I stood by the half opened door of the bedroom and peeped into it. A little girl was sitting on my bed, making a mess with glitter and paint on cardboard paper. She seemed to be so engrossed in her artwork. She was definitely an artist. I've had 4 of her best works up in my bedroom wall that I always bragged about. And she was only 3 years old. What great talent!
After watching her in amusement for a while, I finally decided to reveal myself.
"Mommy!" Her tiny voice called as she saw me. A wide grin was plastered on her face. I reciprocated with a loving smile. "Come see. I drew a little pony!" I walked over to the bed and sat down beside her. My brows met as I laid eyes on the artwork. I looked back at her in delight. Her large brown eyes sorted for my praise. She was an adorable little girl. Her chubby rosy red cheeks were stained with orange paint. Her cute nose stood like a button against her pale skin which was a contrast of her dark eyes and dark long hair. She didn't quite look like her mother whose hair was thick and brown and had siren hazel eyes to match. My cheeks didn't have baby fat and weren't as rosy as hers. Instead, two cheekbones protruded against my matte skin, with tiny stains of freckles here and there.
"Mommy!" She called, interrupting my little survey. She was still waiting for my comment.
My lips broke into a smile, "It's a beautiful unicorn my angel." That is if you imagine it to be one! Her joy knew no bounds.
"But what did mommy tell Darcy about painting on the bed?"
The guilty girl drew her mouth into an exaggerated frown. But without saying anything else, she jumped out of bed and transferred her work to the floor.
"Much better, sweetie." I said. "Now, will you do mom a favour and come down to lunch, please?"
"But mommy, my unicorn!"
"Mommy made pasta." I said coaxinly. Darcy jumped to her feet at my mention of pasta. It was her favourite meal.
I promised to help her add the glitters to her little pony after lunch, but she was suddenly more interested in eating than on her artwork.
Monday morning.
"Darcy, hurry up or you'll be late for school!" I yelled. I heard a faint "coming" and I remained downstairs by the door, tapping my heels impatiently on the floor. I checked my wrist watch. It was already 7:49 a.m
"Oh, good heavens, Darcy! Whatever are you looking for?" I inquired as I entered her room. I'd waited long enough already. Still, she was flipping through clothes and tossing out books.
"My bracelet. The one Aunty Lily gave me. I can't find it!" She cried out in frustration.
"We'll look for it when you come back from school okay? We're already late."
Darcy stopped her search for a brief moment and looked at me with eyes building up with tears, "I promise Aunty Lily I'd wear it everyday. She can't see me without it. I promised!"
"She'll understand, Darcy. Now come on, let's go." I said, prompting her to hurry out of the room with a wave of my hand. She didn't move.
Instead, the tears in her eyes started running down her cheeks. "I promised mom. I'll have to wear it."
"Don't cry, okay." I said, suddenly feeling a sting of guilt derived from her tears. "Since you promised Aunty Lily to wear it everyday, we'll find it so that you can wear it to class, okay?"
Her sobs stopped and a smile appeared on her face. Not having the guts to check what time it was least I changed my mind, I hurriedly made for the drawers to begin my search.
~
"Could you believe she made me flip the entire house for that bracelet? She arrived late at school but without a single worry because you see, you showed her teacher that she indeed wears it everyday. And I got reprimanded by Mister Stance. I had to lie to him that there was an emergency." I said.
Trisha laughed on the other side of the phone, "Well, it was kind of an emergency, don't you think so? You never would have heard the last of it if you hadn't found that bracelet. My niece is pretty stubborn, you know."
"Definitely Trish. She couldn't have gotten it from me." I said and placed the phone against my shoulder to my ear and I tried to open the door of my car. My hands were occupied with a bunch of files I needed to work on. This was definitely Mister Stance's (my boss) way of punishing me. I worked at 'StancInk'; a popular publishing house in New York.
"How's the new place?" I asked after slamming the door of my car. "Darcy and I would have loved to visit, but honestly, things aren't so easy at work."
Up until a month ago, Trisha was still living with Darcy and I in my apartment which was given to me by StancInk after I got a promotion barely a year into working with them. 'I was competent.' They said, 'Publishing house material.' And they were right. The 4 years I've spent working with them were the most fulfilling part of my life and my career.
"It's fine." Trisha said, "Honestly, I haven't got time anyways. Being a Secretary for a big bank is a lot of work."
We continued our chit-chat for a while as I drove to Darcy's school before eventually ending our conversation.
I parked my car in an empty space in the school parking lot and quickly made my way to Darcy's classroom.
I greeted Aunty Lily, a pretty redhead in glasses, who was Darcy's teacher. "I'm here to pick up Darcy."
"Oh, she went to use the lavatory. She should be back any minute now." She replied and I nodded my head in understanding.
I waited for a while and soon understood that too much fruit juice was bad for a 3 year old's bladder. Parents walked in and walked out with their children and I started running low on patience.
"Lily, it's been almost an hour. I'd really appreciate it if you go get Darcy." I said.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. Kids. She must be up to no good." "And I must confess that your daughter is a big fan of hide and go seek." She added as a matter-of-factly.
She dashed out of the classroom and I remained standing, waiting for her to return with Darcy. There were hardly 5 kids left in the classroom. One by one, they disappeared, until I was standing all alone. Another hour had passed!
I stroded out of the classroom, beyond pissed and made my way down the empty halls.
"You should inform the mother of the child about this. We'll need to contact the police." I heard the principal saying in her office as I passed. On impulse, I reversed and found myself inside her office. Lily stood in front of her desk, talking to the suited principal. But there was no Darcy!
"Where's my daughter?" I asked Lily. She looked at the principal and looked back at me without giving an answer.
"Madam, we'll need to calm down for what we are about to say." The principal started. By now, my heart was pounding against my chest in tension. "Darcy is not on school premises."
I stared at her in awe. "What do you mean my daughter is not in school? I brought her to school this morning, I walked her to class…"
"Madam, you did bring her to class." Lily interrupted, "She was in class until she went to use the lavatory."
I raised my hands up my mouth and I heaved, feeling my hot breath against my palm. "So what are you saying? My daughter couldn't have fallen in the toilet."
The principal and Miss Lily eye each other again. Then the principal spoke, "There isn't a trace of your daughter on the school CCTV from the time she went to the lavatory."
"What are you saying?" I inquired. My blood was hot and I felt I could burst any minute from now.
"We'll alert the police about this ma'am." The principal said and quickly picked up her office phone, dialling 911.The phone rang and a few seconds later, there was a voice asking what was her emergency.
I yanked the phone from the principal's grip and placed it against my ear, "Hello, my daughter's missing. I need you to find her." The male officer on the phone tried to get me to relax. How was I supposed to?
"I'm afraid we can't take action until the designated time that a person is allowed to be declared missing." He said. I rained all the insults on the universe on him and decided to find Darcy by myself.
"If anything happens to my daughter, you'll pay for it!" I said to the ladies in the office and walked out. My eyes were filled with tears and there was a throbbing pain in my throat.
"Darcy!" I called my precious as I started my search on the school premises. My phone rang.
"Your daughter's been found." Were the first words the person spoke to me. "An address will be sent to you. Go get your daughter there."
Before I could say anything else, the call ended and almost immediately, a message popped on my screen. I hurried into my car and sped off to the location.
"Darcy!" I started yelling before I could even get out of my car. The location was a garden which seemed isolated and abandoned. 'Gosh, I hope my baby girl is fine.' I kept praying.
"Darcy!" I called again and again, yet there was no reply. Just as I was about to redial the phone number that had informed me of my daughter's whereabouts, I laid eyes on my daughter!
"Darcy!" I yelled in relief and ran over to her. She was being carried by a man. I attempted to collect my Darcy from his arms but he stopped me from doing so. My eyes burnt with rage, "Give me my daughter!"
"I'm afraid she isn't only your daughter. She's mine too!" The man said and I finally raised my head to look at him. His eyes pierced into mine and I went pale!