Prescient

Chapter 23

There was a sense of Deja vu so strong at this moment it was as if Tanya had stepped back in time and was reliving a memory. Maggie sitting on the kitchen chair while she wiped the blood off her face, cleaning up the mess the cut had made with a bottle of iodine, some medical tape and gauze sitting neatly laid out on the table beside them. The only difference being in the memory evoking the Deja vu Maggie was five.

Her injury had been inflicted by hitting a wall back then too. The boisterous little girl had been running through the house – not this one but the one they lived in at the time with Maggie's father, Donald – and not paying attention to what she was doing, Maggie ran headfirst into the frame of the kitchen doorway and split open her forehead just above her right eye.

Tanya's eyes flicked to the spot now and she could still see a very faint scar line where the wound had opened up.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked her daughter as she finished wiping away the blood and began cutting small strips of medical to place over the cut to hold it shut.

"I'm okay, Mum," Maggie replied, unable to look her mother in the eye. She was still so deeply ashamed of what she had done... and what she had nearly done. "I have a killer headache ramping up but I guess that serves me right for trying to knock myself out by head-butting a wall."

"Well, it's not something I recommend you try again, honey." Tanya's lip turned up at one corner in a sort of half-smile.

"I promise I won't."

"Good. That's all done now but I want to check your eyes in case you have a concussion."

"I'm fine, Mum. Honestly."

"You wouldn't even know if you did, Maggie. Let me check."

Tanya grabbed her phone and switch on the flashlight app, shining it first in one of her daughter's eyes and then the other. She seemed to be satisfied as she put her phone down and made her way over to the kitchen bench to make a couple of cups of coffee.

Neither of them spoke while Tanya busied herself with the drinks but as soon as they were both sitting at the table with their piping hot coffees in front of them, Tanya spoke again.

"I have to call the police," Tanya said as she swiftly got to her feet, arms extended towards Maggie to help her up.

"No, Mum. I told you what Gizmo said and he means it. He's not a nice guy. If he says he'll hurt Kay-Kay if cops get involved. He will. He's not stupid either so he'll know."

"I know. I have to call them because we've already told the police about him when you came home and told us what you did," Tanya said, her voice shaking with the combination of fear and sickness fighting inside her. "They're already looking for him so I need to tell them you made a mistake. That this dealer guy has nothing to do with it and hopefully they'll leave it be."

"They probably won't just leave it be though, which is why we have to find him first. Look, Mum, this is my mess – my debt – and I know I don't have the money I owe him, but if you do and you can pay him, I swear to God that as soon as I'm clean, I'll get a job and pay you back every cent."

"How much do you owe, honey?"

"Three thousand."

"Three thousand? Really? All this over three thousand dollars? Jesus Christ."

"I know, Mum. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Maggie. It's okay. We're going to sort this out. I'm going to call Michael and tell him to leave work early and come home. We've got money in a joint account we can use to get Kaylah back."

Tanya grasped her coffee mug with both hands so as not to let her shaking hands spill the hot liquid all over herself. She took a sip and tried not to think about how this was the Mug Kaylah bought her for Mother's Day a few years back.

"Mum."

"Yes, honey."

"I love you so much."

"I know, honey. I love you too."

"We're going to get her back, aren't we. I mean, everything's going to be okay, right?"

"I hope so, sweetie. I really hope so."

***********************************************************

Very short chapter here but let me know what you think and please vote. Ta-ta for now but not for long!