Captured

Chapter One

It was a bright and sunny Tuesday morning when Coralie heard the news. As usual she was awoken at 6 o'clock by the early sunrise, a mere 3 hours after returning home from the night shift at the petrol station where she worked. Although she only had a brief sleep, work already had to be done, and she felt as fresh as ever. She checked on her mother Nancy, who was sleeping peacefully behind the door opposite from her daughter's bedroom; she had watered the begonias in the living room; and had even begun to make breakfast.

After putting a saucepan of porridge on the stove, Coralie sat down and poured black coffee into the blue spotted mug she used every morning. She winced at her reflection in the chrome coffee pot and helped herself to more coffee in a vain attempt to convince the world that she had more than two and a half hours of sleep the night before. Coralie didn't think she looked too awful. Obviously the dark circles and the worry lines aged her slightly, but with a bit of make up on, she didn't look half bad. Her husband had always told her she had nice eyes, and as she focused on the coffee pot she kind of agreed. Green eyes were different and unique, especially a shade so close to emerald. Coralie ran her fingers through her blonde hair that desperately needed a wash. The stress was making it greasy.

Taking a sip from her mug, she instantly felt her pores tingle and imagined the dark circles from under her eyes disappearing. At last, she was fully awake. What was wrong with drinking her five hours of missed sleep, she thought to herself. And besides, she didn't mind being up at this early hour, before anyone else was awake. It was nice to forget about her vast list of never ending responsibilities: her mother wasn't awake to need her attention, Hadley wasn't around to nag and complain, and she could forget about the humungous stacks of laundry waiting for her in the bathroom. At this time in the morning she could imagine what life would be like if she was without a terminally ill mother, a teenage daughter, and a host of household tasks. And even though she felt guilty to admit it, she rather enjoyed the freedom.

Suddenly, a loud bang interrupted Coralie's daydream, and she slapped herself lightly on the wrist as a punishment for imagining a life without her family. No, she enjoyed her life the way it was, and it was her family that needed her the most. This was a phrase she had grown accustomed to using repetitively, almost as if she was trying to convince herself that everything really was all right.

Coralie got up from the table and walked over to where the sound had come from: the front door, since the post had just arrived. Slowly she began to sift through the small stack of letters that had been delivered. One for Hadley, two bills for her, 3 junk letters and the local daily newspaper. She put the letters on the oak sideboard in the hallway, and then shuffled back into the kitchen in her fluffy slippers.

This was her favourite time in the morning. The half an hour of serenely reading the Newberry Express at the kitchen table over a warm cup of black coffee. She turned the radio on and relaxed as the smooth quiet music filled the room. Coralie smiled to herself and carefully unfolded the paper as she did every other day. The Express wasn't exactly what you would call an intellectual broadsheet, but Coralie enjoyed reading the light hearted celebrity gossip and she enjoyed pointing out the people she knew who were featured. Her good friend Pam was often in there; she was always out and about in the community, arranging bake sales and car washes. And Coralie's next door neighbour Anita had a small column on food once a week. Coralie took a large gulp of coffee, pushed her glasses onto the bridge of her nose, and read the headline.

To say she was shocked would have been a massive understatement. Her eyes briefly scanned the page in horror, and she had to double check that what she was reading was true. All she could think about was her daughter lying in bed in the room next door, and her mind filled with dread. Coralie winced as she began to read the article that was splayed across the front page.