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

Chapter 29 - sirens

8pm came. Rosie had now been missing for 2 hours 30 minutes and we were still exhaustedly searching. I knew that I had to do something about it quickly so I called all the girls who were helping and told them to meet me at my house to discuss what we were going to do next.

When I pulled back on the drive, a wave of emotions ran through me. I expected to be returning home with Rosie safely sat beside me. But I wasn't. I was returning home to talk about what the hell we should do now. I jumped out of the car when I saw that the hallway light was on through the front door, "Rosie?!". Keira walked out the front living room with despair scattered all across her face, "I've just searched the entire house again. She's not here". When she saw the tears forming in my eyes, and I could see the ones in hers, she pulled me into a slow and warm embrace. Usually her hugs would reassure me that everything was going to be alright - but for some reason, tonight I had such a hard time believing it.

Our hug was cut short by all of our friends crowding into the hallway, talking between them and tripping clumsily over eachother. All eager to see if we had found Rosie. When they saw it was just me and Keira, Alex said, "Luce, you need to tell us what's going on". I nodded my head and gestured to them to go down the hall and into the kitchen/living area. All of them sat except me. I couldn't stand still, never mind sit still in one place while we talked about what was going on.

I finished telling them what Beth told me and they all looked at me with wide, sad eyes. I could see that a few even had tears threatening to run down their cheeks. Despite the situation, there was a small part of me that felt happy that my best friends cared so much about my daughter. Lauren was the first to speak as she stood up, wrapped me in a hug and whispered, "I'm so sorry Luce, I had no idea". A few people murmured, "neither" while others were still in shock that the happy, energetic Rosie that they knew was going through such a dark and lonely time.

After a few moments silence, Ellen announced, "we can't sit here. We have to find her before...". Unable to finish her sentence, I nodded towards her, not wanting to believe that what she meant to say could soon become a reality if we didn't find Rosie soon. I inhaled a deep breath but before I could speak, Steph began to give orders out,  "Lucy I think you should call the police and they'll send help. Someone should stay here incase she comes back and the rest of us will continue to search all around Manchester". Slowly nodding my head, the girls began to talk about who was doing which role. I stayed silent, not able to believe the conversation that I was currently a part of.

And then someone's phone rang.

Ellie said, "who's phone is that?". Everyone checked their phones and denied that it was them until I was the only one left. Picking it up off the kitchen counter, I read the name on my screen : Rosie 😘. Looking up at Keira with hope in my eyes I barely managed to whisper, "it's Rosie". Everyone in the room stopped talking and focused their attention on me. I actually think I nearly stopped breathing when I saw those 5 letters and that emoji pop up on my screen, "answer it before she hangs up" Mary called towards me. Bringing my attention back to my phone, I pressed the green answer button, "Rosie?".

"Hi is this Lucy?"

At that moment, I knew that something was very seriously wrong. Who was this woman and why did she have Rosie's phone? Stuttering, I managed to string a few words together, "yes that's me. Where is Rosie?". She seemed so calm and collected in comparison to me when she spoke, "I'm Jess, a paramedic. I found your number under Rosie's emergency contact in her phone. We have her with us but we are in an ambulance on our way to the hospital. Will you be able to meet us there?". As soon as she said she was a paramedic, I dropped my phone from my ear so it landed on the kitchen bench. Unable to hold back the tears, I put my head in my hands and began to cry uncontrollably.