The Flashback.

(FIVE YEARS AGO)

(THIRD PERSON'S POV)

DECEMBER 25TH, 2019

It was the first time in five years that there would be a Christmas party hosted by the Hortons. It was the first Christmas party since Margo Horton's disappearance.

The house was beautifully decorated and the rooms were colorfully fully lit to celebrate the season.

For a family with only two members currently present, the mansion was filled with many people. All workers and close relatives.

Slade Horton, aged 12, was seated at the foot of the stairs, watching as the workers of the Horton household sang Christmas carols. He was barely noticed by anyone and was so carried away by the carols that when a gentle hand landed on his shoulder, he jumped.

He calmed down when he saw that it was his nanny.

"It's only me, Slade. I'm so sorry that I startled you." Shanice's gentle voice assured him.

She squatted so that she now met him at eye level.

"'S okay." Slade said, hugging his fitted leather jacket tighter to himself.

Shanice sat beside him, a stair lower.

"Is the carol disturbing you? Is the party too loud? I can have everyone move to the garden if you like?" She asked softly.

"It's okay." Slade said, holding her gaze with a nod.

Shanice nodded back at him.

The little boy didn't have enough words. Perhaps if he could express himself properly, he would have told her how grateful he was for her presence. She had only spent two years working with them and since then, things had become slightly better in their house.

Not only had she helped father and son become better, she had brought a little bit of life into the Horton household.

"Thanks for the party. And the gift." Slade said, staring down at his feet.

"You're very welcome, my love." Shanice put an arm around him and ruffled his hair carefully. "I'm glad you like it."

"I do." He surprised her by saying and then, still avoiding eye contact, he said. "I picked out a gift for Mum. It's under the tree."

Shanice's heart melted and she hugged the little boy closer to her.

"And I'll do my very best to send it out to the police force, to be sure that your mum gets it." She lied but felt better when the little boy showed a tiny smile. "I'm sure she loves you and is thinking of you every moment."

She didn't let Slade process her words before changing the sentence. "My daughter is somewhere around. I can't wait for you both to meet." She said excitedly, giving the crowded room a scan.

Unable to see her daughter, she tapped Slade and stood up.

"I'm going to check around. I'm sure she's here somewhere." She was still muttering to herself when she left to look for her daughter.

Slade sat still waiting for her return but then he heard Juanita, one of the cooks, looking for him to sing a carol and so he ran up to his room to hide out.

He opened the door and took off his jacket. But as he put it on a chair, he thought he heard movements.

His heart started racing. He had been warned by the police, after his mother's disappearance, that he needed to be careful. To be vigilant in his surroundings. It was almost two years since then but it still felt like yesterday to Slade.

So he tiptoed further into his large room, headed for his cellphone on the bed, only for him to notice a girl in his room, hovering over his reading table.

He craned his neck so that he could get a better view of her and he did.

She was wearing a pretty fairy-like, pink tutu gown. Her hair, beautiful strawberry blonde, fell past her back in lush wavy curls with colorful butterfly clips pinned in place.

She looked like a doll and he wanted so much to admire her better, a little longer— but his gaze dropped to her hand.

A chill ran down his spine as he recognized the diary in her hands. It was the one Shanice had given him, 'to help express his feelings' as she had said.

This little girl was reading it and that infuriated him. She would see his deep thoughts, his vulnerable—

"What are you doing here? Who are you?" He barked loudly.

The little girl let out a gasp and quickly dropped the book on the table.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have—" her shaky voice started to say.

She was hurrying to leave but as she walked past the table, her side hit a snow globe and it fell to the ground, crashing into many pieces and giving way for the liquid that had once been held together.

"Oh no!" She exclaimed just as Slade rushed to the ground, over the broken snow globe.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to." She cried, her voice was cracked, her face already drenched with tears.

"Who are you to come in here ruining things?!" He barked angrily.

"I'm sorry—"

"My mum got me that!" He yelled, pointing at the pieces of the globe.

The little girl's blue eyes widened, like she had just realized her greater offense.

"Get out! Get out now!"

She practically flew out of the room while he slid to the ground and watched the pieces on the floor.

That was the snow globe his mum had given him two Christmases ago during their trip to the Maldives, her last Christmas with him.

He didn't shed a tear while sitting on the floor and after what felt like hours, something caught his eyes—a perfectly folded note on the floor.

He crawled to it and opened it:

"I know what it's like to wait for someone

Who never comes back.

I know the sound of a door that clicks shut

And the silence that follows after.

I know how it feels to look at the stars

And wonder if they're looking too,

Wondering if they think of you

Or if you've already disappeared from their view.

I know how it feels to hold onto a voice

That's fading in your head,

To write letters you'll never send

To someone who's already dead.

I know the weight of unanswered questions,

The ache of unfinished goodbye.

And I wouldn't wish this pain on anyone—

Least of all you.

So if you ever feel like giving up,

Like no one sees you there,

I want you to know—I see you.

I know what it's like.

I'm here."

Endless tears streamed down Slade's face even before he finished reading the note.

He crawled into his bed and cried his heart out. He cried so much that he went to sleep with a headache right after that.

For the first time in two years, he didn't see his mother in his dreams.

Instead, he dreamt of the little girl with long strawberry blonde hair and pretty large blue eyes.