Ada I haven’t been doing well at all. Not since my baby was taken. Every second of every day, she’s all I think about. What hurts me the most is that she didn’t even have a name, so in my head, she’s just ‘her’.She’s so young. So tiny. And this situation keeps getting worse and worse. Apparently, the same man was spotted in a hospital on the other side of the city, and he also killed two nurses to steal a baby. Two babies gone missing in the same day. Both girls. One can only imagine what kind of malicious intentions he has. Why go through so much trouble to kidnap two newborns? What’s the matter with him?Max seems distracted. I don’t know what’s wrong with him but every time I look at him, I can tell that he’s keeping something from me. There’s something he isn’t telling me about all this. I could be wrong, of course. Maybe he’s just not taking this news very well, the same way I’m not. But the truth is what I can’t have him being this distant. He’s always on the phone. He
Maximilian “I know you know who it is. Come alone or you’ll regret it.”That was what the unknown caller said to me when I answered the call, and oddly enough, I knew exactly who it was. An address was sent to me in a different phone number and I knew I would go, and I’d obey the orders because my daughter’s life depended on it. I didn’t say a word to anyone. Not the private investigator who was still looking for this guy. Not Ada. How would I tell her that Damson called me and told me to meet him when she still didn’t know that he’d escaped from the institution? I knew I was right—I knew he had something to do with the kidnapping. Call it a father’s instinct. I’m on the way to him now and my hands are shaking as they grip the steering wheel. I don’t even know how I’m going to control my anger enough to face this man. I can’t do anything stupid that would put my daughter’s life at risk. I wonder what he wants since he didn’t ask to see Ada. What’s his plan? He just be truly crazy
Ada My baby is back in my arms and I couldn’t be happier. We’ve left the hospital behind us and have been moved to a private clinic. Max believes it’s safer. It seems the perpetrator is still on the move. I don’t care much for the investigation now that my baby is safely in my arms. She’s been in the intensive care unit just to ensure that everything is in order and the new doctor claimed that she’s perfectly fine. I haven’t seen much of Max. He’s been up and down with the investigators, so I’ve been alone for most of the time. I’m anxious to receive news about my baby. I just want to be able to get out of here and go back home. But it seems they still have to run some tests and all I can do is be patient. Rebecca comes and goes. She’s doing this to avoid coming across Max. I’m glad she’s putting in the effort to see us. I haven’t spoken to Max about her yet but maybe now that our baby has been found, he’ll feel more forgiving toward his sister. There’s a knock on the door and
Ada Seven Years Later…“Ada, could you come here for a second?”I abandon my spot in front of the coffee machine and head to the back to meet with the manager of the café where I work. She’s seated behind her desk as she usually is and only briefly glances at me. She and I don’t get along. Never have. For five years, she’s made sure to make my life an absolute nightmare but because I got used to the place and the tips are good, I chose to stay. “We have to cut back on costs. I’m sorry, Ada, you’ve been an excellent employer for five years but now, we’re going to have to let you go.”I stare at her face, dumbfounded. When she sees that I haven’t said a word or reacted yet, she finally looks up and looks as annoyed as ever. “You heard what I said didn’t you?”“Yes, I did,” I claim. “I just don’t understand why me. There is an employee in there that only got the job two days ago. Nobody does this better than me.”“I’m sorry but rules are rules. You have until the end of the day. I’m so
Maximilian I hang up the phone and find myself staring at the wall.For seven years, I’ve been tormented by this guy. Tormented. He would call me and sometimes I’d hear the sound of my daughter’s voice in the background but it didn’t matter how much I screamed—she would never hear me. Today was no different. All I could do was hear as he talked to her. She was grown now—her voice wasn’t that of a baby’s. For some time now, her voice was that of a smart little young girl, and I wouldn’t hear her say all these things that ranged from things she saw outside to things she learned in school. And then she would call him Daddy. That lunatic.He’d hang up afterward. Less than a minute felt like an eternity. I’ve tried everything. Tracking the number. Involving the police. Nothing amounted to anything. I don’t know where that man is hiding her but he hasn’t been found since.I was the last person to have seen him. Before, I used to walk around the city, hoping k would spot him randomly a
Ada After spending an entire day hunting for jobs and coming up with nothing, that’s when I start to feel the pressure. There’s nothing so far. Not a single job. I don’t want to feel desperate but this has all come from out of nowhere and it makes me wonder if the world is conspiring against me. I spend the whole day worrying and fretting, and I’m in a terrible mood. That’s until I’m visited by a face I haven’t seen in a long time. Rebecca.I must admit that her knocking on my door gives me this surreal feeling—I can’t even explain it. I have so many questions for her as I open the door. “Rebecca,” I say, pressing my hand to my mouth. Her eyes immediately start to tear up. Then again, she’s always been extremely dramatic. We embrace, not saying a word to each other. I’m still busy wrapping my head around this whole thing. She’s here. That’s insane and amazing at the same time. “How did you find me?” I ask right away. “I…this can’t be real.”The last time we saw each other was
Maximilian Today proves to be a pretty eventful day. I’ve gone so many years without a single thing happening outside of the normal and now, Rebecca has come to pay me the second visit of the day. And this time, she refuses to not be let inside. “I’ll stay here all night if I have to, Max. You’re not going to get any sleep! I need to talk to you and it’s urgent! Open up!”I rub my eyes as I stare at the door and think about what to do. It briefly occurs to me that I could call the police but then I decide that it’s not worth the trouble—I’d rather just find out what she wants and then hope she’ll leave. So, for the first time in seven years, we come face to face. I look into my sisters’s eyes and notice the changes. How the corner of her eyes are more crinkled. How her face is thinner. Rebecca narrows her eyes at me before barging in. “You were going to leave me out there all night, weren’t you? I bet you were even going to call the police.”“What do you want?” I ask, getting str
Maximilian “It’s been a long time since we last spoke, haven’t we?” Damson says in my ear. His voice still has that crazy quality to it. He doesn’t sound like a sane person. And the worst part is that this man is by my daughter’s side, somewhere out there. We don’t even know if he left the state or even the country. We know nothing. I clench my jaw so tightly that I hear a molar crack. I remind myself that this time, things have to be different. I need to stay calm and hope that this time, he’s going to tell me what he wants so we can get our daughter back. Everything is depending on me. “You always had so much to say, and now you’re saying nothing. You’re silent. I wonder…does that mean you declare defeat?”“Yes,” I say, the word scratching the sides of my throat and making my mouth so bitter that I nearly gag. I’ll say whatever I can to please this man. I’d do absolutely everything.“Yes? Good,” he claims. “Ada has received a similar call from me and she has also declared defe
Maximilian “It’s been a long time since we last spoke, haven’t we?” Damson says in my ear. His voice still has that crazy quality to it. He doesn’t sound like a sane person. And the worst part is that this man is by my daughter’s side, somewhere out there. We don’t even know if he left the state or even the country. We know nothing. I clench my jaw so tightly that I hear a molar crack. I remind myself that this time, things have to be different. I need to stay calm and hope that this time, he’s going to tell me what he wants so we can get our daughter back. Everything is depending on me. “You always had so much to say, and now you’re saying nothing. You’re silent. I wonder…does that mean you declare defeat?”“Yes,” I say, the word scratching the sides of my throat and making my mouth so bitter that I nearly gag. I’ll say whatever I can to please this man. I’d do absolutely everything.“Yes? Good,” he claims. “Ada has received a similar call from me and she has also declared defe
Maximilian Today proves to be a pretty eventful day. I’ve gone so many years without a single thing happening outside of the normal and now, Rebecca has come to pay me the second visit of the day. And this time, she refuses to not be let inside. “I’ll stay here all night if I have to, Max. You’re not going to get any sleep! I need to talk to you and it’s urgent! Open up!”I rub my eyes as I stare at the door and think about what to do. It briefly occurs to me that I could call the police but then I decide that it’s not worth the trouble—I’d rather just find out what she wants and then hope she’ll leave. So, for the first time in seven years, we come face to face. I look into my sisters’s eyes and notice the changes. How the corner of her eyes are more crinkled. How her face is thinner. Rebecca narrows her eyes at me before barging in. “You were going to leave me out there all night, weren’t you? I bet you were even going to call the police.”“What do you want?” I ask, getting str
Ada After spending an entire day hunting for jobs and coming up with nothing, that’s when I start to feel the pressure. There’s nothing so far. Not a single job. I don’t want to feel desperate but this has all come from out of nowhere and it makes me wonder if the world is conspiring against me. I spend the whole day worrying and fretting, and I’m in a terrible mood. That’s until I’m visited by a face I haven’t seen in a long time. Rebecca.I must admit that her knocking on my door gives me this surreal feeling—I can’t even explain it. I have so many questions for her as I open the door. “Rebecca,” I say, pressing my hand to my mouth. Her eyes immediately start to tear up. Then again, she’s always been extremely dramatic. We embrace, not saying a word to each other. I’m still busy wrapping my head around this whole thing. She’s here. That’s insane and amazing at the same time. “How did you find me?” I ask right away. “I…this can’t be real.”The last time we saw each other was
Maximilian I hang up the phone and find myself staring at the wall.For seven years, I’ve been tormented by this guy. Tormented. He would call me and sometimes I’d hear the sound of my daughter’s voice in the background but it didn’t matter how much I screamed—she would never hear me. Today was no different. All I could do was hear as he talked to her. She was grown now—her voice wasn’t that of a baby’s. For some time now, her voice was that of a smart little young girl, and I wouldn’t hear her say all these things that ranged from things she saw outside to things she learned in school. And then she would call him Daddy. That lunatic.He’d hang up afterward. Less than a minute felt like an eternity. I’ve tried everything. Tracking the number. Involving the police. Nothing amounted to anything. I don’t know where that man is hiding her but he hasn’t been found since.I was the last person to have seen him. Before, I used to walk around the city, hoping k would spot him randomly a
Ada Seven Years Later…“Ada, could you come here for a second?”I abandon my spot in front of the coffee machine and head to the back to meet with the manager of the café where I work. She’s seated behind her desk as she usually is and only briefly glances at me. She and I don’t get along. Never have. For five years, she’s made sure to make my life an absolute nightmare but because I got used to the place and the tips are good, I chose to stay. “We have to cut back on costs. I’m sorry, Ada, you’ve been an excellent employer for five years but now, we’re going to have to let you go.”I stare at her face, dumbfounded. When she sees that I haven’t said a word or reacted yet, she finally looks up and looks as annoyed as ever. “You heard what I said didn’t you?”“Yes, I did,” I claim. “I just don’t understand why me. There is an employee in there that only got the job two days ago. Nobody does this better than me.”“I’m sorry but rules are rules. You have until the end of the day. I’m so
Ada My baby is back in my arms and I couldn’t be happier. We’ve left the hospital behind us and have been moved to a private clinic. Max believes it’s safer. It seems the perpetrator is still on the move. I don’t care much for the investigation now that my baby is safely in my arms. She’s been in the intensive care unit just to ensure that everything is in order and the new doctor claimed that she’s perfectly fine. I haven’t seen much of Max. He’s been up and down with the investigators, so I’ve been alone for most of the time. I’m anxious to receive news about my baby. I just want to be able to get out of here and go back home. But it seems they still have to run some tests and all I can do is be patient. Rebecca comes and goes. She’s doing this to avoid coming across Max. I’m glad she’s putting in the effort to see us. I haven’t spoken to Max about her yet but maybe now that our baby has been found, he’ll feel more forgiving toward his sister. There’s a knock on the door and
Maximilian “I know you know who it is. Come alone or you’ll regret it.”That was what the unknown caller said to me when I answered the call, and oddly enough, I knew exactly who it was. An address was sent to me in a different phone number and I knew I would go, and I’d obey the orders because my daughter’s life depended on it. I didn’t say a word to anyone. Not the private investigator who was still looking for this guy. Not Ada. How would I tell her that Damson called me and told me to meet him when she still didn’t know that he’d escaped from the institution? I knew I was right—I knew he had something to do with the kidnapping. Call it a father’s instinct. I’m on the way to him now and my hands are shaking as they grip the steering wheel. I don’t even know how I’m going to control my anger enough to face this man. I can’t do anything stupid that would put my daughter’s life at risk. I wonder what he wants since he didn’t ask to see Ada. What’s his plan? He just be truly crazy
Ada I haven’t been doing well at all. Not since my baby was taken. Every second of every day, she’s all I think about. What hurts me the most is that she didn’t even have a name, so in my head, she’s just ‘her’.She’s so young. So tiny. And this situation keeps getting worse and worse. Apparently, the same man was spotted in a hospital on the other side of the city, and he also killed two nurses to steal a baby. Two babies gone missing in the same day. Both girls. One can only imagine what kind of malicious intentions he has. Why go through so much trouble to kidnap two newborns? What’s the matter with him?Max seems distracted. I don’t know what’s wrong with him but every time I look at him, I can tell that he’s keeping something from me. There’s something he isn’t telling me about all this. I could be wrong, of course. Maybe he’s just not taking this news very well, the same way I’m not. But the truth is what I can’t have him being this distant. He’s always on the phone. He
Maximilian “Do you recognize this man, Mr. Loxley?”I stare at his face hard, my heart beating fast. It’s a blur and way too pixelated anyway for me to be able to recognize him. I shake my head, despair taking a hold of me. “No,” I finally say. “I don’t.”I keep a firm arm around Ada because I know she needs that right now. She needs me and my support. She’s not taking this well at all and it honestly breaks my heart. I’m heartbroken about all of this, too. I don’t feel emotional because it hasn’t kicked in yet. In my mind, there’s nothing that can be fixed. The detective says she’ll be found so that’s what I believe. He said it won’t take too long, and I’m counting on that. Ada is distraught, though. Deep down, I have this fear that the man involved is that fucking lunatic who escaped the institution, the one that’s haunted Ada for so long. I never even told her that he got out. Maybe I should. Maybe I should even mention it to the detective so he’ll at least have a lead. I don