Lost & Found

5: Found

Chapter 5: Found
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Liza peeled her eyes open to a bright room and squinted them in response as she raised a hand to shield herself from the blinding light.

As she was in the process of pushing herself up, she looked around and noticed her familiar surroundings.

She patted the soft sheets beneath her and struggled to remove herself from the covers that were tightly tucked around her.

"There you go again trying to rush out of bed."

Liza looked up and saw Dayla smiling at her from the doorway; however, her eyes held something else.

"How are you feeling, my sweet?"

"I feel...okay, I guess. What happened?"

She doesn't remember?

Dayla remained silent and decided it would be best to let the terrible news come back to her. The woman couldn't bring herself to tell the little girl and be the cause of her despair.

Liza stopped mid-sentence when she was smacked in the face with terrible recent memories.

Her twin sister.....was gone.. and she was never coming back.

Suddenly Liza broke down into tears.

Dayla remained in her seat and did her best to comfort the girl and ease her sorrows. She pulled her into a hug and rested her chin on her head as she rubbed soothing circles on her back.

"It's ok sweet child....we will pull through this together," Dayla softly whispered.

A few tears escaped Dayla's eyes while she
comforted the girl.

"It's ok."

Liza's sobs grew into small screams as she gripped and pulled at Dayla, desperately trying to absorb as much warmth and comfort as she could from the woman. Her never-ending tears soaked the woman's clothes though Dayla paid no mind to it as she rocked the sobbing girl in her lap.

For what seemed like days the woman was successful in finally getting Liza to settle down for a much-needed rest.

With extreme care, Dayla set the girl onto the soft mattress and covered her with the blankets before leaving the room to find her husband.

"Preacher?" She called softly, poking her head into the living room.

No response.

"Preacher?" She called again, careful to not wake the being sleeping in the other room.

"I'm in here."

She walked into the kitchen to find him sitting at the kitchen table with his head in his hands.

She pulled a chair out and sat next to him, placing her hand on his shoulder for comfort.

"I feel sorry for the little girl." He groaned as sat up to face her. "I can't believe this."

"I know dear, but-"

"No, no these sweet innocent little girls been gettin' beat every day of their lives by their parents! They live right next to us and we didn't even know!" His voice rasped.

"Dear," Dayla called gently as she watched him burst out of his seat and pace around the room.

"Terrible, idiotic, disgusting people who call themselves parents! We should've known! What are we gonna do with her?"

"We can adopt her," Dayla suggested calmly.

"Adopt-Are you serious?!"

Dayla cocked an eyebrow at the question. "And what seems to be the problem? She seems quite fond of us."