Roxy sat on her bed, tears streaming down her face as she continued to cry.

What was her mother doing to her, making her stay all alone in her dark, empty room? Didn't she know how much she hated this? Didn't she know that if she was left by herself something horrible was bound to happen to her? Just as it had with her father?

As Roxy's sobs continued, the poor girl felt as if the walls were closing in, and it was almost as if she could feel the monsters and bad guys staring at her from within the darkness of the room, excited that their chance to hurt her had finally come.

I don't like this! I want mommy back! Roxy thought miserably, her tears now falling onto her sheets. Why would her mother do this to her? Hadn't she just said she loved her? Well, if she loved her, then why was she making her do the thing she knew scared her?

Roxy cried louder, hoping that maybe she could coax her mother back into her room to rescue her and bring her back into her room with her.

But still, her mother did not come.

I don't want to be a big girl like mommy said! Roxy thought anxiously. I don't like this! Someone's going to come in and hurt me and mommy and Liam like they hurt daddy and I'll be all by myself!

At the mere thought of her father, Roxy felt even worse, because he was all she wanted right now. Her father would've never made her sleep all alone in this room! By now he would've come charging in like the hero he was, scooped her up into his arms and held her tight and called her his princess like he always did.

As she heard a branch scrape against her window from outside, Roxy quickly grabbed her favorite stuffed bear that her parents had gotten her for her third birthday and clutched it to her chest.

I want mommy! Roxy said to herself. The simple idea of even getting up off the bed and running down the hall to her mother's bedroom terrified her. What if something was waiting out there for her like it had been for her father?

And so Roxy continued to cry, so distracted by her fears that she didn't even notice her eyelids growing heavy and consciousness drifting off to sleep…

When Roxy woke up again, it took her moment to realize that she had actually fallen asleep. It felt as if just a second ago she had been in hysterics. But she felt her cheeks and there was no more signs of tears. She looked across the room at her zoo animal clock and though she couldn't quite tell time yet, she knew that the hands on the clock had moved considerably since her mother had put her to bed.

And then suddenly, it hit her.

I slept in my own room, she recounted slowly. And nothing hurt me. Nobody came in like that night when daddy got hurt. Mommy was right.

Roxy quickly pushed back her covers and scrambled out of bed, looking out the window. The sun had barely even risen, but Roxy suddenly felt excited for the first time in forever.

She had slept all alone, in her own room, and nothing had happened! Nothing at all!

The horrific images of what would happen to her if she stayed in this room by herself seemed almost…silly, now that she was seeing with her own two eyes that she could be alone without harm befalling her.

It was as though a whole new sense of power and courage swept over the young girl as she stared out the window; she suddenly had the great freedom that had been kept from her for so long.

If I can sleep in my own room, and nothing bad happened to me…I wonder what else I can do?

The world, which she had spent the past ten months hiding from, suddenly seemed like her playground and she felt indestructible. At first, she didn't know what to do with herself. Did she run around? Did she wake her mother?

But then her eyes fell onto a small frame on her dresser that held an old, worn photograph of her and her father playing at the park.

And suddenly, Roxy knew exactly what to do; she was going to do the thing she had been wanting to do for months now, but never had the courage to try to do.

So she carefully slid on her favorite sneakers, stuffed her stuffed animal and old storybook that her mother and father had read to her every night when she was younger into her backpack, and headed for the door. As she put her hand on the knob, though, she remembered all the alarms and locks on the front door that she didn't know how to work. So she turned around, pushed up the glass of her window, popped the screen and hopped out and headed out into the world.

…..

"No! I-She doesn't have any other people she would go to!" Sam yelled into her phone as she paced back and forth in her kitchen, holding Liam firmly at her side. "I've called her god parents and her aunt and they both haven't seen her!"

It had almost killed Sam to have to call Carol that morning and tell her that Roxy was currently missing. But she had no choice; for some reason that Sam could never understand, Roxy was able to stand the woman, so it had been reasonable to assume that Roxy would try and find her. She could hear the judgment and disgust clear in her sister-in-law's voice as she snapped that she was on her way over.

Kenna and Garry had closed the restaurant and were on there way over now as well.

"Ma'am, we need you to remain calm-" the officer on the other end said.

"How am I supposed to stay calm when my four-year old daughter is missing?" Sam exclaimed loudly, causing Liam to let out a soft whimper.

"I'm sending officers over now, and we'll start getting her pictures out to the authorities," the officer said. "We can't officially declare her missing until after the twenty-four hour mark."

"What? But who knows what could happen to her in twenty-four hours!" Sam yelled.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but that's the procedure," the officer said simply.

"Yeah, well your procedure is awful!" Sam snapped as she angrily hung up the phone.

She didn't know what to do. How could Roxy have gone? She was having a meltdown over the idea of staying in her room by herself! How could she have managed to leave the house on her own?

And then suddenly Sam's heart stopped as another thought crossed her mind; what if Roxy hadn't left the house willingly? What if someone had broken in again and this time Roxy was the victim.

This is all my fault, I shouldn't have pushed her to sleep in there by herself! Sam thought miserably. I told her she would be safe!

Sam glanced out the kitchen window, spotting Freddie's apartment building across the street.

Roxy does love Freddie, Sam remembered. Was it possible that she had gone over there in the middle of the night?

Maybe. And right now, Sam was desperate enough to take a chance on a maybe.

So without even bothering to throw a jacket on over her pajamas, Sam bolted out the front door across the street and headed up to Freddie's apartment.

As she pounded on his front door, Sam hoped that as mad as Freddie may be for her screw up last night, he wouldn't have held that against Roxy if she had in fact run over here.

Freddie opened up a few seconds later.

"Sam," he said, apparently surprised to see her so early. "Hi…um, listen, about last night, I just wanted to let you know-"

"Freddie," Sam said, her dating life suddenly the furthest thing from her mind. "Have-Have you seen Roxy? Is she here?"

Freddie frowned, confused. "Um, no? Why would she be here?"

"She's missing," Sam said softly.

"What?" Freddie exclaimed.

"I-I made her sleep in her own room," Sam explained shakily. "And this morning when I went to get her…she was gone."

"Have you called the police?" Freddie asked, grabbing his coat at once and throwing it on.

"Yes, but-"

"What's going on?" Carly asked, joining the two at the front door.

"Roxy's missing," Freddie said. He turned to Sam. "I'll go look for her."

"Thank you," Sam said. She looked over at Carly. "Carly…could-could you take Liam and go back over to my house? Kenna and Garry are on their way over, and, er, my sister-in-law too. Kenna's going to talk to the cops when they get there and, well, if she-if she comes home while we're out, I-I want someone to be there."

"Yes, of course," Carly said, taking Liam from Sam. "Good-Good luck you guys."

"Come on," Freddie said to Sam, and the two hurried back outside. "Do you have any idea where she would be?"

"No!" Sam said desperately. "She's never done this before! I don't even-Wait! What if she went to that gazebo; she loves that place. Oh my God…that's so far. If she tried to get there all by herself-"

"You go check there," Freddie said before Sam could break down. "I'll drive around the blocks near here; she can't have gone too far, she's only four, after all."

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," Sam said softly.

…..

As Freddie drove the streets of the city, he realized that how he felt right at this moment was the most terrified he had ever been in his whole life. What if something had happened to that poor child?

He knew there was no way Sam could handle losing her daughter. If Roxy was hurt in any way, Sam would crumble.

And even after his and Sam's disastrous night last night, he'd never in a million years want to see her suffer like that.

I wish I knew the city better, Freddie thought, anxiously looking around for any trace of a small blonde head. Where could she have gone?

He had already stopped at least a dozen stores and rand in and asked the managers if they had seen the child, but no one had. He had looked in three allies, the library, five restaurants and every corner coffee shop, but he had yet to see even a glance of Roxy.

What if she hopped on a bus? Freddie thought. Or took the subway somewhere? Oh, God, she must be so scared and-

Suddenly, as he was driving past a large park, he slammed on his brakes and almost caused the car behind him to slam into him. He paid no attention as the driver of that car passed him, shooting him a rude hand gesture as he went. He was focused on the small, distant figure of a child standing far at the other end of the park in some sort of gated field.

Was that…yes, yes it was! He had found her! He found Roxy!

He quickly pulled his car over and jumped out and darted across the street, nearly getting hit by a taxi as he went.

As he neared the field, Freddie realized that this wasn't just an ordinary field; he could now see the mounds of stone and bouquets of flowers left at them.

This was a cemetery.

Roxy was in the back of the cemetery, sitting at the foot of one of the tombstones, flipping through a storybook with a stuffed bear on her lap.

"Roxy!" he said, and the girl's head snapped up.

Freddie saw that Roxy was only wearing her thin pajamas and was shivering slightly, so he pulled off his own coat and wrapped it around her as he kneeled down next to her.

"Roxy, what are you doing here?" he said, resisting the urge to hug her tight, almost as if she was his own child. "You have your mom so worried. She's going crazy trying to find you."

But as he spoke, his eyes fell onto the tombstone they were hunched in front of.

Aiden Michael Anderson

1992-2023

Roxy looked up at him, her big, green eyes locking with his brown ones.

"I missed my daddy," she said.

Her first words spoken in ten full months.