Finding Claire

Investigations Part 1

She was so scared the longer Mommy helped Naomi that she wouldn't be able to see Santa. She had to hold onto Nathan's hand as they stood next to them, but she couldn't help but tug on Nathan's hand, trying to let go.

"Claire, Mom told us to hold hands."

"I wanna see Santa." She whined again, trying to pull away, but he pulled back.

Mommy sighed. "If you keep whining like this, Santa won't come Christmas Eve."

Her face started to feel red, and she had tears. If Santa didn't come, then her wish wouldn't come true.

Suddenly, her brother started crying, "You're squeezing too hard, Claire."

"Oh my god, I'm so tired of the whining," Mommy said, sounding like she was also about to cry.

If she wasn't mad, she was usually sad, unlike the happy Mommy she used to be. The one who watched Bob with her, read her princess stories before bed, and played dress up with her and Naomi.

Nathan let go of her hand, ran over to Mommy, and hugged her as he cried. Mommy hugged him back and started to cry herself.

She wanted to go over and hug Mommy but didn't want her hand swat away, so she looked over to see if she could find Santa. Santa could do anything; he could fix Mommy and make her feel better.

She could no longer see him; many big people were around, but she could find him. She believed in him, so that should be enough. So, she ran as fast as her little legs could in the direction they had come from.

"SANTA"

She screamed as loud as she could, but everyone around her was much louder and so close to her. No one even noticed her; they just ignored her and walked all around her, not paying attention.

She looked around her but couldn't see Santa or her Mommy anymore. Tears welled up in her eyes again as she stood there, and her face scrunched up, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, she found herself on the floor face-first, and it hurt a lot.

All she could think about as she cried on the floor was that she wanted her Mommy.

"Are you lost?"

She looked up and saw a pretty woman with a pretty smile and yellow hair kneeling at her.

"Let me help you up," she said, extending her hand to her.

(End Dream)

Penny woke up startled, not anticipating having that dream of that little girl again. It had been well over a week since the first one, and she hadn't thought about it since; she'd had more important things going on.

She rubbed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair, checking for knots as she tried to figure out that dream. Unlike the parents, she could make out that woman's face; she was probably a bit older than she is now, with long, almost dirty blonde hair.

I feel like I've seen her before.

That was the freakiest part about it. She felt like she'd seen that face before, but she couldn't put a name to it.

Her phone then started going off, and Penny immediately grabbed it to see who was calling because most people just texted instead of calling unless there was an emergency.

She saw it was Kim and assumed her grandmother must have taken a turn for the worst.

"Is your grandma doing ok?"