Stolen Omnibus – Small Town Abduction
Page 23
Lena placed her arm around her youngest girl’s shoulders and kissed her cheek. “Me too.” She pointed to one of the photos on the page Kaley had turned to. It was from four years ago, before Gwen entered her angst-filled teenage years, and Kaley was still in preschool. It was in the backyard of their house, and Mark had just constructed one of those plastic play sets. “Do you remember that day?”
Kaley shook her head.
“You were so excited,” Lena said. “You went down that slide at least a thousand times.” She looked over to Gwen. “And you got stuck, remember?”
Gwen laughed. “I did?”
It was the first time Lena had heard any sounds of joy in the house since all three of them slept under the same roof four weeks ago when Lena was released from the hospital. “Dad had to take it apart to get you out.” Laughter rolled off her own tongue, and Kaley giggled as well.
Lena flipped through the pages, smiling at the memories, and Gwen positioned her chair closer to her. Before any of them realized, hours had passed, and they reached the end of the albums. Both girls rested their heads on Lena’s shoulders, and Lena gently stroked their hair. “You guys getting hungry at all?”
“Not really,” Gwen said.
“No,” Kaley answered.
“Me either.” Lena gave them both a squeeze. The trip down memory lane was nice, but despite the pleasantries she couldn’t rid herself of the uneasy swirl in the pit of her stomach.
“Mom?” Kaley asked, lifting her head, her eyes wide. “What’s going to happen to Uncle Jake?”
“He has to stay away for a while, but I’m going to do everything I can to get him back to us quickly.” The answer seemed to satisfy Kaley, but when Gwen started to cry she knew that her oldest daughter understood the underlying consequences of what happened.
Lena pulled them both close, clutching her family tighter than she ever had before. This was her life now. This was all that mattered.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story!
Writing has always been a passion of mine and it’s incredibly gratifying and rewarding whenever you give me an opportunity to let you escape from your everyday surroundings and entertain the world that is your imagination.
As an indie author, Amazon reviews can have a huge impact on my livelihood. So if you enjoyed the story please leave a review letting me and the rest of the digital world know. And if there was anything you found troubling, please email me. Your feedback helps improve my work, and allows me to continue writing stories that will promise to thrill and excite in the future. But be sure to exclude any spoilers.
I would love if you could take a second to leave a review: Click here to leave a review on Amazon!
Again, thank you so much for letting me into your world. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I did writing it!
Take care,
James Hunt