Nathan
I shivered as I hugged myself. The rain was coming down really hard on us, but we kept walking. It was pretty late, we've been walking for a very long time. I'm scared, I'm hungry, and I'm cold, but I can't leave Kenzie alone. I would hate myself if something bad happened to her.
"Hey, there it is. We're almost there. Come on." Kenzie said excitedly, grabbing my forearm and pulling me with her. She accidentally pulled my necklace, making it come off.
"Kenzie, wait. My necklace." I stopped dead in my tracks, panicking as I looked at my necklace. The wolf was still hanging on, but mom's ring had come off.
"Oh, no. Mom's ring. Kenzie, why would you do that?" I grabbed dad's wolf, holding it tight so I didn't lose it, but I was getting a bit scared that I couldn't find the ring. "I'm sorry, brother. I didn't mean to. It was an accident."
"Mom's ring, it's missing. Please help me look for it." I wanted to cry. The ring is so important to me. It was a promise that she and I would always look out for each other. It was her promise to me that we will always be together. I have to find it, I just have to.
We both looked around, trying to look for the ring but it was nowhere to be found. I sat at the curve, hugging my knees and wiping my tears with my arm. Kenzie sat next to me, but I was very sad right now.
I just wanted to go home. To be with my mom and my dad. I know finding Kenzie's dad is important to her, but I didn't feel comfortable with this idea from the beginning. Maybe I should have asked dad for help. He always tells me I can tell him anything and ask for help when I need it. I should have talked to him instead of coming here like this.
The farther away we walk, the scariest it feels. "I just want to go home and be with my mom," I told her, putting my head down against my knees. I couldn't stop shivering. I don't think there was a part of me that was covered by the rain except for my back because my backpack was covering it.
"We can go home if you want? Thank you anyway for coming with me Nate, and I'm really sorry about your mom's ring. I didn't mean for it to get lost." She says, sniffling and wiping her tears.
Her bottom lip quivered. I wasn't sure if it was because she was cold or because she was crying, maybe both.
"We can go home. Ask dad to help us. He's a lawyer, he might be able to help us find him faster."
We both stood up and looked around. It dawned on me that I didn't know which way was home. I never paid attention to it because dad was the one driving all the time. I looked at Kenzie with wide eyes, "Umm, Kenz... Which way is home?"
I was startled when a bright light hit in our direction, followed by a loud police siren. It made my heart race, I was scared, and more than ever, I wanted my mom and dad.
*******
Sophie
I can't believe this is happening. There are no words for me to describe how horrified I feel right now, searching every room, every inch, every corner of the school. Yet... My baby is nowhere to be seen.
"NATHAN!!" my voice rang through the ice-cold air, my hair and clothes wet as the rain continued to pour down, but that was not going to stop me from searching for my son and Kenzie. I grasped my stomach, hoping that my little one wasn't distraught by my worries. I tried to ignore the pain on my side, and begged for my little one to be ok.
The staff, a few teachers, and the principal had joined in our search. Logan was just as nervous and worried as I was. "Sophie?" I turned to see Amber running towards me. She hugged me tightly, unwilling to hold her cry. "Have you heard anything? Please tell me they've found them?" she says pulling away and holding my hands. I looked at Logan, he had his gaze towards the ground, trying to act tough, but I could tell he was terrified as well.
"No, we haven't found them. I can't believe this is happening. What are we going to do, Amber? How could this happen? What were they thinking?" I was getting much more distraught over this by the second.
Minutes passed, Steven had us stand inside the teacher's lounge as he spoke with us, going over every detail of what they were wearing and making us every question possible in the books. "Do you have any idea where they could have gone? Did you perhaps argue with Kenzie? Did she say anything odd to you this morning, anything, anything at all that nay help us find them?" Amber nods, closing her eyes as she wipes away her tears. "No. No. We didn't..." then she pauses, pressing her palm against her forehead, and turning aside. "Oh, God...no." I glance at her with hopeful eyes.
"What? What is it, Amber?"
"I think I know where she might be heading," she says, looking at me and Logan.
*******
We drove frantically down the road. It was pouring down so hard, and it was getting hard to see.
"I'm such a horrible mom. I can't believe I let this happen. I will never forgive myself if something bad happened to them." I said as I looked around everywhere.
There were numerous crops down towards the military base, along with a strip of a few houses. I hoped that it didn't occur to them to walk through those fields, because then it would be incredibly hard to spot them.
"Baby, you can't blame yourself for this. If they did come to find Michael, then it just means that Nate was just trying to be a good supporting friend. No one said parenthood would be easy, you are a wonderful mother, Soph. Don't ever doubt it." I know Logan was trying to be supportive, but until I find my baby, I was not going to be able to shake off this guilt feeling.
I sighed, wiping away my tears and glancing out the window in how's that I would see them. Steven had given Logan a walkie-talkie in case we found them. But up to now, all I could hear was jibberish and operators giving codes I had no clue what they meant.
"Sophie, Logan is right. Believe me, you are a much better mom than I have. I kept Kenzie in the shadows because I wanted to avoid hurting her. All I did was keep her from knowing the truth. The truth she deserved to know, and now... it's caused her and your son to go missing. If anything, I'm the bad mom here, not you." Amber spoke in a low melancholic voice as she wiped her tears, looking out the window and sighing.
The walkie-talkie went off, and Steven spoke loud and clear, followed by his sisters going off as he drove in front of us. "What.... what's happening?" I asked Logan as he sped up.
He clenched his jaw, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "They think they found them." He said as he finally let out his tears and sighed deeply. Amber and I looked at each other in hopes he was right.
"Baby..." I whispered out, making Logan grab my hand, squeezing it lightly, and kissing my knuckles. "I promise they will be ok, Sophie. Trust me, they're going to be ok."
********