Missing

“Come on mom!” Mercy raced across the store until she reached the isle. Yet again, she forgot to slow down. She turned a sharp corner and smashed into a short man with a black hoodie. Her chestnut hair flew out behind her and she hit the floor with a thud. “Sorry,” she said as she continued to lie on the floor but the man was gone. Mercy lay there, trying to catch her breath. Typical. She thought.
She was suddenly aware of someone laughing at her. With some effort, she pushed herself off the ground and shot her green eyes at the girl.
“If looks could kill,” The girl said, still breathing deeply. She looked thoughtful, and then added “Well if I’m not dead by the end of your stare, then I will be when I send all of our school a video of you falling!” She laughed again and slowly brought her finger toward the send button on her phone.
“You wouldn’t!” Mercy yelled.
“Aaaaaaanndd… Send.” The girl’s finger was brought down onto the send button on her phone.
“Kate! I will rip every one of your precious golden hairs from your head if you actually sent that!”
Kate smiled and mumbled to herself, “Now for Facebook.”
Mercy sighed. “Just because we’re 13 doesn’t mean you have to spend EVERY SECOND ON FACEBOOK!”
“Nope half go to Twitter.”
“Ugh!”
Mercy rolled her eyes and was about to walk away when her mom came around the corner holding Mercy’s baby sister Lila, who was instantly crying her chocolate eyes out.
“Shhh,” Mercy’s mom tried to calm her.
“We’ll go get in line for the checkout, ok?”
“Sure Kate,” Mercy’s mom said.
When they arrived at the checkout, Mercy slyly slipped three Kit Kats and Snickers bar onto the conveyer belt. Then, she noticed the man that she had knocked down earlier.
“Oh, hey,” She said. “I’m really sorry for knocking you over.”
He grunted and turned around. Rude much? She thought.
“Oops,” Mercy’s mom whispered to herself. She tapped the self-check-out a few times before finally giving up and sighing. Mercy rolled her eyes and walked off to find an employee. She knew the drill, this happened every time. But no, we aren’t going to let a human do it, because humans can never charge you the right amount of money. Mercy thought bitterly.
She arrived back with a tall skinny man who seemed like he had never seen sun a day in his life.
“Sorry,” he said in a high pitched voice. “I don’t do this stuff.”
After two more employees, they finally got the maintenance guy to come and help them.
“Press that button,” Mercy told him.
“No swipe the credit card!”
“No Mercy was right press the button.”
“No you need to take that part off!”
Everyone, Mercy, Kate, and their mom were yelling different instructions at the man.
“Can you please let me do my job, he asked, “Or would you like to take over?”
“No, no, you can do it,” Kate said. “I was just giving helpful suggestions.”
Mercy hid a smile and she turned, prepared to face Lila’s “lonely” eyes, but Lila wasn’t there.
“Mom,” She asked. “Where’s Lila?”
“Oh no,” Kate whispered
Mercy, Kate, and their mom started looking around the store.
“I should have been watching the baby,” Mercy scolded herself as she ran through the store and knocked down an old lady. “Sorry!” she yelled. What is it with me and knocking people down today? She thought. Suddenly, something dawned on her. The man she knocked down! She remembered bumping into him and tried to see his face. She couldn’t. He never took his, hood… off. Then he was there again at the cash register… when she had turned around, he was gone… and so was Lila. She peeked around the corner of the last isle and saw a bunch of people, but none of them were Lila or the man. She turned and sprinted back to her mom, imagining Lila safe in her mom’s arms, all just Lila running away.
Her face fell, Lila wasn’t in her mom’s arms. Her mom’s arms were busy wiping her eyes from tears. A police officer was standing there telling her to leave.
“Ma’am, we need you to get in the car so we can help you,” the short pudgy officer told her with a deep voice. Kate said something and pointed at Mercy. The officer rotated around and his whole stomach jiggled. Mercy fought back a laugh.
“We need to get your mother into the car so we can get your guy,” he said. Mercy looked confused.
“Um, who’s our guy?”
“Well your guy is the one we saw drive away with your baby while you were off in lala land!”

Mercy was confused now.
“Oh, ok then, um, Mom, come on.” She tugged her mom’s jacket until she finally gave in and started to walk with Mercy and Kate. The sliding doors opened to welcome them into the harsh winter of Walpole, Massachusetts. They slowly climbed into the backseat of the police cruiser.

“We’ve got a 457 on a blue Toyota on Lincoln, copy,” a voice said over the radio. The tiny man slammed his foot down on the pedal and stretched his neck to see over the steering wheel. He flicked a switch and the sound of the siren overwhelmed Mercy’s ears. She saw a small blue Toyota in front of them and closed her eyes.

Mercy forced her eyes open with a realization. The siren had stopped, and the car had stopped moving. She stretched. What a nightmare! It felt so real! She thought. Suddenly she froze. She was in the police car. Her mother was crying. The officer was telling her that if that man was still in Massachusetts, they would find him. It had not been a dream. Lila was gone.
***

Every night, Mercy lay in bed having the same thought. Lila, you will come back. I will find you, because trust me, I will never stop looking.