Solitude

Chapter 8 (Missing)

CHAPTER EIGHT

            The house looked gloomy and dark, every corner there was nothing but silence. It’s very hard to imagine how alive it looked just a week ago and how happy the atmosphere was. Alex was upstairs, sitting by the window, lost in her thoughts. The silence of their house was slowly creeping on her, making her feel things that she never wanted to feel.

            A sigh escaped her lips, it was a rather deep sigh that indicates an anxious mind, bothered with something big. The fear inside her was slowly swelling day by day that a day will come that it would choke her or eat her alive.

            There was no news about her mom, she hadn’t heard of her these past few weeks and the hopelessness weighed heavy on her heart. She didn’t want to lose all hope but with things going on the wrong direction – direction that she didn’t want – she’s on the brink of losing it all.

            The comfort given by Michelle and Blake felt so insignificant before the fear of losing her mom but she’s still thankful that they were there, no matter how unresponsive she was, no matter how poor she was as a company, they were still there trying to give her comfort and hope and understanding.

            She stood up from the window and went downstairs, though she felt like not eating, she had to. Those two gave her strict order to keep her body strong that she could face the world again when she’s done moping. She extracted the food Michelle left for her this morning and popped it to the microwave, she’s not in the mood to cook lately and embarrassing as it was, she depended upon her friends for her food.

            Maybe when she’ll hear something about her mother being in good condition, she could repay those two by cooking something special for them and making her specialty which was cheese cake. Maybe this time, God would answer her prayers.

            Alex was startled when the microwave beeped, she was lost in her thoughts that she had forgotten she reheated something. After eating, she washed her utensils just to have something to occupy her hands but not her mind – never her mind.

            She sat on the sofa and stared at the phone willing it to ring. She had been doing that all week – sat on the sofa by the phone, staring at it wanting and waiting for it to ring only to be disappointed at the end of the night. But she never gave up, every night she would stay there, sit there, wait until she fell asleep curled up in the sofa but the phone never ring – not even once.

            Maybe this night it would be different, maybe it would ring and she would hear her mother’s voice again telling her that she’s alright and there’s nothing to be worried about. That she could sleep well now because no harm could ever come to her.

            It was almost twelve and Alex was on the brink of sleep when the phone rang. She just stared at it trying to analyze on her mind what was happening before picking it up from its cradle. Her hand shook as she put the device near her ear.

            “Hello?” she whispered, too scared to talk aloud, she didn’t know what to expect and what would happen next.

            “Ms. Alexandria Athena Carlton Smith?” a formal voice of a woman answered her.

            Alex didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or to cry, it’s not her mother. It’s not the call that she have been waiting for for days now. But she swallowed her disappointment and tried to remain calm.

 “Speaking. May I know who’s calling, please?”

            “This is Audrey Davis and I called to inform you about your mother.”