Mirror – Chapter 5
Four years ago….
Michonne took another lick of her coconut-pine flavoured ice-cream as she looked on happily at her 5 year old daughter Cayla playing in the playground with the other children, screaming at the top of her lungs. Cayla loved going to the park on Saturdays as there were a flurry of kids activities hosted by a number of vendors for children between the ages of 5 to 12 years old – face painting, balloon decorating, bouncy castle and other activities. Her husband and Cayla's father Randy had a business meeting. He had told her that if he closed the account, the bonus that he will be getting, he would be able to take some much needed time off which Michonne have been begging him to do for awhile now. Cayla and a new friend Cindy that she had made a few weeks back ran over to her.
"Mummy! Can Cindy come over to play next weekend? Please?!"
Michonne smiled as the little girls hugged each other tightly as if to emphasize that they really really wanted this.
"She can if her parents say yes."
Both girls started jumping up and down excitedly on the same spot. Then Cindy broke free, running back into the crowd and seconds later, she saw the little girl pulling a tall and strapping man towards them. When they reached to where Michonne was sitting, Cindy began pleading with her father.
"Pleaseee daddy! Can I visit Cayla? Pleaseeeee!"
"Only if her lovely mother says yes."
With that, Cindy's father gave Michonne a playful wink which caused her to burst out laughing.
"Yes she can."
Both girls ran into the playground screaming happier than when they first arrived and Cindy's father sat next to her.
"Hi. I'm Andre, Cindy's father." He stretched out his hand to her and she shook it.
"I'm Michonne, Cayla's mother."
"Michonne? That's an unusual name. But I like it."
Michonne only smiled to his remark as she kept her eyes fixed on the girls.
"So…are you here alone?"
"Yes…my husband couldn't come with me today."
"Oh.."
"What about you? Is your wife here with you and Cindy."
There was a sad pause before he answered.
"Actually…I'm widowed." He said softly. "Two years now."
"Oh…I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…" Michonne looked down at the ground awkwardly.
"It's ok. I'm dealing with it."
"Did she like to come here?"
Andre laughed.
"I met her here actually. She had brought her nephew here and I was helping a friend of mine who were a vendor at the time to set up shop for a children's show that the local council was hosting. We hit it off instantly, got married after two years and when we had Cindy one year later we started bringing her here as well."
"So this place holds some deep meaning for you."
"Yeah. Even after she died I still came. I kinda was hoping to recapture that magic again with another special lady."
"Isn't it too soon for you to move on?"
"I do but Ava…that's my wife's name. She wouldn't want me moping around after she's gone. We would always talk about death and that kind of stuff. She would insist that I find someone and be happy…both me and Cindy."
"She sounds special."
"She is." Andre said smiling.
They both resumed watching the girls playing.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Two months later….
It's Saturday and Cayla was watching impatiently out the window with her dog Kiki at her feet as Michonne was making breakfast. Things have been abit strained at home since Randy lost the business account to one of his office colleagues. She had left him in bed still sleeping as he had come in late last night.
"She's here!" Cayla suddenly shouted as she ran for the door.
Michonne had heard a car pulled up in front of her house. She walked to the front door to see Cindy and Cayla hugging at the gate as Andre was unloading a sleeping bag among other things from the trunk. Michonne walked out to the gate to greet him as the girls rushed passed her towards the house chatting a mile a minute.
"Sorry I'm late."
"It's not me you should be apologizing too. Cayla have been anxious since morning." Michonne said laughing as she took the rest of Cindy's stuff from him.
"I'm only 30 minutes late."
"Yeah…thirty minutes from their playtime."
They both laughed. Their girls have had play dates every Saturday and Sunday for the past two months and their bond has grown exponentially since then.
"Same time tomorrow for Cindy's pick up?"
"Yup."
"Ok. I'll have her ready."
"Thanks for doing these play dates. Since Ava died, I have never seen Cindy hit it off with any other children her own age like she did with Cayla. She's a god sent."
"I'm just glad I could help."
Andre nodded as he got into his car.
"See you tomorrow."
"Ok. Drive home safe."
"Thank you. I will."
Michonne waved and looked on as Andre's car disappeared down the street. She turned around and began walking up the pathway when she looked up and saw Randy glaring suspiciously at her through their bedroom window upstairs.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The girls stayed in Cayla's room for most of the morning and Randy has been unusually cold and distant towards her. She avoided him as best as she can by checking in on the girls constantly in the rbedoom. When the cool evening began to set in, Cayla and Cindy finally emerged from the room for the activity of bike riding around the front yard.
In anticipation of this she made sandwiches and juice for both the girls and herself. Whenever the girls are outside Michonne always makes herself most present outside to supervise and watch over them. Only half an hour had passed when she heard footsteps behind her.
"Are you two sleeping together?"
Michonne's head snapped back to look at her husband in shock at the absurdity of the question. So shocked she was, that her mouth remained opened unable to answer.
"I guess that's a yes then."
Finally she was able to speak.
"No!"
Michonne looked at the girls and saw that they were looking at them briefly before resuming their playing. Michonne spoke softer.
"I am not having an affair Randy!"
"You could have fooled me! You too are always smiling at each other everytime he drops Cindy off. What's up with that?"
Michonne kept her eyes on the girls.
"He's nice. He smiles at me and I smile back. There's nothing to it."
Randy said nothing further when Cayla came up to them.
"Mummy…Can we have some ice-cream please?"
Michonne smiled.
"Sure. The both of you just sit on the steps so I can see you while I go inside to get some."
The girls guided Kiki towards the steps and took a seat within view of the kitchen window. Michonne went inside with Randy following close behind. Making sure that the girls were in her line of sight Michonne quickly retrieved the ice-cream from the refrigerator and two small glass bowls from the cupboard. She began scooping out the ice-cream in between glances at the girls and what she was doing. The girls were preoccupied with tickling Kiki's tummy which the pooch absolutely loved. Randy was there…but he offered no assistance whatsoever.
"I don't believe you."
Michonne didn't respond.
"You could tell me you know….if you're sleeping with him. I would understand actually. I have been a lousy husband for the past few weeks. We both know it."
Michonne had no time for Randy's accusations.
"Can we talk about this later please? I can't supervise the girls...keeping an eye on them and deal with your bullshit at the same time."
Randy got angry at her dismissive tone.
"No! I want to talk about this now! And how dare you call my concerns bullshit!"
He grabbed Michonne's arm and forced her to face him when she continued to ignore him choosing to keep focused on the girls instead. One of the glass bowls of ice-cream slipped from her hand to the floor from the force of the jerk Randy gave her. Michonne just looked at him pitifully.
"Don't look at me like that!"
She said nothing as Randy walked off leaving her to clean up the mess that he caused. Michonne bent down to the ground and in a matter of minutes she heard the screeching of tires, Kiki's yelp and Cindy screaming. The screams brought Michonne to her feet in lightning speed as she looked out the kitchen window to where the girls were. What she saw has haunting her for years since that harrowing day.
A man with one hand had Cayla in his arms running out of the yard towards his van. His other large gloved hand covered her mouth as her arms are outstretched towards the house and her legs kicking wildly. Kiki, the little pompek tried in vain to mount an attack at the man's legs but the thick jeans were too much for her little teeth as she couldn't get a good grip on him. He kicked her away like insignificant trash and her tiny frame was sent flying into the thick shrubbery at the side of the house. Cindy was at the top of the stairs screaming Cayla's name.
"Cayla!"
A lump formed in Michonne's throat and she couldn't speak. Instead, tears swelled up in her eyes as her brain adjusted and finally registered what was taking place in front of her. It was every parents nightmare coming through. Something immediately took over Michonne's body. A force drove her as she raced to the front door, stepping in the broken glass on the floor. She didn't feel any physical pain…only a tight squeezing of agony in her chest.
She pushed past a hysterical Cindy and jumped over five steps to land in the flat of the yard. Suddenly, there was barking and she realized that Kiki was at it again…her tiny voice carrying a high pitch frequency throughout the evening air. She forced the lump in her throat down into the pit of her stomach and she too found her voice.
"NOOOOOO! CAYLA!"
Michonne sprinted through her already destroyed wooden fenced at the van which was now beginning to pull away from the curb.
" STOP! CAYLA!"
Michonne ran as fast as she could down the pavement behind the van as it moved further and further away from her through the street. Tears where stinging her eyes….she couldn't breathe.
"SOMEBODY HELP ME! THEY HAVE MY DAUGHTER! CAYLA!" She screamed as she passed each house with Kiki faithfully at her feet.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Randy heard his wife when she screamed Cayla's name but by the time he reached back downstairs, he saw the front door wide open and a wailing Cindy infront of it.
"What happened?! Where's Cayla?!"
Cindy screams only became louder at the mentioned of her friend's name. It was only drowned out by the screams of Michonne. He looked up and saw her running frantic down the street behind a blacked out van with Kiki following her at her side. The colour drained from his face when he realized that Cayla was nowhere in sight~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Mr. Weekes was watering his lawn when he heard the at first faint screaming of a familiar voice which gradually was getting louder. When he looked up he saw a black van speeding down their usually quiet neighbourhood street towards him and his neighbour Mrs Peters running and screaming desperately behind it.
He couldn't hear what she was saying but as the situation drew nearer he realized that it couldn't be anything good. Without giving it a second thought he ran into the house and grabbed his car keys which were hanging by the front door. He jumped into his car, honking his horn loudly to attract others as he reversed savagely out into the street. He heard Michonne screamed out her daughter's name.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Michonne got a brief glimmer of hope when she saw Mr Weekes blue convertible honking loudly and reversing out into the street. She looked down and saw Kiki some distance out in front of her. Cayla had Kiki since she was a pup and they have been inseparable since. Kiki would follow that van until it killed her. She then looked around at the neighbours who were now rushing out of their homes to investigate the commotion in their neighbourhood. She screamed out again.
"THEY TOOK MY BABY! CAYLA!"~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Mr Weekes pulled out of his yard, he spun the car around and headed straight for the van. He pressed his foot on the gas pedal and gunned it towards the culprits for a game of road chicken. For a second, it looked like neither one of them was going to yield until suddenly the van swerved to the right, up unto the pavement and back into the road behind him.
Mr Weekes watched the van pissed and looked back around in time to swerve the car and narrowly miss hitting Kiki to crash into a neighbour's trash can. He jumped out of the car just as Michonne run passed him with a bloody foot trail behind her. He recognized that she was injured. He ran after her with a few neighbours following him.
"Michonne!"~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Michonne heard her name being called but it didn't register for her to stop. She now felt moisture under her feet coupled with a burning sensation but she just kept running. Despite her miniature stature Kiki was a cool distance ahead of Michonne, her tiny bark getting lost among the neighbours shouts. Michonne's hope was further shattered when the van disappeared around the corner.
"Oh God! MY BABY! CAYLA!"
Michonne stretched out her hands infront of her in dreadful despair and suddenly lost her footing because of the blood beneath her feet. She fell hard on her stomach and cried out in pain. Someone grabbed her arm to help her up but she pushed them away. She began running again whimpering in pain when she felt herself being tackled from behind to the ground.
"Let go of me!" she cried as she fought to get away, clawing at the hot, unforgiving asphalt. It was when her fingers were bloodied and several fingers nails detached itself from the cuticle that all the pain descended on her body at once sharply. She stop fighting, curling her fingers towards her chest for temporary relief. Mr Weekes swallowed up a distraught Michonne in his arms.
"Oh God Nooooo!" Michonne cried in his arms. A thick crowd of neighbours surrounded Michonne and Mr Weekes in the street. They watched helplessly as Kiki, never breaking her stride disappeared around the corner hot pursuit. Michonne knows Kiki will never give up and she will not either. She tried to wrestle free against Mr Weekes but he held her tightly against him.
"We will find her!" he whispered in her ear. "We will get her back!"
Michonne cried out again.
"CAYLA!"~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Michonne heard the scream of her daughter's name in her head. She tried to breathe but soon realized that she couldn't. Her eyelids were heavy and she forced them open, only to see water all around her. Her eyes shot wide open when she remembered where she was. She was at home in a tub, filled with water.
The water that was covering her mouth was now almost covering her nose. She was drowning in her own tub. Her limbs were also heavy from all the valium she had taken. She wiggled her toes wildly until they found the chain that was attached to the top of the tub and stopper as well. She tugged and tugged and tugged, trying to pull the stopper, atleast slightly open.
The extra movement that she was doing caused her to slide deeper into the tub and her nose was now completely submerged in water. Time was running out. Michonne closed her eyes and concentrated and with one slowly but steady pull, the stopper opened slightly and soon the water sluggishly began to subside. When her nose was finally clear of the water, Michonne inhaled a deep breath and waited for the rest to drain out.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Michonne didn't know when she had fallen back asleep but it was the cold air that woke her up again. The drugs had finally worn off and slowly she got out of the tub which was now empty. She went into the shower, briefly rinsed off the stale water from her skin and quickly got dressed. The morning sun was now fully shining into the room. After a couple of minutes, she went into one of her clothing draws and pulled out one of Cayla's favourite stuff toys. She smelled it and cried out Cayla's name once more then made a promise to herself once more.
"I will find you Cayla! I promise you!"~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~