Chapter 4

Ava comes out of the plane with Aurora asleep in her arms. Chris follows closely behind with their bags with him. 

    While waiting for their bags to be cleared, Aurora wakes up and rubs her eyes.

   “Hey baby. You don’t want to sleep anymore?”. She gives her a peck on her chubby cheeks while tucking stray hairs away from her face.

    “Mama”. Aurora says looking upset. She knows that she is hungry and that is the only reason she is looking upset. 

   “Don’t worry, we can get this done then I’ll get you some food. Okay?”. Aurora nods in reluctant agreement. Her eyes were wide open; she started scanning the environment.

    They are soon done with the clearing of their bags and they go to the lounge. 

   “Let me go and see if the driver is here yet”. Chris informs her.

   “Oh okay. I can just get her some snacks in the meantime”. Chris heads towards the door while Ava puts her on the chair.

    “Aurora, mummy is going to get some food for you. Don’t leave here please. Okay?”. She pinches her cheeks while Aurora looks at her in understanding. 

    While Ava is busy ordering some food for them, she keeps looking back. 

    Aurora, on the other hand, is looking at balloons at the opposite end of the airport. At the same time, Ava is distracted by someone who mistakenly switched orders with her. They are trying to resolve it when Aurora gets up from her seat and runs in the direction of the balloon. 

    The person who owns the balloon starts moving at the same time a major flight is announced. By the time Ava looks back to check for Aurora, she doesn’t see her anymore.

    It is almost impossible to even see her through the crowd because of her height. Fear grips Ava’s heart as she starts looking for how to find her. She immediately drops the food she ordered and runs to where she had left Aurora. 

   She uses her eyes to scan the area for her but she doesn’t see any sign of her. She runs a hand through her hair, already feeling flustered. 

   At that moment, Chris comes back. He sees her worried expression and rushes to her side.

   “Hey, hey, what’s going on?”. He holds her arm to position her in front of him. However, her eyes are still searching the area barely staying on him.

   “Aurora… Aurora… I can’t find her”. She says absentmindedly. Chris’ eyebrows furrow in confusion.

  “What do you mean by you can’t find her? She was with you when I left”. He cups her face so that she can be stable. Her eyes are already covered in unshed tears.

   “I…I…I.. just went to get some food for her just right there”. She points at the stall opposite them.

   “Yes, what happened? Calm down Ava”. He holds her hands to reassure her.

   “So I left her on this chair with the bags. I kept on checking on her from time to time, I swear. I was distracted for just a minute and when I turned back, she wasn’t there anymore”. Sobs crack through her body. 

    Chris pulls her into a hug and consoles her by stroking her hair. After a few seconds, he pulls her away from himself.

   “You can cry later. We have to find her first. We can’t afford for her to leave the premises”. She nods in response.

   “Ok, good. So let’s start around here first. I’ll search the left, and you can search the right. Ask people if they have seen her; that can help us locate her”. 

   He gives her a reassuring smile before they part ways. They pull up a picture of Aurora and start asking the passersby. 

   “Please have you seen her?”. With every no, she gets even more discouraged and guilty for leaving Aurora alone.

   “Please have you seen her?”. Chris starts worrying for Ava. She already looks so disheveled within 10 minutes. 

   But who can blame her for her reaction? Aurora is the only family she has. The girl is practically her entire life. 

   They walk around for some more minutes before returning to where they started. They arrive there at almost the same time. Ava almost breaks down there but Chris pulls her into his arms once again.

    “I caused this. I caused this. I shouldn’t have left her here alone. My poor baby. She’s probably so scared right now”. Tears stream down her face as she laments guiltily.

   “It’s not your fault. Don’t beat yourself up about this”. He wipes her tears.

  “It is! It is! My daughter is somewhere else and I don’t even know how she is. She could be crying right now. Calling for me. Or even worse, kidnapped by a stranger!”. Her voice cracks at the end. 

   He nods as if to tell her that she’s wrong but even deep down, he knows that it’s a very big possibility. 

   An idea pops into his mind and his eyes light up.

   “Why didn’t I remember this before? We can either decide to wait here for her to be guided here by a good stranger or we can go to the reception and ask to use their mic to call Aurora from the speakers”. Ava’s eyes light up at his suggestion. 

   “That’s true! But how about we do it this way? One of us can stay here while the other person goes to the reception”. 

   “Oh yes. I’ll just stay here then. She will feel better hearing your voice”. They hug again before she leaves him alone there to go to the admissions office.

   Somewhere at the far end of the airport, Aurora bumped into two figures and fell at their feet. She hits her bum on the ground and starts wailing. 

   The man looks back because of the cry and his eyes land on the little toddler at his feet. His heart warms and he squats down to carry her into his arms.