The Found Child

Roxanne was at lacrosse practice when her mom called her. 

“Hi mom! What’s up?” 

“Roxanne. Rose is gone. She disappeared. Come home now and help us look for her.” 

Roxanne dropped everything and ran all the way home. She was sobbing all the way home. Rose was her older sister, and (especially) her best friend. How could she have disappeared? Roxanne knew it wasn’t by choice. She knew Rose had been kidnapped. Roxanne came home to find the house empty. On the kitchen table was a note. 

It said:

Roxanne, we’ll be home soon. We’re at the police station. 

Roxanne was terrified. She had never been left at home alone, she was always with her sister. Roxanne ran up to her room, slammed the door, and cried into her pillow. She finally got up and headed to her desk to study for a math test she had the next day. To her surprise, there was a note on her desk. 

Roxanne,

We have your sister. Here is a note from her:

Dear Roxanne, I love you. Please don’t come after me. It’s for the best. I will find your way to you. See you later Roxy! I’ll find you. 

Her bottom lip trembled. She reread the note. What did her sister mean? It’s for the best? She slumped back into her chair and cried again. Soon, her parents came home. 

“Roxy? Come down! We’re home!” her parents yelled. Their voices sounded hoarse, probably from crying or calling for Rose. Roxanne was about to tell her parents, but she hesitated. She wouldn’t show them. 

“Yeah? Any updates mom?” Roxanne asked. 

“No. The police said to give up.” Her mom said. 

“Are you?” Roxanne asked again. Hoping her mom and the police wouldn’t give up. 

“Roxy. I know this is hard for you. If we can’t find her in a week, we’ll wait for her to find her way back.” her dad said. 

“NO! But we can… we can…” Roxanne couldn’t think of anything. 

Roxanne trudged upstairs and got ready for bed. She took off the pastel purple ribbon from her hair. Rose had given the ribbon to Roxanne because Roxanne’s hair was always in her face. Rose always insisted that Roxanne put it up so she could see her ‘beautiful face’. Roxanne didn’t want to risk losing it, so she put it in a drawer in her bedside table. Roxanne thought, “She’ll come back in a week. She has to.” 

One day later

“Did you find her yet?”

“No Roxy. Be patient my girl” 

Two days later

“Did you find her yet?” 

“Nope.”

Four days later

“It’s been four days. You found her right?”

“Roxy. No. We haven’t found her yet. We’ll find her soon though. I promise. We’ll find her before this week. Just please. Please Roxy. Please be careful darling. What if they get you too? Don’t walk home alone, dad will pick you up after school. 

Six days later

“Mom? There’s a day left. Have you found Rose yet? I miss her so much. What’s going to happen if you don’t find her by tomorrow? What’s going to happen?” 

“Roxy, my darling. Don’t think about it. We’ll work harder than we worked ever before to find Rose. Don’t worry Roxy. I miss her too.” 

“Mom, please tell me what’s going to happen. 

“I can’t. Me nor dad want to talk about what is going to happen if we can’t find Rose.”

“Fine. I’m sorry mom.” 

“It’s ok Roxy.”

One week later

“What’s gonna happen now? We haven’t found her.”

“Roxanne, we hate to tell you this. But,” her mom took a deep breath. “The police are declaring her missing forever and they’re giving up.”

“NO! Mom, please. Don’t. I know she’s out there somewhere!”

“It’s out of my power. I’m sorry Roxy.”

Roxanne’s mom and Roxanne cried for hours and hours. 

Many years later

Roxanne eventually accepted the fact that Rose was gone. She learned to live without Rose, even though it was really, really, REALLY, hard for her. Not just Rose, but her parents too. Roxanne occasionally still walked into the house to see her mom crying and looking at an album she had made after Rose’s disappearance called Memories of Rose with pictures of Rose in it. It had pictures of Rose at her elementary graduation, first day and last day of school pictures, Rose playing volleyball for the first time, Rose at places like the Grand Canyon and the Swiss Alps and the Blue Lagoon and so many more memories and photos of Rose. 

It was the first day of high school for Roxanne. It had been years since Rose’s disappearance and of course Roxanne still missed her, but she didn’t let it bother her. 

At school, she met up with her best friend, Bryttney and they compared schedules. 

“ROXYYY!” Bryttney yelled. A teacher told Bryttney to keep her voice down. Bryttney apologized. “We have practically all of the same classes! EEK! C’mon! We have math with Ms. Parrish.” 

Roxanne and Bryttney were a tad early but they went in anyways. Roxanne went up to the teacher to say hi and saw her face. It was Rose. The same dark green eyes Rose had had. The color of forests and emeralds shining in the sun. Her hair was different and she had much more makeup on, but Roxanne knew it was Rose. Rose looked baffled. 

“Roxy.” Rose quietly said. 

“Rose.” Roxanne said, a little louder than Rose, or Ms. Parrish had. 

Before they could talk, the bell rung and everyone came running into the room. Roxanne returned to her seat. 

“Time for attendance. I am Ms. Parrish, when I say your name please say here or present or anything else. If I say your name incorrectly, please correct me.” 

“Rodger?” 

“Here!” 

“Hailey?”

“Here!” 

“Bryttney?” 

“President!” People chuckled at that. 

“Roxanne.” 

“Present. You can call me Roxy.” 

During the whole math class, Roxanne couldn’t focus. After Math and English and French and Science, it was finally time for lunch. 

“I’m sorry Bryttney. I have to go to Rose, I mean Ms. Parrish. I’m so sorry!” 

Without waiting for Bryttney’s response, Roxanne dashed to Rose’s room. Luckily, she wasn’t teaching them. Without knocking, Roxanne burst into the room and slammed the door shut. Rose was sitting at her desk, looking surprised to see Roxanne there. 

“Rose. I missed you so much. Where have you been?” 

“Roxy, I have so much to tell you. Let’s go home together and tell mom and dad. I bet they missed me!” 

“They did Rose. They did. So did I.” 

“Then let’s go!” 

The two of them rushed home and saw that their parents were sitting on the couch watching a telenovela. They saw Roxanne then Rose. They gasped and ran and hugged Rose. Rose explained that she was doing her math homework that night and it was really hot so she opened a window. But a man dressed in all black and wearing a ski mask came in and kidnapped her. Roxanne’s parents drove the two back to the school. After the day, Rose went home with Roxanne and they all got ice cream