Monday
June 23, 2014
3:07 PM
~~~~~
"What the hell...What is this..." Ivy said to herself seeing a blank envelope in her mailbox. She had just gotten home from running errands most of the day and her next plan was to go visit Ivory and Enrieta-Maria now that she had confirmation that the two of them were okay.
But first...to figure out what was inside the rogue envelope left in the mailbox.
She hurried inside so she could see what was inside. She sat down on the sofa and opened up the envelope and smiled when she had found a picture of her beloved granddaughter Ivory. Inside the envelope Ivy also managed to get her hands on a folded up sheet of paper. It was the words written inside the sheet of paper that caused Ivy's heart to sink.
The letter read:
"Mama,
For someone who seemed to be so disappointed in me I was quite surprised to see you cared enough about me to send a search party out for me...I am writing you this letter to let you know, the next time you send someone to look for me, I won't be able to be found...
I lived my whole life wanting nothing more than to impress you, to make you proud...but Nothing ever seems to be enough for you. So now, I am going away, I hope you can forgive me for what I am going to do.
As for Ivory Lee, as far as I know, she is alive and well, but where she lays her head now, is a secret I'll never tell...I can finally breathe...why? Because I'm free.
Forgive me Mama...
Enrieta-Maria Cristian-Lee
~~~~~
"What have I done..." Ivy says getting up and rushing out of her home. She got in her car and rushed down to Enrieta-Maria's apartment, and banged on the door.
"Enrieta-Maria let me in right now!" Ivy shouted. When there was no answer she knocked again.
"Enrieta-Maria!" When the door didn't open, Ivy quickly dug in her purse and found something to help her pick the lock. It took a few moments but Ivy was finally able to get herself into Enrieta's apartment and immediately began searching the place for Enrieta and Ivory.
"Enrieta!?!!"
"Enrieta!? Please don't do this..." Ivy shouted into the apartment tearing the place apart. The floor had been littered in wine bottles and scotch bottles...a clear indicator Enrieta had to have been under the influence. She searched high and low to find both her daughter and her granddaughter but both of them were no where to be found. She had no other choice but to call the police a second time that day.
"1-1-2, what is your emergency?"
"Yes, my name is Ivy Lee, and I'm calling because my daughter and my granddaughter are both missing!"
~~~The Police Station~~~
3:45 pm
"So...you have no idea where they are?"
"No!" Ivy shouted at the detective over the investigation. "I told you, my daughter had been ignoring my calls three weeks straight, and one of your officers did a welfare check on her just this morning and now she is not there! Am I being lied to?!"
"No ma'am, the officer we had check on your daughter confirmed she was in the apartment at that time...we also did receive a disturbing call from one of Enrieta's neighbors reporting a domestic violence disturbance..."
"Oh God no...I hope she didn't hurt my grand baby..."
"The officer said that the baby was perfectly fine, just fussy, but for the sake of the child we're hoping nothing more happened both before and after the arrival of law enforcement..."
"Please...if you don't find my daughter I at least need you to find my grand baby and bring her home to me...she's only 3 weeks old, and I don't know what Enrieta could have done with that innocent child." Ivy said crying even harder.
"What's her name?"
"Ivory Lee, she was born June 1st, and by now she should be 3 weeks old!"
"You have any pictures? We need a picture to get her face out there, that's the fastest way we can spread awareness." The detective explains.
"Just this one that my daughter left in that letter..." Ivy says showing the detective the photo of Ivory. "...if possible I want it back after you get copies. It's all I've got left of my granddaughter."
"Don't worry ma'am, we'll make sure you get the photo back, better yet we'll get that baby back to you as soon as we can...hang in there."
"Thank you detective..." Ivy says handing the detective the photo of Ivory.
"Enrieta-Maria...what have you done with my grand baby?"
~~~~~
•••••••••••••
2 years Later
*The Present*
•••••••••••••
Thursday
June 23, 2016
4:45 PM
~~~~~
Central Cemetery
"Oh Enrieta-Maria..." Ivy sighed kneeling beside her daughter's grave.
"You know the reason I still visit you, is because you're my daughter...and I love you..." Ivy sighed.
"Even though you're my daughter and I will always love you, One thing is for sure...I just can't bring myself forgive you for making your own daughter disappear." She said staring at the only picture she had of Ivory.
"She was just a baby Enrieta-Maria...she was 3 weeks old...all you had to do was ask for help, and I would have come, but no...you had to make her disappear and for that I can never forgive you." She sighed leaving yet another rose on Enrieta's grave and walked away.
~~~~~
Ivy shuddered as she left Enrieta-Maria's grave and headed back to her home in Bucharest.
Every year on the anniversary of Ivory's disappearance, Ivy would leave a pink rose every year on Enrieta-Maria's grave.
Never for Enrieta...but for Ivory.
Since Ivory was a June birthday, and the rose was her birth flower, Ivy would always leave a rose in memory of her grand baby.
However she would visit Enrieta-Maria from time to time, but only made it a point to visit twice a year...once on Enrieta's birthday...Once on the day she made Ivory Lee disappear.
For months Ivory made headlines in news papers, and live action news bulletins, but law enforcement, and the media failed her.
After searching for Ivory for only three months, the detectives made Ivory's disappearance a cold case since they couldn't find any evidence to support what could have happened to her. After her case went cold, they ended up closing her case and declaring Ivory deceased.
Ever since then, Ivy became bitter.
Day in and day out Ivy had hoped and prayed that some day Ivory would be returned to her, now that two years have passed since she's disappeared, she was starting to feel like it would never happen. She refused to believe that Enrieta left Ivory to die...she knew Enrieta-Maria knew better than to harm a baby...right?
Although Enrieta-Maria had lost her mind Ivy refused to believe that the woman would do something as crazy as to kill her own child...that's what detectives proposed, but Ivy refused to believe it.
In Ivy's mind, Ivory was still out there somewhere...she just wasn't sure where.
Ivy opened up her wallet and looked at her picture of Ivory, and smiled trying to imagine what life would have been like with the girl.
"Oh Ivory, Nana would have loved you so so much...I wish you would come home to me, so I could spend the rest of your life loving you."
She sighed as she closed her wallet and unlocked the door to her townhouse, stepping inside.
She placed her wallet down on the coffee table and clicked the TV on and of course Ivy's television was still set to the news channel as it had been for the past two years.
~~~~~
MALE NEWS ANCHOR:
"Just this time yesterday, A bomb hidden in a news van Ripped through the UN building in Vienna. More than 70 people have been injured. At least 12 are dead, including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of a potential suspect... who they have identified as James Buchanan Barnes... the Winter Soldier. The infamous HYDRA agent... linked to numerous acts of terrorism and political assassinations."
"Barnes was detained by German special forces, but managed to escape custody."
~~~~~
"What a horrible man...they need to catch him already." Ivy says to herself, having been following the story since it first happened.
"They are quick to locate an awful bomber, but not a helpless baby?" Ivy scoffed taking Ivory's picture out of her wallet once again.
"Ivory...why do they always find the evil people, but never the ones who really need saving?" Ivy sighed.
~~~~~
MALE NEWS ANCHOR:
"This just in, Bombing Suspect James Buchanan Barnes is still no where to be found, but the real culprit behind the United Nations Bombing has been brought into the custody of German Special forces, and he has been identified as one of Sokovia's own...Baron Zemo."
~~~~~
"Wait...what? It wasn't the assassin?"
~~~~~
MALE NEWS ANCHOR:
"It was said that while Barnes was supposed to be going through a Psychological evaluation at German Special forces yesterday Afternoon, Zemo Allegedly disguised himself as Barnes' Therapist, and caused a power outage throughout Special forces HQ that aided Barnes in his escape from custody."
"Barnes was last seen with the United States own, Captain America also known as Steven Rogers, and Samuel Wilson, and the three men are still no where to be found."
"A massive manhunt is still underway for these three men so if you have any information to help find these three men, call law enforcement immediately."
~~~~~
"What has law enforcement ever done for me? Absolutely nothing." Ivy scoffed before getting up to go get herself a glass of water.
She continued to listen to the story of Bucky Barnes from the island counter watching the story, her heart filled with resentment.
~~~~~
MALE NEWS ANCHOR:
"Moments ago, we received word to put out an APB bulletin for a missing child."
~~~~~
The words "Missing" and "Child" woke something up in Ivy and she immediately raced to the television to see what child they were going to fail this time.
"Who's baby are they going to forget now?" Ivy said sighing, mentally preparing herself to be disappointed in law enforcement once again.
~~~~~
MALE NEWS ANCHOR:
"Our sources say that the missing child was found with Barnes at the time of his detainment, but it is unknown how the pair could be related. Shortly after the child had been removed from Barnes, the young girl was taken from the facility by an unidentified abductor.
~~~~~
"Poor baby...why weren't they keeping an eye on her?" Ivy sighed. "This kidnapping was probably so preventable...just like my Ivory disappearing."
~~~~~
MALE NEWS ANCHOR:
"German special forces is looking for a young toddler girl who was removed from the facility by an unknown abductor and as of now no one knows who is responsible for removing the child from the GSF Facility or the child's whereabouts. This is a Photo of the missing child that was just released by German Special Forces."
~~~~~
"She looks like Enrieta-Maria when she was a young girl...and those eyes...no...No, No, No, now I'm getting ahead of myself here...there's no way that's baby Ivory."
Ivy opened up her wallet and took out the last picture she received of Ivory. She looked at the baby photo and then looked at the photo on TV unable to believe her eyes.
"Oh my goodness...it can't be..." Ivy said to herself, using her cellphone to take a picture of the young child on her TV screen.
~~~~~
MALE NEWS ANCHOR:
"Again, German Special forces is looking for this young toddler girl."
"This young girl responds to 'Ivy' she is two years old, and there is still a massive manhunt underway for this child. If you see 'Ivy' remember that her personality traits are described as stubborn, Shy, and difficult, and she seems to do poorly around new faces, so approach the child with caution. When approaching this child, she responds best to calm, still, voices, so the public is being advised to keep calm around this child and not to cause a scene."
"As far as her Captor goes, assume her captor may be armed and dangerous, and call law enforcement immediately if you see this child and her captor. We are advising the public to either approach or immediately call 1-1-2 in this situation."
"Keep your eyes out for this little girl. If you or anyone you know might have information on this young girl again, don't hesitate to call."
~~~~~
Moments later Ivy clicked the television off and took the photo and her cellphone with her to the kitchen and spent what seemed like hours comparing, and picking the photos apart.
"Wait a minute...she's got Enrieta's eyes...Nose...lips...and that hair..."
"My gosh...she looks so much like Enrieta-Maria...there's only one way to be sure..." Ivy says to herself getting up to go get an old scrap book she had put together for Enrieta-Maria when she was a child.
Ivy flipped the pages and turned right to a page that held a photo of Enrieta-Maria when she was 2 years old. She put the three photos together and realized the resemblance in the three photos was absolutely uncanny.
Ivy shook her head, her hands flying over her mouth, once she realized her first initial comparisons were correct.
"Good Gandhi...Ivory Lee, it is you."
"I can't even believe how grown you are...you always looked just like your mother..." Ivy says unable to keep her eyes off the photos she had been looking at.
"My god, what happened to you princess? Where did you go? Where are you now...?"
"I don't know where Enrieta-Maria left you all those years ago, but she was right about one thing...you are alive and well...that you are..." Ivy said looking at the picture of Ivory on her phone, with tears in her eyes.
"Ivory Lee...I don't know where you are, or who you're with, but just know that Nana is going to find you..." Ivy says, the tears not stopping. "Nana is going to bring you home, and that's a promise Ivory Lee..."
"I'll do it my damn self, I don't care how long it takes...I will not stop until I find you."
~~~To Be Continued~~~
Author's Note:
We're three Chapters into
'Worth fighting for'
So how are we feeling about the story so far? Thoughts? 🤔💭
I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, and I appreciate you all for continuing to follow this story! Stay tuned, more updates are coming soon!