Missing

Denial

"You know as well as I do that she's gone Charlie, and she's never coming back. It won't be Connie, just like it hasn't been every other time."
Jacob walked away. He refused to get his hopes up again; he'd experienced this enough over the years.
The police would call him, tell him they had found someone that matched the description of Connie, ask him to confirm if it was. Sometimes it was a body, sometimes they were alive. But it never was Connie.

Charlie followed Jacob to the nurses' station. He knew how hard it must be for Jacob to hear those words again and he fully understood why he was in denial - of course Jacob would refuse to believe it, in case it wasn't her, to prevent his hopes being shattered again.

But this time, Connie really had been found.
Charlie too had his doubts when he was first told that she had been found. Until he saw her, watched her be brought into the hospital 4 days ago, while Jacob was away.

"Jacob, I can assure you, it is Connie this time. I promise." Charlie tried to get through to Jacob.
Jacob stopped and took deep breaths. He slowly turned around to face Charlie. "You've seen...?" his voice was barely a whisper.
Charlie nodded. "It's her" he said softly.
"Is...Is she... alive?" Jacob managed to form the words, unsure whether he wanted to hear the answer.
Charlie exhaled deeply before replying. He didn't know how to tell him.
Connie was alive, but barely - the only thing keeping her alive was the ventilator. She was found in such a bad condition, that there was nothing more the doctors could do to help her, and all that could be done was to switch the ventilator off and let her go.
But Charlie had waited. He was waiting for Jacob to return, so he could say goodbye.

"A ventilator...it's keeping her alive but..." Charlie couldn't continue. He looked to the floor. This was hard for him, it had been so difficult to watch his friend in this state, knowing she wasn't going to make it.

Jacob knew exactly what Charlie was trying to tell him.
His body felt numb, he couldn't feel anything, didn't know how to feel.
He had waited for this moment, had always been holding onto that last bit of hope that she would one day, be found. But it had been so many years, that he hadn't ever really expected that this day would come. He wasn't prepared.
He stared aimlessly across the department. He wanted to feel upset, and he wanted to cry. He wanted to be angry and shout.
It wasn't the first time he had been told that it was the end. He had already been through this, 5 years ago, when he was first told that she was dead.
But this time, he had a chance to say goodbye.

---
Jacob walked across the carpark, deep in thought, contemplating how to approach the conversation with Grace.
He opened the door to the driver's seat and sat down.
Grace was still sat with her arms crossed, but she now had her earphones in. She didn't even flinch when Jacob got in.
They sat in silence for a while.
Grace pulled out her earphones in frustration. What was Jacob waiting for? She wanted to get home.
"Are we just going to sit here or are we actually going home?" she asked Jacob, who was staring out of the front window. 
He didn't move his eyes as he replied to her. "They found her" was all Jacob could manage to say.
She clocked the tears forming in his eyes and his grave expression.
She knew exactly who he was talking about. She immediately shook her head. No. It was impossible.
"No they haven't" she told Jacob plainly.
Jacob nodded and turned to look at her. "They found her Grace" he repeated.
Grace looked at him and narrowed her eyes in anger. "why are you lying?! MY MUM IS DEAD AND YOU KNOW SHE IS"
She threw open the car door and stepped out.
"Grace wait, please" Jacob desperately pleaded.
But Grace didn't reply, just slammed the door behind her and walked away.