Prescient

Chapter 9

Eyes, chest, nose, and head, all aching from constantly crying, Tanya lay curled up in a ball on her daughter's bed.

Her entire body ached but her heart hurt most of all.

Two days had passed and her daughter was still missing. Every day, every hour, increased the chance Kaylah would never come home.

On Monday evening when Tanya called the police, they drove by the school then had a look around the nearby shopping centre.

The school confirmed Kaylah's presence in every one of her classes that day and Marcy saw her best friend head off on her way home and told them of her phone conversation with her. So Kaylah's disappearance occurred sometime between her visit to the shops and getting home. The focus was mainly on that boy who Kaylah got a lift with, but the questioning from the police was still extensive and tiring for Tanya.

"Has your daughter ever not come home before?"

"Has she been in any trouble lately? Hanging out with the wrong crowd?"

"Is it possible she went off somewhere with that boy?"

"Does Kaylah drink or do drugs?"

"Have there been troubles at home? Is it possible she might have run away?"

The question of whether or not Kaylah ran away was moot. None of her belongings, other than her school bag and the books she had with her, were gone.

Tanya knew the police wondered because her eldest daughter ran away from home four years ago.

However, they had known that is what Maggie did because a lot of her clothes and personal belongings were gone with her. Although, that hadn't stopped Tanya from calling the police when her daughter hadn't returned or even made contact with them a day later.

Every time Tanya rang Maggie – even from a private number – the phone simply rang out. That was before it started telling her the number was disconnected.

Tanya knew her daughter was just avoiding her, but that didn't stop her worrying. Maggie was nearly sixteen – the same age as Kaylah now, and yet to Tanya, she would always be Mummy's little girl.

When Tanya and Michael contacted the police then, they took a little look around at the places Tanya listed for them. Maggie's usual haunts.

On the third day, Maggie sent a text message.

'Stop callin mum. Please. I'm fine n more happy where I am now than I would eva b at home with u n him. Leave me b!!!!

But Tanya didn't want to 'leave her be.' She wanted her little girl back. The well-behaved, sweet-hearted girl Maggie had been before.

That night, she and Michael argued.

The next day they'd argued more.

Michael wanted to let Maggie come home of her own accord and Tanya wanted to keep looking for her daughter.

Tanya blamed Michael.

Mostly she blamed herself.

She always had and on some level, she did think marrying Michael was the reason Maggie went off the rails. It was about then she started becoming distant, spending more time at friend's places, or shutting herself in her room

Tanya didn't know then her daughter's avoidance was mainly due to the fact she didn't want her mother to realize she was drunk, or stoned – or both.

Maggie was only fourteen.

Tanya didn't think it was that her daughter didn't like Michael, although Maggie never took to her step-dad as Kaylah did. Not like he didn't incorporate them into his life like they were his own daughters. Not like he wasn't more of a dad to them than their biological father.