lost
“I don’t give a damn what the protocol is, sheriff! Blair is out there, and we are not going to just sit here and drive ourselves crazy!” Mitch screamed into his cellphone that he held to his right ear. Emily wrapped her arms around her body as she shifted in the chair at her kitchen table, watching as Mitch’s face grew redder with every syllable that spat out from between his lips.
It had now been thirty-two hours since Emily had last seen Blair at Joe’s Diner. Emily’s eyes drifted to the touchscreen of her cellphone that sat in front of her. She tapped in her passcode, praying to see a notification from Blair — a text, a phone call, anything. But nothing ever came. Emily leaned forward, resting her hot forehead on the cold, slick surface of the edge of the table, her heartbeat pounding in her ears as the throbbing in her skull radiated through her eyes and down the back of her neck.
Blair was out there.
All alone.
Terrified.
Her baby.
Her only child, scared and alone. She could hear Blair’s voice in her head. She could hear the cries for help, the sobs and sniffles as she cried and screamed Emily’s name. They wouldn’t go away. They wouldn’t be silenced. It was like a record, spinning around and around inside of her pounding head, tormenting her with the horrific possibilities zipping through her mind. What if someone had taken her? What if she was already across the Illinois border? How could she let this happen? Her own daughter…
Emily knew there was nothing she could have done to stop this. She knew that whatever happened to Blair was beyond her control. But as a mother, she felt the weight resting on her tiny shoulders. Blair was her baby. She couldn’t even protect her own child from the monsters. Not the kind of imaginary monsters lingering beneath your bed, reaching under the covers, their fingers dancing toward your ankle dangling over the edge. But the real monsters.
The rapists.
The kidnappers.
The murderers.
She always told her to fight back. She always told her to scream and to shout and to do whatever it took to survive, to get away. Emily lifted her head as Zoey’s words played again inside of her brain. Why would Blair want to drop out? Why did Blair never mention it to Emily? She thought they were closer than that. They were mother and daughter, but also, the closest of friends. There had to be more to the story. She had to talk to Zoey again, before it was too late.
“Thank you! Now, call us if you find anything!” Mitch snarled as he yanked the phone from his ear and ended the call. He turned, his red eyes glaring back at Emily as she rested her elbows on the wooden table in front of her.
“What are they going to do?” Emily asked, her voice cracking from the hours of crying.
“The sheriff agreed to file the report. They’re going to have a couple of deputies drive around town and look for her,” Mitch said as he walked to the table and sat in the chair beside Emily.
“God,” Emily said, her voice breaking as she stared down to the tabletop, burying her face in her hands as the warm tears streamed down her red cheeks.
“Emily,” Mitch said as tears began to build in his brown eyes. “Emily, just try to stay calm. They’ll find her. We will find her. I promise. I’ll do everything in my power to bring her back home.”
“What— what if—,” Emily choked, the words clogging her throat. She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t dare utter the words.
“She is fine. I promise you she is all right. Blair is a strong girl, Emily, just like you,” Mitch said, his voice trembling as he placed his hand flat against Emily’s back, his palm moving in circles along the back of her black sweater.
“I am just so scared, Mitch, of what they might find,” Emily cried as she looked to Mitch beside her. “You see this all the time, all over the news. You think where were her parents? You think why didn’t they tell her to be more careful? You think something like this can never, ever happen to you, and one day it does. And you feel so helpless and so empty.” Emily sobbed. “I can’t just sit here and wait. I have to go out there. I have to find her. I have to find my daughter.”
“No, you need to stay here in case she comes back. Greg and Kate are on their way over here. Me and him are going to go drive around and see what we can find out. We’re going to talk to everyone, ask everyone if they saw her today.” Mitch nodded.
“I just never thought something like this would happen, not to Blair,” Emily cried as her red eyes fluttered down to her lap. “She was always so smart. What if someone she knows has her? She wouldn’t just go off with a total stranger.”
“Anyone here?” a deep voice rang out as the front door creaked open from the foyer behind them.
“We’re in here,” Mitch called out as he stood up, grabbing his black leather jacket from the back of Emily’s chair. Emily ran her trembling hands over her eyes as Greg and Kate McCallister walked into the tiny kitchen. Kate shuffled forward, making her way toward the kitchen table as she grabbed the straps of her yellow robe and tied it closed around her light blue maternity nightgown.
“Are you all right?” Kate asked with a frown as she rushed
