Would They Survive This?

"You have to calm down…" the officer said.

"Hmph…" But he listened to the officer and took a seat at the officer's desk.

"What happened? Start from the beginning…"

"Even though I think that we are wasting time, my wife and my kids went to the park after school hours today but she didn't return with them…" Carl said as he placed his elbows on his knees and began to shake his legs impatiently.

"Where is your wife and what is your name?" the officer asked as he looked past Carl.

"I guess she's in the car or somewhere around… My name is Carl, Carl Hart."

"We need to hear from her directly, " he said as he motioned for one of the clerks who had been listening in on the discussion to go to the car park and check out what Carl had said.

Within minutes, the clerk returned with Michelle who was shivering and had her arms wrapped tightly around her. She looked at Carl who was seated with his head faced down, not looking at anything in particular but at an area that was in front of him. Carl looked lost and Michelle couldn't remember when she had seen Carl like that.

"Please sit…"

She nodded and pulled out the second chair that was beside the one that Carl was seated on.

"I hear that you were the one with the children. How many kids?"

"Two girls…"

"How old?"

"They were- they are both 5years old…"

"Describe them please…"

Michelle went ahead to give detailed descriptions of how they looked and what they were putting on at that time, even down to the color of the shoes that they had on. Her nose kept running from the crying that she'd been crying and her fingers didn't seem to stay away from her hair.

"How did this happen? Do you think that they could have gone to a friend's place or followed one of their friend's mother's home? You know how children can be…"

"Do you have kids of your own, Officer?" Carl asked for the first time since Michelle had come in. He looked straight into the officer's eyes, waiting for a response.

"Yes… I have one boy… he's 8 years old."

"So you understand what I'm going through…" Carl said. "These questions are pretty senseless. They are out there and probably being hidden as we speak on what they were wearing or what they were eating," Carl spat with annoyance.

He stood up and pushed the chair with his legs, causing it to screech loudly against the concrete floor of the station – which caught the attention of the people that were in the immediate vicinity.

The officer understood Carl's frustration and took no offense at the man's behavior. Even he could not imagine what he would do if he got up and noticed that his child had gone missing and was nowhere to be found.

"Ma'am," the officer said, facing Michelle now as he leaned forward toward her. "Do you recall anything out of the ordinary? Try to think about what you must have seen that didn't look normal to you…"

Michelle closed her eyes for a bit. Then she opened them and look at the lights in the ceiling. Tears began to fill her eyes again but she wiped them and looked at the officer.

"I don't remember anything out of the ordinary, Officer…They were at the slides and then the next minute, they were gone as if… as if they were never there to begin with."

"Did they take anything with them?"

Michelle shook her head. "Their school bags are still in my car as they didn't come down with them."

"I found this," Carl said as he dipped his hand into the pocket of his jacket and brought out the hair ruffles that he had found lying about in the park.

The officer used his pen to collect the hair bands from Carl so that he would not touch them.

"Where?"

"On the ground at the other side of the park, " Carl said.

"Not on the route that you all took?"

Carl shook his head.

The officer appeared to be deep in thought. He knew the case had all the signs of a kidnapping but at the same time, it seemed to have happened so fast and swiftly. Why didn't the girls scream? Why didn't anyone hear anything? Could they have followed willingly? Followed a stranger without crying out? Without alarming anyone? There was something really wrong with the whole situation and the officer felt rattled about the case.

Suddenly, a light bulb came on in his head and his eyes widened at a realization.

Carl had noticed the change in the officer's expression and he stepped forward quickly and asked; "What- What is it, Officer?"

"You said- Your daughters…" the officer began as he opened a drawer and got out a zip-lock plastic bag and placed the hair ruffles inside.

"Yes?" Carl and Michelle asked unanimously.

"Both of them are 5 years old?"

"Yes," Carl replied.

"Are they twins?"

"Yes… they are… twin girls… identical to the T," Carl said as he sat back down on his chair.

The officer and the clerk's gaze met.

"What is it? Tell me!" Carl Hart demanded.

"We have a report like this…Missing twin boys…"

* * *

While Carl and Michelle drove home, Carl could not help but think about what the officer had said. In fact, the whole conversation played like a cassette in his mind over and over again. The whole place was dark, so dark that Carl had to squint before he could see the road, and surprisingly the lights were out. It was strange to Carl but that was the least of his problems.

"Can you see properly?" Michelle asked as she remembered Carl's night blindness.

"Yes."

Carl's response had been so curt and the voice that he had used didn't sound like his at all. Michelle felt guilty but she didn't know how to act or what to say to him. Their communication had long since been ruined and this had happened. She wondered how they would get over this together and if their marriage would even survive it.