Ella's mother drops the phone onto the kitchen floor. Pieces of it scatter all across the cold linoleum. The batteries that were once inside it roll so far under the fridge that they will not be reachable.
She sinks to the floor and covers her face with her clammy hands. She weeps so hard she looses her breath and begins to hyperventilate. Her husband rushes to her side, hoping he doesn't have to hear the dreaded news come out of her mouth.
Ella's mom has just been given more bad news from the officers assigned to her daughter's kidnapping case.
The lead that police told her they had has turned out to be just another dead end leading them nowhere. The man they brought in was not involved in Ella's abduction. Police are no closer to finding Ella than they were yesterday. It breaks Ella's parents hearts every time a promising lead fails.
Though she wishes for nothing more than her daughter to be returned to her safe and sound, Ella's mom knows that she will never be the same. Ella will be forever changed after this experience. Even if her parents could hold her in their arms, they would never truly have their daughter back.
An entire year passes by and still no answers.
Then two years.
Then three.
By the time a decade passes since her kidnapping, her parents have lost all hope that she will ever be returned to them. Neither Ella's parents nor Aubrey's have any answers as to what happened to their children.
They will never get the answers they search for.
And though this story did not have a happy ending for Aubrey or Ella's parents, it did have a happy ending for someone.
Ella.
She escaped from Shawna. That was the last goal she had in her life. She knew that if she could do that, she would forever be free.
And forever free she will be.
AN: I wanted to try a different kind of ending for this story than what I usually do. For these kinds of stories, I usually gives the families some kind of closure. For this one, obviously I didn't do that. I hope you enjoyed reading this story! I know I enjoyed writing it! Thank you for reading!
