Laura was still feeling tired, the day after she returned from her business trip. Even though she had a good night sleep, she was exhausted. She saw her husband, Richard when she wake up. He was still sleeping.
She went down to her kitchen, and pulled up the curtains. She prepared the breakfast, and started to move towards her daughter, Emily’s room.
“Time to wake up, sweetie!” She called out to her daughter. She saw that her bed was untouched, when she got inside.
She checked the bathroom, but Emily was not there too. As she searched the whole house, she couldn’t find her daughter.
“Rick, wake up!” She tried to wake her husband. “Emily is missing!”
“Let me sleep, Laura,” Richard said, “She’s a teen. She must have snuck out to meet those friends of hers. Relax.”
“This is serious, Rick. Her room is spick and span! This isn’t like Emily!”
Even though she was stresses, Richard went back to his sleep. Laura was running inside the house, from one room to another. At that moment, her phone ranged with a message, “If you want your daughter alive, bring $100,000 to the address below…”
Laura felt a pain in her stomach, she was anxious. She immediately called the police. When they arrived, Richard was awaken, and he yelled from upstairs, “Laura? What’s going on? What are cops doing here?”
“Someone kidnapped Emily!” Laura said.
“The kidnapper is demanding ransom.”
“Are you sure it isn’t one of Emily’s games?” Richard asked.
“Of course it’s not, Rick!” Laura was crying, “We have to find her!”
Officers had searched the rooms, along with Laura and Richard.
Detective Harris asked, “Anything missing from here?”
Laura said, “The carpet! It’s not here.”
“You got any idea about it?” Detective asked to Richard.
“Uh, yeah, I took it to the dry cleaner,” he said.
“I’ll need the dry cleaner’s address, please.”
“Yeah, I’ll get it. One second,” Richard said.
As they were waiting for Richard to come back to the room, Laura’s phone received another message. As the Detective heard the ping from the phone, he asked, “What is it?”
“If you involve the cops, you’ll never see your daughter again.”
“Let’s drop the ransom, Mrs. Dennings,” the detective said. “We can set up around the drop-off location. It’s the best chance of getting your daughter back and catching the kidnapper.”
“No way!” Richard said, as he was holding a card with the address. “That’s too risky. We should just give the ransom, and then maybe the bad guys will let her go.”
Laura said, “But Richard, what if they take the money and run away? No. I think the detectives are right.”
As Richard didn’t said anything back, it was certain, the police were going to be involved with the ransom.
Laura went alone to the location where the kidnappers had stated. She was thinking of her daughter alone. As she parked her car near to the location, she started to walk towards to the tree the kidnappers had said, and left the money there.
She returned to her car, and started to watch.
The undercover officers were positioned, and they were all waiting for kidnappers to appear for the money.
As the sun was rising, Detective Harris said to Laura, “I think it’s time you should head home, Mrs. Dennings. Perhaps the kidnapper changed his mind.”
Laura drove back to her house, she was devastated. When she got back home, Richard was standing with the carpet, in Emily’s room.
“Doesn’t the carpet look like it’s new?” He asked.
“How could it be so new?” Laura asked.
Richard said, “A good cleaner can do wonders, honey,” which Laura was suspicious with his quick response. But she couldn’t focus on it, since she was thinking about her daughter.
It’s been ten years, the police had closed the case due to time. Everyone forget Emily, except her mother, Laura. She went to an advertising place, with the pictures of her daughter.
She said, “I’d like to rent some banners,”
The woman on the desk, Jenna said, “Sure, how many would you want?”
“As many as I can afford.”
As Laura explained the vanishing of her daughter, Jenna listened her. They prepared three banners for the busiest streets of the town. Jenna used a discount on Laura, as she got emotional with Laura’s story.
The banner was simple, Emily’s picture was in the middle, smiling, and under it was written, “Forever missed, forever loved.”
Under that, “If you know something, say something,” with the number.
Laura was hopeful with the bilboards. As she received many calls, they were all wishing well for her. As days were passing, Richard said, “All our savings are gone, Laura! Just because you plastered her face all across the city!”
Laura responded, “So? What do you expect me to do, Richard? Just forget about our daughter? I want to keep her memory alive!”
At that moment, the door got knocked. She moved towards the door, and opened it. Laura was shocked, as she saw a young girl at her doorstep. She slowly realized that it was her daughter, Emily.
“Emily, oh, you’re back!” She hugged her.
“Yeah, Mom! I’m home!” Emily said, as she was hugging to her mother, tightly.
She was carrying something, the carpet. “This was all I had, Mom,” Emily said.
“And I kept it.”
Richard asked, “Who’s there?” As he was inside. His heart skipped a beat, when he saw Emily.
“What’s wrong, Richard?” Emily said. “You see a ghost? He’s the one responsible for my disappearance, Mom!”
“What? That’s nonsense!” Richard said.
“Come inside, Emily,” Lauyra said, and she closed the door after she get her daughter back.
“She’s lying, Laura!” Richard screamed, “Don’t listen to her! She’s trying to tear us apart!”
“Tell me everything, Emily!” Laura said.
TEN YEARS AGO
As Laura was away from home, as she was out for her business trip, Emily and Richard was at home. Emily come back from her school, while Richard was watching TV.
“Hey, kiddo!” Richard said, “How was school?”
“It was fine,” Emily said, and headed to her room. Richard wanted her to stay with him, “I could use some company,” he said. “And it’s your favorite show.”
As Emily didn’t wanted, she sat anyway. Richard touched her skirt, and said “Nice skirt,” which scared Emily.
As she was drowning with her school uniform, she wanted to open two buttons from her neck, but Richard acted again, “Let me help you,”
Emily pulled herself back, and said, “I’ve got it,” but Richard didn’t stop, as he come closer and closer. “Come on, Emily. You’ve grown, and it’s not like you don’t want me,”
“Get away!” Emily screamed, “I’ve got to do my homework!”
She rushed back to her room. Then Richard came, he was smiling, “You don’t need to be scared, Emily!”
Emily screamed again, “What are you doing here? Get out! This is my room!”
“Leave, Richard, or I’ll tell Mom everything!”
“And who do you think she’ll believe? A grown man or her over-imaginative daughter?” Richard said.
“She’ll believe me! I know my mom!”
She was looking at her phone over the table, but Richard yelled, “No calls!” He moved to take the phone, but Emily moved at the same time too. As she was about to take her phone, Richard pushed her, and she lost her balance, and hit the back of her head to corner of the table. She lost consciousness.
As Richard noticed that Emily’s head was bleeding, he thought that she was dead. He panicked. He immediately rolled her body with the carpet, and took her body to the car of his truck. He left the town, and dumped her body in the river. He then returned home and cleaned the Emily’s room.
PRESENT DAY
“A couple of fishermen found me, Mom,” Emily said, “I was in a neighboring town. A kind family there took me in. They also tried to find my family, but I didn’t remember my past. It was only when I returned here and saw my face on the billboards that I recalled everything—My home, you, and the terrible…night!”
“Stop it, Emily! You’re accusing me after all I have done for you guys?” Richard shouted again.
Then, Laura called the police, and Richard was taken to the police station. The officers had took a DNA test to see if the blood on the carpet was belonged to Emily, and it turned out that the blood belonged to Emily.
Later, Richard admitted that he did what Emily said, and he took his wife’s money, as he acted like the kidnapper.
After the court, Richard was arrested, and went into the prison. The mother and daughter were finally together, after years, and after terrible events.
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