Chapter 28-A Mother’s Tears

She sat at the table; her eyes fixed on the phone. They had been there for minutes, hours, days, weeks, month, time seemed lost to her comprehension. "Where is my daughter?" she whispered to the phone. "Where is she?!?" Her face trembled as she felt the sobs begin. They coursed through her body bringing pain and misery until bursting forth from her eyes in liquid anguish.

With a trembling hand she ran her fingers over the picture in front of her. It featured she, a handsome middle-aged man, a young girl and a teenaged girl. All four had beautiful hair in varying shades of red that shone with the bright sun that lit their faces on the Californian coast. It had been one of the last moments of the brightest chapter of her life. Soon two of the faces were pale and lifeless within coffins in the gray light of Washington. Only one had remained bright and kept her going. Through everything, Melanie had kept on shining and never abandoned her.

Now, she feared that Melanie would never be shining for her again. It had been days and days since they had left. Melanie never broke her promises, especially to her, but she hadn’t called like she promised that she would. She had tried calling the cell but the service couldn’t find the phone. Even if Mel hadn’t answered it would have gone through to the voice mail.

"Baby," she whispered. "My baby, where are you?"

Suddenly, the phone rang. She picked it up quickly and set it to her ear. "Hello?" she asked, trying not to sound overjoyed.

"Mrs. Potter?" asked a voice she didn’t recognize.

Her heart sank as she was overcome with disappointment. "Yes?" she replied.

"You’re never going to see your daughter again," it said. Then the phone suddenly went dead.

She just sat there for a moment as it struck her. "No, please no," she said, her eyes filling with fresh tears.

Suddenly she jerked her head up from the table. She had fallen asleep. "Only a dream," she whispered. "Melanie is fine. Melanie is fine."

Then she glanced at the phone in front of her. A red light flashed, indicating that there was a message on her answering machine. Her finger shook as she reached to press the "Play" button. The red light blinked in and out of her vision and tears fell to the picture below her, smearing the face of her shining daughter. The message began, "Mrs. Potter.." in a voice she did not know.