Chapter 0005

SOPHIA

The Saturday did start on a very good note. The boys woke up cheerful that morning, and were quick to the little chores I had assigned to all their little butts.

It wasn't until after breakfast that I understood why they had been so civil that morning. When David walked to me while I was studying, sat by my side and asked me; "Mummy, can we go to the park today?" I knew that there had been a meeting between my boys either late last night, or early tomorrow morning.

However, I couldn't say no to them, especially after they had been such good boys. So, we all got dressed, and I drove us to the park.

We played ball, admired the trees, had so much ice cream, I was starting to get worried about my boys having a brain freeze. Then, we settled on the grass and admired how beautiful the sunny sky looked.

"Mummy." I heard Daniel call out to me. I rolled over my back, and rested on my stomach so I could look into his eyes. David and Darwin were seated beside him, and neither of my boys looked like they were having a good time.

"Do you think daddy's ever gonna come back for us?" He asked, his eyes ladened with sadness as he looked at me. Shocked by his question, I parted my lips to speak, but Darwin was faster.

"You always say he went to work, mummy. But Owen's daddy goes to work everyday, and he comes back home everyday."

The only reply I could give them was a nervous chuckle as my eyes danced between the three of them.

"Who's Owen?"

"Our friend in school. His daddy comes to pick him up from school all the time. Why can't our daddy do the same?" David replied. He was the most quiet among my boys, and sometimes the most passionate about meeting his dad.

"Our daddy has been at work for six years. isn't he ever gonna come back?"

"Doesn't he love us?"

RUN. RUN AND NEVER RETURN, BECAUSE IF YOU ARE SEEN ANYWHERE IN THIS PACK, I WON'T HESITATE TO PUT AN END TO YOUR LIFE AND THAT OF YOUR PRECIOUS BABIES.

Well, maybe those weren't his exact words, but they carried the same message.

No, he didn't love them. In fact, he wanted them dead. But I couldn't tell them that, could I?

I placed my hands on David and Darwin's heads as I managed a smile.

"Come on, babies. Your daddy loves you so much, okay? But the truth is that, daddy is a soldier. He is a very mighty general, and he's been at war for a very long time. Sometimes, I sent letters to him and I get replies back..."

"Really?!" David jumped in excitement.

"Why don't you ever show us, mum?"

"Yeah, why don't you?"

It broke my heart to lie to them, but I didn't have a better option. This was better than the truth, and they would grow to thank me one day. All I had to do was come up with a sob story that their father died in war, and they would never have to bother about him again.

"Well," I forced a smile.

"I just didn't know it mattered so much to you guys. You don't have to worry. Once we return home, I'll bring out some of my favorite letters, and we can read it together, is that okay?"

"Yes mummy!" They chorused, and rose to their feet simultaneously.

I narrowed my eyes on them, before my cheeks spread into a broad smile.

"What are you boys doing?"

"Let's play ball mummy!" Darwin called out, cheerful.

"I'm on mummy's team!" David cried out.

"Daniel is on my team then!"

Together, we continued to toss and pass the ball between our three, until David kicked the ball too high, and it ended up landing quite far away.

"Go get the ball, David!" Daniel snapped, and when I frowned at him, he muttered an apology to David, who didn't seem to mind. He half ran and half jumped away from us, all in search of the ball.

"Let's sit for a while and wait for him, shall we?" I suggested, panting heavily as sweat rushed down my face. Daniel and Darwin both smiled at me.

"What?"

"You always get tired so fast, mummy." Daniel snickered.

I couldn't help but laugh. What did they expect? I was playing with three energetic seven-year-olds, of course I was bound to get tired!

"You can't hold that against me." I replied, and they laughed as they sat next to me.

We waited for David to return, but it was beginning to take far too long. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes built up to half an hour.

I was becoming restless. Even if he had gotten lost, the park wasn't so big that he wouldn't find us at one point, and in less than thirty minutes too! I quickly sprang up, and tapped Darwin and Daniel who had fallen asleep on my thighs.

"We have to go search for your brother. I'm sure he is lost in the park."

"What?!" they chorused, eyes wide opened. I didn't know what to say, I didn't have any other words to speak. All I wanted to do was find my David, I hoped he was okay.

We started our search from our spot, and combed the entire park together. I couldn't ask us to split and search because I couldn't let any of them get lost again.

After two hours of moving about, asking almost every soul in the park if they had seen David, we returned to the same spot we started.

MY SON WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!

Immediately, I carried Darwin and Daniel in my arms and rushed to the park's security house.

Two men were present there, clad in brown colored uniforms. Once they saw me approaching them with so much speed, they rose from their chairs and walked towards me.

Daniel and Darwin both held onto my neck, afraid that if they let me go, they might get lost too.

Tears were in all three of our eyes by the time we were standing in front of the security guards.

"Is everything okay, miss? How may we help you?"

"I...I...I am searching for my son, their brother." I started to speak, but the words seemed to heavy for my mouth to even carry.

"He is a triplet. This exact height tall, and looks just like the two of them. He was in a red baseball hat, matching red shirt and navy blue shorts. He went away about three hours ago to get a ball he kicked too far, but he hasn't returned since then, and I'm so scared. Please...I've searched everywhere..."

"Madam, we're going to need you to calm down."

Oh. I was calm alright.

"Please sir, you don't understand. He's been missing, and..."

"Your name, miss?" The second officer asked, and I turned to look at him.

"Phia Bailey." I replied.

He looked over me and penned something down in his tiny notebook.

"The name of your son?"

"David. David Bailey." Darwin was quick to reply.

I turned to look at him briefly, before returning my gaze to the security officer.

"We would make an announcement on the radio, so he can find you. If he doesn't, we will file a report to the police after twenty-four hours..."

My heart sank into my chest as my eyes widened.

"Twenty-four hours?! I am supposed to wait for twenty-four hours before a police search for my missing child starts?!" I cried out, hoping I would bring one of the men to their senses.

"There's nothing else we can do ma'am. We can't table it to the police until..."

"Attention, attention. David Bailey, your mum, Phia Bailey is here with your two brothers. If you can hear the sound of my voice, meet them at the security house. Attention, attention..." The second officer's call stole my attention for a brief moment.

We waited for an extra fifteen minutes, but David was still nowhere to be found. We were asked to go back home and return tomorrow. Even if I didn't want to leave without my son, the security officers told me there was no use waiting around! It was almost as if they didn't care!

On our way back to the car, Darwin spotted something quite unusual.

"Look, mummy! It's David's baseball cap!" He called out. I rushed to pick the cap from the ground, and I couldn't miss the white paper folded underneath.

My heart pounded against my chest as I picked it up and opened it to read.

"DO AS YOU'RE TOLD IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR SON...ALIVE."

Horror gripped my chest with firm claws. I swallowed hard and looked around me. There was no one who could have sent such a thing.

I contemplated taking the note to the security, but decided against it. They had been of "so much" help already.

No. This was my son, this was my fight, and whoever had dared to take him was going to have to face me.

I flipped the note and found directions to a warehouse outside of the park. I made sure to keep Darwin and Daniel in the car while I got down and started taking steps towards the warehouse, but before I could pull the door open, I heard a scream come from both my boys.

I turned around to find two hooded strangers breaking my car windows open, and taking my children out of it.

I screamed at the top of my lungs and tried to run to them.

"Mummy!"

"Dar...!" Before I could complete my statement, I felt a strong object hit the back of my head, causing me to fall to the ground. Footsteps, quick ones, approached me as I felt myself slip out of consciousness.

The last thing I saw were black leather boots in front of my nose, and when I lifted my eyes, my children were thrown into the trunk of a car.

But I was powerless, too weak to even scream.