The 22 days

Day: 5

 The minute she opened her eyes the next morning, she closed them again. There was just too much light coming into the room. Not to mention, her body didn't really want to leave the bed. She rolled over to look at her son, wake him up, but he wasn't there.

That got her to sit up quickly, "Joey?" Her eyes scanned the room and she waited to hear sounds, or get a response. Nothing...

She got out of the bed and went to the bathroom, only to find it empty. "JOEY!!!" She left the room in her pajamas and bare feet, but she didn't care at the moment. She looked into her car just to be sure, only finding pieces of glass on the passenger seat from her broken window, and nothing else. She thought about going into the house and looking for him there, but there was a sound coming from the garage that caught her attention.

"Joseph Malcolm Whitley!" She yelled in a mix of anger and relief. "What are you doing here???"

"Look mommy, Shawn taught me how to play marbles."

She frowned, "Shawn?"

"Yeah... that would be me." She saw Carter lift one hand in the air and look up at her.

Now that she saw her son, safe and sound, she allowed herself to look around to try and figure out what was happening. They were both sitting on the ground, surrounded by colorful little balls, or more specifically... marbles.

"What are you two doing now?" She was feeling cranky for some reason. Probably because she was jolted out of bed when she didn't find her child by her side like he was supposed to be.

This time, Carter lifted his eyebrows, "We're playing marbles...?!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. Was he being funny again? "Joey, you weren't supposed to leave my side. You never do that without me knowing, you hear me?" She grabbed his arm to get him off the ground.

"Hey, calm down. He never left my sight. I was at the yard and he saw me, then I asked if he wanted to play. I would have told you, but he said you were sleep." Carter explained.

"That doesn't make me feel any better. You know how many kids get kidnapped because some stranger asked them if they wanted to play, and they went...?"

Carter frowned, "I'm not a stranger, though."

"Oh really? To whom? A minute ago I didn't even know your name was Shawn."

"And that makes me unworthy of trust?"

"Look... I just don't want you with my son, okay? Not without me knowing."

He nodded, "Okay."

"Mommy, I want to play." Joey whined.

"No! You're coming with me." She still had a grip on his arm. She wasn't hurting him, but he didn't like that she wouldn't let go.

Carter got up before she could walk away, "Look, I know you got freaked out when you didn't find him, but he's okay. Nothing was going to happen to him."

She looked down at her son, who was starting to cry because she wouldn't let go. She felt guilty again.

"Just don't... just don't move from here, okay?" She let him go, and he immediately wiped away his tears, then nodded his head quickly. "I'm just going to wash up then we'll have breakfast."

"We already ate breakfast." Carter cut in. "You can go in the kitchen and get some."

She found herself frowning again, "You already... What time is it?"