Chapter Text
It was a usual Monday morning. Lindsey woke up early before everyone else in the house. She glanced at her alarm clock: 6:05. The blonde teenager yawned and got up. She had to prepare breakfast. Her brother Liam would wake up soon and she wouldn’t have time to get ready if she didn’t hurry.
Lindsey made her way to the kitchen. Liam had specifically asked for bacon and eggs the previous night and she intended to make him some – they had been eating cereal for breakfast and dinner for over a week now; bacon and eggs would be a nice change.
She had just finished frying the bacon when she heard her mother’s footsteps on the stairs. Soon she saw her mother in a shabby bathrobe and a pair of very fluffy pink slippers. The woman crossed the kitchen kissed the top of Lindsey’s head.
“You cooked real food! And made coffee! Thanks, honey!” Barbara praised her daughter. She thought about how lucky she was that Lindsey was such a great daughter. Their life hadn’t been easy since her husband was deployed to Iraq, and with her starting a new term at a night law school, she relied on Lindsey to take care of Liam at night.
“How was your class, Mom?” Lindsey asked, handing her mother a plateful of fried bacon and some scrambled eggs as she spoke. She sat down next to the older woman and began eating.
“Disastrous!” Barb admitted, “I don’t understand a thing. Tell me again why I enrolled in the first place?”
Lindsey rolled her eyes. “Because you want to make sure I’m home every night with Liam instead of wandering out on the streets?”
“Right!” they both laughed.
The teenager finished her breakfast, put her plate in the sink and went upstairs to get ready. It was past seven and she didn’t want to have to run to the bus stop. When she came back downstairs, her mother and Liam were still in the kitchen, talking animatedly about some cartoon he had watched yesterday.
She smiled at the scene before her. She knew that her father’s deployment had broken her mother’s heart and had made her brother sad. The first few weeks had been difficult, but it seemed that everyone was doing their best to cope with the situation. Her father had personally asked her to look after Liam and her mother – and whatever Daddy said, Lindsey obeyed.
Barb caught her daughter staring at them from the base of the stairs. “You’re ready,” she said, “You want me to drive you to school?”
Lindsey shook her head. “I told Sandy I’ll meet her on the bus today. I’ll see you after school, Mom.” She kissed her mother on the cheek and patted her brother on the head. “Don’t burn down the house, Li,” she teased.
“Love you, Linds,” Barb called after her but Lindsey had already closed the door behind her. She watched her daughter stroll away from their kitchen window, waving at her even though she knew that Lindsey never looked back. She waited until the last shiny strands of Lindsey’s hair had disappeared behind the tall trees as the young girl turned left to the bus stop.
It was almost six in the evening and there was still no sign of Lindsey coming home any time soon. Barb had been ready to leave for class since a little past five. She had been calling Lindsey’s friends and even the teachers. Nobody saw Lindsey that day. She was worried. Lindsey had never been late before – even when she was late, she always called or at least asked somebody she trusted to call home.
“Mommy, where’s Lindsey?” Liam asked again for the hundredths times. He could sense something was off from his mother’s appearance.
A call from Sandy asking if Lindsey was sick was all it took for Barb to realize that her daughter was missing. She took the phone and dialled 911, her hand shaking.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” asked a female operator.
“My daughter is missing!” she said hysterically. “Somebody, find my daughter!”