Finding Maisie

Finding Maisie: Chapter 20

Finding Maisie

Chapter 20

I found it ironic that it was raining. When Maisie was kidnapped it was sunny; for the whole of the treasure hunt I couldn't remember a time the sun wasn't shining. And now, after I regained my memory, the skies seemed to pour down the water that they had stored up over the summer. In some ways the rain was like my memory of Maisie's disappearance. It was trapped in a cloud like my memories were trapped in my mind and now it was pouring down. The rain is free just like my mind.

My feet squelched in the mud below me. It was extremely thick and slippy due to the water mixed in with it. My hair was matted and heavy from the rain. My clothes were soaking and freezing cold but I felt so happy. I knew the danger was still very much in our midst and that we all could still die but... I had seen Maisie. I had been right next to her and she was so real, so alive. And losing her for the second time crushed me once again, but I was more filled with hope this time. It wouldn't be long until I got to see her again, I kept telling myself. This time it wouldn't be ten years until I saw her again.

After leaving the warehouse, I didn't know where to go. There was too much on my mind to be able to go back to my own flat - we wouldn't be able to go to Joshua's anymore. I had to go somewhere connected to the treasure hunt until we knew the next place the abductor had gone. When we got in the car I got a message from him saying, "Don't bother coming back to the warehouse, we won't be there. Love, Uncle Colin." What struck me most about the text was the fact he signed the text message with "Uncle Colin". It was hard to get my head around why he would abduct Maisie and create this whole treasure hunt, but the more I thought about it the more it made some sort of sense. We knew the abductor had something against my dad and Maisie's dad. It made sense it was their brother all along - even though Maisie's dad wasn't part of the family, my dad saw him as one and his family had fostered him. But there were still major questions in my mind. What were Uncle Colin's motives? And as he didn't kill my dad, did he know who my dad was all along? I still had to discover more information to figure out the whole situation.

Anyway, as I didn't want to sit at home and just wait for something to happen, I had to do something beneficial. Where else could I go to other than the place where Maisie was abducted? And that's why I was trekking with Callum through the thick mud across the tiny field where I was ten years ago. We were going to the bushes that I led Maisie behind. I now knew the way to the magical looking place that turned into a place of disasters. I looked over and saw the tree that Maisie and I raced to. If only I had not asked her to sneak off with me that summer afternoon. But then again, the abductor would have probably kidnapped us another time.

'Why are we here?' Callum yelled through the rain.

'Because I want to show you what happened,' I yelled back just as loud, 'I want to show you how Maisie was abducted.'

I grabbed Callum's hand and pulled him over to the tree, 'Maisie and I used to race to the tree on the way back from school,' I shouted gesturing to the tree, 'That's what we did first.'

'I'm bored,' Maisie moaned. 'Wanna race to our spot, Poppy?' She beamed, filled with enthusiasm.

'Okay,' I grinned. 'On three. Ready? One,two-'

I began running before saying three, receiving a grunt from Maisie. I hardly heard Maisie's complaints as the wind rushed against my ears. The breeze was a relief against my warm, sticky skin. I looked towards the tree, longing for its shadowed grass. The longing made my little legs run faster and within no time I had reached the tree. Maisie ran up soon after.

'It was hot, extremely hot that day,' I explained through the pouring rain, 'All me and Maisie wanted was a bit of shade but even the trees shadow wasn't enough to cool us down.'