Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or features of the television series Missing.
One step … another step… Jess was walking slowly down the middle of the highway, her head down … focused, trying her best to keep each careful tread on the central white line. Something jolted her and made her lose her footing. What was that sound? It came from her left … no, her right … no? What was it? It sounded like a baby … crying. But where was it? The sound was louder now. She could hear it quite clearly. And now … she could see … a car … and a small shape through the back window … a child? The car was moving away. Faster and faster! She must catch it. She began to run. She called over her shoulder to Nicole.
"Come on, Nicole! We can't let it get away".
She ran faster and faster. But the crying was becoming softer and softer. She could barely hear it. Now, she couldn't hear it!
"Nicole! Help me!" she yelled. She looked over her shoulder. Nicole wasn't there! She had to keep running after the car. She was getting nearer! She could clearly see the child lying prone in the back of the car. She reached out her hand to grab …
Jess blinked and looked down at the broken mug and spilt coffee on her kitchen floor. Wasn't it in her hand a moment ago? She tried to catch her breath … to slow her heart rate. Her visions were becoming more and more real each time. She did not know for how long she had been insensible to all but this terrifying hallucination. She reached for her cell phone. She had to tell Nicole what she saw, maybe she would be able to make sense of it. A glance at the clock showed her that it was already 8.30 a.m. She had just enough time to get to work on time. She would talk to Nicole at the office. Jess grabbed her coat and handbag and rushed out the door. Cleaning up would wait.
Nicole would not have been able to answer the phone anyway. At that moment she was retching over her toilet bowl.
"Damn that paella! It's been two days and it's still messing up my system!" She complained.
She lifted her head, still a little woozy with the violence of the expulsion and moved towards the sink and its cool water. But the swaying motion only created another wave of nausea which sent her rushing back to the toilet bowl until she felt completely emptied. The episode left her spent but she was just about able to clean up, change and head off to work vowing to herself to avoid any further late night champagne and paella feasts with anyone named Paul.