The Air Force helicopters took off once more into the night sky for another round of frantically combing the skies above the Wild Forest as they searched desperately for the missing children.
Victoria stood alone in the centre of the field, her hair flying in the wind from the gust of air produced by the many rotating blades. She had just been briefed by the Air Force Commander about the state of the search. Things were not looking good.
She sighed and turned to make her way back, her mind deep in thought. She entered the guesthouse where she and the other mothers were temporarily staying until they found their sons.
She closed the door tiredly behind her with a soft click, causing the other moms to look eagerly up at her. They sat in sofas around an exquisite glass centre table with varying degrees of hope in their eyes.
Victoria shook her head slowly and the hope died. She moved to sit on one of the couches and folded her hands daintily in her lap. They sat in silence for a while each engulfed in their own thoughts as their minds plagued them with worry.
Charlesetta soon had enough of the depressing silence and turned on the large flat-screen TV in front of the room.
The screen came on to a news channel where the breaking news was ongoing:
'The seven children who were missing from the prestigious Lumière International High School have still not been found. Search operations are still ongoing but officials hold little hope-'
She switched the station.
'We are looking at live pictures from Lumière International High School were Air Force helicopters have just taken into the air for another night of futile searching-'
Another switch.
'The Ashanti Royal Family has declined to comment on the tragic events of the previous days but Manhyia Palace has released a press statement saying that the royal family holds out every hope for the safe recovery of the Crown Prince. We should be aware however that His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince has been missing for more than two days. Should the Ashanti Kingdom prepare for a change in the royal line of succession-'
Another switch.
Jayden Mills, the only son of Roger and Victoria Mills and sole heir to the Mills fortune, estates and power is amongst those missing from Lumière International High School. The Premier Family of the Noble 52 has released a statement declaring that their thoughts, prayers, and well wishes are with the Second Family of the 52. This is not strange as the two most powerful families in the country have enjoyed a close unbreakable bond for the better part of a century. Jayden Mills is not the only sole heir of the Noble 52 amongst the missing students. The son of the Mensah family, Charles Mensah and the son of the Castello family, Cameron Castello are also missing. The ward of the Castellos, Leonardo Ferrars is also amongst the missing children. He was taken in after his family, an ancient member of the 52 died in a tragic fire in their ancestral mansion. Though not the sole or even the first or second heir, Samuel Asamoah, son of the pharmaceutical giants Fredrick and Sandra Asamoah is also among the missing. Are we looking at the end of an era? Will these families of the Noble 52 able to recover from these devastating loss-'
Charlesetta promptly turned the screen off and tossed the remote aside in disgust. 'I'm going to sue every single one of them.'
'You own those media houses,' Lady Sylvia put in calmly.
'They are all fired then,' Charlesetta decided with finality.
'Don't be unreasonable.'
'I'll be as unreasonable as I like,' Charlesetta snapped. 'My son is missing!'
Lady Sylvia rolled her eyes. 'So is mine but you don't see me bitching about it.'
Charlesetta sneered. 'That's because you don't love your son.'
The room froze.
'Excuse me?' Lady Sylvia inquired in a chilling tone.
'Please everyone here knows the dynamics of the Ashanti Royal Family and we all know you are using your son to secure your position. Without him you are nothing.'
'How dare you?' Lady Sylvia fumed, her eyes blazing in wrath.
'Ladies I think we are taking this too far,' Maria came in warily, casting an anxious glance at each of them.
'Yeah,' Sandra stepped in worriedly. 'I think we all need a time out.'
'I'll tell you who needs a time out, it's this opportunist,' Charlesetta jeered. 'We all know I'm right, why bother to deny it? Tell us your highness, why as the wife of a king your title is not Queen but Lady?'
'Watch yourself, Charlesetta despite my title, whatever it may be, I outrank you and trust me you do not want to make an enemy out of me.'
Charlesetta scoffed. 'What are you going to do? What can you do? You may outrank me but Victoria outranks you and why is that? Because you and your entire royal family are not what you once were. Once a mighty and glorious empire, you are now reduced to nothing but a measly kingdom, which doesn't even have autonomy. You are under the rule of the government of this country. How must that feel becoming so unimportant and insignificant?'
'Enough!'
Charlesetta and Lady Sylvia were on their feet, staring off at each other with rage boiling in their eyes.
'Sit down.'
They continued to stare defiantly at each other but sat down, none daring to disobey a direct order from Victoria Mills.
Victoria's beautiful face was masked with her usual look of cold indifference as her eyes moved between the two. 'This behaviour is completely unbecoming for ladies of your class. What do you have to say for yourselves?'
'I'll tell you what I have to say,' Lady Sylvia raged, facing Charlesetta. 'FUCK YOU!'
She swung around. 'FUCK YOU ALL!' she shrieked.
Everyone stared in wide-eyed shock at this unexpected outburst. Though she occasionally shows emotions, Lady Sylvia was famous for her perfect composure.
'I married into a patriarchal institution so yes; I use my son to secure my position. Yes, I require my son to be relevant but don't for a single second dare to think that I don't love my son. My boy is the only reason I do anything, I live and breathe for him.'
She took a deep breath. 'Let me ask you, do you know what happens the moment I become irrelevant? I would be cast aside and no longer be allowed to see my son, my only son! A son whom I love more than life itself. I need my position to protect him. He is surrounded by wolves, sharks all thirsting for his blood. It's my guidance that protects him and I live in constant fear of how he would survive without it.'
Her chest rose and fell quickly with her heavy breaths. The other mothers stared at her with something akin to pity.
'I understand,' Sandra murmured. 'In fact, we all do. Look around, our sons are missing but do you see their fathers? My husband is holed up in his lab. He is worried and cares a lot but he refuses to leave his research as he considers it far too important. He has left everything to me but I can't handle this all by myself! I need support but I'm alone.'
Maria smiled derisively. 'My ex-husband was a cunt. He drank and gambled away most of our family fortunes until he drank himself into an early grave and good riddance too. He left me alone with my son with next to nothing and I had to rebuild our lives and fortunes by myself whiles raising him. Then Leo joined us and that boy is the best thing to happen to my son. His father left an ugly emotional scar and it was a relief to see that boy bring a smile to his face. He still has anxieties and panic-attacks from that bastard but I no longer worry because Leo always calms him down and I know that he will protect him with more than his life and make sure there's always a smile on his face.'
Charlesetta nodded solemnly. 'My husband has also left me to deal with this on my own.' She gave a short derisive laugh. 'He would rather pretend this isn't happening than face his emotions. Why do men have such fragile masculinity?'
She turned to Noel's mother. 'What about you?'
Noel's mother blinked, startled that Charlesetta had deigned to address her. 'Erm... my husband is worried but he refused to come here. He considers this women's issues and until we find something thinks it's pointless to be present.'
Charlesetta nodded and turned to Victoria. 'What about yours?'
Victoria stared up at her with expressionless eyes. 'He isn't here.'
Everyone nodded in understanding. Noel's mother stood up and went to place an arm around Lady Sylvia, leading everyone to do the same. Even Victoria walked over and patted her shoulder comfortingly.
'We all understand what it's like to live in a patriarchal society and be dismissed by clueless men who think we have no idea what we are doing. The mistake we make is dancing to their tune as they pit us against one another.'
Charlesetta nodded. 'Now more than ever we've got to stick together.'
'We don't need men to support us, we've got each other.' Maria stated firmly.
'Agreed,' Sandra piped in. 'We will help and be there for one another and not allow them to control us. Besides they all have tiny cocks anyway.'
Everyone burst into laughter at the joke and hugged one another tearfully, emotions and stress having run high the entire night.
Later, they sat around the glass centrepiece and exchanged fond memories of their children.
'Back when Paul was a toddler he used to be a right terror. Bath time was always a war, he used to and still is deathly afraid of water. He would wiggle out of the bathtub and run naked through the palace halls with soap suds and crying nurses trailing after him.'
'Charles always had a problem sleeping. He used to have nightmares and would sneak in and snuggle right up next to me in bed, cuddling me lovingly and swearing to protect me from his monsters. Can you believe it? Protect me from the monsters in his head. It was so sweet that tears would come in my eyes.'
'Every time I used to come back from the hospital, Samuel would run up to me in his little feet and make sure that I was alright. He would force me into the couch and place his little toy stethoscope on my heart, listening to my heartbeat until we both fell asleep because he always insisted we nap together. He claimed that he can never take his afternoon nap without listening to my heart. Now he wouldn't even let me brush his hair.'
'I know right! I wish they would have remained our little boys forever.' Maria sighed tearfully.
'Now, I look at the men they're growing up into and my heart swells so full with pride I feel as if it is bursting.'
This went on for a while. They laughed a little, cried a little and cursed their husbands to the deep realms of hell and back.
Later at midnight, they had all retired to their various rooms and Victoria was standing alone on the balcony, gazing into the dark forest that stretched before her.
Her phone buzzed with an incoming call and she quickly answered it.
'Took you long enough.' Her voice was crisp.
'My love, what's wrong you sound stressed. Is everything alright?' her husband's anxious voice came out through the speaker.
'What's wrong? Our son is missing! Why aren't you here?'
'Why do I need to be there? We should be grateful he is missing, it spares us the embarrassment of having a gay son. If we're lucky he would die in there and his sinful ways would be over.'
Victoria's hand clenched tightly around the phone. 'How can you say that?' she whispered. 'That's our son.'
'And because he's our son I wish him a quick death. Trust me honey, it would be a mercy to him and all involved. If he dies now, he can't continue sinning and maybe God will forgive his disgusting sins and he wouldn't burn in hell.'
Victoria paused for a long moment. The wind picked up speed and blew her hair into her face.
'Darling, are you still there? Are yo-'
'Goodbye.'
She stood perfectly still and closed her eyes to the cool breeze as it gently caressed her face. She opened them again when she sensed somebody moving behind her.
She turned her head to see Noel's mother moving to stand by her. She gave her a small polite small.
'I don't think we've properly met. I assume you know my name but I'm afraid I don't know yours.'
'Marlene,' Noel's mother answered. 'But everyone calls me Ma.'
'Nice to meet you, Marlene.'
'Is everything alright?' Ma asked concernedly.
Victoria gave her a wry smile. 'Men are dicks but we've already established that.' She sighed. 'Things are just strained at home.'
Ma nodded, understanding dawning on her face. 'Oh, I get it. Is it because of the gay thing?'
Victoria froze. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she turned to face her. 'What are you talking about?'
'Don't worry, you don't have to pretend with me I know. Noel came out to me during the Christmas vacation and told me everything.'
Victoria studied her closely. 'He did?'
Ma hummed in assent.
'What was your reaction?'
'Well, I was surprised of course. I mean no one ever expects their son to be gay though a small part of me always knew. Noel has always been more than a little sensitive and soft. Also, a mother always knows though I denied it to myself until it was staring at me right in the face.'
She chuckled. 'I wasn't happy about it obviously. What mother would want their child to go through all the hate and stigma that comes with being gay? I was also raised to see that type of lifestyle as sinful but when my little boy came out to me looking so scared of my reaction, I knew. I knew that I loved him no matter what or who he is and if that's who he is, I would try to understand and do my darndest to support him.'
Victoria turned away and said nothing.
Ma looked at her sadly in understanding. 'It's not easy, is it?'
'No,' Victoria said after a while. 'No, it's not.'
'Imagine how it must be for them then. They don't want to be this way, who wants to be different like that especially considering the raging homophobia in the country we live in.'
Victoria sighed. 'He can change. I want to help him to change, I want to protect him from all that but he keeps pushing me away.' She reached up to her neck and played with the necklace hanging there. 'Jayden made this necklace for me when he was thirteen. It is the last present he ever gave me.'
Ma nodded. 'We all want to protect our children from the world but at some point, we've got to let go and pray that we've taught them enough to protect themselves. I know you want to keep him safe but in the end, he wouldn't remember that you tried to protect him from the world, all he would remember is that you weren't there for him when he needed you most.'
Ma turned to face her. 'I know it isn't my place or my business but I think you should stop caring what other people will think of you and more about what your son thinks of you.'
Victoria said nothing for a long moment before turning back to her. 'I'm certain you didn't come out here to talk about my failed relationship with my son.'
Ma nodded, worry filling her face. 'Tonight, when we were watching the news, they spoke about everyone missing. Everyone but my son. I know we are not powerful and have money but my son is important to me. I'm worried that they would find the others and leave my son to his fate because he is not important enough to them.'
Victoria placed an elegant hand on her shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. 'We would never do that. We are going to find every single one of them, including your son and we will bring them home.'
She removed her hand and turned away. 'Besides, you have nothing to worry about. Jayden cares a great deal about your son. He would never allow anyone to leave or move an inch without Noel and trust me, he is a fierce one when it comes to things he cares about.'
Tears filled Ma's eyes as she nodded gratefully. 'Thank you, ma'am.'
Victoria nodded and closed her eyes, opening them when she was once more alone on the dark balcony. She gazed into the black forest ahead as a faint breeze rustled the leaves. Her hand reached up to clutch her necklace tightly as the breeze blew about her hair.
'Jayden,' she whispered into the night. 'Where are you?'
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Whoa, looks like it's not only the kids who are having problems working together.
I now see where Charles gets it from, I mean don't you?🤔
We finally got a look at Jayden's dad. What did you think about him?
Honestly, most men are dicks and not because they possess the external pendulous feature of the male anatomy.
Another long chapter yay!!! You can show me some appreciation by clicking that little star below 😉.
Till we meet again.