.”
“DEREK, I’M IN THE STUDIO. HE’S NOT HERE!”
Long silence.
Then he said:
“Laura, please. Don’t panic.”
Especially
I was nervous.
“WHERE IS MY CHILD?!”
“We just need to take care of something. I’ll bring him back later.”
And he hung up the phone.
I immediately called Scott.
“Go to Fernwick. Right now.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Audrey hasn’t been to ballet in six weeks. And Derek is lying about where she’s been.”
Scott didn’t ask any more questions.
“On my way.”
At the same time, I asked for help from the authorities because I could not determine the whereabouts of my minor child.
I gave Derek’s number, the information of
her car, and the last time I saw Audrey.
About forty minutes later, my cell phone rang.
Yes, Audrey.
“Mom?”
I held my chest.
“Audrey! Where are you?”
He is crying.
“I’m sorry…”
“Son, I’m not angry. Just tell me where you are.”
It took a long time before he answered.
“We are in the parking lot of a medical center.”
“What medical center?”
He said the name and address.
I immediately passed it on to the authorities.
“Stay there, sweetheart. I’m on my way.”
When Scott and I arrived, we saw Audrey sitting on a bench.
outside the building.
Derek is next to him.
My child is pale.
When he saw us, he ran towards me.
“Mom!”
I hugged him tightly.
“Son, you are safe. We are here.”
Scott approached Derek.
“What did you do to my son?”
“Scott, you don’t understand—”
“YOU’VE BEEN DISTRACTING MY SON FROM HIS CLASS FOR SIX WEEKS!”
Derek didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at Audrey.
“Tell them.”
I felt my son shiver in my arms.
“Mom,” he said softly, “
Uncle Derek is sick.”
We were stunned.
“What?”
“He has cancer. It’s been a few months.”
I looked at Derek.
He is bowed down.
“He doesn’t want Dad to know,” Audrey added.
Gradually, what was happening began to become clear.
But there is still a bigger question.
“Why are you the one with him on appointments?” I asked.
Audrey cried.
“Because he said he had no one else to rely on.”
Audrey recounted that one day, while they were on their way to the ballet, Derek suddenly felt dizzy.
They were forced to stop on the side of the road.
He was taken to the medical center, where
Audrey found out about her condition.
“He said he had been hiding his illness for a long time,” my son explained.
“He doesn’t want Dad to know because he doesn’t want them to feel sorry for him.”
I looked at Scott.
They have been friends for almost thirty years.
And he had no idea.
“At first, it was just one appointment,” Audrey continued.
“But then, he asked for help again. And again.”
When I asked why he didn’t tell us, he bowed his head.
“He said it was our secret. That if I told him, Dad might stop trusting him.”
I felt my blood boil.
It’s not because Derek is sick.
But because he made my sixteen-year-old son the bearer of a very heavy secret.
“Derek,” I said softly, “why didn’t you ask us for help?”
He closed his eyes.
“I don’t want to be a burden.”
“But you made Audrey responsible for your appointments!”
She was in tears.
“I know.”
“Even my signature on the emergency form?”
He bowed.
“I put it.”
“You know that’s wrong?”
“Yes.”
Scott suddenly spoke.
“Derek, you’re my best friend. If you said
“The truth is, I will go with you.”
Derek looked up.
“I don’t know how.”
“But do you know you can ask a child for help?”
Derek didn’t answer.
And for the first time, I saw that he had no excuses.
While we waited for the authorities to speak to everyone, Audrey and I sat inside the car.
“Mom, please don’t hate me.”
I was moved to tears.
“Son, I don’t hate you.”
“But I lied.”
“Yes. And we need to talk about that.”
He bowed.
“I thought if I told you, Uncle Derek would die alone.”
I held her hand.
“It is not a child’s responsibility to save an adult from their sadness.”
She cried and cried.
“And even if someone is sick, it doesn’t mean they can force you to hide things from us.”
That night, we no longer allowed Derek to drop off or pick up Audrey.
We explained to him that trust needed to be restored first.
We also spoke with the studio to correct contact information and ensure that records cannot be changed without verification.
