Father, Where are you? (Completed)

Chapter 16

I myself wasn't too sure of how I was going to catch this man. Also because I have not the slightest bit of clue on who this person is. He could be a serial killer or some psychopath, for all I know. At this point, I didn't know how I would be able to manage to catch a person like him. To me, he seemed sly and quick about his actions.

The reason I concluded he might be a male is because of his body figure. He seemed buff. Although that doesn't mean that women can't be like that. However, his height also made me think that as well. When the person was running, I could hear him panting and seemed like a male's voice. Although then again, I can't be too sure about this.

The question is that, is he only behind me? What about my family? Has he followed them as well? For now, what I do know is that he came after Susan, so he might go after Stacy. Maybe he is already with her and she doesn't know it. I called her immediately and informed her to be very cautious of her surroundings.

All this worrying and thinking was making my head hurt so I headed downstairs to make myself some tea to calm down a little. Even while making the tea, I was zoning out a lot and my aunt was telling me to be careful or I might get hurt. I was done making my tea and went to my room to see if after writing all my thoughts and theories, anything made sense. And yet I ended with the same result as last time. Then I got an idea. I thought, why not call Susan and Stacy over for a sleepover? Since it had been so long and we all could sit down and maybe figure something out. After all, three minds are better than one. I texted them about it and they were in on it. That way, it would also be safer because they will be staying inside my house, so I won't worry about them individually.

I let my family and mother know about it as well and of course, they didn't have any objections about it. Like I said before, they actually treated them like family.

It made me think about my father. When he used to be here and we had this one sleepover that I believe was the most memorable. He respected my decisions and I also never pushed him away. When he wanted take pictures of us, we would let him and we even played with him. There wasn't anything he wasn't ready to do for us.

And for me, him doing all that, I didn't mind. To me, he was also my best friend and sometimes I really wish he hadn't ever gone on that business trip. What would have happened then? Would he still be here with us? I couldn't even imagine what exactly it would feel like when he would come back.

Thinking about that made me so emotional and the never-ending joy we all would be in. Which is why for his sake, I need to be strong for us and get my head in the game. I thought of looking into my laptop to see if I could find any old photos from that day of the sleepover. I had to dig a little deep. Also because my folders aren't all the way organized but then again, I try to be as organized as I can.

After about 15 minutes of searching, and wrecking my brain about where I could have kept them, I finally found them and some other great pictures as well. Looking through them, it was a roller coaster of emotions and different feelings. Those blessed good old days we had with him.

Seeing some photos, it was as if I could hear his voice through them and seeing as I found some videos as well, hearing his voice made my eyes teary and after that I couldn't stop crying. Keeping your chin up all the time and letting the world know you're okay isn't an easy thing to do. Those moments when you're alone you let it all out.

A little time had passed and I thought to myself that "Come on Bella, get up now. You have to get things ready for the sleepover". I got everything ready and my sister helped me as well.

I didn't realise there was still so much time before they came. So I decided that I would go over and see mom. I told Uncle Kevin to take me and Isla over there. On the way, we thought of getting something for them because it didn't feel right go empty-handed. When I had asked mom if they had eaten anything, she said not yet. So I thought of taking something for them.

I didn't tell mother we were coming, so it was like a surprise. For her hopefully, she gets more uplifted by this. I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of nervous about it but I wasn't going to let that stop me.

We rang the doorbell and mom surprisingly opened the door and she was smiling ear to ear and rushed to hug us. I felt so delighted that she felt much better than before.

Mom: "What are you doing over here? You should have told me you were coming."

Bella: "Well then it wouldn't have been a surprise then would it?"

Isla: "Mhmm. She is right, you know. After seeing you smile like that mom, it was worth coming."

Bella: "And look, we brought food for you and Mrs Johnson's family since you said you hadn't eaten yet."

Mom: "You girls are the best!!"

All of us sat down to eat and then Mr. Johnsons got a call and excused himself. I could sense it was a good call. He came back and told us.

Mrs Johnson: "They found....a witness."