Chapter 002

“A divorce… a divorce… a divorce…” I kept stuttering to myself.

The glass doors banged together, signifying that he was gone.

“A divorce?” I whispered and a bitter teardrop fell off my rheumy eyes.

I took in a sharp deep breath to cool my burning lungs and prevent myself from knocking out of a conscious state.

Sharp movements from the kitchen startled me. I’m sure it was Mrs. Joyce, she heard every bit of the argument I had with Caleb. I staggered to my feet and slowly gripped the hem of my dress. I shut my eyes and avoided the pictures on the wall, I couldn’t bear to glance at my smiling face on the frame. It felt like poison, a poison I couldn’t elude.

I staggered up to the bedroom and collapsed into the bed, tossing and turning in deep grief and pain.

How many hours passed after that terrific moment? I couldn’t tell. I hardly glanced at the clock fixed on the cream-colored wall.

All I knew was that I fell into a deep sleep that helped to keep me sane for a few hours until a warm hand shook me up.

I gasped and sprang out of bed, heaving heavily.

Mrs. Joyce backed away in fright. “Are you okay, ma’am ?”

I looked around the room, my heart pounding heavily in my chest, almost bursting out.

“Sherry, I saw my baby,” I cried and hugged Mrs. Joyce.

Mrs. Joyce stiffened. She has been Caleb’s nanny since he was still little, she was quite familiar with me due to my frequent visits to the McArthur family when I was still a little girl.

“Dear… dear, it’s okay,” she cooed.

“I saw her, she was calling me mummy. She was calling out to me for help but I couldn’t reach her. I’m such a disappointment,” I whimpered.

“It’s just a dream, you’ll feel better soon.”

I shook my head and wouldn’t let Mrs. Joyce go.

“Stay with me, please,” I begged.

Mrs. Joyce smiled ruefully and nodded. “Of course.”

She held my hand tightly till I fell into another sleep.

I felt myself being taken to another world. I jerked up from sleep again but didn’t find myself in my room, I was in the woods.

“Mrs. Joyce?” I muttered, wondering how I got to the woods.

“Mrs. Joyce?” I called out again.

I got to my feet and padded around the faintly illuminated forest in vain, unable to find my way out.

“Mrs. Joyce? Who is here?” I screamed.

“Mummy!” I stiffened as that shrill voice rang through my head.

“Mummy!”

It wasn’t a hallucination, I was sure of what I heard. I spun around and my eyes widened when I spotted my angel standing a few feet away from me.

“Sherry,” I whispered and sprinted towards her.

As I stretched my hands to touch her face, she disappeared into thin air. It felt like she had never been there.

“Sherry!!” I screamed and ran madly around the woods.

“Sherry!” I kept screaming and running. I tried to stop but my body wouldn’t yield to my command.

My head swirled in circles and I slumped to the ground.

I gasped for air as I felt my body contracting.

“Mummy?” she is here again.

I snapped my eyes open and struggled to my feet, I looked around and discovered that I was at the end of the woods.

I ran madly to places I had never been before.

Minutes later, I found myself on a sidewalk filled with people.

Her voice came again, shooting into my brain and blowing up my mind, setting it on fire.

I held my head and screamed.

A hand touched my shoulder.

“Are you okay?” a gentle sweet voice whispered into my ear.

I shook off the hand and raced along the sidewalk, searching for sherry.

She wasn’t dead!

Sherry was alive and was calling out for me.

“Mummy!” I stopped running and swerved my head in the direction of the voice.

My jaws dropped, my eyeballs popped out and my blood froze up as I stared at Sherry.

She was holding her favorite red teddy bear, standing in the middle of the road. I felt my arteries stop functioning as a car sped towards her. Sherry didn’t care about the speeding car, her pale blue eyes were fixed on mine.

“Sherry!” I screamed and ran off into the road without a second thought.

I made a mistake once, and I won’t make that mistake again.

I reached Sherry and grabbed her, but I was rooted in shock when I opened my hands and couldn’t find her beside me.

She was gone like she never came.

“Sherry.”

Screams echoed around me from people but I was more focused on finding my daughter.

Tires screeched, screams pierced the air and my feet gave way to the ground as pain shot through my body.

I shrieked and felt my body grow numb.

“She has been hit!”

“Move away!”

“Give her some space!”

Words swirled around me and jumbled up to gibberish sounds.

Everything became unclear and stupid.

I was lying in a pool of blood, I couldn’t discern whom the blood belonged to. My heart skipped a beat as I prayed weakly that it wouldn’t turn out to be Sherry’s blood.

I was relieved when I peeked at a distance and saw Sherry, she was looking unhurt.

Pain squeezed out of my heart when I saw a teardrop fall from her eyes.

Sherry was alive, and me?

I couldn’t tell as darkness whisked me away from the sunny afternoon