Alright, I hope everyone is as happy to see Maggie as I am. However, that may have been a painful chapter drudging up all that could have been? I don't know? It was a hard chapter for me to write. Anyhow...I know several of you are very concerned about poor Frankie, so here you go.
Frankie wandered in the darkness alone. She had been walking for what had to have been hours. Her legs were almost numb. They seemed to move of their own free will at this point. She wandered into town. Walking till it hurt to breathe. The chill November air filled her lungs and burned. Up ahead she saw the boarding house. Her mind went back to the first night. She remembered being so very anxious as she approached Bianca's street. She remembered the way their bodies meshed together, the smell of her skin, the taste of her lips. She saw Willow Lake in the distance. Her legs seemed to steer her in that direction.
When she made it further into the park she found a bench to sit on. Her tears ran freely now, burning across her reddened cheeks. She sobbed and heaved until she couldn't catch her breath.
Why? Why am I so stupid? I got what I deserved. I had found happiness and love…the very things that I've secretly longed for all my life. What do I do with it? I get scared and I run. I run from everything good. Things get a little too intense and I'm out. I damaged my relationship with my own sister. I got everything so messed up that I had to leave Jamie and now I've alienated the only person that loved me the way I am. Oh God, did she know how to love me. Why did I push her? She couldn't take anymore and now it's truly is over.
Frankie thought she heard a noise, so she picked herself up and moved further along the trail. She came across a lake and a boat house, so she climbed up the wooden steps and curled herself into an out of the way corner. She cried there for hours, until she passed out from exhaustion.
Leo and the others were in full panic. They had been searching from almost 5pm until the wee hours of the morning. They had come back to regroup several times throughout the night. At this point it was still too early for the police to be involved, but Anna told Robin that she would have her officers keep an eye out. Zack, Kendall, Greenlee and Dani had all joined the search, but no one had turned up anything yet.
Maggie, Robin and Leo were having some coffee in Kendall's living room and brainstorming.
"Music…books…poetry…those word puzzles." Maggie stated. "She was always crazy about those things. Are there any 24 hour book stores in town?"
"Nope." Leo said. "Nothing like that here that would be open at this hour. What else you got?"
"She has always been a loner." Maggie said. "She used to run away a lot when we were young."
"Don't forget she lived on the streets for a long time too." Leo said.
"That's it!" Robin shouted. "She was just telling me on the drive down about how she used to love finding an out of the way bench in a park. She would spend hours staring at the stars. She said something so vast made her problems seem so insignificant."
"Reggie and I checked the park." Maggie said. "It got so dark, we had to come in, but we didn't see anything."
Leo had stood and was pacing. "No way…she couldn't...I mean, how weird would that be?"
"What?" Maggie stood to approach Leo. "What are you mumbling about?"
Leo signaled for the girls to follow. "Come on. I have a theory."
Within a few minutes they were approaching the boat house. Leo went ahead with the girls close behind. Maggie was first to notice her sister's sleeping form huddled in a corner. "Let me." She whispered to the other two. They nodded and backed off a little. Robin and Leo looked on quietly as Maggie eased carefully next to her sister. She whispered her name softly as she wrapped her own coat around Frankie's shivering body. "Frankie…it's me. It's Maggie. I got you." Frankie's swollen puffy eyes opened to see her twin staring back at her. She startled at first, but then eased into her sibling's arms.
The tears started again. Frankie didn't know where they came from. She didn't feel like there was enough moisture left in her body to form a tear and yet out they poured. She was frozen and numb from the chill wind that was made only colder as it breezed off the water. "It hurts so much, Mags." Frankie spoke in a barely audible whisper. "She is gone. I lost her and it just hurts so much. The worst part is I know it's all my fault."
"Shhh." Maggie cooed. "It's going to be okay. I've got you and your family is here. We are going to help you through this. Shhh. It's going to be okay."
"I just want to go home, Mags." Frankie cried. "Please? Take me home?"
Maggie nodded and hugged her sister close as she helped lift her to her feet. She went in front of Robin and Leo as she led Frankie to the car. Robin looked to Leo and said "There is no way that we can drive tonight. Do you know a place where we can crash for a bit, until we are all rested?"
"Yeah." Leo said. "You girls can stay at my place. We have a few extra beds. But I think that maybe you or David should check her out first. It's awfully cold out here tonight."
"Oh, I plan too." Robin said. "We will need some extra clothes or blankets too. She was really shivering. I have to ask you something though."
"What?" Leo asked.
"How did you know she was hiding here? What was all that mumbling about?" Robin questioned.
Leo sort of chuckled. "It was just a hunch when you and Maggie were talking about her being a loner and looking at the sky for comfort. Bianca was always a real loner as a teen, at least before she met me. This is one of her favorite spots to run to when life is upside down. I just had this feeling that maybe fate had stepped in again and led Frankie here."
"Hmm?" Robin said. "From what I have witnessed today, I don't think this is over for either one of these girls."
"Oh I can assure you that Bianca has some explaining to do when she returns." Leo declared.