Behind The Scenes

[Chapter Twenty Three]

Chapter 23

"Abbie!"

My eyes darted out frantically, scanning through the mass of people. Frustration bubbled up inside of me when the reporter's pursuits failed to cease. They were acting as though everything was fine, as if this was normal.

This wasn't normal.

My daughter had slipped from my grasp and these strangers hadn't noticed; they didn't even seem to care.

Through the panic and the crowd, I hadn't noticed another, more familiar car pull onto the street, whipping quickly into the driveway before Emily and Dustin stumbled out.

"Are you people out of your god damn mind?" Emily yelled.

Pushing her way through the hoard of cameras until she reached me, she wrapped her arms safely around me, giving me the much-needed support.

"And who are you?" one of the reporters asked curiously.

"I'm her fucking sister, that's who, and if you and your group of paid minions don't move back so she can find her daughter, there will be hell to pay."

A commotion began at Emily's open-ended threat, though the words simply went in one ear and out the other. The screaming and the fighting was all too much, and just when I thought the weight of the situation would crush me, a soft whimper caught my attention. I didn't know how it was possible to hear it over the crowd, but when I did, my head snapped down, my heart breaking when I saw my daughter clutching her leg in pain. She was resting on the sidewalk, squished between the masses of people. Her eyes were red and rimmed with tears while her chin trembled, a frightened expression masking her face.

Shaking myself free from Emily's arms, I dropped to my knees immediately, pushing everyone away until I had my baby in my arms again.

"It's okay, it's okay," I cooed in her ear, running my hand over the top of her hair to smooth it down.

I was trying to be reassuring and put on a brave face, but on the inside I was trembling.

"I'm scared," she mumbled into my shoulder.

The words were like a punch to the gut, and knowing that I was part of the reason this had happened was painstakingly horrible. Though, due to my actions, everyone finally seemed to realize what had happened, taking a few steps back from Abbie and I to give us room to breathe.

The shutter of cameras was enough to notice that, while they had backed away, they were still looking for a story, and would stop at nothing to get it.

Anger coursing through my veins, I opened my mouth to give them all a piece of my mind, but was stopped when Dustin voice rang through the crowd.

"If all of you aren't off this street in less than a minute, I'm calling the police," he announced, loud and authoritatively. He held his cell phone up as well, letting the press know that he wasn't kidding around. "You're all trespassing on this property, not caring that you're creating a nuisance and a hazard for us, as well as the neighbours, and on top of all that, you've managed to injure a sweet and innocent young girl. I'm sure all of your bosses will be thrilled when you go into work tomorrow with a restraining order taped to your backs."

I wasn't able to tell how much of his threat was exaggerated to get his point across, but it worked. Many eyes widened as they realized that, amongst the chaos, my daughter had gotten hurt, and they knew that if word got out, they'd be the ones under siege.

I was too focused on calming Abbie down to pay attention to the group of reporters, but when Abbie's breathing finally started to level out, I lifted my head to see that the crowd had disappeared, the last of them piling into their van and rushing off down the street.