37
Wyatt
2018
Iawake with the same nightmare every night. I look down, and I’m covered in the blood of my enemies, their bodies sprawled out beneath me. My hands are crimson as I hold them palms up before me. And then the darkness comes, and I am left screaming into an empty abyss for a way out. But there is no light, no one to hear me as I feel myself falling and sinking deeper into nothingness.
* * *
Her words are incoherent.The only thing I do hear is that my daughter was not at school when she went to pick her up. I get into my truck and drive like a madman until I’m standing outside the principal's office. I want to touch the handle, but I’m afraid of what is on the other side. How could this even be? Everything she said is on a loop.
Wyatt, London’s missing. I’m at school. They have no idea where she is. I need you. Come quickly.
I take a deep breath and walk in to find Logan and Hayley seated in the only two visitors’ chairs in the room. Hayley looks up at me, her eyes are red from crying. Logan holds her hand and glares at me as if I was the one who didn’t belong here. She stands and runs into my arms, sobbing into my chest. I lean against the wall for support; she’s propped against me. I hold her close, and I feel her body shake with pain.
“What happened?” I ask, holding her face between my hands. Tears stain her cheeks, and I want to kiss them all away, find my daughter, and bring her back here to her mother.
“I came to pick her up, and she wasn’t here. Her friends saw her this morning when I dropped her off. They said she forgot something in the car and was going to see ifI was still parked out front. She ran off, and they have not seen her since.” Hayley sobs. “She’d never leave with a stranger. She knows better than that.”
The principal stares at us over her thick-rimmed glasses. “And you are?”
“Her father,” Hayley and I say in unison, and I watch Logan's fist tighten, his knuckles white. That was something the asshole better get used to hearing.
“Oh,” the woman answers. “Mr.—”
“Barnes,” I answer.
She nods. “We’re doing all we can. We’re pulling up footage of all exits, and the Head of Security should join us in a minute. “
“I left her at the gate and watched her walk in.” Hayley’s hands tremble, and I want to tell her we’ll be okay, that I’ll find her, no matter what it takes. I lead her to the seat, and she falls into it weakly.
“The police are on their way,” the principal informs us, and I nod.
“What’d she forget in the car?”
“Her journal.” Hayley blows her nose. “I left it where she did. I don’t want to move it.”
I don’t want to wait around here. All kinds of thoughts are running through my head. I just got my daughter back, I just got Hayley back, and I was not the kind of person who could sit around doing nothing waiting for the cops to do what they do.
A few minutes later, two uniformed officers enter the small office. The Security Officer had taken the liberty of bringing in a few extra chairs, and the office was now cramped.
“Good afternoon, ma’am, sirs.” His attention is on the three of us. “I take it you’re the parents.”
“Yes,” Logan responds. “I’m London’s father, this is her mother, and her biological father.”
My blood boils at his haughty tone. Acting as if I didn't have as much say as they did. I have to stay in control.
“Can you tell us when the last time the three of you saw London?”
“Last night,” I tell the officers.
“Two nights ago,” Logan says through gritted teeth. Yes, he’d, unfortunately, missed dinner night this week.
“This morning.” Hayley’s voice cracks. “I dropped her off at school.”
“I’m going to need a full description of her, what she was wearing today, as well as a recent photograph.” Logan reaches into his wallet and pulls out a photo. Ever the golden boy. I couldn’t think like that. The sooner the police get info on her, the better.
“Pretty kid,” the officer says. “We’re going to try everything we can to find her. I can assure you of that.”
