Justin’s POV:
“Guys where’s Lily?” Selena asked frantically, as she approached the table.
“She wasn’t in the restroom?” Mandy asked as she stood up from her chair.
“No, I was just in there and she wasn’t in there,” Selena said, worried.
We all stood up from our chairs, not knowing what to do.
“Fredo go check the men’s restroom, maybe she got confused and went in there instead,” Sophia said, looking like she was about to cry.
“I’ll go with you,” I told Fredo, as we both headed towards the restroom.
“Lily are you in here?” Fredo called out, looking under the stalls.
“Lily?” I also said. Nothing. We both walked out of the restroom and went back to the table.
“She wasn’t in there either,” Fredo said, tears in his eyes.
“M-mom what do we do?!” Sophia cried, hugging her mom.
“Lets go ask the staff and ask if they saw her. Don’t worry honey, she’s probably just walking around the restaurant.” Mandy tried calming her down. We all walked out of the room and went to the front of the restaurant.
“Umm hi, I was just wondering if you’ve seen a little six year old girl walking around the restaurant. She was wearing a purple dress with a purple bow in her hair.” Brian told one of the waiters. “This is her,” he said, taking a picture of Lily out of his wallet.
“I’m sorry sir, I haven’t seen her,” the waiter replied. We all walked around the whole restaurant asking people if they had seen Lily but everybody kept saying no.
“Excuse me sir,” a girl that looked like she was around our age, tapped Brian on his shoulder. “I think I saw the little girl you’re looking for,” she said.
“Really? Where?” Sophia asked immediately.
“I saw her coming out of the restroom and then she walked out of the restaurant. I thought it was weird that she was leaving the restaurant alone but I figured that her parents were waiting for her outside or something,” she explained.
“Thank you so much sweetheart,” Mandy told her before we all ran out the door.
“Lily!!” we all yelled, looking everywhere for her. We ran all across the parking lot but she was no where to be found.
“Baby what do I do?” Sophia asked Fredo, crying.
“We need to call the police,” Brian said, taking out his phone from his pocket. “Hi we have a missing child. We are at the Olive Garden on St. Peter Road. Ok thank you.” Brian said. “The police are on their way.”
Sophia fell to the floor crying hysterically. “This can’t be happening!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. Fredo quickly picked her up and cradled her on into his chest.
Selena’s POV:
I felt like everything bad that could happen to my family, was happening. My heart was beating so fast, worried that something bad had happened to Lily. I was hugging Justin tightly, trying not to pass out, his arms keeping me on my feet.
“How could this be happening again?” I whispered to Justin, sobbing.
“We’re going to find her baby. Don’t worry. I’m sure she’s fine. Everything‘s going to be alright,” Justin try to reassure me.
“No it’s not Justin! Everything bad happens to us!” I yelled, hiding my face in his chest. I felt Justin’s lips kiss my head and then saw red and blue lights pulling up to the parking lot. The police officers got out of their cars and walked towards us.
“Are you the people that called for a missing child?” one of the police officers asked us.
“Yes sir,” Brian told him, shaking his hand. “She’s my six year old granddaughter. She went to use the restroom while we were eating but never came back,” he explained. Some of the officers went inside the restaurant to look at the surveillance cameras while the rest continued to ask us questions.
After about twenty minutes, the cops that were inside the restaurant came out. “Well it looks like the little girl walked out of the restaurant on her own, crying. The cameras show her walking this way,” a cop said, pointing to the east side of the restaurant.
“We got a little girl here at Washington Park who claims she is lost.” we heard somebody say through one of the officer’s walkie talkies. All of our faces lit up.
“What’s her name?” the officer asked back.
“Lillian Alison Gomez,” the other officer said back. We all sighed a sigh of relief.
“That’s who we’re looking for. Bring her over.” the officer told him.
“10/4” the other officer replied.
“Oh thank god,” Sophia said, hugging Fredo. My mom and Brian both began to cry, happy that Lily was ok.
“I told you everything was going to be alright,” Justin smiled at me, kissing my forehead, and wrapping his arms around me.
The police car soon pulled up into the parking lot and got out of their car, carrying a crying Lily in his arms.
“Lily!” Fredo yelled, running to get her. He put Lily in his arms and she cried, hiding her face in his neck. Sophia slowly walked up to them.
“Lily where were you!?” Sophia asked, grabbing Lily from Fredo’s arms.
“I was walking. But then I got lost,” Lily cried, rubbing her eyes.
“Why did you leave? We told you to go straight to the restroom and straight back?” Sophia asked.
“Because I was mad!” she yelled back.
“Lily just because you’re mad doesn’t mean that you can run off! Do you know how scared we were?” Fredo told her sternly.
“I’m sorry daddy,” Lily whined.
“Why were you mad Lil?” I asked, getting closer to them.
“Because you promised that you wouldn’t leave me and now you’re moving to Canada! You are leaving me!” Lily yelled, putting her face in Sophia’s neck.
“Yeah and I’m the one that’s ripping this family apart huh?” Sophia said coldly to me. “I’m staying over with Fredo tonight. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” she said, hugging my mom and dad.
“Thank you for your help and I’m sorry for the trouble,” Sophia told the police officers as they walked towards Fredo’s car and then took off.
