Camo and Navy Blue [Book Two]

Seven

Maureen

I pulled over onto the side of the road and pulled out my phone. My mother was calling, so I let out a small prayer before answering it.

"Mama? Did you find them?" I asked quickly.

"N-no, I didn't... I saw them on the school's cameras..." She trailed off, as her breaths came in hiccups.

"Mama-"

"They ran away together, Mo. They were heading towards the playground, but they weren't there. Your father and Fin are trying to find them. Please head home and get some sleep. You have-"

"I'm not going to school tomorrow when my little brothers are missing, Mom! So tell me anything else to do but that," I huffed, as hot tears streamed down my cheeks. I wanted to scream, because this was the last thing we needed.

We didn't need to be up all night searching for Tobias and Jasper when they should be at home in their beds. Each clasping a stuffed teddy bear to their chests and their messy brown hair like halos on their pillows.

"Mo, can I ask you something?" My mother whispered, her voice shaking with each word.

"Anything, Mama."

"Am I really a terrible mother? The boys yelled at me and told me they hated me... Do you hate me too?" She sniffled.

"You are the best mother, and nothing can change that. Jasper and Tobias are just angry that they got in trouble, but soon they will want to come home and get cuddled by you. They just need to get over their anger," I whispered, as my mother cried on her side of the call.

I wanted to be with her and hugged her tightly, but I was on the side of the road in a place my little brothers may not even be.

///

My father asked me to join him and my mother at the precinct. When I arrived, they had made a list of places we had gone before that the boys may have wandered too.

"Fun Time Bounce closed down last week. It's locked up with chains on the door and everything," I spoke, instead of greeting those around me. My mother wiped a tear from her cheek before erasing that business with her hand.

"Did we check the park or the zoo?" My mother asked, her fingers squeezing the bridge of her nose to relieve a headache.

"Not yet. We sent uniformed officers to each location, but they haven't checked in yet." My father frowned.

He walked into his office and shut the door, as my mother sat down and raked her shaking fingers through her hair. The room was silent, even if everyone was working their asses off.

"Do you know of any friends' houses that are in the direction that they were walking in?" Fin asked softly. I turned to him and shook my head.

"Not off the top of my head. I can call Kathleen and ask her to send me a few pictures of the emergency book," I replied, and he nodded quickly.

"We need to think like the twins, and if they know somewhere close, they may be there."

///

I called my little sister, and she sprinted around the house in search of my parents' emergency book. It had numbers for every member of the squad, Nana's number, every number of the doctors we use, and especially the numbers of trusted friends. My mother kept it to ensure we always had a way of contacting whoever we needed.

"Can you put Mama on? I can't find that fucking book," Kathleen grumbled into the phone. I sighed softly and walked towards my father's office, and knocked on the door.

"We aren't-" My father started, but I opened the door, anyway.

"It's just me. Katie needs to talk to mom," I sighed.

My mother quickly grabbed the phone from me before talking to my sister. They retraced my mother's steps when she last had the book, which was only a few mornings ago. Yet when Kathleen got to the spot where the book was supposed to be, it wasn't there.

"Did either of you check the boys' bags this morning? Make sure they had everything?" My mother asked, as she put the phone on speaker and looked between me and my father. Someone was always supposed to check bags, so the boys and Lilly didn't forget their lunches. One was always forgetting, but at least if we discovered it at home, we could fix the issue before we got out of the driveway.

"I was too busy cleaning up Lilly's face," I frowned.

"I looked in Jasper's bag, and put his lunch box in it... I think I saw something black in there, but I can't remember. Do you think they stole the book?" My father asked. My mother nodded slowly.

"They know that if they call anyone in that book, they will help. So we need to call anyone we can and see if the boys are there, or called them. We need to do this quick, since it's supposed to get colder as the night goes on... and I didn't give them their heavy jackets."

///

Olivia

My husband and I wandered out of the last building we had checked. My sons were not with either of their best friends, nor had their doctor or our emergency sitter heard from them. 

"Liv, we will find them soon. Then we can take them home and ground them for life, but also cuddle them and cover their faces in kisses. Liv-"

"I don't believe you, Elliot. I am so angry at myself for not making things better with them before we headed out this morning, that all I can think about is that this is my fault. Our sons hate me so much that they'd rather sleep outside in the cold than in the same home as me!" I yelled, as my anger got the best of me.

I walked ahead of my husband and quickly got to a bench. I kicked it with my boot, before screaming as my husband moved to me and wrapped his arms tightly around my body.

"Olivia, please stop! You can't be this angry for long before something happens to you or our baby. So-"

"I don't even deserve this baby when I can't even take care of my own fucking kids!"