Missed Saturdays “E” post? Visit it today or start at the beginning.
Helen’s parents, Judy and Max, heard Helen enter the house and leave. They both got dressed in silence, dreading the conversation that would need to be had well before they were ready. Judy thought their kids would hate that they were working on things while Max was still oblivious and thought they’d welcome him back with open arms. Neither knew if they were good together or just lonely and used to what they had nor did they want to make the announcement until they were more confident.
Judy was the first to notice the missing picture and realized she had more to fear and had to face all of them that night. Grabbing her coat she told Max to take his own car and meet her at the abandoned house. She kept silent about her worries as she didn’t want them both to be driving sporadically, especially if she was over reacting.
It took them both a while to find Helen as they were looking for her in the crowd, not at the front of the house. They split up and met each other at the front of the crowd, noticing the entire group of people was staring at two young girls on the step.
Helen turned first, hearing the approaching steps but telling Charlie their conversation wasn’t over. Helen’s face drained of all colour when she saw her parents together and couldn’t believe how badly the night was going.
“Where’s Lucas?” Judy asked the question of her nightmares as Helen asked her own “What are you doing here?”
“You answer first. Why do you have that picture? Where’s your brother?”
Charlie tried answering but stopped when Cole walked up asking if we were going in or just going to stand around. No one knew what he was talking about as Charlie felt mortified Cole was so close to her, Helen cringed at seeing her parents together and Judy needed to know what happened to her baby.
Lucas, hidden to them all, faced his own fear of feeling invisible when he was standing right in front of what seemed like the entire town. When he saw Cole reach for the door handle and turn, Lucas followed him in while holding his breath.