Guest: Thank you so much; I mostly learned how to write by listening to HelloFutureMe's playlist on writing. I'll leave the link here in case anybody else wishes to have a listen, but for some reason, it's not letting me copy the entire link so just copy this on youtube after the .com: watch?v=YqC7IVKQPbg&list=PL1TLSKocOLTvdl54a6wgNdB8oSm-eZ7h6
After a long birth, Anne was taken to a private room to recover and bond with her baby. The rest of their family and all of their friends were there to celebrate with them. Everyone smiled and cooed at the baby in his mother's arms, watching all of them with a curious gaze. Anne's mother that he had an inquisitive mind, like their side of the family. The baby in Anne's arms resembled neither of his parents in hair and eye color. He had bits of dark brown hair and brown eyes whereas Anne and Mike had reddish brown hair with pale, lime green eyes and golden, blonde hair with blue eyes respectively.
He did, however, have his father's facial features.
If Anne was being honest, he looked more like Mike's late father. He seemed more passive than Toby, having barely made a sound since his birth. As everyone cooed over the baby Mick came in carrying Toby. Ivy and Charlotte were following from behind, carrying their children. He set the toddler down on the bed and Anne immediately pulled him closer, watching as his eyes lit up with curiosity and awe at the sight of his baby brother.
"Toby, I want you to meet someone very special, this is your brother, Nickolas." She smiled as she introduced the two boys. "Nick, this is Toby." She beamed while Nick, still sucking on a pacifier, looking at Toby.
"Baby..." Toby gasped in wonder as he reached a hand out to the baby.
"See? They already love each other." Anne smiled at those who suggested that the two boys would be enemies. Just then, Nick reached out of his blanket and grabbed and pulled Toby's nose, hard. Everybody froze, scared that Toby was going to start crying and that would set the other three children off. However, instead of crying, Toby started laughing and each time Nick pulled or poked at something on his face he would laugh harder. The tot's laughter was contagious and soon everybody, even the nurses, was laughing.
This was a good day for the Tripp family and their friends.
Eventually, all four children tired themselves out and they had all fallen asleep in their mothers' arms. Soon visiting hours were over and the staff instructed everyone who came with them to leave. Mike quickly followed the others out, promising to return after he called the rest of the family to share the good news. After they all had left the room, the maternity nurse carefully took the newborn from Anne, despite her reluctance. She watched as the nurse attached a band to Nick's ankle and took a photograph of him.
Confused, Anne asked why they did this.
The nurse was quick to assure her that they did these things to keep infants in the hospital safe. Anne felt her blood freeze as they explained that in the past the lack of security and knowledge allowed for several infant abductions in the late eighties and early nineties. She wisely kept her mouth shut as the nurse went to explain how things had changed over the last few years. As a result of these events, the Joint Commission established the best-practice guidelines for preventing infant abduction in the hospital.
First, they would attach secure identically numbered bands to the infant, mother, and father or significant other immediately after birth.
Then they would footprint the infant, take a color photograph of him, and record his physical examination within two hours of birth. After that, they would implement an infant security tag or abduction alarm system, such as a bar-coding system or umbilical clamp. That would trigger an alarm, lock doors, and freeze the elevators if the infant came within four feet of an exit or elevator. They would also transport infants only in bassinets that the hospital provided.
The staff didn't allow them to be carried or left in the hallway without direct supervision.
The hospital staff had also established a tracking system to document where the infant was at all times. Another thing that was required was for the staff to wear up-to-date conspicuous, color-photograph ID badges. They also required staff in direct contact with infants to wear a second form of unique ID, such as a badge with a pink background. Finally, they only allowed for controlled access to the maternity unit such as keeping all unit exit doors locked and making sure they were monitored by video surveillance cameras with a date and time stamp.
After the nurse was finished with Nick, she handed him back to his mother, who was still strangely silent.
When Mike finally returned, he found his wife and two sons asleep on the bed. He also noticed a blue card attached to the bassine that read Nickolas Terrance Tripp - 6th October 1997. Mike smiled as he returned his full attention to the hospital bed. His whole world lay sleeping in that bed. He gently eased the blanket over Anne and the boys. He made a silent promise to try his hardest to keep his small family healthy and safe from all those who wished to do them harm.
He failed to notice the tight grip she kept on Toby...
Johnny sighed as he shivered in the rain, waiting outside Sarah's school. She had been avoiding him for the last few months, and he was sick of it. He tried going to her house, but Helen slammed the door in his face. They had never gotten along, especially after he got her daughter pregnant. With no other option, Johnny decided to hang around outside her school, hoping to run into her and talk. On the third day, a very rainy day, Johnny finally saw her.
It had been months since he had seen her last and he almost didn't recognize her.
She was like a completely different woman, but not in a good way. Sarah had lost a lot of weight, looking as thin as a rake, she was pale as a sheet, and her once golden hair looked dull and like it hadn't been brushed in days. It was also evident to him that she hadn't been sleeping well in the last few weeks thanks to the bags under her eyes. She didn't have an umbrella, like everybody else on the streets, choosing to get soaked in rain in hopes it would let her feel something.
She had been completely numb since her baby was snatched out of her arms.
Despite her best efforts, it seemed that nothing made her feel anything anymore, whether it be good or bad. As she walked down the street, she saw Johnny waiting for her. Giving him a harsh glare, she continued on her way as if she hadn't seen him. Unfortunately for her, Johnny was through with being ignored.
"You can't keep avoiding me, Sarah." He glared as he followed her closely.
"I gotta get to class; I need to catch up on some studying." She muttered, refusing to look at him. Fed up with her giving him the cold shoulder, Johnny jumped in front of her, forcing her to stop and look at home. The couple stared at each other for a minute before Sarah finally sighed heavily in defeat. "I know you've been trying Johnny, but every time I look at you I see Aidan; I see his face, and I see his eyes." She admitted sadly. Johnny's face fell when she said that.
He had no idea what Aidan would like now.
He barely got a good look at the photograph the nurses had taken. While he hoped his son looked like him, as most kids take after their fathers, he hoped the boy took after Sarah more. More specifically, however, he wanted Aidan to inherit Sarah's smile. It was a smile that was like pure sunshine that could brighten anyone's darkest day. It was a smile Johnny wished he could see one more time.
"I don't want to be angry anymore." She suddenly said, taking Johnny out of his thoughts. Before he could say anything, Sarah suddenly removed the ring he had given her after she had told him that she was pregnant and placed it in his hand. He said that it was a promise ring. Like an engagement to be engaged, after Sarah had finished her studies and graduated. Johnny stared at the ring in shock, knowing what she meant.
"It's my fault, right? I should have been with you at the hospital that day." He cried out as guilty tears welled up in his eyes. From the moment he had learned his son had been abducted, he couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the guilt of not being there to protect his baby. Maybe if he had been there he could have stopped that sick woman from snatching his child. "You think you're the only one that's angry? There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about what our lives could have been like if this didn't happen." He admitted tearfully.
Every time he somehow managed to fall asleep he would have these dreams.
He would imagine himself with Sarah and some faceless child. They would celebrate the child's birthdays and Christmases, go on vacation together, teach his son how to talk and walk, being there at the school gates to drop him off and pick him up on his first day. But then Johnny would wake up, and everything would be a horrible mess. His son was still missing, Sarah was acting like Johnny wasn't there, and people were spreading rumors that they had something to do with their son's disappearance.
He could tell through her eyes that Sarah thought the same.
Yet unlike him and the rest of the world, she wasn't ready to try and move on with her life. Almost nobody talked about her son anymore and at times it felt like she was the only one who wanted to remember him. Last week, her mother Helen had gone behind her daughter's back and cleared out Aidan's nursery. When Sarah had gotten home to find the room mostly empty except for some sparse furniture. As soon as she saw her mother, Sarah was ready to attack her but some of her neighbors intervened.
After that Helen put her foot down.
She loved her daughter and could understand that the pain of losing a child could do some horrible things to a person. But she also knew that if Sarah continued down this path, Sarah would most likely end up in prison, or worse, dead. So she gave the teen an ultimatum. Either she could voluntarily agree to see a therapist, or Helen would report the attack to the police and she could get her therapy in a prison cell. Despite agreeing to therapy, Sarah still couldn't look at her mother the same way again.
She needed that nursey to stay the same because it meant in her mind that there was still a chance her baby was coming home.
That there was still a chance that would be able to sleep in his bassinet and play with his toys. To see it all gone was like a huge, harsh slap in the face to the distraught teenager.
"I'm sorry, I just can't!" She sobbed before suddenly pushing past him and running off into the crowd, leaving Johnny standing alone in the rain. Johnny could only stand there as he stared at the ring in his palm, his tears mixing in with the rainwater on his face, realizing that it was all over...