Amelia got discharged and was driven home by James himself. Amelia sat at the backseat with Elena next to her. She refused to leave Amelia’s side all the time she was at the hospital. Penelope and the others headed back to the Parker’s mansion, waiting for James to arrive with Amelia. As he drove them home, James constantly kept looking back at Amelia and Alice through the interior mirror. Alice was in Elena’s arms and James wasn’t so comfortable about that. He knew she couldn’t do anything to Alice in front of them, but he still wasn’t comfortable with her being so close. He had always known Elena to be manipulative, and he hoped this wasn’t another way of her getting into their lives and hurting them again. Getting to the house, they saw a few cars parked in front of the mansion. James knew they were all there to welcome Amelia home. After he posted “I am now a father” on his Social Media handles, he expected nothing less. He drove into the compound and switched off the engine
The day finally came. The day of Hopper and Freddie’s sentencing. Hopper and Freddie sat in between their lawyers, looking so nervous. Amelia, James and the rest of the families were seated in the courtroom, waiting to hear what the judge had to say. “After listening to all the evidences in the murder case of Mr. Stanley and Mrs Clara Copper, which took place on the 10th of October, 1997. And after the defendants, Mr Hopper Richardson and Freddie Cooper had pleaded guilty, I hereby pronounce both of them guilty!” Amelia shut her eyes tighter and lowered her head. She gulped hard and held into James’ lap pretty tight. James touched her hand and tapped it slowly. ‘Amelia, did you make the right decision to bring them to court?’ She asked herself, waiting for the most important part of the judge’s decision. “This is my judgement! Mr. Hopper Richardson and Mr. Freddie Copper is sentenced to twenty years imprisonment with hard labor!” The heads of Hopper and Freddie fell low in sadn
The Parker’s mansion was lit up by colorful fluorescent lights, accompanied with beautiful flowers and balloons. In the living room, the couches were gone and it was a free space for everyone. There were about eight cocktail tables covered in white fabrics present. In the middle of these tables were small, pretty rose flower vases. These tables were arranged not too far from each other so that there could be enough space for about five dining tables, which could accommodate at most five guests. In front of the hung flat Tv screen was a huge and gorgeously designed five-tier birthday cake. A solemn music was playing in the background, and guests were beginning to arrive. Penelope arrived at the mansion fully dressed and her eyes widened at the side of the interior beauty of the living room. “Oh God. Who could have thought that your living room would be this spacious?” Penelope said to James, who was dressed in a red Tuxedo. His hair was rearranged in a more stylish way, making hi
“Ma’am Amelia!! Alice is gone!” Alba kept screaming as she ran down the stairs, pulling everyone’s attention to her. “What?!” The people exclaimed. “What do you mean Alice is gone?!” Amelia and James exclaimed, running back to the stairs. “I. I.” Alba muttered, trying to catch her breath. Amelia grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shake her vigorously.“Talk to me, Alba! Where is Alice?!” Amelia yelled. Her eyes heated up in no time, and she was covered in sweat. “I needed to use the restroom. I left her on the bed in the room, only for me to return and find out that she…” Amelia let go of her and ran up the stairs at great speed. “Ma’am Amelia!” Mrs Alba called in fear and ran after Amelia. “No one leaves this party!” James announced in anger and terror. He ran to the door, locked it and threw the keys in his pockets. “What? Why would you do that? You can’t just keep us here! We are innocent!” The congregation began to mumble to James’ deaf ears. He ignored them and ran
The cops arrived shortly and started off by trying to get the fingerprint of the culprit from the rope, but they couldn’t find any fingerprints on it. This gave the cops the idea that this culprit was more experienced than they had imagined. They also kicked off with interrogating the guests in the house one after the other. Amelia and James sat in the living room, waiting and wishing for their nightmare to end once and for all. Amelia rested her head on James’ chest and closed her eyes. She couldn’t stop sobbing and soon, tears refused to flow out of her eyes. James’ eyeballs had also turned red too as he kept trying to act strong for Amelia. As the cops finished with everyone and took down answers to the questions they asked them, they began to let them go, but they told them they could be called upon anytime and they had to respond. They called Amelia closer to ask her some questions too, and James went to them with her. “Mr and Mrs. Parker, can you please tell me if you
~ AFTER TWO DAYS~Amelia and James held hands as they sat in the living room with their other family relatives. It was the third day since the party and they were yet to find Alice. The cops had also been working very hard to get more information about her whereabouts, but it seemed like Alice wasn't in Alabama at all. Amelia had refused to eat until she had found her baby. James and the others had tried talking to her but all to no avail. She refused comfort from everyone one, even her husband, James. "I am now more worried about Amelia than Alice. She looks so pale and thin. I don't know what else to do or say to her that would make her rest or eat. She tried sleeping yesterday, but ended up crying again." James uttered with great sadness. Amelia kept her head on his shoulder and didn't bother to react to what he had said. It was as if she didn't hear him speak. The only thing she had in her head and could hear was Alice's little chuckles and smile. "Amelia, can you please take
"Hi, Amelia." His response came with a slight chuckle. Amelia's eyes still popped out in shock, and she dashed to where Fred stood. "You took my daughter?!" She yelled, and Fred placed his index finger on her lips, shaking his head. "Shhh… You are going to wake her up." He whispered. Amelia's lips shuddered and tears flooded her eyes. She slowly bounced her head and smacked his hand off her mouth. "Can I please see her?" She mumbled, and Fred nodded. "Follow me." He led the way into the house, and Amelia followed behind him anxiously. They got into the bedroom and she found Alice lying on the bed, wrapped in a very white shawl. Amelia moved closer to look at her face, and she saw that Alice was sleeping peacefully, and she didn't look so terrible like she thought she would. "Now, you have seen her, let's step outside and talk. I know you have a lot of things to ask." Fred turned to leave the room, and Amelia followed him with tears still streaming out of her eyes non-stop. "F
"James, you need to calm down." Elena uttered, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Calm down?!" He smacked her hand off him and sprang to his feet. "What the f**k are you talking about?! How can I calm down when my wife and child are missing? Can you listen to yourself at all?!" He yelled at her. Elena flinched in fear and moved away from him. They sat in the living room and watched the policemen work on tracking her phone and car. "You don't have to be so hard on me! I saw how you were shivering and sweating profusely, and I got worried about your health. That's all." "Stop acting like a saint! First, it was Alice, now it is Amelia's. What exactly are you planning?!" "Stop it, James! The police have already investigated me. When will you ever believe that I would never do such to my sister?" "When the truth is finally out. When I find my wife and child." Penelope and Helen walked into the living room, looking super exhausted. They had gone to town to paste the missing posters o
~After Five Years~“Amelia!” Elena called as she pulled up the dazzling white wedding gown she wore. “I’m coming! Can’t you stop making it so obvious that you’re nervous?! It’s your wedding day, not a horror show night.” Amelia rushed out of the room to the living room where Elena and a few friend that were the bridal trains were waiting for her. “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. I had to make sure I got my makeup right since I insisted on doing it myself. I have been practicing for over three years for this day. To do my makeup myself!” She said proudly. “And you didn’t disappoint me! You look absolutely stunning, sister.” “Thank you! You look so beautiful too! I bet you’ll look even more beautiful when you walk down the aisle with our father today.” She answered with great excitement. “Do you think he’ll make it? Do you think the judge would grant him a temporary release just to attend a wedding?” “Don’t worry about it too much, Elena. We already talked, okay? They have bee
~One Year Later~ “Bababa!” Alice called out to James, who was busy eating Amelia out in the kitchen. “James… James… Alice has been calling on you for minutes. Won’t you go and see her?” Amelia’s voice was barely heard by James. He raised his head from between Amelia’s legs and looked at her face. His lips curved out a smirk slowly and he stood up. He kissed her lips so she could taste herself in his mouth. “Can’t you just take her to school already? She doesn’t let me get freaky the way I want.” He whispered a few inches away from her lips. Amelia chuckled and pulled him closer with her legs. “I already told you that I’m working on that. I don’t want her to go to school in Alabama. Let’s go somewhere far from here.” “To where exactly? You’ve been saying this for months and I keep asking you where we should go. Are you yet to figure it out?”“I told you to let me know when you can leave the business here and relocate. Have you found someone competent to look over things here?”
Instead of heading straight to the house, Penelope went down to the station to see Hopper and Freddie. She couldn’t keep the news of Clara still being alive to herself. She got to the station and waited till it was time for the conjugal visit. When it was time, she asked to see Hopper first. She was taken to a private room so that they could talk. She was happy she didn’t have to stay behind the desk to talk to him this time around. She was going to finally touch him after a long time. After a few minutes, Hopper arrived. Immediately he stepped into the room, a smile lit up his face. He opened his arms and embraced her. She was also fully ready to embrace him. “How are you, I missed you so much.” Hopper said as he broke the hug. “I missed you so much too, Hopper.” She responded and that both sat. Penelope heaved a sigh and gulped hard as she sat. Hopper furrowed his brows and looked at her closely. He could sense something wasn’t right with her. “Penelope. What is it this tim
“Oh please, do you think you can scare me with those words? What can you do to me, hun? All you can do is throw me into jail like you did to my husband, then I finally get to be with him. I’m not scared of you, James.” “That’s enough, Mom! I never knew she could be insensitive about this matter. You are clearly at fault and you’re still acting so strong. You’ll lose everything you’ve always wanted and the ones you had always had.” Elena uttered. Penelope clutched her jaws and looked away from Elena. Deep down, she never wanted it to play out so badly, but now it had to be like that, she wasn’t ever going to act weak in front of them. “I have always known that you miss your husband so much. But I never thought you’d go to the extent of going to jail just to be with him. Well, congratulations, your wish would be wholly granted.” James added. “No.” Amelia uttered after a long time of silence, and everyone looked at her. “Amelia…” “She won’t be going to jail. I won’t press charges a
~The Next Day~ After sedating Susan to stop her from overthinking about what Amelia told her, she got better and before she knew it, she was discharged. Only Amelia stood with her throughout her stay in the hospital. James couldn’t go home either because he couldn’t let her be all by herself. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to her again. ‘I have lost her once, and that would never respect itself anymore.’ He told himself. Susan was taken to James' house after he got discharged. She was driven home in his car. She asked that Amelia let her call Tonia and explain what was going on so that she wouldn’t get too worried about her. Tonia told her she would find a time to visit her before the end of the week. She also was eager to know more about Susan, since she never caught a glimpse of her past life when she was still with her. Getting to the mansion, before they entered the house at all, the aroma of roasted chicken filled their nostrils. James smiled faintly and looked at
Throughout the impromptu ride to the hospital, Penelope was quiet and in shock. Elena kept asking her why she called that strange woman Clara, but she seemed too stunned to speak. They got to the nearest hospital shortly, and Susan was rushed into the emergency ward. They were all asked to wait outside for the doctor and nurses to do their work. Amelia seemed to be more worried than the others because she feared something bad must have happened to her. “She’ll be fine, Amelia.” James tried to console her. Amelia shook her head and exhaled pretty hard. “I asked her to come with me, and now this happens? What if something bad happens to her? She has a guardian. What should I tell her if she finds out?” She worriedly answered. James didn’t know what to do other than console her till they heard from the doctor what had really happened. He didn't know anything about her yet. “Come here.” He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. He patted her head slowly and planted a kiss
“James?!” She called out, catching everyone unaware. The cops rushed out of their hiding places, and before Fred could realize what was going on, he was surrounded with cops who pointed their guns at him. “Your hands in the air!” They announced, and he raised his hands. James also proceeded out of his hiding spot and ran towards Amelia, who was also running to him happily with Alice in her arms. “Alice!” He called happily and opened his arms wide. Amelia ran into his arms, even though she was quite conscious about Alice that she carried in her arms. The first thing James did was carry Alice from her arms first and then embraced Amelia with his side. Alice took one side, Amelia took the other. “I have missed you so much, James.” Amelia mumbled and tears began to stream down her eyes. James shut his heated-up eyes pretty tight, and let his tears stream down freely. “I missed you so much too, Amelia. I thought I lost you.” He mumbled too. He opened his eyes after a few minutes an
“She will be going home with us, Fred.” Amelia uttered and gave Susan a reassured nod. “What? Are you crazy? I can’t let a stranger go with us to the house. You know why I can’t.” He responded in anger. “Susan, can you please look after Alice for a few minutes? I need to talk to this man.” After giving the Walker to Susan, she walked up to Fred and exhaled softly as she started talking. “You abducted me, didn’t you? Not just me, but my child.” “Why are you saying this?” He answered almost immediately. “And since this happened, after I chose to be with you, have I ever bugged you or tried to run away? We sleep on the same bed, I know where you keep the keys to the door, so if I wanted to run I would have.” She took a pause and waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. “If you can’t trust me, I see no reason why you want to be with me and my daughter. Can’t you just trust me the way I trust you? I left my daughter in your care, not the first time, but the second, becau
Amelia, Fred and Alice got to the shopping mall shortly after a taxi dropped them off.“Here we are. Where do we start from?” Fred inquired. “We or I? Fred, you don’t have to go around looking for this woman for me. You don’t even know what she looks like. Just stick around with Alice. When I’m done, I’ll come to you. Please keep Alice safe. I trust you and that is why I’m letting you be with her.” Fred smiled widely and nodded. “You know how much I love you and Alice. I would never let anyone hurt you. We’d go around the mall, maybe to the Game Center. But please don’t stay too long. If you see or notice anything weird, call on me. I’ll come running.” Amelia divulged a soft smile and nodded too. She leaned closer to him and planted a soft kiss on his cheeks. “Thank you.” Amelia clutched her jaws slightly and turned to look. She looked around the mall and reminisced on where to start looking first. ‘The restroom.’ She thought and headed to the restroom. She often looked back at