Ramona

1

I sit with her, just as shocked as her by the news. I hold my wife's hand as we try to find words, a thousand thoughts running through our minds. Everything is a blur and time feels so slow yet so fast. I didn't get everything the detective said, only some of it. Her words got lost in my head and I shake it off, trying to collect myself. For so long our only daughter has been missing and finally the police found her. I take a deep and long breath before the detective speaks again.

"We found your daughter. She's at the hospital right now."

My wife lifts her head, eyes already filled with tears. "Is she.. Is she alive?" She asked with hope in her words.

The detective nods slowly and both me and my wife let out a breath of relief.

"I have to warn you first Mr and Mrs Heath.. Your daughter is very injured and the doctor said she needs to rest."

I look at my wife and squeeze her hand a bit. "Maybe we can see her just for a few minutes and stay at the hospital until she's stable enough."

She silently agrees with me, wiping her tears away with the tissue in her other hand. The detective gives us the information and we decide to go right away. It feels like a dream to finally get reunited with our daughter after so long. I still remember the day she got missing.

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"I hate you so much! Why do you have to ruin my life all the time??" She's yelling at me from the top of the stairs.

"He's older than you, you can't go dating older guys!" I yell back at her.

"For gods sake dad, he's 5 years older! You're 5 years older than mom!"

I become silent suddenly. She has a point but I'm too mad at her for not telling she was going on a date with an older guy. "Irrelevant, you're grounded for 3 weeks!"

She groan and stormed to her bedroom. I took a deep breath, shaking my head slightly. I should go after her but my wife always tell me to give her some space when we had an argue. I just don't understand why she has become such rebellious lately. Maybe she's stressed out from school work or maybe it's that time of the month again.

My thoughts freeze as I feel a warm hand on my shoulder. I turn around to see my wife with an understanding but loving look. "Let her be, I'll go get her when dinner is ready." She said with a calm voice.

I kissed my wife on the cheek and smiled softly to her.

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"Sweetie, can you go get Ramona?" My wife asks as we finish doing the dishes. I nod and walk upstairs to her bedroom, knocking on her door. "Ramona, you missed dinner with us." I say and wait for a reply.

I don't hear anything after a few seconds and I knock again. "Ramona, please come out."

A few seconds pass and I grab the door handle, opening the door. When my head peeks in I don't see any signs of my daughter. Her room is a mess, much more than usual. A chair has fallen, a lamp is broken and clutter is spread around on the floor. I notice the window being wide open with the curtains moving just a bit. I instantly walk over to the window to check. Blood. I see blood marks on the floor from her bed and to the window. Not much though, just a few drops.

"Mags!" I call out loud. "Mags! She's gone!" I start to slightly panic and hear my wife walk in the room.

She look around the messy bedroom and her eyes landing on me. Her eyes are worried, an expression I hardly ever see. "What happened?" She asks.

I shake my head. "There's blood here, it looks like a fight was going on."

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It's been 3 years now. 3 years with no signs of our daughter.

The police was working 24/7 to find her. No witnesses, no dna, not even a footprint. My wife and I was worried for so long. I never seen my wife that worried and sad, she fell into a depression and I had to take care of her. I was sad too, but I was the strong one now. My wife is such a loving person she's never mean or angry to anyone. I admire that of her, but ever since Ramona went missing I haven't seen that side of my wife.

We might have been new to the town but everyone shared their warm thoughts to us. They knew we were going through a though time and of course they knew my wife was depressed. I would always tell them Ramona would be back. But after a year I started to lose hope myself.

I can't describe how much it hurts when your bubbly and sweet daughter goes missing, spending the holidays without her and wondering where she is. Because we didn't know where she was all this time. Most nights my wife cried herself to sleep and I felt so bad about it. The police were doing their best looking for her and I felt like I couldn't do more than to spread the word online about my missing daughter.

I held my wife's hand as we walked down the hall to the room where our daughter was resting in the hospital. My only wish for 3 years was that she would still be alive, and now my wish had come true. It felt weird and I was nervous to see her again. My wife was still in shock, I squeezed her hand a little and tried to smile to her. "Our girl is finally home." I whisper to my wife.

She nods and smile softly back. A smile I've missed so much.

We stop outside the room and talk to the doctor before going inside. "Don't ask too many questions, she's a bit confused and don't remember much." The doctor says to us.

I open the door and see her, she's resting in the hospital bed peacefully. I instantly smile as I see her face and I look at my wife who's smiling too.

We stand beside her at the bed and our daughter open her eyes slowly. She stares at us for a while. "How are you feeling?" Is the first thing I ask.

Ramona look between my wife and I. "Tired." She whispers.

I can already hear my wife crying of happiness and relief.

"Who are you two?" Ramona asks suddenly.

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