⚫︎

PUT YOUR GODAMN HAT BACK ON KYLE!

Wipe those tears from your face Kyle. Or trust me there will be more if I can just-

I want my daughter.

Why are you shaking your head, mom? Your eyes have dropped down to the ground along with my stomach and my heart. Your eyes come back up, locking into mine, your voice is shaky "Ariana, they got a call..from Jason. He confessed. He said- he said she's dead Ariana. He killed her."

My brain lags for a second, "What?"

"He refused to tell us any details, we're tracking the call and sending a search for her body"

I felt as if I was stuck inside of a revolving door. My emotions swirling me around and around, into one room and out the other. I feel lightheaded but I keep myself upright. "No. She's alive, I know it." I was in denial. There was no way.

Dalton's hands fall down my shoulders and Pete takes his place. Holding me in his arms. Our creation. Our babygirl. No this couldn't be true, she couldn't be gone.

I let out a painful scream lurching forward,

"I looked away for one damn second!"

𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟯/𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆/𝟲:𝟬𝟬 𝗮𝗺

Outside the grass appeared to be wet. It had rained the night before. More so of a storm, however the news about the storm was the second story on the news. Aaliyah's was the first.

I stared out the window of the hotel me and Dalton had arrived at last night. He's not here, neither is Pete, or my mom, or anyone close to me. They're all out looking for her. Search parties, police, firefighters, the media, they're everywhere. I feel the need to help in someway but there was no way in hell.

They were groups of people looking in places that had they found her, I knew she wouldn't be alive. I wasn't ready to give in to that yet. Those groups weren't looking for a living child, they were looking in places for a body. And knowing that alone made me sick to my stomach.

author.

A man enters a breakfast restaurant, a little girl with him. She's wearing a red sweatshirt, her long curly hair resting on her shoulders. The man who would later be identified as Jason Stephens asks for a table. The waiter seats them at a table however she doesn't take her eyes off the little girl, Aaliyah.

She wasn't dead, Jason tried to strangle her, but she was able to talk him out of it. That's when he called 911, and admitted to kidnapping her, admitted to killing her because that's what he planned to do.

Aaliyah might've only been 4 years old but she sure was smart. In fact she was the one who talked him into bringing her to the restaurant. She was somehow getting into his complicated, deep, and twisted mind. She did everything she could to keep him focused on anything else but hurting her. She'd ask him questions about his family, his life, her father. Knowing that one wrong move could trigger the monster inside of him.

She had seen that monster only hours before. He threatened to kill her.

Aaliyah sat across from Jason, her leg bouncing up and down, her eyes following his every move. Others in the building started to take notice to the two. Something didn't seem quite right.

"Hey, that looks like her..." A twenty year old woman blinked her eyes trying to see if her mind was playing tricks in her. "I swear, she looks just like her." Her boyfriend shook his head, "It's none of our business, she looks fine no need to get involved."

Workers of the restaurant kept a close eye on Jason and Aaliyah. Specifically Jason, he looked like what you would call dead in the eyes. No emotion, nothing. All of his focus remained on Aaliyah. She didn't speak without his permission, her eyes stayed wide. Just watching them interact with each other would make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up straight.

"I'm going to take you home." Jason says causing Aaliyah to turn her head to the side,

"To my mom?"

The past terrifying few days all Aaliyah could think about was Ariana. How she was probably loosing her mind. It made her really upset, she just wanted to call her and tell her that she was okay. That she didn't need to worry, that somehow she was going to get back to her but she didn't know.

She had grown a strange relationship with Jason, he talked to her about her dad, about the conversation they had that led to this. How he had been watching her for weeks on end. Her little 4 year old brain still couldn't comprehend. What did she do? Why did he want to hurt her? If something happened to her...Ariana, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. She'd be devastated.

This was all some kind of game, and Aaliyah was determined to win it.

You see, adults always tend to overthink things. While children, they see possibilities in everything. It was Aaliyah who had left her coat behind so that someone was able to find it, it was Aaliyah who convinced him to stop at the convenient store for a bottle of water, it was Aaliyah that talked him out of killing her, it was Aaliyah who had helped build up enough guilt inside of him to bring her inside that very restaurant.

She made sure to stay calm, screaming and crying wasn't going to make anything better.

Her eyes gaze just above Jason's head. The restaurant door opens, and two police officers walk through. Her breath kicked up. Someone had called the police. Someone inside the restaurant. Had they recognized her? She doesn't say anything, she had quite a mind but Jason was very smart. He probably knew a way to get around this somehow.

As the man and woman approach the table all eyes follow to the booth. Aaliyah swung her legs back and forth trying to slow her short breaths. It seemed as if time was slowing down, just in that moment.

Her eyes turned away from Jason and to one of the police who had asked for her name. She glanced at Jason, her body trembling, scared to say a word.

"You can tell him your name." He says and she nods.

"Aaliyah." She says "Aaliyah Grande."

She couldn't believe what happened next. The man told Jason to stand up escorting him away from the table. Relieved looks across everyone in the restaurants faces. The woman then knelt down to Aaliyah who's body shook, her chest going up and down, letting it all out. It was over, it was finally over.

"Sweetheart are you okay?" She officer asked and Aaliyah nodded. "I think."

She pulled her into hug, trying to calm her down. "It's okay it's over."

"Do I get to see my mom?" Is all she was able to say.

"Yes she's going to be so happy to see you."

ariana.
𝟳:𝟱𝟲 𝗮𝗺

I hear the sound of the key inside the hotel room door and it opens. My family coming in.

"Did you find her body?" I ask breaking down as soon as the words come off my tongue. A hour ago I'd stopped believing that there was anyway possible that she was alive. A small part deep down inside of me did, but that was pretty much it.

"Actually..." They move away from the door and Dalton comes in, small tiny little feet trailing behind him. I couldn't believe my eyes. "MOMMY!" Aaliyah appears from behind him and I let out a sob bending down and she jumps into my arms.

"Oh my god- babygirl." I cradled her head holding onto her tighter then ever. Her arms wrap securely around my neck and she cries into me. I frantically look her over examining her small body making sure she was wasn't hurt.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head, "No mommy I'm okay."

I feel the truck that had been parked on my chest for days finally go away. I hold her face in my hands, wiping her tears with the pads of my thumbs. "Thank god." I kiss the crown of her head and couldn't help but engulf her in another a hug.

My mind was racing. I had so many questions. I first started with, "How did you find her?"

𝟴:𝟱𝟰 𝗮𝗺

"He said he was your friend. Do you know him?" Aaliyah asked, her body sat in Pete's lap.

Honestly after the mess that he caused (yes I'm blaming him for all of this) I don't want her anywhere near him. I've already made plans to move back across the country to LA with her, me and Dalton. I know she's going to be heartbroken, Aaliyah and Pete do have good bond, but at this point I don't care, because of him, my child was abducted and missing for almost 3 days straight.

I answered for him, "Yes baby daddy knows him but they're not friends anymore."

Aaliyah swallowed, "Okay" I could still see fear in her eyes, when she spoke her voice stayed low, it was tearing me to pieces seeing her like that. Seeing her so terrified.

The detective whispers in my ear, "We need to know what happened, it doesn't have to be forced. We've seen she's more comfortable with you, just ask a few leading questions."

My hands rest firmly on my knees, "Aaliyah.." I felt more tears coming on "Babygirl what happened? Do you remember?" Dalton leans my head on his shoulder giving me some comfort.

"Yeah.. I remember."

Pete rubbed her back, "Tell her baby."

"Okay, I went down the slide and then I asked you if I could do it again." She stared down, playing with her fingers.

"And I said yes.." I mumbled to myself recalling moments from that evening.

"You said yes so I went to go back up to the top, but someone pulled me to the side. It was him." She told me, not wanting to say his name. "He said he knew daddy. I told him that I had to find you before I could talk to him. But he didn't let me come back to you." Her voice broke when she saw me crying,

"Mommy I'm sorry I know I scared you and that I made you sad but I didn't mean to."

Pete let her go and she ran over giving me a hug. "Shhh bubs. It's okay, I've got you. You're okay, you're fine." I soothed. She sniffed sitting herself in between Dalton and I. "Do I have to keep going?"

"It would be a lot more helpful if you did bub."

Aaliyah went on to tell me about the stop he had made at that restaurant, why she left her coat there, and then the stop at the convenience store later on.

When I asked her "Why didn't you tell anyone when you were inside all of these places?" She respond with, "I was too scared that he'd hurt me, because he said he was going to eventually." And I swear I almost leaped across the room to beat the life out of Pete with every bit of energy I had left.

I held myself together and wasn't prepared for what she'd tell me next. "It was really early this morning when I heard him on the phone, he sounded mad. He came towards me and.." Aaliyah took a deep breath, "He asked me, how do you wanna die? He told me that I had two choices, he said that he could choke me or-" She scratched at her cheek before wiping out her eyes

"he pulled out what looked like daddy's nerf gun that he chases me around with sometimes..but I don't think it was that. He said if he killed me that way then it would be quicker and that I wouldn't feel anything, that it would be over. But I chose the first one because I thought I could change his mind. And I did."

My body was shaking, she shouldn't have had to go through that. We didn't say anything for awhile, we were all too busy letting her words sink in. Jason pulled a gun on my child, he was gonna kill her.

I open my mouth, my voice hardly above a whisper, "How baby?"

She sighed "Well you know how I like to ask a lot of questions..earlier I asked him about his family. Just random things. I asked if he had a nickname. I told him that mines was Liyah. He said his was Jade. So I screamed 'Please don't Jade' and he stopped, letting me go."

𝟵:𝟭𝟬 𝗽𝗺

"Mommy" Aaliyah whined reaching her arms out for me as I tried to close the car door.

"Shh Liyah daddy's right there give me a second."

I make my way over to Kyle, "Thank you. Thank you guys so much."

"Hey I'm just doing my job, you've got quite a smart kid on your hands."

I look back at the car, with my daughter inside "Yeah I get that a lot, she's-"

"No seriously. Based off of the things she's told us, we believe that she was able to to form some kind of bond with him, a certain way to somehow communicate with Jason, that we think protected her. Even to a point control him to a certain degree, she got inside his head."

A chill ran up my spine. You're telling me that my four year old did all of this?

Kyle noticed the tense look on my face, "Look, go back to your hotel and rest, be with her, we've gotten the worst out of the way. I'll give you guys a call in the morning."

I rub my hands over my arms thanking him once more.

We made it back up to our hotel room and me and Aaliyah took a shower together, I washed her hair and got her in clean clothes and ready for bed.

"Thank god she's okay." I mumble into Dalton's chest. "Because you know if he wasn't then I would've had to kill somebody."

"She was focused on making it back home to you, she's so smart."

Toulouse comes trotting in and jumps on the bed and Aaliyah appears in the doorway, "Mommy I'm scared, can I sleep with you?"

I sit up, "Aaliyah-" I extended my arms out to her "Of course come here."

She snuggles herself into me. My arms stayed wrapped around her, slow breaths leaving my mouth. We sat like that for at least 5 minutes straight not saying anything. I still had to take everything in.

"I am so very proud of you bub. You have no idea."

Aaliyah pecked my lips "Me too, it was scary."

"Awe I know baby, but it's over, you're safe. Me and Dalton are gonna protect you alright?"

"Okay mommy." I peel her off of me tucking her under the covers. Toulouse licks her face and then lays his head on her stomach, protecting her. As always.

These last 3 days have been the worst of my entire life. But thankfully the worst eventually came to the end.

Now on to give Jason Stephens what he deserves.

i watch too many of those crime shows.
P2 to "the family code" soon.
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sorry for errors.
4911 words.
~Jewelz