Chapter 2

Mary sat and stared into the night. It was 10pm and Sarah had not yet returned to the house and her husband was nowhere to be found.

She looked at the little ones sleeping on the threadbare mattress and felt a pang of guilt and sadness. They shouldn't have to suffer this. 

There was a bang on the door followed by another bang and another.

"Let me in! Let me in!" Tom shouted tipsy.

Mary opened the door and Tom stumbled in, pushing her sideways. 

"Where is she? She must marry that man so he can leave us alone", Tom shouted as he made his way to their sleeping area.

He ripped the curtain that divided the sleeping area from the rest of the room.

"Sarah!" 

"Where did you hide her?" He turned to Mary.

"Where the hell did you take her to?" Tom gripped Mary on the neck and shoved her to the floor.

"I…I..don't know where she is", Mary stammered with fear. 

They were interrupted by the sound of the children crying.

"Shut up you little bastards", Tom howled at the children.

"Don't call them that,don't call my children that" Mary cried as she scrambled to cuddle them.

"Shut…."he was trying to say as he doubled up and vomited, pouring out the stale contents in his stomach.

He vomited on the carpet in the middle of the room and fell on it.

Three seconds later, his snores filled the room. " Shush my babies, go back to sleep". Mary calmed down her babies and laid them back to sleep.

She dragged Tom out of the mess he made and proceeded to clean up the place.

The slushing action of the mop was in rhythm with her thoughts. She thought of how she was going to sell her daughter off to the rich beast, the CEO.

"Mary, you're a horrible mother, you're a terrible person" the words kept on playing in her head, making tears roll down her face. 

The tears blinded her eyesight and she stopped to wipe them off, causing the train of thoughts to come to an abrupt end.

There was a faint noise from the porch of the house. Mary's heart leaped as she hoped that it would be Sarah coming home. 

She looked through the window and saw a cat jump off the porch. Her heart sank when she saw that her daughter had not come home.

She undressed Tom, who had already passed out cold on the floor. Whilst humming a low tune, she proceeded to wipe him with warm water.

As she wiped his face, she remembered how loving and caring Tom used to be before he was fired. How they used to undress each other and kiss in the shower. 

How they used to look at each other with the passion reserved for first-time lovers.

Now the only thing that was left was fragments of their broken home and the poor looking children they could barely afford to feed.

She stared into his face as she passed the towel over his coarse chin covered in scanty beard. 

She stared at the man that once had been.

The man that once loved her with reckless abandon, but now couldn't stand the sight of her and the children. 

She sighed and stood up. She looked up at the time, it was midnight and Sarah was not still home.

She tried to shake off the fear creeping into her mind. There was a creaking noise on the porch which sounded like someone's weight was on it. 

  She rushed to the door this time. Hoping it would be Sarah.

Opening the door to the darkness, she squinted her eyes, trying to make out a form, but she couldn't.

No one was there, she realized, as her heart sank into her chest. 

She was about to close the door when she noticed a white object in the corner of her eyes.

She bent,retrieved the paper from the floor and closed the door behind her.

"We have your daughter, call the number below to negotiate the terms of release" the letter read.

Mary sank to her knees as she clutched the paper viciously. "Oh my God!" She exclaimed.

She sobed silently for a while. Before falling into a fitful sleep on the floor where she sat.

Early the next morning, she woke up to her last born, Mae pulling her hand.

"Mummy, I'm hungry" 

Mary opened her eyes and stared at her for some time without responding.

Noticing that her mom had zoned out on her, she increased the intensity of her pulling.

"Mummy!" She screamed.

Mary was jolted back to reality. "Huh, you're hungry baby?" 

"Let me make you something" she said as she stood up from the floor. She felt dizzy and light as a result of the crying she did the day before.

That was when it occurred to her that she had not fed her toddlers the night before.

"What sort of a mother am I?" She questioned herself.

Her husband was still fast asleep on the floor beside the little space used as their kitchen.

She motioned to them to be quiet so as not to wake their father up. The last thing she could use was a groggy hungover man reeking of guilt.

She tiptoed around his sleeping form and made breakfast for them, saving some for her drunk husband.

As she watched them eat, she realized that she needed help and she needed it fast. The kidnappers were going to ask for a ransom and they barely had enough to go by.

She hustled the children out of the room after they had eaten and gotten dressed. 

"Come children, let's go visit aunty Rita at the toy store". She picked up Mae and led Paul by his hand as they walked to the store.

On reaching the store, she placed the kids in the front room.

"Now Paul, watch over your sister,let me get aunty Rita, okay?" 

Paul nodded in approval and sat close to Mae.

Rita was Mary's only friend in Los Angeles.

She couldn't think of another person to go for help.

Mary walked through the back to find Rita packaging some toy sets.

"Good morning Rita", Mary said.

"Oh Mary, what brings you here so early in the morning?" Rita inquired.

Mary handed her the piece of paper. As she read it her face turned white.

"What are you going to do now?" Rita asked.

"I don't know, that's why I came to you for help" Mary said with panic written all over her face.

"Well, you should go to the police, Mary. They'll know what to do"

Mary sat down with her face in her hands.

"What about Tom? Does he know about this?" Rita asked.

"No, he's probably recovering from a hangover now, he wouldn't even care" Mary said.

"I want you to help me watch the children. I need to find a way to get my daughter"

"I will, you don't need to worry" Rita replied.

"I'll be back at 5" Mary said as she picked up the paper and went into the front room with Rita following behind her.

"Bye my loves, mummy will be back soon" she said as she kissed her toddlers, caressed their heads and walked out the door.

On reaching the town's small station, she walked in to find an officer sitting with a magazine of nude women in his face.

She cleared her throat to get his attention but he didn't budge.

"Hello officer" Mary said as she let her eyes scan through the small room they called a station.

The painting on the walls was faded and gradually peeling off. The small cell by the left was dark and the place stank of mold and a day's old coffee.

"What do you want?" He said, folding the magazine into two. 

"I want to report a case of kidnapping" Mary said as she handed the paper over to him.

He read the writing and looked up at her with a smirk on his face.

"Is it up to 24 hours since she went missing?" He asked.

"No, she went missing last night" she said. 

"I'm afraid we can't take any action until she's reported missing, which can only be done if she's not back yet after 24 hours". He said to her.

"But the evidence you need is right there officer, the number of the kidnappers is written there", Mary said, her face gradually turning red.

"Sorry Ma, it's the law, that's how we do it" he said.

"Now, if you excuse me, I have work to do", he said, picking up his magazine. 

Mary walked out, the heaviness in her heart weighing her spirit down.

Arriving home, she met Tom sitting on the bed smoking. 

"Where have you been?" He asked her.

His eyes were black with guilt. "I went to the station", Mary replied.

"What'd you go to the station for?" He asked, looking up at her. 

"Sarah has been kidnapped" she said.

She studied his face for any reactions but could find none. He stood up and peered out of the window with the cigar hanging loosely from his mouth. 

"The officer there said they would not do anything until after 24 hours" she continued. 

He drew the cigar and shook his head lightly. 

"What are we going to do now?" He asked her.

"Well, there's only one person that can help us and you know who that is" Mary said, looking him straight in the eye.