Seer Hospital. The family had just gathered around Dana's father. Sally had no idea how she was to start explaining to her beloved husband that their precious daughter was still missing and no amount of time or effort they had to put in to find her had given them even the slightest clue of her whereabouts. What exactly happened to Dana? That was the question racing on everyone's mind.
"Tell me some good news" Nick said to no one in particular, shifting his body so that he laid in a comfortable position without jinxing his ribcage that seemed to have been hit the other night when he directly drove into the thick trees with a short wall that drew a fine line of where their yard ended. He didn't want to believe that God would take his Princess without letting him process losing his mother thoroughly... well if there was such a thing to begin with. Senior Mr Simons looked at his son with sadness, dispair, helplessness and something else that Nick didn't dare try to comprehend. He averted his gaze and looked at his wife with a desperate look that was easy for everyone to understand but she too returned his question with millions of her own. It took him time to realise he hasn't really looked at his wife in a long time to have missed the signs for this long. Her eyes looked almost lifeless, as if the life was draining out of them slowly but surely, her always straight posture no longer looked as elegant and so full of life. Her hands hung loosely at her sides almost as if they have been dislocated from their original sockets. How could he have missed such drastic changes, he felt his heart come undone in a million pieces... this goes to show just how much he has failed as her husband, how much he had neglected his job to prioritize her happiness and wellbeing above all else. Truth be told, he didn't expect his momentary irrationality to cost him his flexible mobility but who was he kidding? His wife was no fragile little woman who depended on his every blink and breath to make it through each day which was what made her stand out from the rest in his eyes but even with that knowledge, he knew just how much their Princess was her starts and the moon in her dark nights. He searched her eyes for that place he knew she had retreated to, that place that every woman who has a child retreats to during their most uncertain days, that place where he knew she was hoping for the best while preparing for the worst possible outcome.
She knew the look in his eyes and it both warmed and broke her heart to see the lines of worry and failure etched on his face. She wanted to comfort him yet, she knew it was beyond her capabilities to comfort anyone right now. She had tried to be strong. She had really tried but everytime she put up her brave armor and a smile, she felt her heart break a little more, her soul die a little more. Where was her Princess? Where was her gift? Her reward? Where was her desert Lily when she needed her breath to be able to draw air into her own lungs? Where was her shy smiles when she thought they were doing things that sge didn't want to see infront of her? Things that girls her age did even in public, she still maintained her innocence. She just needed her to walk in and pounce into her arms and reassure her that this was just dawn before the most beautiful sunrise... she looked at her husband and a single tear escaped her eye. She had tried to resist the harsh sting of tears, just until she was away from everyone's attentive eyes. She didn't want anyone to murmur words of courage because she knew, deep down she knew that her Princess was somewhere out there so she had to keep it together until she finds her way back home. It was exactly this thought that kept her going each day, got her holding onto her sanity.
"Please don't" she hadn't realised how or when but she felt Nick squeeze her hand comfortingly, dare she say reassuringly. Her eyes jumped to his face and she saw her face reflected in his pained eyes. She let out a soft gasp and squeezed his hand back, just not as firmly as Nick's firm squeeze. She tried to blink the tears threatening to come pouring out of her eyes but that seemed to be a temporary solution as she choked a sob in her throat.
"Please leave us" Sally's mom and Snr Mr Simons both looked torn from watching their children suffer a kind of pain they had no way of rescuing them from. They had tried to utilise the best resources at their disposal to help find their granddaughter but none of their efforts yielded any plasible results. It seemed to them that whatever had taken their sweet granddaughter was something sinister, something bigger than any of them. They knew they are out of their depths and time seemed to be proving to them just how useless and helpess they are. They had been standing in that spacious hospital room the whole time, silent, contemplating. Each lost to their own despair. The helplessness permeated the air, clawing at the throats with every breath taken. No parent wanted to feel helpless the one moment their children needed them most and yet here they were, two old, useless old hags. Miss L smoothed out her dark blue, V-neck, pencil dress and hooked her arm around Snr Mr Simon's shoulders, nudging him forward which he seemed reluctant to do.
He couldn't fathom how much bad luck he must've accumulated in his past life to lose his wife like that and have his only son depend on medical equipment like that. For a brief moment, he saw a flash of his own end... a miserable and lonely end. He wondered if having a family was just a grand tease from some bored being who has access to divinity. He felt mocked, vulnerable and utterly helpless.
"You..."
"I'm..."
They both said almost simultaneously before realizing they both needed to get their helplessness out of their chests and from the looks of it, the old man looked to be having it much worse so Lexine let him go first with a single nod that said he can let it all out and that she was there to listen.