Lost & Found

The tale of a miserable girl

"Emma..." She heard her mother's soft voice.

She looked up to see her standing in the doorway of her daughter's bedroom where she sat by the crib.

"What are you doing, sweetheart? It's nearly three in the morning," her mom asked, a look of concern on her face.

"I just... I missed her," Emma sniffled, wiping at her eyes as she watched Lucy sleeping in her crib.

"Why are you crying, honey?" She asked sweetly as she moved into the room toward her.

"Mom..." Emma cried, dropping her face into her hands, feeling another wave of emotion hit her.

"Oh, baby. What's the matter?" She asked, kneeling down in front of her.

"Mom, I really screwed up," Emma cried, looking up at her as she tried to stop her rapid flow of tears.

"What happened?" She asked patiently.

"Aiden... I-I... I crossed the line," Emma whimpered.

"Tell me," she said, swiping Emma's hair out of her eyes.

Emma looked over at Lucy who was perfectly content in her crib, not a care in the world as she slept soundly. She didn't have the heart to confess what she needed to confess in front of her. She couldn't talk about disgracing her father's memory while she was in the same room.

"Not in here," Emma said, shaking her head as she stood up.

"Come on. I'll make you some tea," her mom offered.

Emma stopped in the bathroom to clean herself up a little while her mother went down to the kitchen. She couldn't get what she did with Aiden out of her head, and she couldn't seem to get her tears to stop. Every little memory of Aiden just made the tears fall harder.

Emma made her way down to the kitchen just in time to find her mother pouring boiling water into two mugs that each held a tea bag of the sleepy-time tea they both loved so much. Emma took a seat at the table waiting for her to finish.

"Here you go, baby," her mom said as she set down the mugs and a box of tissues on the tabletop.

"Thank you," she said quietly, wiping at a stray tear.

"Please, baby. Please tell me what's got you in such a tizzy," she said, sitting down across from Emma at the breakfast table.

"I slept... I slept with him. I slept with Aiden. And... and now... now Patrick... now it's not Patrick... I-I... I feel like... I feel..." Emma blubbered almost incoherently.

"Baby, baby. Calm down," her mother said, running her hand up and down her daughter's arm.

"I just... I can't believe I did it. I can't believe I let... that we... uhhh," Emma cried, frustrated with herself.

"Emma Rose, please stop with this now. Baby, you and Aiden have always had a connection..." She began.

"I don't give a shit about our connection right now! Patrick – he's gone and he's never coming back. And I've... I've disgraced him," Emma shouted, feeling so much anger and annoyance because of the reckless choice she made.

"Stop this!" Her mother bellowed, hitting her hand against the table, her own frustration boiling over.

Emma's tear-filled eyes snapped up to hers, completely startled by her outburst.

"I'm sorry, but you need to stop this, baby. Patrick is gone and you are here. You cannot live a life when you're trapped in his memory. It was a terrible thing that happened to him and I know you loved him so much, honey. I know that. But how long are we going to have to sit back and watch you suffer – to watch you ruin your life? You can't let this define you."