Chapter 12

Baron stared at the road. It was still dark but he could see a figure running towards him. His mind flashed back to the previous night, it had been hell for him. He had left home in frantic search of his daughter and had returned home without her. The bus driver had reported her missing and he was shocked to receive that news.

"What do you mean you can't find her? Like she's a matchstick or a pin?"

"I don't know..I thought she was in the bus with others" the school bus driver complained shivering.

Baron had started his car immediately and dashed off to her school but she wasn't there. The driver who had followed him unlocked the school gate and shouted her name in all the classrooms but it was all futile.

"Look! Here's her bag" he beckoned to Baron who immediately turned towards his direction. There in the sand, few metres away from the gate lay a schoolbag recognized as Juana's. Her phone lied in the sand beside it. Baron screamed her name and searched the woods close to the school. After sometime, he gave up searching and drove away, leaving behind a bewildered and helpless bus driver.

He had it in mind to drive to the nearest police station but changed his mind when he remembered that he had to wait 24 hours before a missing person could be reported. He searched the neightborhood and even ask neightlbours if anyone had found a tall, long-haired teenager but they all replied in the negative. So he went home dejected, waiting at the doorstep for the wind to bring back his only child. He had been praying and walking back and forth and hadn't slept a wink the whole night.

The next day, as early as 5.30am, he was dressed and ready to visit the police station. Although it was not 24 hours yet, he couldn't wait. He just had to be in motion.

He stared at the road. The figure was clearer now. It was a young girl, and she was obviously coming towards his direction. She stopped just few metres away from him. She was panting.

"I..I think I know where she is.." She stuttered amidst heavy breathing.

"You know?"

"She talked about visiting Ella yesterday. I th..think she was indeed going to visit, but lost her way" the girl said, still panting. Baron dragged her inside and gave her a glass of water. She calmed down after few minutes.

"Talk to me girl, what's your name?"

"Laura, I'm Ella's classmate and Juana asked about her yesterday because she went home on an emergency. So I told her where she lived. I think she lost her way"

"Where is that?" He asked impatiently.

"Old Meadow, but I think she went to the other one because the driver informed me about her...

Baron didn't let her finish. He dashed towards the garage to start his car.

"I'll go with you" the young girl said and climbed into the passenger seat beside him. Baron drove to the police station first to make reports and the police took Laura's statements down it they didn't attend to the issue until afternoon(24 hours exactly). They went with Baron and Laura to the street in search of Juana.

********************************†********

Juana had spent the night on the roof of the hebephile's house after escaping. She could hear him screaming in pain and hitting objects or perhaps it was the other way round, maybe the objects were hitting him since he couldn't see? She smiled at the thought. God had saved her, she knew for sure. He had used her dad and the pepper spray, it was all his work. 'Thank you God' she muttered. She was very hungry and so was grateful for the apples she found on the roof. There was no apple tree around her, so it surprised her. She was deeply grateful to whoever dropped the apples there. The roof of his house was not perky; it was wide and it made her comfortable a bit. She was so exhausted that sleep overcame her fear in a matter of minutes.

She woke up to a loud noise around her. This was a very quiet street, so what was all the noise for?' She thought. With her eyes still tight shut, she wondered if robbery was going on in the house next door. But then she heard her name. She thought she was dreaming, so she kept her eyes shut still.

"Juana, it's me, you have to come down now" she heard a second time and she was very certain that was her dad's voice. The first had been a strange one.

"Is she dead?"

"No she must be really tired"

"Keep calling her name"

"Someone get me a ladder"

"Surround this house, guys"

"I don't think she's dead"

"Juana can you hear me?"

"Wake up girl, it's me, your granny!"

The noise was too much and it made her head ache. It was painful to even open her eyes. To her, it was a miracle she hadn't fainted all this while. Or maybe she had? Or how could she be asleep until that afternoon?

Minutes later, someone got a ladder and climbed up to meet her. She opened her eyes a bit and looked at the policeman.

"Hey can you talk?" He said

"A bit" Juana said. Then the policeman carried her in his arms and began to go down the ladder screaming "she's alive". Everyone booed. Juana saw her dad kneel on the ground;a sign of relief. There were five policemen, her dad, her granny, Laura and a woman in her sixties.

" My son claimed to have seen someone on this roof last night but I disbelieved him since he just had brain surgery, I thought maybe he was hallucinating? But then I was passing by this afternoon and still saw her there, and then there were you guys over there searching for a teenager" the woman said to the policemen.

"Thank you, old lady. You have to go with us to drop a report"

"I'll gladly do"

Juana's father took her to the hospital immediately. A policeman (the one who had carried her from the roof) went with them, and took her words down on paper, but not after she had been placed under treatment.

"He's around 5" 8 and 6" 1, not any taller. He has thick eyebrows and big biceps, big build and hairy chest, he has a scar at the back of his left hand."

When the policemen went back there, he had escaped. But he was put in the news and the news soon got everywhere.

He was a notorious criminal that the police had been searching for, for some years.

Two days later at school over lunch, Ella identified the wanted criminal as her dad. The one she hated so much and refused to live with.

"I hope he didn't do anything to you" she asked Juana sincerely.

"He whipped me"

"I'm glad he's been arrested, that man!"

"Is he that bad?" Juana asked.

"When you saw him, how did he look like to you?" She asked with an angry tone but Juana replied calmly.

"At first, he looked harmless and friendly but then he turned dangerous"

"Exactly!" She said slamming the table. It shook Juana within her.

"Ella"

"Do you want me to tell you about him? So you'd know I don't hate him for nothing"

"Ella, hate is a strong word" she said. How could someone hate her biological dad this bad? As for her, she has always loved Baron. He was the best dad in the world. He had proven it many times.

"Yes it is a strong word, but it is what I feel towards him"

"Tell me about him. Has he been a hebephile for long? And what other thing makes you hate him?"

"I think you're lucky to have escaped unscathed"

"Really?"

"Yes. He's not only a pedo-hebephile, he's a murderer, a rapist, a traitor, an evil man!" She yelled and almost choked on her meal

"Ella, people are staring. Keep your voice down"

"He rapes young girls and kills some of them. I know because I found out from the ghost-girl" she whispered

"The ghost-girl?" Juana was confused

"Yes. I first met her when I was five. She would sit on my wardrobe every night and cry. I would not be able to sleep in my room and I'd scream and tell mom that someone was in my room"

"Really?"

"Yes. That was when I began seeing ghosts. I was five like I said.. Mom disbelieved me at first because she thought it was one of those monster-stories that my teacher read to us in class. But then when I kept telling her there's a girl crying on my wardrobe for several weeks, she began to believe me"

"That's a lot"

Ella stood up and picked her lunch box.

"Where are you going? You didn't finish your food"

"I need to talk to mom. I can see her by the door, now. Look!" She pointed at the door of the school eatery. Juana stared blankly.

"We'll talk about this later, okay?" She said looking at the door.

Juana pulled her hand

"Where?" She asked

"I'll come to your house after school I promise. Ask your dad if I can sleep over. My phone number is 764901432" she said quickly and walked away. Juana watched in bewilderment, noting the phone number offhand.

"Where is granny?" She asked her father as soon as she entered the house.

"I think you should say hi first"

"Dad, I'm tired. I'll say it later" Baron laughed.

"She went shopping. I tried to stop her but she insisted. She'll be back soon"

"Okay"

A feeling of anger swept through her head immediately. She knew why she was angry; it appeared everyone was moving on and doing fine, without mom. It wasn't fair, and although she knew they weren't exactly doing fine, and that everyone was crying inside, still she felt like mom was being cheated somehow. No one should even laugh without her. No one even knows where she was, whether she's dead or alive, how can anyone laugh, play music and expect a welcome greeting in the midst of that trauma?

Baron stopped her on her way to her room, and led her to the lounge.

"When I realized you were missing", he began, "my heart stopped beating for some minutes" Baron said to his daughter few minutes after she returned from school

"You know that's not possible dad. If your heart stopped beating, you wouldn't be standing before me right now" she replied and Baron laughed.

"Right, but that's the closest way to explain it. I lost concentration and everything. I literally lost my mind"

"I know how that feels. That's exactly how I felt when I got the bad news about mom" she said. He noticed that her countenance had fallen, as she settled roughly into the cosy couch.

"Juana, you have no idea how happy I am that I found you, found you alive. I'm so grateful to God" he knelt before her and held her hands tight.

"I thought you are going to ground me for worrying you to death" she said seriously.

"That's not possible because as it is now, what you need is rest, food, comfort and company and that's just what I'm offering" he said still kneeling before her. He took off her shoes for her and smiled as he did so.

"I promise to pick you up at school from tomorrow. If I can't, I'll send my personal driver" he promised.

"No I want you"

"I know. I'll pick you up on Mondays and Tuesdays, my driver will do the rest" he smiled but she wasn't smiling back.

"What? Don't you like that?"

"I don't like your driver. He doesn't look nice" she said.

Baron laughed and the anger in her doubled up. 'There we go, how does he find it comfortable to laugh? Has he moved on already? Heaven knows I'll rip his lungs apart if I hear about him planning to remarry. He can't be that wicked and unfair to mom, can he?' Juana thought

"I changed my driver. Colin drives me now" he replied. Juana's face lit up but she quickly hid it because she didn't want to be unfair to her mom. She kept the serious look on her face instead.

"Nice" she muttered.

Baron clapped his hands and walked to the kitchen "I have to do the dishes. Later we'll talk about your experience..."

"Dad, did you hear anything about mom?" She suddenly asked.

Juana heard him sigh and maybe shrug before he said "No"

She wasn't going to stop there. She wasn't going to let anyone stop thinking about her mom. She wasn't going to let anyone give away her things or burn her clothes, even if she was dead, she was never going to discuss her as a dead person. She never will believe she could be dead. She never would agree even if she saw her dead body or her charred remains.

"Dad, don't you think we should put in more efforts?"

"I'm praying"

"Praying without taking steps is useless." She said matter-of-factly. Talking about her mom brought tears to her eyes every time.

"I'm as helpless as anything. I'm looking up to God for help" he replied with a tone of concern that Juana was grateful he still had.

"Dad, if mom never comes back in three years, would you marry someone else?" Baron walked back to the living room where Juana was, and held her hands in his. Her eyes were teary but she looked really serious.

"Juana"

"Just answer me" she begged.

He sighed and slowly shook his head from side to side. She stood up freeing her hands from his.

"Do you love her that much to wait, even when everything looks uncertain?"

"You have no idea how much I love that woman" he replied

"Time will tell" she said and walked swiftly into her room, slammed the door shut in his face.