You can't be my mum (a Lucy Bronze fanfic) - Book 1

Chapter 29 - sirens

There was no point going to places that I knew she wouldn't be, so I tried somewhere that I knew she felt safe and comfortable - Jill Scott's coffee shop.

The happy and welcoming ding as you enter the shop, now sounded dull and sad as I made my way over to the counter. I said the staff member there, "can you go and get Jill please?". She nodded and went off into the back of the shop to find her. When she saw me, she shook her head lightly, "oh Lucy. I've just read your text and you sounded urgent. Have you still not found her?". I replied, "no. This was my last possible place, but I have a very strong feeling that you don't know where she is either". I tried to keep my voice as stable and calm as possible, but it was no use, the last part of the sentence wobbling like crazy. Jill enveloped me in a colossal hug with her huge, warm arms. I mumbled weakly into her chest, "I'm scared. Beth...Beth told me that Rosie told her that she doesn't want to live anymore". I could hardly finish my sentence as tears came flowing out once again. Jill seemed shocked as she took in a sharp intake of breath and pulled me closer. But I pulled away, "I can't waste any more time. I need to find her". Jill's facial expression had changed since I told her the reason I was so scared. She seemed serious and more determined than ever to find Rosie as she pulled me to the front of the shop and pushed me into the passenger side of my car - getting in the driver's seat herself. We didn't speak. Not daring to take our concentration away from the extremely important task at hand. I couldn't let anything distract me from finding my baby girl.

The only thing that I could be thankful for now was that it was summer. When she last ran away, it was a cold and dark night in February. Today, even though it was a bit cloudy, it was still very light and fairly warm considering it was 6pm and day was slowly turning into evening. At least I knew that Rosie wouldn't be freezing to death somewhere.

Steph, Ellen, Ellie and Alex had now joined in on the search and no one had found her. It had been 30 minutes of continuous driving to potential places, getting out the car and searching every last inch until we were certain that she wasn't there. And still, the only people who knew the seriousness of this search were me, Keira and Jill. Steph texted me:

Steph H - me and Ellen have just checked your house to see if Rosie has come back but she's not there. R u sure she hasn't just gone to a friend's?

Me - 100% sure. She told Meado some stuff and I think she left the house with the intent of doing something

Steph H - What did she tell Beth? Doing what? To herself or someone else?

Me - herself

Steph H - ohhh Lucy, I'm so sorry. We need to find her immediately. And if we don't I think you should call the police. We can't leave it too late.

Too late. Those two words that I didn't think could have such a big impact. But they did when Steph typed them. Reality hit me that I might be waking up tomorrow without a daughter. Actually, screw that, if that was the case I don't think I would be getting any sleep at all ,nevermind waking up. Pushing those thoughts as far as they could go to the back of my brain, I fixed my eyes on the lifeless paths and roads once again.

The optimistic thoughts were slowly fading away, but I couldn't give up. I needed to find Rosie and I would drive about until I did - despite if it was the middle of the night or early in the morning.

I had sent her multiple texts from my phone, Jill's phone and I was sure that everyone else searching would have also tried to contact her at one point.

"you've reached Rosie, don't leave a message" I heard Rosie's sarcastic answerphone for the hundredth time. If the call went through, I would at least know she was safe and alright for now, but it never did. For 2 solid hours, I heard the same message being drilled into my brain as I called and called, until her voicemail box was full.