Page 9 of The Kidnapped

“Oh, no.” The woman looked at the building behind them. “Neither of those.”

“Shit. I shouldn’t have asked you that. It’s anonymous for a reason. I lead a group for people dealing with missing loved ones.” Molly explained.

“Yeah,” the woman replied. “Well, I’m not…”

“You don’t have to tell us anything, if you don’t want to. Everyone is welcome,” Molly replied.

“I’ve never been to one of these before.”

“That’s okay. It’s pretty simple stuff,” Molly told her. “We’re on a break now, but we’re about to start back up.”

“Oh, I thought it started at eight.”

“Seven,” Molly replied. “We had to switch blocks with the AA group.”

“I can come back another time, then,” the woman said, looking down the sidewalk like she wanted to flee.

“Come in,” Raleigh spoke to encourage her. “We’re just on a quick break. You don’t have to share, if you don’t want to, but listening helps.”

“I don’t even know if this is the right place for me.”

“Let’s start with your name,” Molly suggested.

“That depends on who you ask,” the woman said. “I was born Hollis, but my dad changed it to Heidi when he took me to another country when I was five years old.” She met Raleigh’s eyes. “I’m going by Hollis again, though.”

“Hello, Hollis. My name is Molly. As I mentioned, I run the group most nights. This is Raleigh.”

“Hi,” Hollis said.

“Hi,” Raleigh replied.

Hollis gave her a small smile, and Raleigh gave her one back. This new woman looked to be about Raleigh’s age. She had beautiful blue eyes, and when the streetlights got caught in them, they shimmered. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a pair of nice jeans and a loose-fitting dark-green sweater. She wasn’t wearing a jacket, though, which was strange because it was a chilly night.

“You’re not cold?” Raleigh asked her for some reason.

“Oh, no. I’m Canadian; this isn’t cold,” she explained, smiling a little wider. Then, she stopped smiling. “Actually, I don’t know if I am Canadian anymore. I was born here.”

“Why don’t we go inside?” Molly spoke. “You can get a cup of coffee for the caffeine, if not for the warmth, and if you want to tell us more, you can. If you don’t want to, though, that’s okay, too. You can get a feel for the group and decide if you want to come back next week.”

“Okay. And sorry I was late. I was told eight by the person who recommended the group to me.”

“That’s okay. You can come and go as you please,” Molly told her. “We’re not formal here.” She opened the door then, and Hollis walked inside. Molly continued to hold it open for Raleigh, too, who walked in after Hollis. “You can come every week, or however often you want to. Next week is my week to bring cookies, and I bake a mean chocolate chip, so you should try to make it.”

Raleigh followed them until they were back in the meeting room with the old linoleum and the brown metal chairs. She’d resisted the group, too, at first. It had taken her months to agree to come. She’d been naïve. She’d thought she would be the exception; her daughter would be found. She didn’t need to talk to anyone about it because it would all be over soon, and she would be able to get back to her normal life.

Now, it had been a year, and she was still sitting in the same uncomfortable metal chair, listening to someone else talk about their missing child while she stared over at the newest addition who had just introduced herself to the room. Raleigh saw a lot of herself in Hollis. There was the anxious twiddling of thumbs, the tight shoulders, the nibbling on her lower lip, and the fidgeting in her chair. Raleigh had done all that, too. The only difference was that Raleigh’s daughter had been taken while Hollis had been kidnapped herself.

CHAPTER 4

“I can’t believe I’m looking at you right now,” Kenna said. “You’re all grown up.” She laughed lightly. “I’ve only seen pictures of you as a little girl. Well, the artist we hired to do the rendering of you did a great job – I’ve seen that one, obviously – and you do look a lot like how he drew you.”

“That was the thing that pushed me over the edge,” Hollis replied. “Everything started to seem kind of crazy. I couldn’t be this little girl. At the same time, though, I knew I was her. It’s hard to explain. Memories have always been there in the background as if they wanted me to remember this life I had had before, but I’d never been able to make any sense out of them. Then, I saw that sketch, and it looked so much like me that it couldn’t not be me anymore.”

“Your mom never gave up, Hollis. And I’ve met a lot of grieving parents. I’ve met a lot of mothers who fight to find their daughters. Your mom is one of them. When she first got diagnosed, she could have given up then, but she never did. She worked just as hard, if not harder, to try to find you. She worried she’d…”

“Die before she found me,” Hollis finished for her.

“Yeah,” Kenna confirmed. “I don’t talk to her all that often these days; just a few check-ins every now and then. How is she doing? I know you’re here about the show, and it’s part of who I am to ask, but maybe I shouldn’t have.”

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