Forgotten [#Wattys2015]

Chapter 6; The Search Party

After dinner, Amber and I talked about how I knew Dad was alive. I didn't tell her about the letter. A promise is a promise and I wasn't breaking this one.

"How do you know Dad's alive?" She asked.

"I just do. I can feel it."

"I wish I had a better reason to believe that he was still alive. No offense, but "I just do" is not a very good reason." I understood what she meant but I refused to tell her about the letter.

The next day, I got up and Amber was still asleep. This time I heard talking downstairs. It sounded like my mom was downstairs talking with someone. With a man. In excitement I raced down the stairs in an old, pink, outgrown robe and some socks with holes in them on. I raced into my father's office, which is where the voices were coming from. As I slid through the office doors I found myself in an awkward situation.

When I looked into the office, I found my mother dressed in her work clothes and and a man in a suit standing there watching me. It was an awkward situation because a 17 year old girl had just ran into her father's office like it was Christmas day. Not to mention she was dressed like an orphan.

"Good Morning Taylor," said Mom. "This is detective Harvey Maxwell." He reached out to shake my hand as I removed the strands of hair from my face.

"Hi, Taylor." his voice was low and sounded somewhat mean. He also lacked any signs of caring at all. "I will be working the case of you're father's disappearance. I really hope I can help you."

"I hope you can, too," I replied. "Although, there's not much you can do if your goal here is to find out if he's dead or not. Because he's not dead." He looked at me in astonishment.

"Taylor don't be rude."

"What? I'm just saying. I just want to know where he is. That's sort of all we need to know anyways. If you let me intervene, I could probably find him on my own."

"Taylor! That's enough." She looked at the door which was my signal to leave. The detective chuckled under his breath.

"Well have a nice day, Mr. Martwell." I got his name wrong on purpose as I smirked and walked out of the office. I wondered why Mom was in there considering Dad didn't like us in there without him and she never went in there anyways.

I wasn't lying when I said I could find my Dad on my own. All I needed was in the letter he wrote me. Our special letter. I didn't understand it. I read it over and over and still didn't get it. When did he expect me to understand? How long was it going to take? I couldn't wait any longer. I wanted to find him now.

When the detective finally left, Mom confronted me while I was buttering my toast. "What's gotten into you?" she asked annoyed. I didn't answer "I thought this is what you wanted."

"I never wanted this. Amber did. We don't need him. He's no good anyways."

"How would you know? Detective Maxwell is very good at what he does. All we have to do is wait. Can you do that? For me?" I didn't answer because I didn't want to lie. I didn't want to tell her the truth either. That I couldn't wait. My mind wandered back to the letter. Maybe I'm missing an important detail. Something helpful.

"And to make things clear, I don't want you snooping around. Leave this to the professionals. If detective Maxwell can't handle it..I don't know who can." She stopped for a while. "Last night I was thinking and maybe it's time for you to go back to school. It won't be easy to apply for college if your records say that you missed a lot of school your junior year. Besides, Amber's going back. Next week actually."

"Amber's leaving," I said in a mousey voice. I knew she would leave eventually, but now. Not when I needed her the most.

"Yep. If she can do it, maybe you can." I decided that maybe school would be a good thing. Take my mind off of things for a while. Keep me busy. Apparently that's what Mom wanted.

"I will. I mean I'm ready to go back. I've actually been thinking about it for a while. I just didn't want to say-" I stopped.

"Oh. Okay. Well I'm gonna head to work, Sweetheart. Have a good day. You and Amber should head to the mall today." She grabbed her purse off the kitchen table and kissed me on the head like she usually does. Then she yelled up the stairs to tell Amber she was leaving and then walked out the door.

That day me and Amber did go to the mall. We both agreed that it would be a great way to spend some time together before she left. We stayed there all day and it felt like forever since I had so much fun. It felt like ten tons had been lifted off my shoulders. We even picked up something for Mom. It was a necklace with a heart charms. That day, I felt like I was in a different world, a world where I knew where my father was. I felt a sense of happiness. A feeling that I thought I might never feel again.