The Chameleon Shop

Trish sat at the table, staring at her plate of dinner, gone cold and the empty seat opposite her where Kaylee usually sat. Her mind was so desolate it couldn’t even register what food was on the plate. Instead, her thoughts kept replaying the events of yesterday, when Kaylee had disappeared. She was repeatedly seeking some clue, something she had missed that would lead her to her daughter.

Memory kept going back to where Trish was left standing forlorn on that freezing, snowy plain in front of the stone cottage, after going inside and finding the building empty. Calling out to Kaylee, her voice fighting the howling wind until it was too hoarse to hear any longer, as she frantically searched all the other buildings, even the chicken house.

She snarled at Paul when he told her to, ‘calm down, she would be all right. People don’t just disappear.’

Well he was wrong. Her daughter had.

Finally, she had broken down in tears pole-axed with shock, suffering the most unbearable of pains over the disappearance of her only child, her little girl.

They had called out the local Search and Rescue team, who had gone over the whole district thoroughly on the ground. They even brought in a helicopter, searching a radius for as far as a girl that age could have travelled on foot in that time, and then some.

They found nothing.

The police officer had tried to reassure Trish by saying at least there were no obvious signs of foul play; no blood, no items of clothing or signs of a struggle anywhere.

Kaylee was just ... gone.

His words did nothing to detract from the agony tearing at her heart, the loss of her peace of mind. She had to have answers. Where was her little girl? Was she cold, alone, hurt? Was she even still alive? Had she run off on purpose because of their arguing? Was this Trish’s fault?

With no one around to direct her anger at ─ Paul had had enough of it all and gone off somewhere, leaving her alone to cope with her sorrow ─ Trish angrily swiped the plate of food across the table and sent it crashing to the floor. Mashed potato and peas splattered the cupboards and floor.

‘Oh. That’s what I was having.’ She spoke numbly. Then she quietly and thoroughly, went to pieces.

‘Please come home Kaylee, I need you baby girl.’ She sobbed into her arms, pillowed beneath her head on the tabletop and clutched Kaylee’s favourite teddy bear to her heart, soaking its furry head with her tears.