Chapter 17

Chapter 17
When I get downstairs she is sitting at the table with the children and my mother eating lunch. They look up when they see me and I smile at all of them. I walk over to where Jay is sitting and sit down next to her.
“Hi mom, how are you today?” She looks up at me from eating her sandwich and smiles at me.
“I’m doing fine honey, and how are you this afternoon? You look tired. Are you getting enough sleep at night?” The truth is that I have been getting enough sleep, which is surprising given the circumstances.
“I’m just tired from the trip and running behind these two I guess.” I smile as I look at my two beautiful children. I meant what I said upstairs to Alexa about loving them more than anything in the world. Jay and I didn’t plan on having a family the way we did, but we wouldn’t trade our children for the world. I am especially blessed that she even accepted Nicholas as her own. Not many would have done what she has done for me and our family without question, and I love her so much more for everything she has done for us. She is my rock and one of my three reasons for living. When I look at them all happy and smiling my heart swells and I can’t help but be happy as well. Then the news report pops into my head and I feel the smile leave my face. The children asked to be excused and I let them leave the table after putting their plates and glasses in the sink.
Once I know that they are out of earshot, I lean in and tell my mother and Jay what I saw on the news. My mother just sits there quietly and Jay picks up her phone and starts texting someone. I’m guessing that she is talking to Mr. Fontenot to see what he knows about this new development. She looks up after sending her text and asks me why I didn’t eat lunch. I told her that I wasn’t hungry yet, but the look she gave me made me promise her that I would eat something soon. The three of us got up from the table and went into the living room to watch television. We found a marathon of Law and Order and decided to watch that until we thought of anything else to do for the evening.
After about the third episode, I was no longer really watching the show and thinking more about who this mysterious person is that seems to have it in for my wife and family. Who could it be? I don’t understand why anyone would want to hurt her or any of us for that matter. This has been bothering me for a while now, so maybe I should talk to Jay about it later tonight. For right now, I just want to enjoy some family time. My mother is screaming at the television who the killer is and seems upset that they haven’t figured it out yet. I laugh as she sits back and folds her arms in an angry manner. The expression on her face makes me laugh even harder and the next thing I know, I am on the floor holding my sides. My wife and mother are both staring at me as though I have lost my mind, and maybe I have, but one thing is certain and that is that I am enjoying myself. I haven’t laughed like this in so long and it feels good.
Finally I sober up from my laughing fit and crawl back onto the couch. They are still looking at me like I have lost my mind but I just ignore them and start watching television again. My mother’s anger and facial expression really wasn’t all that hilarious when I sat and thought about it to myself. Maybe all of the craziness going on lately finally caught up to me and made me snap a little. I definitely need to talk to my therapist about what’s been going on with me and my emotions lately, but so far I have not been given the okay to call her yet. As I continue to watch the show, I can feel eyes looking at me and I try to ignore them but the constant staring is starting to get on my nerves.
“What! You’re going to stare a hole in my head if you keep looking at me. What is the problem?” They both look at each other and then shrug before turning back towards the television and we continue to watch in silence. My sister and her husband soon join us downstairs and begin watching with us. Eventually we all start little conversations until no one is watching the television and we’re all talking to one another about different things. One of the main things is that we’re tired of being cooped up in this house.
“Well maybe we can all go to the park or somewhere else fun tomorrow.” My mother makes this suggestion and everyone seems to be up for doing that tomorrow. Personally I don’t care where we go as long as I get out of this house. The kids will be happy to get out and it will do us all some good. We all keep talking and making plans to see the Statue of Liberty, Museum of Natural Science, and other places. As we are all talking about what time to leave and whether or not to eat breakfast here or not, my mind starts wandering back to the questions in my head about who this person taunting us could be and why they are so hell bent on making our lives miserable. My wife puts her hand on my thigh and gently begins rubbing back and forth without breaking eye contact with who she is talking to, and I am once again reminded of our strong connection. I calm down and resume the conversation with the others until I hear a loud crash from upstairs. The only ones up there right now should be two guards and our children. We look at each other and quickly run upstairs to see what happened. I go into Nicholas’s room as Jay goes into Alexa’s room. My little boy is sitting on his bed looking bewildered, as if he has no idea why I’m frantically looking around his room.
“Nicholas, are you okay? We heard a loud noise downstairs, did you drop something?”
He just sits there looking at me and doesn’t answer while I look all around the room and check the closet and windows. Nothing seems out of place so I go over to him and sit next to him on the bed.
“Sweetie what’s wrong?” He wraps his little arms around me and hugs me tight. Now I’m worried.
“Mama I don’t know what happened. I was sleeping and then a loud noise woke me up.” He holds me as tight as his little arms can hold me and that makes me nervous. My baby boy usually doesn’t scare that easily even when awoken from his sleep.
“Come on sweetie. I want to go check on your sister and make sure she is okay.”
We get up and slowly make our way to my daughters’ room to see if Jay had found the cause of the noise. Once we reach the room, I see my wife on the floor on her knees holding a stuffed animal but no sign of my daughter. I begin to take in the scene of the room more carefully. There is glass on the floor by the window and the window is open, a lamp and side table is overturned, the bed is a mess, and my wife is on the floor rocking back and forth making a noise that resembles crying but I can’t get my mind to focus on that too much. The others slowly start making their way to the room and I tell my son to go to my mother. He runs to his grandmother and she picks him up as she gets closer to the room. I walk over to my wife and kneel beside her on the floor.
“Jay, where is Alexa?”
I’m asking as though I don’t already know the answer but my mind won’t allow me to not ask. She doesn’t answer me and so I ask her again, but she still does not respond. Only after grabbing her in my arms and making her face me did she finally stop rocking. I asked her one more time where our daughter was and she reached out her hand and handed me a note. It was all crumpled up so I had to unfold it in order to read it properly. My heart felt like it stopped as I read the words.
“I don’t know what made you think that you could run from me. I will find you wherever you go. Don’t worry, your daughter is safe, but whether she stays that way is going to be left up to you and your wife. I will be contacting you soon with further instructions. Follow them and don’t try to rescue her or else I will know and the next time you see your daughter will be in a body bag. Have a nice day.”
I dropped to my knees as the note fell from my hands. My mind was racing as I heard my family and friends all asking ‘what’s wrong?’, and ‘what’s going on?’, but I can’t focus on them right now. I’m too consumed with my own thoughts and I can’t think about anything else other than how scared my daughter must be right now. How could anyone come in and kidnap her without us knowing? Suddenly I heard screaming and tried to find out where it was coming from until I finally realized that it was coming from me. Jay grabs me and is trying to comfort me but I can’t stop screaming and then finally I faint.