Chapter 6 – Charlie
CHARLIE
Standing in front of the front door with Jace by my side, I take a deep nervous breath and look back down at the CCTV screenshot Mia emailed us a few hours ago.
We got straight in the car, not stopping once, despite Mia’s insistence we wait until she can get more information, get a definitive answer for us. But we both felt it. We were too excited to wait.
Now we’re seconds away from being reunited with the love of our life. The missing piece of our souls.
We just need to knock on the door.
Taking a deep breath, I reach out for Jace’s hand, lacing our fingers together and squeezing. He looks over at me, the same hopeful smile I feel on my face reflected back at me.
He nods and together we turn back to the door, raising our hands and knocking.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Adrenaline floods my system as the sound of approaching footsteps echo through the closed door. With every step she takes getting closer and closer, my heart beats faster, harder.
Nervous sweat has my shirt clinging to my back and my palms grow clammy, but I can’t bring myself to let Jace go so I can wipe them on my pants.
The door handle jiggles, and my jaw trembles slightly. Jace squeezes my hand tighter, and I hold my breath, my pulse roaring in my ears.
This is it.
The door swings open and I freeze.
Green eyes stare into mine. They’re a dark green, but not the right green. Long, mousey brown hair frames her face and falls over her shoulders but it’s the wrong shade of brown.
My smile dims until it falls away completely. I take in her jaw that’s not quite square enough, the missing mole that should be on her cheek right next to her left ear and the freckles scattered over her forehead instead of her nose.
“Can I help you?” she asks when neither of us speak.
It…It’s not her.
“I-I’m sorry,” Jace stammers out, filling the empty silence. “We have the wrong house.”
“Mummy?” A little girl, about five- or six-years old bounds around the corner, barrelling into her mother’s legs as she stares up at us with wide curious eyes. Eyes that perfectly match her mother’s.
Tears well in my eyes and I just stand there, staring at hers, wishing they were just two shades lighter. My heart breaks when I blink the tears away only to find they’re still the same shade of green.
The wrong shade.
Fuck, I can’t do this.
“Do I know you?” she questions, an edge building in her voice as she eyes Jace and I with caution.
At a loss for words, I just shake my head, my mouth opening and closing, but before I can figure out what to say, her eyes drop down.
“Why do you have a photo of me and my daughter?” she demands, her voice turning cold as she pulls her daughter further into the house, hiding her from sight and reaches into her pocket, pulling out a phone to no doubt call the police.
“I’m sorry…we,” my voice trails off as I try and fail to pull a sentence together. What’s there to say? Sorry we showed up on your doorstep with a photo of you and your kid like total creeps?
“We’ve been looking for someone who went missing a long time ago.
We thought…maybe…well, it doesn’t matter.
You’re clearly not her. We’ll go. We’re sorry to have bothered you.
” Jace tightens his grip on my hand and pulls me away from the doorstep when I fail to move, not stopping until we’re across the lawn and back in our car.
“FUCK!!!” he screams, slamming his hands against the steering wheel over and over and over again. All the while, I numbly look out the window to the house I was so sure belonged to Bonnie.
The curtains in the front window shift and those wrong shade of green eyes peer out, looking into my soul and shattering it whilst she holds a phone to her ear.
“I really thought this time.” I sigh, my eyes closing. I really thought this time it was her.
“I can’t do this anymore,” Jace says, his voice sounding empty as he takes the last shreds the last shard of my heart with those five words.