"Excuse me ma'am." The young lady frantically grasped at me. I look down at her. Her eyes frightened.
"What's wrong?" That's not my voice. What's going on?? I grab her hands. "Tell me."
"Your neice is missing!! She was playing with the puppy. I went to pump the water to rinse the clothes. Then she was gone." She begins to tear up. "What if she was taken?"
I run out house. The maids are looking everywhere. I try to tell my sister in law but she doesn't understand me fully. "Maybe she's with the boys exploring. Or maybe she's playing hide and seek. That's it." Denial.
Minutes pass. Hours pass. The police assure us they will find them. Mamang and Papa say they will give a reward to anyone that finds her. But it doesn't matter. Everyone in the neighborhood moves to find her. My little American neice is family to our Filipino community. Why didn't I get more people to watch her when the boys refused to take her with them?
"Hoy we found this in the field." My neighbor says. He hands my brother a dirty lacy sock. "We are getting closer. We will find her."
Days pass. Everyone is tired of searching. Mamang sits out by the driveway watching for her. My son curls up in his cousin's bed. Smelling her pillow. When we're not praying, I'm with my cousins searching the the town. We had to expand the search to the town and the land outside the town. My picture of her is bending. I stop at home to change and go back out.
"Mom." My son looks at me. Tears in his eyes. "Where is she?"
"We're going to find her. I promise." I hold him close. I feel guilty because my son is safe. Papa won't let him out of his sight.
"Anak come." My mom beckons. We step outside. "They are calling off the search tomorrow. So... I need you to go to Manang Buenafacia."
"You can't be serious. She's a quack."
"She is not. And we're running out of options. Your brother cannot be without his daughter. He's already unstable but without her... I'm afraid of who he will become." I look at my brother yelling at his wife. She's right. I need to exhaust whatever resource.
I arrive with my mom at the witch's house. It smells of herbs. She looks at my mom. They embrace. "I need your help manang. My granddaughter is missing."
"I heard. I've been praying for her protection. Something has her but I need something of hers to help find her." I hand her a hair clip. A young woman appears next to me and holds it.
"I can feel her. She's near. Ma, call the police to meet me in the market." The witch nods and we rush to the market. The night doesn't deter vendors from selling. "She smells fish coming from outside." The police follow she and I.
"You guys know her?"
"She's the witch's daughter. She can sense things. She helped find this old man with dementia a few months ago. Missing body a few months before that. She's got a reputation."
She looks across the market for fish vendors. That's when we see a man quickly run away. "There." The police chase him.
I look at the the vendor next to him. "Where does he live?" She points to the building next to us. "Show us."
"Noelle! Aunty is here for you." I yell. The vendor shows the apartment door. We kick the door.
"You can't have her! She belongs to us now!" A man stood before us. No more than 5'9" with a lean build. His smile warped. I looked behind him. Noelle looked at me with glazed eyes. I run towards her. The man grabs my neck as I try to run past. "I said she's ours!" He squeezes. He lifts me with ease. I claw at his hand. I writhe. That's when I see her. She runs towards us and I feel him drop me to the floor. He falls over on top me. I push him off. And Noelle runs to me. I envelope her.
"Aunty you're hurt." She's worried for me. The silly girl. I look at the witch's daughter. She grabs both of us and ushers us outside.
"Hey little girl. Are you okay?" The woman asks her. Noelle nods.
"I wanted to leave but I couldn't move. You have to believe me." I hug her.
" Of course we do." I hug her tighter. "We're going to go home. Stay here with the police man." She nods. I walk to the woman. "What was that? And what did it want with my neice???"
"If I had to guess... Eat her or something."
