HOLDING
Author's
note: Still neutral on the Alex Monroe
Debate.
Alexandra
Monroe could not sleep. She lay still
on her king-size bed and stared up at the ceiling. Three in the morning and she was wide awake. The satin sheets and plush pillows offered
no comfort. Her first assignment at the
Agency did not yield the results she had been hoping for. Actually, just the one thing—her son.
She
had been hoping that she'd simply forgotten what her son looked like, clinging
on to the hope that he was among the stolen babies found at the camp
anyway. He wasn't. She died inside.
Thankfully,
Alex had been trained in acting—she made sure to cover her pain as much as she
could. The only thing her new
co-workers were good for were to help her find her baby. She didn't want friends; she wanted her son.
She
closed her eyes and finally dozed off.
She began to dream. She found
herself sitting on a wooden rocking chair in her parlor. The sun shone through the windows, radiating
a soft warmth upon her. In her arms,
she cradled her son. Alex could barely
described the emotions within her as she looked at the tiny human in her
grasp: contentment, bliss, relief… The baby began to cry. "No, no, my little love. Shh…
Don't cry," she whispered. He
did not stop crying…
Alex
opened her eyes. She could hear the
faint wailing of an infant. She closed
her eyes again and prayed that she was not dreaming. She rose from her bed and was about to head for the door when she
looked out her window. The crying had
come from the four-month-old daughter of the next-door neighbors. She looked into the next house. The two young parents sleepily entered the
nursery, and the mother picked up the baby.
"Oh,
sweetie," the mother said, holding her child.
The baby stopped crying as the father held his daughter's hand and
smiled.
"Hey,
little one," he cooed. The mother
glanced up and noticed that Alex had been watching them from the dark room in
the next house. She passed the baby to
her husband and poked her head out the window.
"Ms.
Monroe!" she called out. "I'm so
sorry! Did she wake you?"
"No,
no, it's all right," Alex called back, smiling as she held back the tears. "I… uh, I couldn't really sleep anyway. Just make sure you baby gets what she needs." The mother grinned.
"Thank
you," she said, and she closed the window.
Alex turned and lay down again.
She sighed, and let the tears flow from her eyes.
Please,
God, let me find him, she prayed. She wiped her
face and drifted off into sleep again…
THE
END.
