When she observed that the woman was not saying anything, she proceeded to the exit door and successfully left the hospital. The street was a bit quiet as she walked about four miles away from the hospital on foot because she was determined to go as far as possible, believing that the farther she went, the better chance she had to stay clear of danger. She counted going back to the hospital as a dangerous thing because she might end up with just another family that would abuse her for being dependent on what they could give for her survival, as Jack's wife did. She was able to recall everything except for how she landed in the hospital, which was still something she kept trying to recall.
"The black shoes are beautiful on you, I think it's going to go with the yellow gown, Sissy, why not take that one instead of the red?" echoed the voice of a lady in a boutique who kept persuading a buyer about what to choose from while Sarah walked in without their notice. She was so small they did not even get to see her leave the boutique again after undressing herself to put on a cloth she found on a hanger. She left the dark-green dress she saw on her body when she woke up from the hospital in the boutique, at the exact same spot where she changed up, and when the seller saw the dark green dress meant for a hospital patient on the floor of her boutique some minutes after Sissy had left, she ran outside to see if she could find any suspicious movement of some little child who must have entered her boutique to have left the dress on the floor but was unable to find any. She later kept the dark-green dress in a drawer close to her table and did not bother calling the police.
"Mom, I need ice cream!" a little boy about Sarah's age cried and dropped the chocolate snack he held in his left hand on the ground without his mother knowing, simply because he saw an ice cream truck in front of them.
"Okay sweetheart, let's go get you one of those, if that would make you happy." His mother said lovingly and took him by the hand to the ice cream truck. Sarah watched them from a distance nearby and noticed that the boy would no longer be needing the chocolate snack, so she went for it and hid it in the pocket of the jean pants she wore in the boutique about half an hour ago. She was drawn by the way the mother of the boy took care of him and so she followed them closely and stood behind the woman while she was buying ice cream for her son.
"Hey dear, where are your parents?" the woman asked Sarah the minute she turned to see her standing behind her with no one else around to make her believe there was at least someone watching over her. She waited for Sarah to speak but she said nothing, instead, she kept on staring at the woman in a way that made the woman feel she was strange, but she was rather afraid to open up to someone else.
"Mom, the ice cream." The boy whined again because he felt his mom was wasting time.
"Here." The ice cream man peeped to get her to turn and take the ice cream she bought from his hand and as she turned, she quickly said without thinking,
"Can you please get me another one? Thanks." She handed over the ice cream she had just collected to her son and waited a couple of minutes to get another one. Her son did not even bother looking at the girl beside him, but rather focused on his ice cream.
"You can have it." The man said again and gave her the second ice cream which was a little more expensive than the one she got for her son because she wanted to give it to the little girl in large quantities to make sure she had enough before she left that place. She had been looking at Sarah the past two minutes while the ice cream man was packaging the ice cream and felt sorry for Sarah because of how she kept looking at her like someone who was lost.
"Hey dear, you can have yours okay." The woman said softly and tried smiling in a friendly way to ensure Sarah accepted her offer. Her intentions were to take Sarah home with her but the minute she took the ice cream, she ran away from the woman before she could get a chance to say just another word.
"How is she doing?" Jack asked the doctor the moment he had his eyes on him, for he had come alone to check up on Sarah, knowing he was her only family now, coupled with the fact that she was a little girl who would never be able to take care of herself alone in a country different from the one she knew. Switzerland was just a totally strange country for her to know her way around and the thought of leaving her all by herself was a troubling one to Jack that he wanted to everything in his power to ensure he took her in as one of his, since the previous day he had seen her at the refugee camp.
"Oh, Mr. Jack, your daughter is fine now. The nurse told me so this morning, about an hour ago before your arrival. Come with me!" the doctor exclaimed cheerfully and led him to the ward after giving him a handshake.
"O, thank God." Jack's cheek froze with a beautiful smile as he walked with the doctor, also feeling happy that the doctor had addressed him as the father of the little girl.
"What the heck… Nurse!" the doctor screamed the second he saw the door open and that there was no child lying on the bed in the ward.
"Sir!" four nurses exclaimed at the same time and ran to meet the doctor who called, including the nurse who checked up on her in the morning hours.
"Where is Sarah! … have anyone of you seen her… did any of you take her to a different ward?" he exclaimed, panicking and waiting for the confused nurses to give him an answer. Jack was speechless at the moment and had several thoughts running through his head. He kept on thinking they may be playing pranks on him until he remembered that Sarah was trying to get away from him when she fainted and, so, might have just left the hospital without their consent after he heard briefly what the nurse was saying,
"I… I don't think anyone moved her, I mean, I was with her in the morning and she was wide awake but did not say a word to me when I tried talking to her. After I left the room, I did not notice any movements at all. If the door was open as you said, then I think she just might have…"
Whilst the nurse was busy narrating her experience, Jack had left them already and started looking for her in over fifty wards until he had searched the entire hospital.
"Jack…" the doctor called his name about half an hour later, but Jack did not bother talking to the doctor. He entered his car and drove out of the hospital premises in search of Sarah in tears that he had lost the little girl he promised to take care of.