Rogues on the Run

Lost & Found.

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      "Ronnie?" Someone calls my name, "Ronnie?"

My fingers trail across the wooden banister as I make my way to where I believe the familiar voice is coming from. I peak over my shoulder constantly, watching as I get farther and farther away from the cluster of people who have their heads ducked. 

One of them, a older woman who appears to be in her late forties, glances up at me, her watery blue eyes meeting mine as I clamber up the steps. I look away from her when  the tears begin to make their way down her pale face and a muffled sob breaks from her lips.

Even though I am not familiar with who this woman is, my chest still clenches tightly. I contemplate turning around and perhaps going to comfort her, but then the voice calls to me again. "Ronnie? Where are you? Ronnie?"

I force my eyes to drag away from her and instead, I look up ahead of me, towards the second floor. It seems I am running on auto-pilot as my feet carry me past the stairs, down the long hallway, and directly to the left.

That's when I see her.

The fabric of my dress swishes around my ankles as I stop, only a few feet away from her. 

I clutch the fabric tightly in my hands, my eyes widening and my breathing suddenly quickening. Before I know what I'm doing, I am running towards her. 

I crash into her, wrapping my arms around her mid-section and releasing a hoarse cry, staining her satin blue dress with my tears.

She wraps her arms around me too, kneeling down to my height and burying her face into my neck as she too cries. "Ronnie," She echoes, "Ronnie, my baby."

I press my face into her hair, clutching tightly onto the long locks of brown, wavy hair. The same hair I have. "Dad said you weren't coming back. He said you were gone. For good." I whisper weakly, the tears falling freely from my eyes, "But I knew he was lying. You wouldn't leave, would you, mom?"

I pull away from her, only slightly to look into her eyes. 

She raises a shaky hand, stroking it across my cheek then to my braid, which she tugs on with an impish smile. "You finally got the hang out of it," She says. And I do not need to ask her to elaborate about what she means.

Despite the fact she's avoided my question, I smile too. "Yeah, I had a lot of time to practice while dad planned this."  I motion to everything around us and then grip the black fabric of my dress. "He even made me wear this stupid dress."

She let's out a melodic laugh, "It's not stupid. You look beautiful, sweetie." And even though she is laughing and smiling, she is still crying and I don't understand why. 

"Mom, why are you still crying?" I ask and reach up, wiping away at one of her tears. "You're back now. We can go home and tell everyone you're back. And then they'll see that you're not gone, that you're here. Isn't that exciting?"

At my words, she starts to bawl even harder, gripping onto me tighter then before. I'm about to ask her what's wrong when she softly utters, "I can't go back." I attempt to pull away from her, to see if she's actually serious, but she remains holding me tightly in her arms. "I wish I could go back, sweetie. I wish I didn't have to leave you. I should have been smarter. I should have realized..." She trails off, glancing over her shoulder down the dark corridor.

Suddenly, she releases me, standing up straight and I question mentally why she is so panicked, but then I hear the sounds of foot stops. Heavy, heavy footsteps.