The past few days had been awfully quiet back home. Cheyenne hadn’t gone to work ever since her children had disappeared, and spent the days waiting for them, checking up on their beds regularly. Yet, they still remained empty every time she checked.
Worried friends and family who’d been signed in on the situation had dropped by to help her go about her day, which seemed to help her a bit. But the man that kept dropping by the most often was David Hayford. David had been a childhood friend of Martin and Cheyenne, and was godfather to Lucy and Andy, Cheyenne’s niece and nephew. Her father, Martin’s brother-in-law, had died in a similar accident as Martin – or, at least at the hands of the same man, that was for sure.
David had always been there to support the two widowed mothers ever since, despite not knowing how to raise a child. But as he got older, he matured and learned how to be more of a mentor for the four children instead of just a fun playmate.
He’d taken a day off from work to sit down and talk to Cheyenne, hoping to be able to take some of the weight off her shoulders.
“So, how are you today?” David said, trying hard not to sound like a psychologist – which he failed to do, unfortunately. Cheyenne looked at him; the bags underneath her eyes revealed that she hadn’t slept in days.
“Worried,” she said. “I still am.”
“I can understand that,” David said, as he sat down beside Cheyenne. “But really, there’s nothing you can do for them. Worrying is not going to help your kids.”
Cheyenne let out a loud sigh of exasperation. “I know that,” she said, the tone of her voice rather annoyed. But the annoyance wasn’t directed at David; it was directed towards herself. “But I still can’t help it. I mean... all my life, I’ve been making sure my children would grow up safely, and then suddenly-”
“-they get ripped away from you, without knowing whether they’ll be safe or not,” David finished her sentence.
“Exactly,” she agreed with him. “It’s just- so stressful. There’s nothing I can do to help them, and I can never know where they are or when – or if, even – they’re coming home. I’m their mother, David! And I’m completely powerless!”
She buried her face in her hands, while her shoulders started to shock. She was sobbing; David placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
“It’s... been four days now, David,” Cheyenne sobbed. “Four days.”
“Give them some time, Chey,” David said softly. “They’ll be back before you know it. There are five of them, and there’s nothing they can’t complete together.”
Cheyenne didn’t give him an answer; she just turned around and buried her face in David’s chest, who in his turn accepted her hug, and just sat there with her for hours.