They abandoned the car and ran towards the beach where they saw her enter. They believed that they would find her as the security would not allow her to get in.
'Even if the girl was smarter than they thought, she wouldn't be smart enough to know that she could not freely enter there.' They reasoned and rushed there under the rain. On arrival, they found people running out from there. They were notified that the water overflowed its bank and they immediately called their personal emergency team to enable them save the girl. Even if they knew that calling the rescue team was a risky step, they still took it to reduce the risk of the girl's death and also reduce their punishment. This girl was important for their research and experiment. Their rescue team charged in and began the rescue mission. After everything was done, they still didn't find the girl.
She was not found among the living neither was she among the dead. They became confused. They regretted leaving her alone in the car.
'Why did they underestimate her?' Their immediate master had initially warned about this girl yet they had taken his words for granted thinking it was just a little girl. They now regretted their actions.
The knew they were all finished and would have to answer what they were doing at the beach when they were supposed to take the girl straight to the base as soon as she was kidnapped.
After searching and searching, they concluded that she was dead and her body was lost in the waters.
They believed that the body would float on the water later so they waited and called their boss to report the situation. Even though they knew that they would be killed for failing on their first mission, they still explained everything the way it happened and the boss was enraged.
"How can you get tricked by a little girl of seven." He made the greatest mistake which was sending these inexperienced newbies to go get the little girl. It wasn't just a little girl but a smart little girl.
The base was in a turmoil and everybory got busy trying to find the girl. They took the report of everyone that had come to the beach and investigated them, sending experts to their houses to search quietly, as they waited for the third day to see if her corpse would float on the water.
Even if it was just a corpse, it was still useful to them. The three people who had gone on a mission to bring the girl back were the most anxious on the third day as they knew that their death would be made easier if the child was found- dead or alive. But if she wasn't found, then that meant they would be tortured brutally before getting killed.
After three days, nothing was found, there was no positive report from those who had gone to the police station and other places to search. The took the last list of persons whose houses were to be searched. This list included Nora's name.
Meanwhile the persons whose houses were searched were not aware that a search was going on in their houses.
Nora got home with the child, she wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing. She boiled water and helped the child take a bath, after which she took her bath and fed her.
"Thank you mum" the child said after eating. She ignored what the child meant by mom and asked the child's name.
"Annabel Richard, mom." The child replied sweetly. Nora looked at the little girl calling her mom and concluded that the child lacked the attention of a mother and allowed her to call her mom.
"So who was chasing you and why?"she asked.
"It's a long story"
"I'm ready to hear this story:
"Okay. She took a deep breath and started.
I'm Annabel Richard, I lived a normal life with my mum until one day when I was five, someone came to my school and kidnapped me. I didn't know that I was kidnapped until I found myself in a place where I met little children of who were little older than me. We interacted and that was when one of them told us how she snicked out of the car when the man that kidnapped her left her to ease himself, she told me how she opened the fuel tank of the vehicle to make sure he wouldn't catch up with her in time."
"How did she know about the fuel tank of a car." Nora asked interrupting her.
"Her dad was a mechanic." She answered and continued.
"She succeeded in escaping and ran to a police station and that was where all her efforts was put to waste cause the police officers handed her to the people chasing even though they were fully aware that they were kidnappers." She paused and continued.
"All of us were taken away separately.
I tried to escape but I only remember waking up in a room that looked so much like a hospital ward without remembering how I got there. They warned me not to say a word about anything that happened to my mom threatening to kill me if I did. They gave me an injection after warning me, I felt headache afterwards and woke up to see my mother close to the fire. That was when I realised that I have been taken back home. Everything looked normal. It was as if nothing happened. I didn't tell my mom about it for two months. On the third month, I couldn't hold in the secret any longer so I told her. She did not scold me for keeping it from her but instead started making plans for us to relocate. My mum started behaving sneakily and we we finally relocated.
Yesterday evening, I came back from school and saw my mum's old diary, opened on the floor. That diary was the only thing we came with from our old house and was also the only thing she restricted me from touching or reading. My mom was never careless with her diary so seeing it like that opened on the floor was something unusual. I didn't intend to read the diary but when I bent to pick it, I saw something that made me look at it and even read it.
Annabel kept quiet and Nora asked what she saw.
"Wait...
... I'm still thinking about whether or not I should tell you what I saw"
Nora kept quiet and Annabel's voice rang out again.
"I choose not to tell you. That is my mum's secret." she said and continued.
"I didn't see my mom all through the night and when I thought about what was written on the diary, I was troubled and could not sleep. Very early this morning, a man came into our house and saw me. I remembered what I read in my mum's diary and what the girl I met when I was first kidnapped said and immediately, a thought came into my head. I looked at the man and put on a baby face.
"Where is my mummy, I'm hungry?" I said to him. He initially wanted to do something but hearing my words, he looked at me again and called someone and I knew that the food was coming. As soon as the food came, I asked about my mum and he told me, she was coming and urged me to eat. I still put on an innocent face and told him that I was going inside to eat that he should keep watch for me should in case my mom comes back and find me eating a stranger's food. He fell for my trick and I made sure he went out completely and he in turn pretended to be looking out for my mom. I then went into the house, bolted the door and poured the food into a disposable bag, took the plate and sat on the bed backing the door, while pretending to be eating something. After a while, I turned to see he that was peeping at me from the little crack on our door and that was when I confirmed that something was wrong with the food he gave me. He noticed that I looked his direction and removed his eye from the door.
The crack on the door was vertical and thin so I knew that he wouldn't see clearly if he looked from there. When I felt it was time, I came out to meet him and asked after my mother. He said he would take me to see her right now if I wanted. I agreed and remembered that something is supposed to be wrong the food I ate so I guessed it was supposed to make me faint or sleep.