Melissa
While Zayn went to work and the kids were at school I figured I'd clean a little. Zayn still has a bit of unpacked boxes filled with clothes and valuables. One box catches my eye. In red letters it says "ALYSSA". Being the nosy girl that I am, I went through the box and noticed a couple of baby pictures. She was a beautiful baby so I decided to hang them in the hall with some frames. A phone call interrupted me. It says unknown number.
I hesitantly accept the call. "Hello?" I ask. "Why didn't you tell me she was alive? Because of him I've missed sixteen years of her life. No first steps. No first words. No first day of school." The voice trembles. "Ma'am I think you have the wrong number." I say politely. "It's all his fault. All his fault. You need to leave!" She yells. I quickly hang up and block the number.
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Alyssa
"Do I need to stay with you during tryouts?" I ask Jack. "Yeah, how else are you going to get home?" He asks. Jack throws his baseball equipment in the pit. I sit on the bench and zip my jacket. We just so happened to have a cold spring this year and I'm freezing. For hours all you heard were the metal bats clank against the leather ball.
Boys ran around the field. Kicking dirt. Running around. Yelling. Screaming. Hitting. All that boy stuff. My cold fingers ran through my home screen as go to safari and read through some news letters and magazines. My heart stops as I see an article of a missing baby.
Baby Lisa Sumner went missing on December 22nd, 2000. The parents of baby Lisa still search everyday. Mutual friends and the parents themselves say they've seen her but were skeptic. Below we show pictures of her when she was a baby and a picture of what she would look like today as a 15 year old girl.
I scream a blood curdling scream. All the boys look at me and stop what they're doing. Jack and the coach run over to me and take a knee in front of me. "Honey, are you okay?" The coach asks and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Alyssa, what's wrong?" Jack asks me. I look at the coach and Jack signals him to leave. I show the picture to Jack and he shrugs it off.
"Alyssa you can't believe everything people put on the Internet, plus that girl looks nothing like you, she had brown hair and a big nose. You have blonde hair and a petite nose." He says. I nod. I should listen to Jack. Who knows what people do on the Internet. I lock my phone and wait for his tryouts to end. Honestly I hope it is fake, it just sounded so realistic.
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Zayn
I come home from work and lay my keys on the counter. "Hey, handsome." Melissa walks up to me and hugs me. I give her a tired smile and hug her. "Hey beautiful." I yawn. "Someone is tired." She says and picks up the living room. I nod. "Only a little." Melissa stays quiet for a moment. Longer than usual, she's a chatter box if she wants to tell you something. "Um Zayn?" She starts.
I look over at her and scrunch my eyebrows. "I got this weird call from a lady today, you don't have to worry I blocked the number," she quickly adds in before she continues. "Anyways, she kept yelling these questions at me like 'why didn't you tell me she was alive' and telling me about how she missed this girls 'first steps, first teeth' and 'first day of school' you know stuff like that." She rubs her arm.
Just crazy stuff. My heart races and I walk to her. "Give me your phone." I say and hold my hand out. "Zayn, I blocked it. It'll be fine." She says. "Melissa, give me your phone. We need to change your number so they can't call you from another phone." I say and gesture for her phone. "I'll change it tomorrow." She states confidently.
"Zayn," she changes the subject. "I found some pictures of Alyssa in that box of yours. I hung them on the wall. I only put a couple up because I don't know what you'd want to do with the rest of them. So I left it alone." She says and sighs and sits on the couch. "What box?" I ask and look at the pictures. "You know, the one that says Alyssa in big red letters." She says and continues to read her magazine.
"Melissa. Please don't touch that box." I ask in all seriousness. The last thing I need is for her to find out. "Why, it's just a box?" She shrugs. "Just don't touch it." I say and pace in the living room. "Zayn, it's just a box." She tries to tell me, but it's more than that. She can't ever find out, if she does I'm dead. "JUST.. Don't touch it." My voice softens.
