In the Shadow of His Wings (21 page)

It was a clear night with a bright moon that reflected off the snow and she was able to clearly see the front sidewalk, that led to the driveway and out to the road. She took a deep breath of the glorious, cold fresh air and prepared to run when she felt a jolt to the back of her head.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Gerhard had grabbed a fist full of Laura’s long hair and quickly wrapped the hair around his hand locking Laura’s head into a tight grip. Laura let out a scream and her knees buckled. She would have fallen to the floor if it hadn’t been for Gerhard’s firm grip on her hair. He pulled her mercilessly back into the house and slammed the front door shut. Without saying another word Gerhard dragged Laura back down the hall, through the living room and kitchen, where Hilda stood watching with her mouth hanging open. Laura cried out in pain and tried to stand to her feet to ease the pulling on her hair, her feet scrambled to get a grip on the tile floor as he dragged her through the kitchen, her hands grasping at the top of her head trying in vain to ease the pain of Gerhard pulling on her hair. Gerhard paused at the entrance to the pantry which enabled Laura to get to her feet, trembling and crying.

“How did she get loose?” demanded Hilda, staring at the scene in disbelief.

“I don’t know yet but I’m going to find out.” Gerhard pulled Laura towards the stairs and for a moment she was terrified that in his anger he would push her down them.

She grabbed hold of the railing, prepared to hang on but he allowed her to walk down the stairs. Laura felt seriously sick to her stomach as she walked back down to her basement prison. Tears poured from her eyes as Gerhard snapped the handcuff back on her wrist.

He spotted the key on the floor and picked it up. He looked at her knowingly and then put the key back in his pocket.

“I will have to be much more careful with this from now on, won’t I?” Gerhard then turned and went back up the stairs.

Laura ran to her bathroom and threw up, sobbing harder than she had ever cried before. She had come so close.
Why God? Why did You allow me to get that close only
to loose it again? To get one precious breath of fresh air, one glimpse of the sky, one
glimpse of the snowy yard, and then to loose it. I don’t understand!
Laura’s heart was breaking at her failed escape attempt. She collapsed on the floor, totally drained at her sense of failure. At least she had sent the email and Gerhard didn’t know about that, but then it hit her.
I didn’t give them any information in the email! How dumb can I be?!! I
don’t know my address but I could have told them I was in Niagara Falls. Most
importantly I could have told them my kidnapper’s name!
Laura slapped her forehead in disbelief. She couldn’t belief she had blown such a golden opportunity. All she had to do was say she was being held prisoner by Gerhard Bloone and Jim could have given that information to the police. Laura couldn’t possibly have felt any lower than she did at that moment. If she had passed on sending the email she might have had enough time to run out the door and get away. If she had typed Gerhard’s name in the email the police could have been here before the sun came up. Either way, she could have been home by morning and now she was back in the basement, back in her chain, throwing up in the bathroom, with all her hopes dashed. The only small spark of hope in the back of her mind was that perhaps the police might be able to trace the email that she sent back to Gerhard’s laptop. She didn’t know if that were possible or not but she prayed it was.

Laura crawled over to her bed but she didn’t climb into it, instead she stayed on her knees and prayed with all her might that God would protect Lacey.
Please Father, don’t let
Lacey suffer because of my foolishnesses. Put a hedge of protection around her Lord and
keep her safe.

Chapter 19

The same Saturday that Laura was celebrating Christine’s birthday with Gerhard and Hilda, Lacey was heading to the mall with some friends. It was taking some effort for the Reid family to get on with their lives but time was forcing them to. Lacey’s friends didn’t drag her out shopping during the Christmas season but now the new spring styles were all out and they insisted she come with them. In the car on the way to the mall her friends joked and laughed and talked about the boys at school. Lacey tried to join in but it felt awkward and forced and she wondered why she came. Her smile and laugh felt phony and she wanted to tell them to pull the car over so she could just get out and walk home, but she didn’t. Instead she kept the phony smile on her face all the way to the mall, telling herself it would get better once they got there. She just needed to relax and enjoy herself. The mall was fairly busy for mid-March and the girls wasted no time in heading for their favorite stores to see if there were any good sales and to check out the new arrivals for spring. They rushed from store to store, squealing with delight over some of their finds and laughing hysterically over others. They ran into several other friends from school and stopped at the food court for a bite to eat.

As they were all sitting there Lacey looked at all their laughing, happy faces and again wondered what she was doing here with them. She wanted to yell at them all to stop laughing, stop being so happy! Didn’t they all know that her mother was still missing and was probably dead by now? Didn’t they realize how hard it was to not know? Sometimes she thought it was the ‘not knowing’ that was the hardest of all. If they knew for sure she was dead, then they could have a funeral and have closure. Since they didn’t know for sure, they were all left hanging, in limbo, not knowing what to do.

Should they pack up her mom’s stuff or leave it in the closets and drawers? Lacey was also torn about going to university. Should she continue with her plans or stay home with her dad? She felt that he really needed her right now. How could she apply for universities away from home and move away, leaving him living alone in that house, all by himself? She could apply to universities or colleges close to home but she had already looked into that and none of them had the courses she was interested in. So that was another dilemma, should she change the direction she wanted to go, or should she just take some time off from school and get a job? Her mind wrestled with these thoughts daily and she didn’t know who to go to with them. She couldn’t talk to her dad about them because she knew he would encourage her to go ahead with her original plans. He wouldn’t tell her to stay, but she was worried about him. If she moved away to university then he would be left in the house alone. She could see how hard her mother’s disappearance was on him and it worried her. He was trying to be strong for her and Josh but she could see how the past few months had taken its toll on her father.

She looked around at all her friends and only half listened to their silly conversations.

“I want to go back to that first store and buy that cute yellow sweater I saw”

“Oh I wanted that one too. O.K. no problem, you get the yellow one and I’ll get the blue one!

“Don’t forget we still have the lower level of the mall to cover yet. There are some good stores down there”

“Later do you want to go see that new movie that just came out? I heard it’s really funny”

“I think that Mike has a crush on you Debbie, he has walked by us three times and keeps looking at you.”

“Whatever, I’m not interested. Do you realize how many new guys we will meet at college? I’ll wait for a better selection!”

“I saw a great back pack that I think would be good for college, it has wheels on it, so it gets too heavy I can just pull it along.|

She couldn’t go to any of them with her concerns about university, none of them would understand, how could they? It wasn’t all that long ago that she wouldn’t have found their conversations silly and she would have been right in there with them. Now, as she listened to them laugh and talk about clothes, boys, movies and such it was all she could do to keep from screaming at them all to shut up. She felt so alone at that moment and then she thought how odd that was. Here she was sitting at the mall surrounded by so many people. There were hundreds of strangers here for one thing and several of her friends for another, so how could she possibly feel alone? Yet that’s exactly how she felt.

I’m all alone in a crowd. That sounds like a bad country and western song.
Lacey almost laughed at that thought. She desperately wanted to get up, exit the mall and walk all the way home, but she didn’t live very close and the walk would be a long one. The thought of the long walk wasn’t what stopped her though; it was the thought of how her exit would affect her friends that kept her in her seat. They already knew she was going through a very difficult time and they brought her shopping today in an attempt to cheer her up. Lacey knew they meant well and she loved them for their thoughtfulness. She didn’t want to hurt them or upset them by walking out, so she stayed. She kept the phony smile on her face and pretended to enjoy herself as much as she could. She even bought herself a blouse. Her friends all wanted to go see a movie that evening; Lacey was worn out from pretending to be happy. She wanted to get home to see how her dad was doing, she excused herself from the group and was grateful when they dropped her off at home before the movie.

It was eight thirty when Lacey’s alarm clock went off Sunday morning and she dragged herself out of bed, heading for the shower. She could hear her dad moving around upstairs and knew he was already awake. She could smell the familiar aroma of coffee brewing. Her stomach growled and it would be nice to sit and talk with her dad for a bit before heading to church so she went up the stairs. Lacey and Jim sat at the kitchen table having a light breakfast when the phone rang and Lacey jumped up to answer it.

“It’s Josh!” Lacey announced cheerfully, always glad to hear from her brother, but at the next moment all the blood seemed to drain from Lacey’s face as she quietly said, “Ok see you in a few minutes,” and she hung up the phone.

“What’s wrong?” Jim stood to his feet, rather concerned at his daughter’s reaction.

“Dad, come downstairs, we have to check my email. Josh thinks he got an email from mom. He forwarded it to me.” Lacey turned and ran for the stairs with Jim close behind her. Lacey practically flew down the stairs and to her computer and her hands shook as she turned it on. Impatiently she waited for her home page to come up so she could access her email. Jim entered Lacey’s room and carefully watched his step as he walked over to her computer. His daughter used to keep a very neat and tidy bedroom but ever since Laura disappeared, she had gotten sloppy and careless. There were wet towels and dirty clothes all over the floor. Jim was very watchful where he put his feet because there was also the occasional CD and book laying on the floor as well. This was unlike his daughter but he had a hard time scolding her for it and just left her alone. He trusted that in time she would take care of it on her own. Now, he was much more interested in the email Josh called about. Lacey accessed her email account and quickly scanned her newest, unread mail looking for something from her mother.

“There it is!” She pointed to one excitedly and quickly clicked on it.

Lacey read the email aloud with Jim looking over her shoulder,

“
I’m alive! I’m trying to escape now and will hopefully be home soon. I love you
and miss you so much.”

The two didn’t say anything for a few seconds, both feeling a mixture of emotions. Hope poured like a flood through the both of them, but at the same time they felt afraid to let their hopes get too high. Doubts came fast and furious on the heals of hope. What if this wasn’t from Laura? What if this was some sort of sick cruel joke from someone else? Was that even possible? This had to be from her! Lacey stood up slowly and turned and faced her dad, her eyes shining with unshed tears,

“She’s alive dad, she’s alive!”

Lacey threw her arms around her father and the tears spilled out. Her entire body shook with sobs that had been held back for a long time. Jim hugged his daughter tightly with tears pouring down his own face. Both of them had been afraid to admit that they even considered the possibility that Laura might not be alive. Neither of them had voiced these kinds of thoughts to the other, not wanting to admit what they were really thinking, yet both carried the thought deep inside that Laura was probably dead. Getting an email like this one was like a slap in the face. A wonderful, joyous, welcome slap in the face!

Jim pulled away from his daughter, wiped his eyes and then turned to the computer. He held his breath as he read the email again. Relieved that it wasn’t a dream and that the email was still there he clicked on the print button and waited for the letter to print.

“I’m going to call Detective Chisholm. He needs to see this. Your mother says she is trying to escape so he needs to be on the look out for her and we want to stay close to the phone. Lacey, use your cell phone and call Pastor Brooks. Tell him about the email and explain that we won’t be in church this morning. I don’t want to leave the house in case your mother calls. Ask him to have the church pray for her, she could be in a very difficult situation right now.” Jim wanted to pace as his mind raced with all these thoughts but he couldn’t with Lacey’s messy floor so he moved towards the stairs.

“Josh should be here soon, dad. He said on the phone that he was going to pick up Maggie and come over.” Lacey followed her dad up the stairs, clutching her cell phone and went into the kitchen to make the call to Pastor Brooks.

Jim used his own cell phone to call the detective wanting to keep the household phone free, just in case Laura might call. He definitely did not want his wife to get a busy signal. His heart pounded with excitement at the thought of hearing his wife’s voice on the phone. He prayed that today would be the day he would get that call.
Her voice,
asking me to pick her up. Oh Lord how I would love to get a call like that. Or the
detective can call me and tell me they found her, alive and well. I would be just as happy
with that call too God!
Jim’s heart cried out as his hopes soared.